参考文献

The appearance of hepatic foci in the pancreas has been described in animal experiments and in human pathology. Here we show that pancreatic cells can be converted into hepatocytes by treatment with a synthetic glucocorticoid,dexamethasone. This occurs both in a pancreatic cell line,AR42J-B13,and in organ cultures of pancreatic buds from mouse embryos. We have established several features of the mechanism behind this transdifferentiation. We show that a proportion of the hepatocytes arises directly from differentiated exocrine-like cells,with no intervening cell division. This conversion is associated with induction of the transcription factor C/EBPbeta and the activation of differentiated hepatic products. Transfection of C/EBPbeta into the cells can provoke transdifferentiation; conversely,a dominant-negative form of C/EBPbeta can inhibit the process. These results indicate that C/EBPbeta is a key component that distinguishes the liver and pancreatic programmes of differentiation. View Publication

Converging lines of evidence implicate the beta-amyloid peptide (Ass) as causative in Alzheimer's disease. We describe a novel class of compounds that reduce A beta production by functionally inhibiting gamma-secretase,the activity responsible for the carboxy-terminal cleavage required for A beta production. These molecules are active in both 293 HEK cells and neuronal cultures,and exert their effect upon A beta production without affecting protein secretion,most notably in the secreted forms of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Oral administration of one of these compounds,N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-L-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butyl ester,to mice transgenic for human APP(V717F) reduces brain levels of Ass in a dose-dependent manner within 3 h. These studies represent the first demonstration of a reduction of brain A beta in vivo. Development of such novel functional gamma-secretase inhibitors will enable a clinical examination of the A beta hypothesis that Ass peptide drives the neuropathology observed in Alzheimer's disease. View Publication

According to the current model of adult hematopoiesis,differentiation of pluripotential hematopoietic stem cells into common myeloid- and lymphoid-committed progenitors establishes an early separation between the myeloid and lymphoid lineages. This report describes a rare and previously unidentified CD45R-CD19+ B cell progenitor population in postnatal bone marrow that can also generate macrophages. In addition to the definition of this B-lineage intermediate,the data indicate that a developmental relationship between the B and macrophage lineages is retained during postnatal hematopoiesis. View Publication

Trichostatin A (TSA) and trapoxin (TPX) are potent inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs). TSA is proposed to block the catalytic reaction by chelating a zinc ion in the active-site pocket through its hydroxamic acid group. On the other hand,the epoxyketone is suggested to be the functional group of TPX capable of alkylating the enzyme. We synthesized a novel TPX analogue containing a hydroxamic acid instead of the epoxyketone. The hybrid compound cyclic hydroxamic acid-containing peptide (CHAP) 1 inhibited HDAC1 at low nanomolar concentrations. The HDAC1 inhibition by CHAP1 was reversible as it was by TSA,in contrast to the irreversible inhibition by TPX. CHAP with an aliphatic chain length of five,which corresponded to that of acetylated lysine,was stronger than those with other lengths. These results suggest that TPX is a substrate mimic and that the replacement of the epoxyketone with the hydroxamic acid converted TPX to an inhibitor chelating the zinc like TSA. Interestingly,HDAC6,but not HDAC1 or HDAC4,was resistant to TPX and CHAP1,whereas TSA inhibited these HDACs to a similar extent. HDAC6 inhibition by TPX at a high concentration was reversible,probably because HDAC6 is not alkylated by TPX. We further synthesized the counterparts of all known naturally occurring cyclic tetrapeptides containing the epoxyketone. HDAC1 was highly sensitive to all these CHAPs much more than HDAC6,indicating that the structure of the cyclic tetrapeptide framework affects the target enzyme specificity. These results suggest that CHAP is a unique lead to develop isoform-specific HDAC inhibitors. View Publication

This study analyzes the gene repertoire coding for antibodies to an evolutionary novel immunogenic carbohydrate antigen in mice. The alpha-gal epitope (Gal alpha 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc-R) is an autoantigen,abundantly expressed in wild type mice,but absent in alpha 1,3galactosyltransferase knock-out (KO) mice,where it can induce the production of the anti-Gal antibody. Hybridoma clones secreting anti-Gal were isolated from different mice and their immunoglobulin genes were analyzed. All anti-Gal clones were found to be encoded by the heavy chain gene VH22.1 and light chain gene VK5.1. Moreover,one 'forbidden' anti-Gal clone,produced in a wild type mouse,was also encoded by VH 22.1 and VK 5.1. The genes coding for the different anti-Gal clones were found to contain somatic mutations and different CDR3 domains. These data imply that a highly restricted gene usage combined with junctional diversity and somatic mutations can generate new antibodies that have not been produced in the course of the evolution of a species. View Publication

Cytokines are important in the regulation of haematopoiesis and immune responses,and can influence lymphocyte development. Here we have identified a class I cytokine receptor that is selectively expressed in lymphoid tissues and is capable of signal transduction. The full-length receptor was expressed in BaF3 cells,which created a functional assay for ligand detection and cloning. Conditioned media from activated human CD3+ T cells supported proliferation of the assay cell line. We constructed a complementary DNA expression library from activated human CD3+ T cells,and identified a cytokine with a four-helix-bundle structure using functional cloning. This cytokine is most closely related to IL2 and IL15,and has been designated IL21 with the receptor designated IL21 R. In vitro assays suggest that IL21 has a role in the proliferation and maturation of natural killer (NK) cell populations from bone marrow,in the proliferation of mature B-cell populations co-stimulated with anti-CD40,and in the proliferation of T cells co-stimulated with anti-CD3. View Publication

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The imidazoquinoline R-848,originally identified as a highly effective antiviral agent,has recently been shown to be capable of potent B lymphocyte activation. The B cell-activating properties of R-848 are strikingly similar to the effects of the CD40 ligand CD154. The present study demonstrates that this similarity extends to the intracellular signaling pathways triggered by the compound,although both overlapping and distinct mechanisms of signaling were seen. Like CD40 ligation,R-848 stimulated activation of the stress-activated protein kinases c-Jun kinase and p38 and activated the NF-kappaB family of transcription factors. Both R-848- and CD40-mediated B cell differentiation were dependent upon NF-kappaB activation,although the relative importance of individual NF-kappaB family members appeared to differ between R-848- and CD40-mediated signals. Both signals were partially dependent upon induction of TNF-alpha and IL-6,and the cytoplasmic adaptor molecule TNF receptor-associated factor 2 is involved in both R-848- and CD40-mediated differentiation. View Publication

BACKGROUND Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a serine/threonine protein kinase,the activity of which is inhibited by a variety of extracellular stimuli including insulin,growth factors,cell specification factors and cell adhesion. Consequently,inhibition of GSK-3 activity has been proposed to play a role in the regulation of numerous signalling pathways that elicit pleiotropic cellular responses. This report describes the identification and characterisation of potent and selective small molecule inhibitors of GSK-3. RESULTS SB-216763 and SB-415286 are structurally distinct maleimides that inhibit GSK-3alpha in vitro,with K(i)s of 9 nM and 31 nM respectively,in an ATP competitive manner. These compounds inhibited GSK-3beta with similar potency. However,neither compound significantly inhibited any member of a panel of 24 other protein kinases. Furthermore,treatment of cells with either compound stimulated responses characteristic of extracellular stimuli that are known to inhibit GSK-3 activity. Thus,SB-216763 and SB-415286 stimulated glycogen synthesis in human liver cells and induced expression of a beta-catenin-LEF/TCF regulated reporter gene in HEK293 cells. In both cases,compound treatment was demonstrated to inhibit cellular GSK-3 activity as assessed by activation of glycogen synthase,which is a direct target of this kinase. CONCLUSIONS SB-216763 and SB-415286 are novel,potent and selective cell permeable inhibitors of GSK-3. Therefore,these compounds represent valuable pharmacological tools with which the role of GSK-3 in cellular signalling can be further elucidated. Furthermore,development of similar compounds may be of use therapeutically in disease states associated with elevated GSK-3 activity such as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and neurodegenerative disease. View Publication

The application of multi-parameter flow cytometry for the assessment of T-cell and cytokine functioning has been used by several groups for studying human and mouse samples,although little has been reported for the rat. Here we report the optimisation of immunofluorescent staining for cell surface and intracellular antigens using three-colour flow cytometric analysis to measure the frequency of rat CD3(+)4(+) T-cells that produce IFN-gamma,IL-4 and IL-10. In vitro stimulation of IFN-gamma production required incubation of splenocytes with PMA and ionomycin in the presence of the protein transport inhibitor brefeldin A for 6 h. Three stimulation protocols for IL-4 and IL-10 production were evaluated. In vitro priming of splenic T-cells with antibodies against CD3 and CD28 and recombinant cytokines (IL-2 and IL-4) for 5 days followed by restimulation with PMA and ionomycin was required to stimulate cells to produce either IL-4 or IL-10. Brefeldin A was found to be a more suitable protein transport inhibitor than monensin. This method will be useful for analysing the nature of individual rat cytokine-producing cells in a variety of experimental model systems. View Publication