Flow cytometric fluorescence pulse width analysis of etoposide-induced nuclear enlargement in HCT116 cells

Fluorescence pulse width can provide size information on the fluorescence-emitting particle, such as the nuclei of propidium iodide-stained cells. To analyze nuclear size in the present study, rather than perform the simple doublet discrimination approach usually employed in flow cytometric DNA content analyses, we assessed the pulse width of the propidium iodide fluorescence signal. The anti-cancer drug etoposide is reportedly cytostatic, can induce a strong G2/M arrest, and results in nuclear enlargement. Based on these characteristics, we used etoposide-treated HCT116 cells as our experimental model system. The fluorescence pulse widths (FL2-W) of etoposide-treated (10 μM, 48 h) cells were distributed at higher positions than those of vehicle control, so the peak FL2-W value of etoposide-treated cells appeared at 400 while those of vehicle control cells appeared at 200 and 270. These results were consistent with our microscopic observations. This etoposide-induced increase in FL2-W was more apparent in G2/M phase than other cell cycle phases, suggesting that etoposide-induced nuclear enlargement preferentially occurred in G2/M phase cells rather than in G0/G1 or S phase cells.     

Gene expression profiling between embryonic and larval stages of the silkworm, Bombyx mori

To elucidate the molecular mechanisms associated with metamorphic phenomenon relating to Bombyx mori, an important organism in the sericulture industry, we identified genes that are expressed in the different developmental stages, specifically the embryonic (ES) and larval (LS) stages of B. mori. Of 8230 high-quality ESTs from two full-length enriched cDNA libraries, 3442 of the ES ESTs were coalesced into 1325 clusters, while 4788 were coalesced into 927 clusters. The functional classification of these ESTs based on Gene Ontology showed that the types of genes that are associated with oxidoreductase activity, enzyme inhibition, and larval development were highly observed in LS, whereas the types of genes that are involved in nucleotide binding, enzyme activity, and protein transport activity were highly observed in ES. In addition, when the gene expression profile between ES and LS was examined by counting the EST frequencies in each library, 69 genes were identified as being either up- or down-regulated in the larval stage compared to the embryonic stage (P>0.99) and this was confirmed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The results show that genes involved in proteolysis and peptidolysis, and lipid and carbohydrate metabolism were dramatically up-regulated in LS, while those related to protein metabolism, DNA/RNA, and coenzymes were highly down-expressed. In particular, a GO analysis of these genes revealed that genes that are involved in hydrolase activity were observed to be highly expressed in amount as well as diversity in LS, while those involved in nucleic acid binding were highly expressed in ES. These data may contribute to elucidating genetic events that distinguish the developmental stage and to our understanding of the metamorphosis of B. mori.     

Sulbutiamine Counteracts Trophic Factor Deprivation Induced Apoptotic Cell Death in Transformed Retinal Ganglion Cells

Sulbutiamine is a highly lipid soluble synthetic analogue of vitamin B₁ and is used clinically for the treatment of asthenia. The aim of our study was to demonstrate whether sulbutiamine is able to attenuate trophic factor deprivation induced cell death to transformed retinal ganglion cells (RGC-5). Cells were subjected to serum deprivation for defined periods and sulbutiamine at different concentrations was added to the cultures. Various procedures (e.g. cell viability assays, apoptosis assay, reactive oxygen species analysis, Western blot analysis, flow cytometric analysis, glutathione (GSH) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) measurement) were used to demonstrate the effect of sulbutiamine. Sulbutiamine dose-dependently attenuated apoptotic cell death induced by serum deprivation and stimulated GSH and GST activity. Moreover, sulbutiamine decreased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and AIF. This study demonstrates for the first time that sulbutiamine is able to attenuate trophic factor deprivation induced apoptotic cell death in neuronal cells in culture.     

Outer membrane vesicles as a candidate vaccine against edwardsiellosis

Infection with Edwardsiella tarda, a gram-negative bacterium, causes high morbidity and mortality in both marine and freshwater fish. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) released from gram-negative bacteria are known to play important roles in bacterial pathogenesis and host immune responses, but no such roles for E. tarda OMVs have yet been described. In the present study, we investigated the proteomic composition of OMVs and the immunostimulatory effect of OMVs in a natural host, as well as the efficacy of OMVs when used as a vaccine against E. tarda infection. A total of 74 proteins, from diverse subcellular fractions, were identified in OMVs. These included a variety of important virulence factors, such as hemolysin, OmpA, porin, GAPDH, EseB, EseC, EseD, EvpC, EvpP, lipoprotein, flagellin, and fimbrial protein. When OMVs were administrated to olive flounder, significant induction of mRNAs encoding IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, and IFNγ was observed, compared with the levels seen in fish injected with formalin-killed E. tarda. In a vaccine trial, olive flounder given OMVs were more effectively protected (p<0.0001) than were control fish. Investigation of OMVs may be useful not only for understanding the pathogenesis of E. tarda but also in development of an effective vaccine against edwardsiellosis.     

The relevance of tissue thiol histochemistry to diagnostic hematopathology

Expression analyses suggest that alterations of the antioxidant state of some diffuse large B-cell lymphomas can assist prognosis; reversibly oxidized thiols may serve as a surrogate marker for identifying such cases. Little is known about the distribution of free thiols and reversibly oxidized thiols in human tissues. We developed a staining technique that enables visualization of tissue thiols in situ using bright field microscopy and validated it using gastrointestinal tissue specimens. We used our thiol staining technique to assess benign tonsillectomy and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma specimens. The gastrointestinal series revealed the presence of free thiols within epithelial cells and cells of the lamina propria. Staining for reversibly oxidized thiols was robust in gastric foveolar cells, intestinal goblet cells and the mucus they produce. Tonsillectomy specimens exhibited diffuse presence of free thiols. Staining for reversibly oxidized thiols was confined to germinal center macrophages and sinus histiocytes. Among the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma specimens, we observed strong staining for free thiols within malignant cells. By contrast to benign B-cells, the malignant cells demonstrated pronounced and diffuse staining for reversibly oxidized thiols. We demonstrated intrinsic differences between benign and malignant cells.     

Polymerized collagen inhibits fibroblast proliferation via a mechanism involving the formation of a beta1 integrin-protein phosphatase 2A-tuberous sclerosis complex 2 complex that suppresses S6K1 activity

Polymerized type I collagen suppresses fibroblast proliferation. Previous studies have implicated inhibition of fibroblast proliferation with polymerized collagen-mediated suppression of S6K1, but the molecular mechanism of the critical negative feedback loop has not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that polymerized collagen suppresses G(1)/S phase transition and fibroblast proliferation by a novel mechanism involving the formation of a beta1 integrin-protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)-tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) complex that represses S6K1 activity. In response to fibroblast interaction with polymerized collagen, beta1 integrin forms a complex with PP2A that targets TSC2 as a substrate. PP2A represses the level of TSC2 phosphorylation and maintains TSC2 in an activated state. Activated TSC2 negatively regulates the downstream kinase S6K1 and inhibits G(1)/S transit. Knockdown of TSC2 enables fibroblasts to overcome the anti-proliferative properties of polymerized collagen. Furthermore, we show that this reduction in TSC2 and S6K1 phosphorylation occurs largely independent of Akt. Although S6K1 activity was markedly suppressed by polymerized collagen, we found that minimal changes in Akt activity occurred. We demonstrate that up-regulation of Akt by overexpression of constitutively active phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase p110 subunit had minor effects on TSC2 and S6K1 phosphorylation. These findings demonstrate that polymerized collagen represses fibroblast proliferation by a mechanism involving the formation of a beta1 integrin-PP2A-TSC2 complex that negatively regulates S6K1 and inhibits G(1)/S phase transition.     

Effects of PEGylated scFv antibodies against Plasmodium vivax duffy binding protein on the biological activity and stability in vitro

Duffy binding protein (DBP) plays a critical role in Plasmodium vivax invasion of human red blood cells. We previously reported a single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) that was specific to P. vivax DBP (PvDBP). However, the stabilization and the half-life of scFvs have not been studied. Here, we investigated the effect of PEGylated scFvs on their biological activity and stability in vitro. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that three clones (SFDBII-12, -58, and -92) were formed as dimers (about 70 kDa) with PEGylation. Clone SFDBII-58 gave the highest yield of PEGylated scFv. Binding analysis using BIAcore between DBP and scFv showed that both SFDBII-12 and -58 were decreased approximately by two folds at the level of binding affinity to DBP after PEGylation. However, the SFDBII-92 clone still showed a relatively high level of binding affinity (KD=1.02 x 10(-7) M). Binding inhibition assay showed that PEGylated scFv was still able to competitively bind the PvDBP and play a critical role in inhibiting the interactions between PvDBP protein expressed on the surface of Cos-7 cells and Duffy receptor on the surface of erythrocytes. When both scFvs and their PEGylated counterparts were exposed to trypsin, scFv was completely degraded only after 24 h, whereas 35% of PEGylated scFvs remained intact, maintaining their stability against the proteolytic attack of trypsin until 72 h. Taken together, these results suggest that the PEGylated scFvs retain their stability against proteolytic enzymes in vivo, with no significant loss in their binding affinity to target antigen, DBP.     

Synthesis and antifungal activity of 6-arylamino-phthalazine-5,8-diones and 6,7-bis(arylthio)-phthalazine-5,8-diones

6-Arylamino-phthalazine-5,8-diones and 6,7-bis(arylthio)-phthalazine-5,8-diones were synthesized and tested for in vitro antifungal activity against two pathogenic strains of fungi. Among those tested, many compounds showed good antifungal activity. The results suggest that phthalazine-5,8-diones would be potent antifungal agents.