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- Astuti, D, et al.
(författare)
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Gene mutations in the succinate dehydrogenase subunit SDHB cause susceptibility to familial pheochromocytoma and to familial paraganglioma.
- 2001
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Ingår i: American Journal of Human Genetics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 69:1, s. 49-54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The pheochromocytomas are an important cause of secondary hypertension. Although pheochromocytoma susceptibility may be associated with germline mutations in the tumor-suppressor genes VHL and NF1 and in the proto-oncogene RET, the genetic basis for most cases of nonsyndromic familial pheochromocytoma is unknown. Recently, pheochromocytoma susceptibility has been associated with germline SDHD mutations. Germline SDHD mutations were originally described in hereditary paraganglioma, a dominantly inherited disorder characterized by vascular tumors in the head and the neck, most frequently at the carotid bifurcation. The gene products of two components of succinate dehydrogenase, SDHC and SDHD, anchor the gene products of two other components, SDHA and SDHB, which form the catalytic core, to the inner-mitochondrial membrane. Although mutations in SDHC and in SDHD may cause hereditary paraganglioma, germline SDHA mutations are associated with juvenile encephalopathy, and the phenotypic consequences of SDHB mutations have not been defined. To investigate the genetic causes of pheochromocytoma, we analyzed SDHB and SDHC, in familial and in sporadic cases. Inactivating SDHB mutations were detected in two of the five kindreds with familial pheochromocytoma, two of the three kindreds with pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma susceptibility, and 1 of the 24 cases of sporadic pheochromocytoma. These findings extend the link between mitochondrial dysfunction and tumorigenesis and suggest that germline SDHB mutations are an important cause of pheochromocytoma susceptibility.
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- Lewis, Cathryn M, et al.
(författare)
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Genome scan meta-analysis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, part II : Schizophrenia
- 2003
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Ingår i: American Journal of Human Genetics. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 73:1, s. 34-48
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Schizophrenia is a common disorder with high heritability and a 10-fold increase in risk to siblings of probands. Replication has been inconsistent for reports of significant genetic linkage. To assess evidence for linkage across studies, rank-based genome scan meta-analysis (GSMA) was applied to data from 20 schizophrenia genome scans. Each marker for each scan was assigned to 1 of 120 30-cM bins, with the bins ranked by linkage scores (1 = most significant) and the ranks averaged across studies (R(avg)) and then weighted for sample size (N(sqrt)[affected casess]). A permutation test was used to compute the probability of observing, by chance, each bin's average rank (P(AvgRnk)) or of observing it for a bin with the same place (first, second, etc.) in the order of average ranks in each permutation (P(ord)). The GSMA produced significant genomewide evidence for linkage on chromosome 2q (PAvgRnk<.000417). Two aggregate criteria for linkage were also met (clusters of nominally significant P values that did not occur in 1,000 replicates of the entire data set with no linkage present): 12 consecutive bins with both P(AvgRnk) and P(ord)<.05, including regions of chromosomes 5q, 3p, 11q, 6p, 1q, 22q, 8p, 20q, and 14p, and 19 consecutive bins with P(ord)<.05, additionally including regions of chromosomes 16q, 18q, 10p, 15q, 6q, and 17q. There is greater consistency of linkage results across studies than has been previously recognized. The results suggest that some or all of these regions contain loci that increase susceptibility to schizophrenia in diverse populations.
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- Mennerick, Steven, et al.
(författare)
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Selective antagonism of 5alpha-reduced neurosteroid effects at GABA(A) receptors
- 2004
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Ingår i: Molecular Pharmacology. - : American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). - 0026-895X .- 1521-0111. ; 65:5, s. 1191-1197
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although neurosteroids have rapid effects on GABA(A) receptors, study of steroid actions at GABA receptors has been hampered by a lack of pharmacological antagonists. In this study, we report the synthesis and characterization of a steroid analog, (3alpha,5alpha)-17-phenylandrost-16-en-3-ol (17PA), that selectively antagonized neurosteroid potentiation of GABA responses. We examined 17PA using the alpha1beta2gamma2 subunit combination expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. 17PA had little or no effect on baseline GABA responses but antagonized both the response augmentation and the direct gating of GABA receptors by 5alpha-reduced potentiating steroids. The effect was selective for 5alpha-reduced potentiating steroids; 5beta-reduced potentiators were only weakly affected. Likewise, 17PA did not affect barbiturate and benzodiazepine potentiation. 17PA acted primarily by shifting the concentration response for steroid potentiation to the right, suggesting the possibility of a competitive component to the antagonism. 17PA also antagonized 5alpha-reduced steroid potentiation and gating in hippocampal neurons and inhibited anesthetic actions in X. laevis tadpoles. Analogous to benzodiazepine site antagonists, the development of neurosteroid antagonists may help clarify the role of GABA-potentiating neurosteroids in health and disease.
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- Wang, Mingde, et al.
(författare)
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3beta-hydroxypregnane steroids are pregnenolone sulfate-like GABA(A) receptor antagonists
- 2002
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Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 22:9, s. 3366-3375
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Endogenous neurosteroids have rapid actions on ion channels, particularly GABA(A) receptors, which are potentiated by nanomolar concentrations of 3alpha-hydroxypregnane neurosteroids. Previous evidence suggests that 3beta-hydroxypregnane steroids may competitively antagonize potentiation induced by their 3alpha diastereomers. Because of the potential importance of antagonists as experimental and clinical tools, we characterized the functional effect of 3beta-hydroxysteroids. Although 3beta-hydroxysteroids reduced the potentiation induced by 3alpha-hydroxysteroids, 3beta-hydroxysteroids acted noncompetitively with respect to potentiating steroids and inhibited the largest degrees of potentiation most effectively. Potentiation by high concentrations of barbiturates was also reduced by 3beta-hydroxysteroids. 3beta-Hydroxysteroids are also direct, noncompetitive GABA(A) receptor antagonists. 3beta-Hydroxysteroids coapplied with GABA significantly inhibited responses to > or =15 microm GABA. The profile of block was similar to that exhibited by sulfated steroids, known blockers of GABA(A) receptors. This direct, noncompetitive effect of 3beta-hydroxysteroids was sufficient to account for the apparent antagonism of potentiating steroids. Mutated receptors exhibiting decreased sensitivity to sulfated steroid block were insensitive to both the direct effects of 3beta-hydroxysteroids on GABA(A) responses and the reduction of potentiating steroid effects. At concentrations that had little effect on GABAergic synaptic currents, 3beta-hydroxysteroids and low concentrations of sulfated steroids significantly reversed the potentiation of synaptic currents induced by 3alpha-hydroxysteroids. We conclude that 3beta-hydroxypregnane steroids are not direct antagonists of potentiating steroids but rather are noncompetitive, likely state-dependent, blockers of GABA(A) receptors. Nevertheless, these steroids may be useful functional blockers of potentiating steroids when used at concentrations that do not affect baseline neurotransmission.
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- Fitzgerald, Jamie, et al.
(författare)
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The N-terminal N5 subdomain of the alpha 3(VI) chain is important for collagen VI microfibril formation
- 2001
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Ingår i: Journal of Biological Chemistry. - 1083-351X. ; 276:1, s. 187-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Collagen VI assembly is unique within the collagen superfamily in that the alpha 1(VI), alpha 2(VI), and alpha 3(VI) chains associate intracellularly to form triple helical monomers, and then dimers and tetramers, which are secreted from the cell. Secreted tetramers associate end-to-end to form the distinctive extracellular microfibrils that are found in virtually all connective tissues. Although the precise protein interactions involved in this process are unknown, the N-terminal globular regions, which are composed of multiple copies of von Willebrand factor type A-like domains, are likely to play a critical role in microfibril formation, because they are exposed at both ends of the tetramers. To explore the role of these subdomains in collagen VI intracellular and extracellular assembly, alpha 3(VI) cDNA expression constructs with sequential N-terminal deletions were stably transfected into SaOS-2 cells, producing cell lines that express alpha 3(VI) chains with N-terminal globular domains containing modules N9-N1, N6-N1, N5-N1, N4-N1, N3-N1, or N1, as well as the complete triple helix and C-terminal globular domain (C1-C5). All of these transfected alpha 3(VI) chains were able to associate with endogenous alpha 1(VI) and alpha 2(VI) to form collagen VI monomers, dimers, and tetramers, which were secreted. Importantly, cells that expressed alpha 3(VI) chains containing the N5 subdomain, alpha 3(VI) N9-C5, N6-C5, and N5-C5, formed microfibrils and deposited a collagen VI matrix. In contrast, cells that expressed the shorter alpha 3(VI) chains, N4-C5, N3-C5, and N1-C5, were severely compromised in their ability to form end-to-end tetramer assemblies and failed to deposit a collagen VI matrix. These data demonstrate that the alpha 3(VI) N5 module is critical for microfibril formation, thus identifying a functional role for a specific type A subdomain in collagen VI assembly.
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- Larsson, Marie, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Amplification of low-frequency antiviral CD8 T cell responses using autologous dendritic cells
- 2002
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Ingår i: AIDS. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0269-9370 .- 1473-5571. ; 16:2, s. 171-180
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective To utilize the potent antigen-presenting capacity of mature dendritic cells (MDC) in order to develop a rapid, sensitive method for quantifying antigen-specific CD8 T cells present at low frequency in peripheral blood.Design Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained from seven HIV-1-positive individuals with low to moderate CD8 T cell responses, including five on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). IFN-γ ELISPOT assays were performed using either monocytes or MDC to present antigens expressed by recombinant vaccinia viruses (r-VV).Methods Peripheral blood-derived monocytes were cultured for 5–6 days in the presence of IL-4 and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, then matured in monocyte-conditioned medium. MDC were infected with r-VV and co-cultured in an ELISPOT assay with autologous monocyte-depleted PBMC.Results Relative to autologous monocytes, MDC amplified detection of antigen-specific CD8 T cells by 2–30-fold in response to antigens from HIV-1, Epstein–Barr virus and cytomegalovirus. Furthermore, antigenic specificities were revealed that had not been detected using standard ELISPOT of PBMC.Conclusion This assay will prove useful for the detection of memory T cells present at low frequency, and may be of interest for identifying subdominant cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes. This method may have broad applications for the detection of antiviral CD8 T cell responses in patient populations in whom such responses have been difficult to detect, including HIV-1-seropositive individuals with advanced disease or undergoing HAART.
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