Isolation of cell-surface glycopeptides from bovine cerebral cortex that inhibit cell growth and protein synthesis in normal but not in transformed cells.

Glycopeptides were isolated from the cell surfaces of bovine cerebral cortex that could inhibit increase in cell numbers in tissue culture and cellular protein synthesis. This cell growth inhibition apparently affected all cells exposed, could completely block cell division in a reversible manner and synchronized BHK-21 cell cultures. Polyoma-virus-transformed BHK-21 cells were completely insensitive to the inhibitor. Fractionation of the inhibitor on a Bio-Gel P-100 column revealed two peaks of biologically active material eluting at apparent molecular weights of 45 000 and 10 000 with A 1cm,280 1% 11.0. Affinity purification of the inhibitory fractions on a Ulex europaeus agglutination I lectin column resulted in retention of the inhibitory activity, suggesting the inhibitor material was a glycopeptide. Subsequent elution with 0.10 M-fucose resulted in a 244-fold increase in the specific biological activity over the starting material. Although purified from bovine brain, the material could inhibit baby-hamster kidney cell protein synthesis by 50% at a concentration of 5 x 10(6) molecules per target cell. Analysis by competitive radioimmunoassay or immunoadsorption indicated that the bovine inhibitor was structurally related to, although not necessarily identical with, a similar inhibitory glycopeptide preparation that we had previously isolated from mouse brain.     

Poliovirus mutant that does not selectively inhibit host cell protein synthesis.

A poliovirus type I (Mahoney strain) mutant was obtained by inserting three base pairs into an infectious cDNA clone. The extra amino acid encoded by the insertion was in the amino-terminal (protein 8) portion of the P2 segment of the polyprotein. The mutant virus makes small plaques on HeLa and monkey kidney (CV-1) cells at all temperatures. It lost the ability to mediate the selective inhibition of host cell translation which ordinarily occurs in the first few hours after infection. As an apparent consequence, the mutant synthesizes far less protein than does wild-type virus. In mutant-infected CV-1 cells enough protein was produced to permit a normal course of RNA replication, but the yield of progeny virus was very low. In mutant-infected HeLa cells there was a premature cessation of both cellular and viral protein synthesis followed by a premature halt of viral RNA synthesis. This nonspecific translational inhibition was distinguishable from wild-type-mediated inhibition and did not appear to be part of an interferon or heat shock response. Because the mutant is recessive, our results imply that (at least in HeLa cells) wild-type poliovirus not only actively inhibits translation of cellular mRNAs, but also avoids early inhibition of its own protein synthesis. Cleavage of the cap-binding complex protein P220, which has been associated with the selective inhibition of capped mRNA translation, did not occur in mutant-infected cells. This result supports the hypothesis that cleavage of P220 plays an important role in normal poliovirus-mediated translational inhibition.     

G2 cell cycle arrest induced by glycopeptides isolated from the bovine cerebral cortex

The ability of glycopeptides, isolated from bovine cerebral cortex, to alter cell division was studied by cell-cycle analyses. The results showed that glycopeptides arrested baby hamster kidney (BHK)-21 cells and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in the G2 phase of the cell cycle. Upon removal of the growth inhibition from arrested BHK-21 cells, the mitotic index in colchicine-treated cultures increased from 5 to 40% within 6 h and the increase in mitotic activity was accompanied by a complete doubling of all arrested cells within this 6- h time period. Determination of DNA content in growth-arrested BHK-21 cells showed that growth-arrested cells contained about twice the DNA of control cell cultures. Although CHO cells treated in a like manner with growth inhibitor could not be arrested for the same length of time as BHK-21 cells (18 h vs. 72 h before initiation of escape) and to the same degree (60% of the cell population vs. 99% of BHK-21 cells), the escape kinetics of CHO cells did indicate a G2 arrest. Approximately 3.5 h after escape began, CHO cell numbers in treated cultures attained the cell numbers found in control cultures. This rapid growth phase occurring in less than 4 h indicated that the growth inhibitor induced a G2 arrest-point in CHO cells that was not lethal since the entire arrested cell population divided.     

Mixed lymphocyte reactions: augmentation by drugs that inhibit stimulator cell protein synthesis.

Inhibiting the protein synthesis of F1 stimulator cells in a mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) can enhance the DNA synthetic response and cytotoxic activity of the responder parental lymphocytes, independent of the number of stimulator cells used. Thus stimulator lymphocytes act not only as a source of antigen but play an additional regulatory role in the MLR.     

Characterization of three mouse monoclonal antibodies that react with high-molecular-mass glycopeptides isolated from F9 mouse teratocarcinoma cells

Three IgM mouse monoclonal antibodies, NL-9, Thy-22, and HL-5, which were produced primarily against human hematopoietic cells, were tested for their reactivity with various mouse cell lines and were found to react predominantly with mouse embryonal carcinoma cells. Thy-22 reacted with 2-cell-stage mouse embryos, whereas the other two antibodies were not reactive at this stage. All three antibodies, however, reacted with 8-cell-stage embryos. At the blastocyst stage, Thy-22 reacted with the entire surface of the trophectoderm cells, whereas the reactivity of NL-9 and HL-5 was weaker and was polarized on the mural trophectoderm. Immunohistological examination of 6th-day mouse embryos using anti-complement immunofluorescence demonstrated that the embryonic ectoderm was positive for all three antibodies: the reaction of NL-9 and Thy-22 was uniformly distributed over these cells, whereas HL-5 predominantly stained the luminal aspects of the cells lining the proamniotic cavity. Visceral-endoderm cells and trophoblastic cells were positive with all three monoclonal antibodies, whereas the parietal endoderm, extraembryonic ectoderm, and ectoplacental cone were negative. In 19th-day fetuses and adult tissues, certain epithelial cells were stained by these three antibodies. The biochemical nature of the antigens detected was also investigated. Farr's assay showed that both NL-9 and Thy-22 precipitated approximately 10% of the high-molecular-mass glycopeptides isolated from F9 cells, while HL-5 reacted with about 5% of these glycopeptides. The reactivity of the three antibodies against the glycopeptides was completely inhibited by the presence of X-hapten-conjugated silica.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

An inhibitor of protein synthesis prepared by protease treatment of mouse cerebral cortex cells

A substance was isolated from mouse brain cortical tissue that inhibits both cell division and protein synthesis by cells in culture. The inhibitor was released from cerebral cortex tissue by mild protease treatment. A single exposure of cells to as little as 1.25 μg of the isolated material was sufficient to inhibit BHK-21 cell protein synthesis by 20%. Higher concentrations and continual exposure resulted in 87% reduction in protein synthesis. The inhibition was shown to be independent of amino acid uptake and most effective against primary mouse embryo fibroblasts and neonatal mouse brain cell suspensions. Cells previously adapted to culture or transformed cells derived from the nervous system were less affected by, or refractory to, the inhibitor. The substance was shown to be nondialyzable, relatively resistant to thermal inactivation and the inhibitor activity was not removed by chloroform extraction. Two active fractions were identified by Bio-Gel P-100 chromatography and the protein synthetic inhibitor was removed by affinity chromatography with $\text{Ulex}$$\text{europus}$ agglutinin.     

Purification of a cell growth inhibitor from bovine cerebral cortex cells

A glycopeptide, isolated from bovine cerebral cortex cells and added in only nanogram levels to cells in culture, has been shown to inhibit both cell protein synthesis and cell division. When purified by gel filtration and $\text{Ulex}$$\text{europaeus}$ lectin affinity chromatography, the radioiodinated preparation was subjected to high resolution isoelectric focusing and shown to contain three species of macromolecules. The glycopeptide focusing at pH 8.1 comprised over 75% of the radioiodinated material and possessed inhibitory activity against both cell protein synthesis and cell division. A second species that focused at pH 8.3 was also found to be inhibitory to cell metabolism and may have represented a variant of the major glycopeptide.     

Characterization of yeastolate fractions that promote insect cell growth and recombinant protein production

Yeastolate is effective in promoting growth of insect cell and enhancing production of recombinant protein, thus it is a key component in formulating serum-free medium for insect cell culture. However, yeastolate is a complex mixture and identification of the constituents responsible for cell growth promotion has not yet been achieved. This study used sequential ethanol precipitation to fractionate yeastolate ultrafiltrate (YUF) into six fractions (F1–F6). Fractions were characterized and evaluated for their growth promoting activities. Fraction F1 was obtained by 65% ethanol precipitation. When supplemented to IPL-41 medium at a concentration of 1 g L⁻¹, fraction F1 showed 71% Sf-9 cell growth improvement and 22% β-galactosidase production enhancement over YUF (at 1 g L⁻¹ in IPL-41 medium). However, the superiority of F1 over YUF on promoting cell growth gradually diminished as its concentration in IPL-41 medium increased. At 4 g L⁻¹, the relative activity of F1 was 93% whereas YUF was 100% at the same concentration. At 1 g L⁻¹, four other fractions (F2–F5) precipitated with higher ethanol concentrations and F6, the final supernatant, showed growth promoting activities ranging from 32 to 80% as compared to YUF (100%). Interestingly, a synergistic effect on promoting cell growth was observed when F6 was supplemented in IPL-41 medium in presence of high concentrations of F1 (>3 g L⁻¹). The results suggest that ethanol precipitation was a practical method to fractionate growth-promoting components from YUF, but more than one components contributed to the optimum growth of Sf-9 cells. Further fractionation, isolation and identification of individual active components would be needed to better understand the role of these components on the cell metabolism.     

Promoter competitors as novel antifibrotics that inhibit transforming growth factor-beta induction of collagen and noncollagen protein synthesis in fibroblasts.

A single-stranded 27-mer phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide (ssPT) containing the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) response element was synthesized. Rat fetal lung fibroblasts were stably transfected with the ColCat 3.6 plasmid, which contains a portion of the 5'-flanking region of the proalpha1(I) collagen gene linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene. The cells were transiently transfected with the modified oligodeoxynucleotides in both the presence and absence of bleomycin, a fibrogenic antineoplastic agent. At 50 microg ssPT, the bleomycin-induced increase in CAT activity was abrogated. The ability of ssPT to inhibit collagen synthesis in rat fetal lung fibroblasts was determined. Single-stranded PTs inhibited both collagen synthesis and noncollagen protein synthesis induced by TGF-beta1, the mediator of the bleomycin fibrogenic effect. Inflamed granulation tissue fibroblasts were prepared from polyvinyl alcohol sponges implanted in the backs of rats. These fibroblasts were treated with various doses of ssPTs in the presence and absence of TGF-beta1. Single-stranded PTs also blocked both the TGF-beta1-induced increase in collagen synthesis and noncollagen synthesis in these fibroblasts. However, the TGF-beta1-induced increase in collagen and noncollagen protein synthesis was not blocked by ssPTs containing a mutated TGF-beta response element. In addition, ssPT did not significantly alter the basal levels of collagen and noncollagen protein synthesis in rat lung fibroblasts or in granuloma derived fibroblasts. Since dexamethasone was also able to block the TGF-beta1-induced increase in collagen and noncollagen protein synthesis (Meisler et al., [1997] J. Invest. Dermatol. 108:285-289), these data indicate that phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide antifibrotic agents mimic the inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids on collagen synthesis without the untoward side effects of these steroids.     

Polyribosome disaggregation and cell-free protein synthesis in preparations from cerebral cortex of hyperphenylalaninemic rats

Abstract— Seven-day-old rats were injected intraperitoneally with l -phenylalanine (1 g/kg) and the time course of brain polyribosome disaggregation and changes in brain levels of phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine were determined. Disaggregation of brain polyribosomes preceded the increase in levels of phenylalanine in brain, and followed the same time course as depletion of tryptophan from brain. The effects of several metabolites of phenylalanine (which are formed in phenylketonuria) on protein synthesis in vitro was determined for brain and liver systems. None of the compounds tested was inhibitory at concentrations below 10 mM and in all cases hepatic protein synthesis was more sensitive to inhibition than was the corresponding system from brain. Ribosomal dimers, formed in brain after injection of phenylalanine, were incapable of supporting high levels of protein synthesis in vitro, a finding that suggested that the inhibition of protein synthesis in vitro in cell-free systems of brain tissue after injection of phenylalanine into young rats was mediated by disaggregation of brain polyribosomes associated with tryptophan deficiency in brain.     

Characterization of fucosyl glycopeptides from cell surface and cellular material of rat fibroblasts

Approximately 70% of fucose-labeled glycopeptides from the cell surface and cellular material of rat fibroblasts (3Y1B cells) were hydrolyzed by endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase D in the presence of neuraminidase, β-glactosidase and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase. Structure of the suspceptible glycopeptides were found to be very similar to non-membrane glycopeptides of the complex heteropolysaccharide unit, such as the sialylated glycopeptides of thyroglobulin. On the other hand, the resistant glycopeptides were also refractory toward endo-β-N-acethylglucosaminidase H and α-mannosidase, and appeared to be a mixture of glycopeptides with unique structures.     

Separation and characterization of low-molecular-weight nuclear RNA species that inhibit cell-free protein synthesis

Various RNA fractions were isolated from nuclei of 12-day lactating rat mammary glands and examined for their ability to inhibit cell-free protein synthesis. Although total nuclear RNA was generally inactive, material contained in the poly(A)⁺ nuclear RNA fraction and the low-molecular-weight RNA derived from total nuclear RNA by sucrose gradient centrifugation, inhibited the translation of several mRNAs but not poly(U) or poly(A). Separation of the small nuclear RNAs by preparative polyacrylamide-urea gel electrophoresis allowed the identification of at least three active inhibitor RNA species. These differed both with respect to their ability to inhibit protein synthesis, and in their mechanism of action. While two of the RNA species inhibited elongation the other inhibited initiation of protein synthesis.     

Separation and characterization of low-molecular-weight nuclear RNA species that inhibit cell-free protein synthesis

Various RNA fractions were isolated from nuclei of 12-day lactating rat mammary glands and examined for their ability to inhibit cell-free protein synthesis. Although total nuclear RNA was generally inactive, material contained in the poly(A)+ nuclear RNA fraction and the low-molecular-weight RNA derived from total nuclear RNA by sucrose gradient centrifugation, inhibited the translation of several mRNAs but not poly(U) or poly(A). Separation of the small nuclear RNAs by preparative polyacrylamide-urea gel electrophoresis allowed the identification of at least three active inhibitor RNA species. These differed both with respect to their ability to inhibit protein synthesis, and in their mechanism of action. While two of the RNA species inhibited elongation the other inhibited initiation of protein synthesis.     

Oligonucleotides antisense to catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase inhibit mouse mammary epithelial cell DNA synthesis

Mouse mammary epithelial cells were plated onto 24-well culture plates (50,000 per well), allowed to attach and serum starved for 24 h. Following serum starvation, DNA synthesis was induced by the addition of 10% fetal calf serum and determined by a 1-h pulse with [3H]thymidine from 17 to 18 h after serum addition. Addition of oligonucleotides antisense to the translation start region of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (kinase A) mRNA inhibited thymidine incorporation into DNA (total or percentage of cells incorporating thymidine, as measured by autoradiography). This inhibition was apparent whether compared to controls with no oligonucleotide addition, sense oligonucleotides, or mismatch oligonucleotides. Enzymatic assays indicated that the antisense oligonucleotides lowered kinase A activity in cells. Time course studies indicated that the inhibition in DNA synthesis was not an artifact of the time at which DNA synthesis was estimated. Long-term (4 day) cultures indicated that effects on induction of DNA synthesis were reflected in long-term cell proliferation.     

Changes in cell-surface fucose-containing glycopeptides and adhesion of cultured intestinal epithelial cells as a function of cell density.

Confluent cultured intestinal epithelial cells displayed greater adhesion to the substratum than did subconfluent cells. Subconfluent and confluent cells were labelled with [3H]fucose for 24h and the cell-surface components were released by mild Pronase treatment. After extensive Pronase digestion, cell-surface and cell-residue glycopeptides were fractionated on Bio-Gel P-6. The cell surface contained a higher proportion of lower-molecular-weight glycopeptides than the residue. No significant difference in elution pattern was found between total cell-surface glycopeptides of subconfluent and confluent cells. However, confluent cells contained almost twice as much [3H]-fucose-labelled glycopeptides that were bound to concanavalin A-Sepharose and were subsequently eluted with 20mM-methyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside as subconfluent cells. When the bound glycopeptides were chromatographed on Bio-Gel P-6, it was found that confluent cells contained a larger proportion of lower-molecular-weight glycopeptides than subconfluent cells. This difference in size was eliminated after treatment of glycopeptides with sialidase. When growth of subconfluent cells was inhibited with a non-toxic concentration of retinoic acid, no significant effect on the elution pattern of [3H]fucose-labelled glycopeptides was observed on either Bio-Gel P-6 or concanavalin A-Sepharose. No significant difference was found in the total [3H]fucose-labelled glycoproteins from subconfluent and confluent cells by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. It is suggested that the differences in [3H]fucose-labelled glycopeptides between subconfluent and confluent cells are cell-density-dependent rather than growth-dependent, and that these differences are likely to result from some changes in glycosylation mechanism(s). Furthermore, the differences in cell-surface glycopeptides may be related to the changes in the adhesion of the cells to the substratum.     

A new rapid and sensitive bioluminescence assay for antibiotics that inhibit protein synthesis

N aveh , A., P otasman , I., B assan , H. & U litzur , S. 1984. A new rapid and sensitive bioluminescence assay for antibiotics that inhibit protein synthesis. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 56 , 457–463.
A new sensitive, rapid and simple bioluminescence assay for antibiotics inhibiting protein synthesis is described. In this assay the ability of the tested antibiotic to inhibit the de novo synthesis of the enzymes participating in the bacterial luminescence system is determined by means of a dark variant of a luminous bacterium that undergoes prompt induction of the luminescence system with certain DNA-intercalating agents. Upon induction, the in vivo luminescence of the dark variant is increased more than 50-fold within 30 min. Antibiotics that block the de novo synthesis of protein limit the development of luminescence at a level that was found to be a function of the antibiotic concentration. The minimum detectable concentration of antibiotics in the bioluminescence test, after 45–60 min of incubation, was 0.1 μg ml for streptomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, lincomycin and chlorampheni-col and 0.3 μg/ml for neomycin, clindamycin and spectinomycin. The new bioluminescence test has been used to assay these antibiotics in serum.