技术资料

Although activation of the B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling pathway is implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL),its clinical impact and the molecular correlates of such response are not clearly defined. T-cell leukemia 1 (TCL1),the AKT modulator and proto-oncogene,is differentially expressed in CLL and linked to its pathogenesis based on CD5(+) B-cell expansions arising in TCL1-transgenic mice. We studied here the association of TCL1 levels and its intracellular dynamics with the in vitro responses to BCR stimulation in 70 CLL cases. The growth kinetics after BCR engagement correlated strongly with the degree and timing of induced AKT phospho-activation. This signaling intensity was best predicted by TCL1 levels and the kinetics of TCL1-AKT corecruitment to BCR membrane activation complexes,which further included the kinases LYN,SYK,ZAP70,and PKC. High TCL1 levels were also strongly associated with aggressive disease features,such as advanced clinical stage,higher white blood cell counts,and shorter lymphocyte doubling time. Higher TCL1 levels independently predicted an inferior clinical outcome (ie,shorter progression-free survival,P textless .001),regardless of therapy regimen,especially for ZAP70(+) tumors. We propose TCL1 as a marker of the BCR-responsive CLL subset identifying poor prognostic cases where targeting BCR-associated kinases may be therapeutically useful. View Publication

Mtb influences DC activity and T cell-mediated immune responses. We show that the treatment of immature monocyte-derived DC with Mtb elicited the formation of mature DC,producing TNF-alpha,IL-1beta,IL-6,and IL-23 and instructing CD4(+) cells to secrete IFN-gamma and IL-17. Mtb-induced cytokine release by DC depended on dectin-1 receptor engagement,whereas MR or DC-SIGN stimulation inhibited this process. A selective dectin-1 binding by the receptor agonist glucan was sufficient to enable DC to generate Th1/Th17 lymphocytes,showing features comparable with those induced by Mtb-treated DC. Interestingly,DC-SIGN or MR engagement inhibited Th17 and increased Th1 generation by glucan- or Mtb-treated DC. Our results indicate that Mtb modulates the lymphocyte response by affecting DC maturation and cytokine release. Dectin-1 engagement by Mtb enables DC to promote a Th1/Th17 response,whereas DC-SIGN and MR costimulation limits dectin-1-dependent Th17 generation and favors a Th1 response,probably by interfering with release of cytokines. View Publication

Experimentation with the progenitor/stem cells in adult prostate epithelium can be inconvenient due to a tight time line from tissue acquisition to cell isolation and to downstream experiments. To circumvent this inconvenience,we developed a simple technical procedure for culturing epithelial cells derived from human prostate tissue. In this study,benign prostate tissue was enzymatically digested and fractionated into epithelium and stroma,which were then cultured in the medium designed for prostate epithelial and stromal cells,respectively. The cultured cells were analyzed by immunocytochemical staining and flow cytometry. Prostate tissue-regenerating capacity of cultured cells in vitro was determined by co-culturing epithelial and stromal cells in dihydrotestosterone-containing RPMI. Cell lineages in formed acini-like structures were determined by immunohistochemistry. The culture of epithelial cells mainly consisted of basal cells. A minor population was negative for known lineage markers and positive for CD133. The culture also contained cells with high activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase. After co-culturing with stromal cells,the epithelial cells were able to form acini-like structures containing multiple cell lineages. Thus,the established culture of prostate epithelial cells provides an alternative source for studying progenitor/stem cells of prostate epithelium. View Publication

TNF-like ligand 1A (TL1A),a member of the TNF superfamily,is the ligand of DR3 and DcR3. Several types of cells,such as endothelial cells,monocytes/macrophages,dendritic cells,and CD4 and CD8 T cells,are capable of producing this cytokine. In present study,we demonstrated that TL1A aggravated collagen-induced arthritis in mice. It increased collagen-induced arthritis penetrance and clinical scores as well as the severity of the pathological findings. TL1A administration led to the occurrence of multiple enlarged germinal centers in the spleen,and it boosted serum anti-collagen Ab titers in vivo. In vitro,TL1A augmented TNF-alpha production by T cells upon TCR ligation,and it greatly enhanced Th17 differentiation and IL-17 production. We further showed that human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial fluids had elevated TL1A titers,and human chrondrocytes and synovial fibroblasts were capable of secreting TL1A upon TNF-alpha or IL-1beta stimulation. Taken together,these data suggest that TL1A secretion in lymphoid organs might contribute to RA initiation by promoting autoantibody production,and TL1A secretion stimulated by inflammatory cytokines in RA joints might be a part of a vicious circle that aggravates RA pathogenesis. View Publication

The active movement of cells from subendothelial compartments into the bloodstream (intravasation) has been recognized for several decades by histologic and physiologic studies,yet the molecular effectors of this process are relatively uncharacterized. For extravasation,studies based predominantly on static transwell assays support a general model,whereby transendothelial migration (TEM) occurs via chemoattraction toward increasing chemokine concentrations. However,this model of chemotaxis cannot readily reconcile how chemokines influence intravasation,as shear forces of blood flow would likely abrogate luminal chemokine gradient(s). Thus,to analyze how T cells integrate perivascular chemokine signals under physiologic flow,we developed a novel transwell-based flow chamber allowing for real-time modulation of chemokine levels above (luminal/apical compartment) and below (abluminal/subendothelial compartment) HUVEC monolayers. We routinely observed human T cell TEM across HUVEC monolayers with the combination of luminal CXCL12 and abluminal CCL5. With increasing concentrations of CXCL12 in the luminal compartment,transmigrated T cells did not undergo retrograde transendothelial migration (retro-TEM). However,when exposedto abluminal CXCL12,transmigrated T cells underwent striking retro-TEM and re-entered the flow stream [corrected]. This CXCL12 fugetactic (chemorepellant) effect was concentration-dependent,augmented by apical flow,blocked by antibodies to integrins,and reduced by AMD3100 in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover,CXCL12-induced retro-TEM was inhibited by PI3K antagonism and cAMP agonism. These findings broaden our understanding of chemokine biology and support a novel paradigm by which temporospatial modulations in subendothelial chemokine display drive cell migration from interstitial compartments into the bloodstream. View Publication

The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis implicates the development of new therapeutic approaches to target the CSC population. Characterization of the pathways that regulate CSCs activity will facilitate the development of targeted therapies. We recently reported that the enzymatic activity of ALDH1,as measured by the ALDELFUOR assay,can be utilized to isolate normal and malignant breast stem cells in both primary tumors and cell lines. In this study,utilizing a tumorsphere assay,we have demonstrated the role of retinoid signaling in the regulation of breast CSCs self-renewal and differentiation. Utilizing the gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) algorithm we identified gene sets and pathways associated with retinoid signaling. These pathways regulate breast CSCs biology and their inhibition may provide novel therapeutic approaches to target breast CSCs. View Publication

Patients with chronic ulcerative colitis are at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. Although current hypotheses suggest that sporadic colorectal cancer is due to inability to control cancer stem cells,the cancer stem cell hypothesis has not yet been validated in colitis-associated cancer. Furthermore,the identification of the colitis to cancer transition is challenging. We recently showed that epithelial cells with the increased expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase in sporadic colon cancer correlate closely with tumor-initiating ability. We sought to determine whether ALDH can be used as a marker to isolate tumor-initiating populations from patients with chronic ulcerative colitis. We used fluorescence-activated cell sorting to identify precursor colon cancer stem cells from colitis patients and report both their transition to cancerous stem cells in xenografting studies as well as their ability to generate spheres in vitro. Similar to sporadic colon cancer,these colitis-derived tumors were capable of propagation as sphere cultures. However,unlike the origins of sporadic colon cancer,the primary colitic tissues did not express any histologic evidence of dysplasia. To elucidate a potential mechanism for our findings,we compared the stroma of these different environments and determined that at least one paracrine factor is up-regulated in the inflammatory and malignant stroma compared with resting,normal stroma. These data link colitis and cancer identifying potential tumor-initiating cells from colitic patients,suggesting that sphere and/or xenograft formation will be useful to survey colitic patients at risk of developing cancer. View Publication

The tyrosine kinase Fyn plays a key role in oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination in the central nervous system,but the molecules responsible for regulating Fyn activation in these processes remain poorly defined. Here we show that receptor-like protein-tyrosine phosphatase alpha (PTPalpha) is an important positive regulator of Fyn activation and signaling that is required for the differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). PTPalpha is expressed in OPCs and is up-regulated during differentiation. We used two model systems to investigate the role of PTPalpha in OPC differentiation: the rat CG4 cell line where PTPalpha expression was silenced by small interfering RNA,and oligosphere-derived primary OPCs isolated from wild-type and PTPalpha-null mouse embryos. In both cell systems,the ablation of PTPalpha inhibited differentiation and morphological changes that accompany this process. Although Fyn was activated upon induction of differentiation,the level of activation was severely reduced in cells lacking PTPalpha,as was the activation of Fyn effector molecules focal adhesion kinase,Rac1,and Cdc42,and inactivation of Rho. Interestingly,another downstream effector of Fyn,p190RhoGAP,which is responsible for Rho inactivation during differentiation,was not affected by PTPalpha ablation. In vivo studies revealed defective myelination in the PTPalpha(-/-) mouse brain. Together,our findings demonstrate that PTPalpha is a critical regulator of Fyn activation and of specific Fyn signaling events during differentiation,and is essential for promoting OPC differentiation and central nervous system myelination. View Publication

Muscle contraction and metabolic stress are potent activators of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). AMPK restores energy balance by activating processes that produce energy while inhibiting those that consume energy. The role of AMPK in the regulation of active ion transport is unclear. Our aim was to determine the effect of the AMPK activator A-769662 on Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase function in skeletal muscle cells. Short-term incubation of differentiated rat L6 myotubes with 100 microM A-769662 increased AMPK and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) phosphorylation in parallel with decreased Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase alpha(1)-subunit abundance at the plasma membrane and ouabain-sensitive (86)Rb(+) uptake. Notably,the effect of A-769662 on Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase was similar in muscle cells that do not express AMPK alpha(1)- and alpha(2)-catalytic subunits. A-769662 directly inhibits the alpha(1)-isoform of the Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase,purified from rat and human kidney cells in vitro with IC(50) 57 microM and 220 microM,respectively. Inhibition of the Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase by 100 microM ouabain decreases sodium pump activity and cell surface abundance,similar to the effect of A-769662,without affecting AMPK and ACC phosphorylation. In conclusion,the AMPK activator A-769662 inhibits Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity and decreases the sodium pump cell surface abundance in L6 skeletal muscle cells. The effect of A-769662 on sodium pump is due to direct inhibition of the Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity,rather than AMPK activation. This AMPK-independent effect on Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase calls into question the use of A-769662 as a specific AMPK activator for metabolic studies. View Publication

Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) are a family of enzymes that efficiently detoxify aldehydic products generated by reactive oxygen species and might therefore participate in cell survival. Because ALDH activity has been used to identify normal and malignant cells with stem cell properties,we asked whether human myogenic precursor cells (myoblasts) could be identified and isolated based on their levels of ALDH activity. Human muscle explant-derived cells were incubated with ALDEFLUOR,a fluorescent substrate for ALDH,and we determined by flow cytometry the level of enzyme activity. We found that ALDH activity positively correlated with the myoblast-CD56(+) fraction in those cells,but,we also observed heterogeneity of ALDH activity levels within CD56-purified myoblasts. Using lentiviral mediated expression of shRNA we demonstrated that ALDH activity was associated with expression of Aldh1a1 protein. Surprisingly,ALDH activity and Aldh1a1 expression levels were very low in mouse,rat,rabbit and non-human primate myoblasts. Using different approaches,from pharmacological inhibition of ALDH activity by diethylaminobenzaldehyde,an inhibitor of class I ALDH,to cell fractionation by flow cytometry using the ALDEFLUOR assay,we characterized human myoblasts expressing low or high levels of ALDH. We correlated high ALDH activity ex vivo to resistance to hydrogen peroxide (H(2) O(2) )-induced cytotoxic effect and in vivo to improved cell viability when human myoblasts were transplanted into host muscle of immune deficient scid mice. Therefore detection of ALDH activity,as a purification strategy,could allow non-toxic and efficient isolation of a fraction of human myoblasts resistant to cytotoxic damage. View Publication

Systemic mastocytosis (SM) is a myeloid neoplasm involving mast cells (MCs) and their progenitors. In most cases,neoplastic cells display the D816V-mutated variant of KIT. KIT D816V exhibits constitutive tyrosine kinase (TK) activity and has been implicated in increased survival and growth of neoplastic MCs. Recent data suggest that the proapoptotic BH3-only death regulator Bim plays a role as a tumor suppressor in various myeloid neoplasms. We found that KIT D816V suppresses expression of Bim in Ba/F3 cells. The KIT D816-induced down-regulation of Bim was rescued by the KIT-targeting drug PKC412/midostaurin. Both PKC412 and the proteasome-inhibitor bortezomib were found to decrease growth and promote expression of Bim in MC leukemia cell lines HMC-1.1 (D816V negative) and HMC-1.2 (D816V positive). Both drugs were also found to counteract growth of primary neoplastic MCs. Furthermore,midostaurin was found to cooperate with bortezomib and with the BH3-mimetic obatoclax in producing growth inhibition in both HMC-1 subclones. Finally,a Bim-specific siRNA was found to rescue HMC-1 cells from PKC412-induced cell death. Our data show that KIT D816V suppresses expression of proapoptotic Bim in neoplastic MCs. Targeting of Bcl-2 family members by drugs promoting Bim (re)-expression,or by BH3-mimetics such as obatoclax,may be an attractive therapy concept in SM. View Publication

Hairy enhancer of split 1 (Hes1) is a basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional repressor that affects differentiation and often helps maintain cells in an immature state in various tissues. Here we show that retroviral expression of Hes1 immortalizes common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMPs) in the presence of interleukin-3,conferring permanent replating capability on these cells. Whereas these cells did not develop myeloproliferative neoplasms when intravenously administered to irradiated mice,the combination of Hes1 and BCR-ABL in CMPs and GMPs caused acute leukemia resembling blast crisis of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML),resulting in rapid death of the recipient mice. On the other hand,BCR-ABL alone caused CML-like disease when expressed in c-Kit-positive,Sca-1-positive,and lineage-negative hematopoietic stem cells (KSLs),but not committed progenitors CMPs or GMPs,as previously reported. Leukemic cells derived from Hes1 and BCR-ABL-expressing CMPs and GMPs were more immature than those derived from BCR-ABL-expressing KSLs. Intriguingly,Hes1 was highly expressed in 8 of 20 patients with CML in blast crisis,but not in the chronic phase,and dominant negative Hes1 retarded the growth of some CML cell lines expressing Hes1. These results suggest that Hes1 is a key molecule in blast crisis transition in CML. View Publication