Immunological detection of proteins phosphorylated at tyrosine in cells stimulated by growth factors or transformed by retroviral-oncogene-coded tyrosine kinases

The receptors for polypeptide growth factors and proteins coded by oncogenes of the src family are endowed with protein kinase activity and share the uncommon property of autophosphorylating at tyrosine residues. It is unclear whether the tyrosine kinase activity is also directed towards other targets of physiological significance. In this work, phosphotyrosine antibodies were used to detect, by Western blots and immunoprecipitation, proteins phosphorylated at tyrosine in fibroblasts either stimulated by growth factors (PDGF and EGF) or transformed by oncogene-coded tyrosine kinases. In stimulated cells the antibodies detected the autophosphorylated receptors, but only trace amounts of other proteins phosphorylated at tyrosine. In fibroblasts transformed by retroviral oncogenes (v-src, v-abl, v-fps or v-fes) proteins other than the corresponding oncogene-coded kinase, were found. A p70 was found to be heavily phosphorylated in fibroblasts transformed by v-src, v-fes and v-fps. A p130 and a p36 were found in cells transformed by v-src and v-abl. A unique p70 was phosphorylated in v-abl-transformed fibroblasts. These proteins were also phosphorylated in vitro in an immunocomplex kinase reaction. This reaction was blocked by the specific kinase inhibitors. These data strongly suggest that tyrosine kinases phosphorylate protein targets other than themselves. These targets are barely detectable in normal cells stimulated by growth factors, where the kinase activity is triggered rapidly and transiently. By contrast, a number of intracellular proteins phosphorylated at tyrosine accumulate in cells transformed by v-onc-coded kinases, endowed with constitutive and non-regulated enzymatic activity.     

Involvement of chondroitin sulphate in preventing adhesive cellular interactions

Glycosaminoglycans isolated from native non-adhesive surfaces of both endothelial and mesothelial origin and from endothelial cells cultured in vitro were analyzed by electrophoresis and characterized by chemical and enzymatic breakdown. All the surfaces examined expose in vivo chondroitin 6-sulphate as the main glycosaminoglycan. Under in vitro culture, the exposure of chondroitin sulphate is reduced. Paper chromatography of hydrolysis products upon degradation by chondroitinase AC shows equal amounts of both 6- and 4-sulphated disaccharides. At the same time, the surfaces lose their non-adhesiveness to leukocytes. The addition of fibroblast growth factor to endothelial monolayers restores both non-adhesiveness to leukocytes and exposure of chondroitin sulphate. These results seem to indicate that the exposure of chondroitin sulphate is important in preventing cellular adhesion.     

Increased GH responsiveness to dopamine receptor stimulation in alcohol addicts during the late withdrawal syndrome

In humans the release of growth hormone (GH) elicited by dopamine (DA) and DA agonists may represent a reliable model to assess change in sensitivity of DA receptors. We now report that in chronic alcoholics, 4–7 days after the suspension of alcohol consumption, the increase of GH response to DA infusion was higher than that seen in non alcoholic volunteers. The specificity of this GH response to DA administration was demonstrated by the use of domperidone, a novel peripheral antagonist of DA receptors. These results suggest the development of hyper-responsiveness of DA receptors involved in the control of GH secretion in chronic alcoholics during the later phases of the “withdrawal syndrome”.     

Y418C: a novel mutation in exon 9 of the glucocerebrosidase gene of a patient with Gaucher disease creates a new Bgl I site

We report a novel mutation in exon 9 of the glucocerebrosidase gene of a patient with Gaucher disease and of Sardinian origin.     

High-resolution solution structure of two members of a conformationally homogeneous combinatorial peptide library based on the classical zinc-finger motif

Summary We describe the high-resolution structure by NMR of two peptides that belong to a combinatorial library based on the zinc-finger motif. The library represents, to the best of our knowledge, the first example of a conformationally homogeneous peptide library and was obtained by introducing random residues in five positions of the -helical portion of a 26-residue consensus peptide (CP1) belonging to the Cys²-Hys² zinc-finger family. The result was shown to be a highly homogeneous -helical library (Bianchi et al., 1995). The structures of the parent compound (CP1) and of a representative member (CP1m) that was selected by screening the library with a monoclonal antibody are compared in detail as an example of the very high stability of the zinc-finger scaffold upon sequence variability. The two peptides exhibit an extremely high degree of structural similarity. The use of this type of conformationally constrained combinatorial library might represent a step forward in the design of peptidomimetics, as it considerably accelerates the process of the identification of the spatial relationship among the pharmacophoric groups.Abbreviations t-Bu tert-butyloxycarbonyl - Fmoc 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl     

Beta-adrenergic stimulation of prostaglandin production by human amnion tissue

Arachidonic acid is released from specific glycerophospholipids in human amnion and is used to synthesize prostaglandins that are involved in parturition. In an investigation of the regulation of prostaglandin production in amnion, the effects of isoproterenol on discs of amnion tissue maintained in vitro were examined. Isoproterenol caused a large but transitory increase in the amount of cyclic AMP in amnion discs and this was accompanied by a sustained stimulation of the release of arachidonic acid (but not palmitic acid or stearic acid) and prostaglandin E2. The dependencies of cyclic AMP accumulation, arachidonic acid mobilization and prostaglandin E2 release on the concentration of isoproterenol were similar, each response was maximal at 10(-6) M isoproterenol and was inhibited by propranolol. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP stimulated the release of prostaglandin E2 from amnion discs. Although prostaglandin E2, when added to amnion discs caused an accumulation of cyclic AMP, it did not appear to mediate isoproterenol-induced accumulation of cyclic AMP since the latter effect was insensitive to indomethacin in concentrations at which prostaglandin production was inhibited greatly. These data support the proposition that catecholamines, found in increasing amounts in amniotic fluid during late gestation, may be regulators of prostaglandin production by the amnion.