Human malignant mesothelioma: molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and progression

The continuing identification and elucidation of the molecular defects involved in mesothelioma pathogenesis and progression should lead to better disease control and greater therapeutic options in the near future. Goal of this review article is to summarize the most recent advances in molecular pathogenesis of mesothelioma and discuss possible therapeutic implications of these findings.     

Acute myocardial infarction and heart failure: role of apoptosis

Apoptosis is a key pathologic feature in acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. Experimental animal studies have shown beneficial effects of inhibiting apoptosis. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the apoptotic cascade may be useful in better understanding of heart failure and its management. Not only in vivo detection of apoptosis may prove clinically useful in the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with ischemic heart disease, but anti-apoptotic treatments (specific and non-specific) may be effective in the prevention and treatment of post-infarction remodelling and heart failure.     

Structural basis for triplet repeat disorders: a computational analysis

MOTIVATION: Over a dozen major degenerative disorders, including myotonic distrophy, Huntington's disease and fragile X syndrome, result from unstable expansions of particular trinucleotides. Remarkably, only some of all the possible triplets, namely CAG/CTG, CGG/CCG and GAA/TTC, have been associated with the known pathological expansions. This raises some basic questions at the DNA level. Why do particular triplets seem to be singled out? What is the mechanism for their expansion and how does it depend on the triplet itself? Could other triplets or longer repeats be involved in other diseases? RESULTS: Using several different computational models of DNA structure, we show that the triplets involved in the pathological repeats generally fall into extreme classes. Thus, CAG/CTG repeats are particularly flexible, whereas GCC, CGG and GAA repeats appear to display both flexible and rigid (but curved) characteristics depending on the method of analysis. The fact that (1) trinucleotide repeats often become increasingly unstable when they exceed a length of approximately 50 repeats, and (2) repeated 12-mers display a similar increase in instability above 13 repeats, together suggest that approximately 150 bp is a general threshold length for repeat instability. Since this is about the length of DNA wrapped up in a single nucleosome core particle, we speculate that chromatin structure may play an important role in the expansion mechanism. We furthermore suggest that expansion of a dodecamer repeat, which we predict to have very high flexibility, may play a role in the pathogenesis of the neurodegenerative disorder multiple system atrophy (MSA). CONTACT: pfbaldi@ics.uci.edu, yves@netid.com, brunak@cbs.dtu.dk, gorm@cbs.dtu.dk.     

The eukaryotic initiation factor 5A is involved in the regulation of proliferation and apoptosis induced by interferon-alpha and EGF in human cancer cells

Interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) can induce apoptosis, a process regulated by a complex network of cell factors. Among these, eukaryotic initiation factor-5A (eIF-5A) is peculiar because its activity is modulated by the post-translational formation of the amino acid hypusine. Here we report the effects of IFNalpha and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on apoptosis and eIF-5A activity in human epidermoid oropharyngeal KB and lung H1355 cancer cells. We found that 48-h exposure to 1000 and 2000 IU/ml IFNalpha induced about 50% growth inhibition and apoptosis in H1355 and KB cells, respectively, and the addition of EGF completely antagonized this effect. When IFNalpha induced apoptosis, a hyperactivation of MEK-1 and ERK signalling and a decrease of the hypusine-containing form and, thus, of eIF-5A activity were recorded. The latter effect was again antagonized by the addition of EGF to IFNalpha-pretreated cells, probably through the activation of the EGF-->ERK-dependent pathway, since the addition of the specific MEK-1 inhibitor PD098059 abrogated the recovery of intracellular hypusine content induced by EGF in IFNalpha-pretreated cancer cells. Subsequently, we evaluated if the hypusine synthesis inhibitor (and eIF-5A inactivator) N1-guanyl-1,7-diaminoheptane (GC7) synergized with IFNalpha in the induction of cell growth inhibition and apoptosis. The analysis of the isobologram of IFNalpha and GC7 demonstrated a strong synergism between the two drugs in inducing cell growth inhibition. We also found that GC7 and IFNalpha had a synergistic effect on apoptosis. These data suggest that the apoptosis induced by IFNalpha could be regulated by eIF-5A that, therefore, could represent a useful target for the potentiation of IFNalpha antitumor activity.     

Comprehensive mutagenesis of the C-terminal domain of the M13 gene-3 minor coat protein: the requirements for assembly into the bacteriophage particle

Filamentous bacteriophage assemble at the host membrane in a non-lytic process; the gene-3 minor coat protein (P3) is required for release from the membrane and subsequently, for recognition and infection of a new host. P3 contains at least three distinct domains: two N-terminal domains that mediate host recognition and infection, and a C-terminal domain (P3-C) that is required for release from the host cell following phage assembly and contributes to the structural stability of the phage particle. A comprehensive mutational analysis of the 150 residue P3-C revealed that only 24 side-chains, located within the last 70 residues of sequence, were necessary for efficient incorporation into a wild-type coat. The results reveal that the requirements for the assembly of P3 into the phage particle are quite lax and involve only a few key side-chains. These findings shed light on the functional and structural requirements for filamentous phage assembly, and they may provide guidelines for the engineering of improved coat proteins as scaffolds for phage display technology.     

Angiotensin II phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases in rat anterior pituitary cells

We studied the effects of ANG II on extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 phosphorylation in rat pituitary cells. ANG II increased ERK phosphorylation in a time- and concentration-dependent way. Maximum effect was obtained at 5 min at a concentration of 10-100 nM. The effect of 100 nM ANG II was blocked by the AT1 antagonist DUP-753, by the phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor U-73122, and by the MAPK kinase (MEK) antagonist PD-98059. The ANG II-induced increase in phosphorylated (p)ERK was insensitive to pertussis toxin blockade and PKC depletion or inhibition. The effect was also abrogated by chelating intracellular calcium with BAPTA-AM or TMB-8 by depleting intracellular calcium stores with a 30-min pretreatment with EGTA and by pretreatment with herbimycin A and PP1, two c-Src tyrosine kinase inhibitors. It was attenuated by AG-1478, an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation. Therefore, in the rat pituitary, the increase of pERK is a Gq- and PLC-dependent process, which involves an increase in intracellular calcium and activation of a c-Src tyrosine kinase, transactivation of the EGFR, and the activation of MEK. Finally, the response of ERK activation by ANG II is altered in hyperplastic pituitary cells, in which calcium mobilization evoked by ANG II is also modified.