Multiple deficiencies underlie NK cell inactivity in lymphotoxin-alpha gene-targeted mice.

We have evaluated the NK cell antitumor activity in lymphotoxin (LT)-deficient mice. Both NK cell-mediated tumor rejection and protection from experimental metastases were significantly compromised in LT-alpha-deficient mice. Analysis of LT-alpha-deficient mice revealed that the absolute number of alphabetaTCR- NK1.1+ NK cells was reduced in bone marrow and thymus, but with overall proportional decreases in other hemopoietic organs. In addition, the antitumor potential of alphabetaTCR- NK1.1+ cells, as determined by their lytic capacity and perforin expression, was reduced 1.5- to 3-fold in LT-alpha-deficient mice, as compared with wild-type mice. Combined defects in NK cell development and effector function contribute to compromised NK cell antitumor function in LT-alpha-deficient mice.     

Antarctic deep-sea coral larvae may be resistant to end-century ocean warming

Coral Reefs - The Western Antarctic Peninsula is home to a diverse assemblage of deep-sea species and is warming faster than any other region in the Southern Hemisphere. This study investigated how...     

An improved understanding of soil Cd risk to humans and low cost methods to phytoextract Cd from contaminated soils to prevent soil Cd risks

We believe greater consideration should be given the agronomic and nutritional/bioavailability factors that influence risk from Cd-contaminated soils. We have argued that the ability of rice to accumulate soil Cd in grain while excluding Fe, Zn and Ca (even though the soil contains 100-times more Zn than Cd) was important in adverse effects of soil Cd is farm families in Asia. Further, polished rice grain is deficient in Fe, Zn and Ca for humans, which promotes Cd absorption into duodenal cells. New kinetic studies clarified that dietary Cd is absorbed into duodenum enterocytes; 109Cd from a single meal remained in the duodenum for up to 16 days; part of the turnover pool 109Cd moved to the liver and kidneys by the end of the 64-day 'chase' period. Thus malnutrition induced by subsistence rice diets caused a higher absorption of dietary Cd and much higher potential risk from soil Cd than other crops. Because rice-induced Fe-Zn-Ca-malnutrition is so important in soil Cd risk, it seems evident that providing nutritional supplements to populations of exposed subsistence rice farmers could protect them against soil Cd during a period of soil remediation. In the long term, high Cd rice soils need to be remediated. Remediation by removal and replacement of contaminated soil is very expensive (on the order of $3 million/ha); while phytoextraction using the high Cd accumulating ecotypes of the Zn-Cd hyperaccumulator, Thlaspi caerulescens, should provide low cost soil Cd remediation.     

Evidence for an internal pool of nucleoside transporters in mammalian reticulocytes.

Comparisons of the site specific binding of nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR) to intact and lysed red cells from various mammalian and avian species suggest the presence of a cytoplasmic pool of nucleoside transporters. In some species the cytoplasmic pool is about 50% of the total (mouse). On the average, the cytoplasmic pool is approx. 20% of the surface pool of NBMPR-binding sites. In sheep reticulocytes, both pools disappear in an energy-dependent manner during the maturation of the reticulocyte in vitro.     

The primary structure of NG2, a novel membrane-spanning proteoglycan

The complete primary structure of the core protein of rat NG2, a large, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan expressed on O2A progenitor cells, has been determined from cDNA clones. These cDNAs hybridize to an mRNA species of 8.9 kbp from rat neural cell lines. The total contiguous cDNA spans 8,071 nucleotides and contains an open reading frame for 2,325 amino acids. The predicted protein is an integral membrane protein with a large extracellular domain (2,224 amino acids), a single transmembrane domain (25 amino acids), and a short cytoplasmic tail (76 amino acids). Based on the deduced amino acid sequence and immunochemical analysis of proteolytic fragments of NG2, the extracellular region can be divided into three domains: an amino terminal cysteine-containing domain which is stabilized by intrachain disulfide bonds, a serine-glycine-containing domain to which chondroitin sulfate chains are attached, and another cysteine-containing domain. Four internal repeats, each consisting of 200 amino acids, are found in the extracellular domain of NG2. These repeats contain a short sequence that resembles the putative Ca(++)-binding region of the cadherins. The sequence of NG2 does not show significant homology with any other known proteins, suggesting that NG2 is a novel species of integral membrane proteoglycan.