Troglitazone exhibits immunomodulatory activity on the cytokine production of activated human lymphocytes.

Troglitazone (TGL), a thiazolidinedione compound that improves the response of peripheral target tissue to insulin, also has anti-inflammatory properties, a potential means of protection from Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes. In order to test the ability of TGL to affect cytokine production, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were exposed to TGL in the presence or absence of a polyclonal activator (PHA) and the production of cytokines assayed. TGL enhanced PHA response, promoted secretion of the cytokines granulocyte and macrophage colony-stimulating factor and leukaemia inhibitory factor and inhibited tumour necrosis factor-alpha secretion, consistent with causing Th-2 differentiation in T-cells. These results suggest that TGL is capable of modulating cytokine production and could therefore influence Th1/Th2 differentiation.     

A network-based approach to identify substrate classes of bacterial glycosyltransferases

Background

Bacterial interactions with the environment- and/or host largely depend on the bacterial glycome. The specificities of a bacterial glycome are largely determined by glycosyltransferases (GTs), the enzymes involved in transferring sugar moieties from an activated donor to a specific substrate. Of these GTs their coding regions, but mainly also their substrate specificity are still largely unannotated as most sequence-based annotation flows suffer from the lack of characterized sequence motifs that can aid in the prediction of the substrate specificity.

Results

In this work, we developed an analysis flow that uses sequence-based strategies to predict novel GTs, but also exploits a network-based approach to infer the putative substrate classes of these predicted GTs. Our analysis flow was benchmarked with the well-documented GT-repertoire of Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 11168 and applied to the probiotic model Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG to expand our insights in the glycosylation potential of this bacterium. In L. rhamnosus GG we could predict 48 GTs of which eight were not previously reported. For at least 20 of these GTs a substrate relation was inferred.

Conclusions

We confirmed through experimental validation our prediction of WelI acting upstream of WelE in the biosynthesis of exopolysaccharides. We further hypothesize to have identified in L. rhamnosus GG the yet undiscovered genes involved in the biosynthesis of glucose-rich glycans and novel GTs involved in the glycosylation of proteins. Interestingly, we also predict GTs with well-known functions in peptidoglycan synthesis to also play a role in protein glycosylation.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-349) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Mutations in Multidomain Protein MEGF8 Identify a Carpenter Syndrome Subtype Associated with Defective Lateralization

Carpenter syndrome is an autosomal-recessive multiple-congenital-malformation disorder characterized by multisuture craniosynostosis and polysyndactyly of the hands and feet; many other clinical features occur, and the most frequent include obesity, umbilical hernia, cryptorchidism, and congenital heart disease. Mutations of RAB23, encoding a small GTPase that regulates vesicular transport, are present in the majority of cases. Here, we describe a disorder caused by mutations in multiple epidermal-growth-factor-like-domains 8 (MEGF8), which exhibits substantial clinical overlap with Carpenter syndrome but is frequently associated with abnormal left-right patterning. We describe five affected individuals with similar dysmorphic facies, and three of them had either complete situs inversus, dextrocardia, or transposition of the great arteries; similar cardiac abnormalities were previously identified in a mouse mutant for the orthologous Megf8. The mutant alleles comprise one nonsense, three missense, and two splice-site mutations; we demonstrate in zebrafish that, in contrast to the wild-type protein, the proteins containing all three missense alterations provide only weak rescue of an early gastrulation phenotype induced by Megf8 knockdown. We conclude that mutations in MEGF8 cause a Carpenter syndrome subtype frequently associated with defective left-right patterning, probably through perturbation of signaling by hedgehog and nodal family members. We did not observe any subject with biallelic loss-of function mutations, suggesting that some residual MEGF8 function might be necessary for survival and might influence the phenotypes observed.     

Drinking among medical students: a questionnaire survey.

To assess the prevalence of drinking among medical students a questionnaire on smoking, exercise, drinking, and weight was distributed among the students available. A total of 260 replies were received from an estimated available population of 350 students (134 men and 126 women). The mean alcohol consumption obtained by a quantity-frequency measure was 20.5 units/week for male students and 14.6 units/week for female students. Retrospective diary reports showed mean (SE) consumptions of 18 (2) units/week for men (n = 134) and 11 (1) units/week for women (n = 126). Consumption among the men closely matched consumption among men matched for age in the general population. Women, however, drank more than women matched for age. Male and female medical students exceeded the suggested maximum for their sex in equal proportions. Quantity-frequency data showed that 31 (23%) men drank over 35 units/week and 28 (22%) women drank over 21 units/week. Of the 59 students exceeding these limits, 51 responded positively to a standard screening questionnaire for alcohol abuse. Forty students reported that they might have a drinking problem, and 138 reported that alcohol had affected their academic performance at some time; 17 of these were affected frequently. The students suggested sensible maximum consumption figures for health education. Smoking was associated with heavy drinking, especially among the women. These results suggest that some medical students are compromising their future health and their academic performance through excessive drinking.     

Basal body stability and ciliogenesis requires the conserved component Poc1

Centrioles are the foundation for centrosome and cilia formation. The biogenesis of centrioles is initiated by an assembly mechanism that first synthesizes the ninefold symmetrical cartwheel and subsequently leads to a stable cylindrical microtubule scaffold that is capable of withstanding microtubule-based forces generated by centrosomes and cilia. We report that the conserved WD40 repeat domain–containing cartwheel protein Poc1 is required for the structural maintenance of centrioles in Tetrahymena thermophila. Furthermore, human Poc1B is required for primary ciliogenesis, and in zebrafish, DrPoc1B knockdown causes ciliary defects and morphological phenotypes consistent with human ciliopathies. T. thermophila Poc1 exhibits a protein incorporation profile commonly associated with structural centriole components in which the majority of Poc1 is stably incorporated during new centriole assembly. A second dynamic population assembles throughout the cell cycle. Our experiments identify novel roles for Poc1 in centriole stability and ciliogenesis.     

Adiponectin stimulates proliferation and cytokine secretion in colonic epithelial cells

Adiponectin is a recently described mediator secreted by adipose tissue. Here we report the growth promoting and pro-inflammatory actions of adiponectin on colonic epithelial cancer cells. Full-length and globular adiponectin produced an identical stimulation of HT-29 cell growth that was blocked by inhibition of adenylate cyclase and protein kinase A and partially inhibited by a pan-specific protein kinase C inhibitor, but was unaffected by specific inhibition of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) or p38 MAP kinase. Globular adiponectin but not full-length adiponectin significantly increased the secretion and mRNA levels of IL-8, GM-CSF and MCP-1. Globular adiponectin doubled IL-1beta-stimulated IL-8 and GM-CSF secretion. Adiponectin-stimulated cytokine secretion was blocked by pharmacological inhibitors of NF-kappaB, ERK and p38 MAP kinase. Globular adiponectin increased phosphorylation of both ERK and p38 MAP kinase and increased the nuclear translocation of active NF-kappaB. Adiponectin has pro-proliferative and pro-inflammatory actions on colonic epithelial cells; these appear to be differentially activated by the adiponectin isoforms. Adiponectin may have a role in the regulation of gastrointestinal mucosal function, inflammation and colon carcinogenesis.     

Genetic interaction of BBS1 mutations with alleles at other BBS loci can result in non-Mendelian Bardet-Biedl syndrome

Bardet-Biedl syndrome is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous disorder caused by mutations in at least seven loci (BBS1-7), five of which are cloned (BBS1, BBS2, BBS4, BBS6, and BBS7). Genetic and mutational analyses have indicated that, in some families, a combination of three mutant alleles at two loci (triallelic inheritance) is necessary for pathogenesis. To date, four of the five known BBS loci have been implicated in this mode of oligogenic disease transmission. We present a comprehensive analysis of the spectrum, distribution, and involvement in non-Mendelian trait transmission of mutant alleles in BBS1, the most common BBS locus. Analyses of 259 independent families segregating a BBS phenotype indicate that BBS1 participates in complex inheritance and that, in different families, mutations in BBS1 can interact genetically with mutations at each of the other known BBS genes, as well as at unknown loci, to cause the phenotype. Consistent with this model, we identified homozygous M390R alleles, the most frequent BBS1 mutation, in asymptomatic individuals in two families. Moreover, our statistical analyses indicate that the prevalence of the M390R allele in the general population is consistent with an oligogenic rather than a recessive model of disease transmission. The distribution of BBS oligogenic alleles also indicates that all BBS loci might interact genetically with each other, but some genes, especially BBS2 and BBS6, are more likely to participate in triallelic inheritance, suggesting a variable ability of the BBS proteins to interact genetically with each other.