| 1. |
- Dondalska, Aleksandra, et al.
(author)
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Amelioration of Compound 48/80-Mediated Itch and LL-37-Induced Inflammation by a Single-Stranded Oligonucleotide
- 2020
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In: Frontiers in Immunology. - : FRONTIERS MEDIA SA. - 1664-3224. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Numerous inflammatory skin disorders display a high prevalence of itch. The Mas-related G protein coupled receptor X2 (MRGPRX2) has been shown to modulate itch by inducing non-IgE-mediated mast cell degranulation and the release of endogenous inducers of pruritus. Various substances collectively known as basic secretagogues, which include inflammatory peptides and certain drugs, can trigger MRGPRX2 and thereby induce pseudo-allergic reactions characterized by histamine and protease release as well as inflammation. Here, we investigated the capacity of an immunomodulatory single-stranded oligonucleotide (ssON) to modulate IgE-independent mast cell degranulation and, more specifically, its ability to inhibit the basic secretagogues compound 48/80 (C48/80)-and LL-37in vitroandin vivo. We examined the effect of ssON on MRGPRX2 activationin vitroby measuring degranulation in a human mast cell line (LAD2) and calcium influx in MRGPRX2-transfected HEK293 cells. To determine the effect of ssON on itch, we performed behavioral studies in established mouse models and collected skin biopsies for histological analysis. Additionally, with the use of a rosacea mouse model and RT-qPCR, we investigated the effect on ssON on LL-37-induced inflammation. We reveal that both mast cell degranulation and calcium influx in MRGPRX2 transfected HEK293 cells, induced by the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 and the basic secretagogue C48/80, are effectively inhibited by ssON in a dose-dependent manner. Further, ssON demonstrates a capability to inhibit LL-37 and C48/80 activationin vivoin two mouse models. We show that intradermal injection of ssON in mice is able to block itch induced via C48/80 in a dose-dependent manner. Histological staining revealed that ssON inhibits acute mast cell degranulation in murine skin treated with C48/80. Lastly, we show that ssON treatment ameliorates LL-37-induced inflammation in a rosacea mouse model. Since there is a need for new therapeutics targeting non-IgE-mediated activation of mast cells, ssON could be used as a prospective drug candidate to resolve itch and inflammation in certain dermatoses.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Franck, Marina Christina Mikaela, et al.
(author)
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Urocortin3-expressing neurons in sensory transmission
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Urocortin 3 (UCN3) is a neuropeptide involved in mechanosensation and stress regulation, and Ucn3-Cre neurons have been assigned a role in mechanical itch. Here, we show that Ucn3 marks a population of excitatory neurons in the mouse dorsal horn, divided into two non-overlapping subpopulations expressing protein kinase C g or calretinin/calbindin 2. Chemogenetic activation of spinal Ucn3-Cre neurons evoked a targeted biting/licking behavior towards the corresponding dermatome. Genetic deletion of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) in Ucn3-Cre neurons removed the phenotype, showing that the biting/licking behavior is VGLUT2-dependent. Conditional deletion of VGLUT2 did not affect acute thermal or mechanical withdrawal responses, nor thermal withdrawal responses after nerve growth factor-induced hypersensitivity or the prurifensive response to 48/80 or von Frey stimuli applied in nape. Instead, we found that a group of spinal Ucn3 neurons were activated in response to artificial scratching or 48/80-induced itch. Electrophysiological experiments showed that spinal Ucn3 neurons received both glycinergic and GABAergic tonic inhibition, and monosynaptic inputs from both Aβ and C fibers, which could be confirmed by rabies tracing. Spinal Ucn3/Ucn3-Cre neurons thus represent a mechanically sensitive population with several roles in the itch-scratch cycle.
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| 4. |
- Gao, Tianle, et al.
(author)
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The Neuropeptide Y System Regulates Both Mechanical and Histaminergic Itch
- 2018
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In: Journal of Investigative Dermatology. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. - 0022-202X .- 1523-1747. ; 138:11, s. 2405-2411
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Itch is a somatosensory modality that serves to alert an organism to harmful elements removable by scratching, such as parasites and chemical irritants. Recently, ablation or silencing of neuropeptide Y (NPY)-expressing spinal interneurons was reported to selectively enhance mechanical itch, whereas chemical itch was unaffected. We examined the effect of activating the NPY/Y-1 receptor system on scratch behavior in mice. We found that intrathecal administration of the Y-1 agonist [Leu(31), Pro(34)]-NPY (LP-NPY) attenuated itch behavior induced by application of 0.07 g von Frey filament in the nape of the neck compared with saline treatment, indicating that activation of the spinal NPY/Y-1 system dampens mechanical itch. However, intrathecal administration of LP-NPY also attenuated chemically induced scratching provoked by intradermal application of histamine or the mast cell degranulator 48/80 (histaminergic itch), and the latter effect could be reversed by administration of the Y-1 antagonist BIBO3304. Intrathecal application of the native nonselective agonist NPY also attenuated histamine or 48/80-induced scratching. Our analyses emphasize the importance of including additional quantitative parameters to characterize the full spectrum of itch behavior and show that the NPY/Y-1 system dampens both mechanically and chemically induced scratching and hence is shared by the two submodalities of itch.
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| 5. |
- Jakobsson, Jon E. T., et al.
(author)
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Neuropeptide Y in itch regulation
- 2019
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In: Neuropeptides. - : Elsevier BV. - 0143-4179 .- 1532-2785. ; 78
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Itch is a somatosensory sensation that informs the organism about the presence of potentially harmful substances or parasites, and initiates scratching to remove the threat. Itch-inducing (pruritogenic) substances activate primary afferent neurons in the skin through interactions with specific receptors that converts the stimulus into an electrical signal. These signals are conveyed to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord through the release of neurotransmitters such as natriuretic polypeptide b and somatostatin, leading to an integrated response within a complex spinal inteneuronal network. A large sub-population of somatostatin-expressing spinal interneurons also carry the Neuropeptide Y (NPY) Y1 receptor, indicating that NPY and somatostatin partly regulate the same neuronal pathway. This review focuses on recent findings regarding the role of the NPY/Y1 and somatostatin/SST2A receptor in itch, and also presents data integrating the two neurotransmitter systems.
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| 6. |
- Lennartsson, Johan, et al.
(author)
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The Fer Tyrosine Kinase Is Important for Platelet-derived Growth Factor-BB-induced Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) Protein Phosphorylation, Colony Formation in Soft Agar, and Tumor Growth in Vivo.
- 2013
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In: Journal of Biological Chemistry. - 0021-9258 .- 1083-351X. ; 288:22, s. 15736-15744
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fer is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase that is activated in response to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) stimulation. In the present report, we show that Fer associates with the activated PDGF β-receptor (PDGFRβ) through multiple autophosphorylation sites, i.e. Tyr-579, Tyr-581, Tyr-740, and Tyr-1021. Using low molecular weight inhibitors, we found that PDGF-BB-induced Fer activation is dependent on PDGFRβ kinase activity, but not on the enzymatic activity of Src or Jak kinases. In cells in which Fer was down-regulated using siRNA, PDGF-BB was unable to induce phosphorylation of STAT3, whereas phosphorylations of STAT5, ERK1/2, and Akt were unaffected. PDGF-BB-induced activation of STAT3 occurred also in cells expressing kinase-dead Fer, suggesting a kinase-independent adaptor role of Fer. Expression of Fer was dispensable for PDGF-BB-induced proliferation and migration but essential for colony formation in soft agar. Tumor growth in vivo was delayed in cells depleted of Fer expression. Our data suggest a critical role of Fer in PDGF-BB-induced STAT3 activation and cell transformation.
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| 7. |
- Lennartsson, Johan, et al.
(author)
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The Fer tyrosine kinase is necessary for platelet-derived growth factor-BB-induced Stat3 phosphorylation and colony formation in soft agar
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Fer is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase that is activated in response to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) stimulation. In the present report, we show that Fer associates with the activated PDGF b-receptor (PDGFRb) through multiple autophosphorylation sites, i.e. Tyr579, Tyr581, Tyr740 and Tyr1021. Using low molecular weight inhibitors we found that PDGF-BB-induced Fer activation is dependent on PDGFRb kinase activity, but not on the enzymatic activity of Src or Jak kinases. To elucidate the function of Fer downstream of PDGFRb, we downregulated the expression using siRNA; under conditions with reduced Fer expression, PDGF-BB was unable to induce phosphorylation of Stat3, whereas Stat5, Erk1/2 and Akt were unaffected. In addition, PDGFRb autophosphorylation was partially dependent on Fer expression. On a functional level, we could demonstrate that expression of Fer is dispensable for PDGF-BB-induced proliferation and migration. However, Fer was found to be essential for colony formation in soft agar, consistent with its critical role in Stat3 activation, which has frequently been implicated in cell transformation.
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| 8. |
- Ma, Haisha, et al.
(author)
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Histidine-domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase regulates platelet-derived growth factor receptor intracellular sorting and degradation
- 2015
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In: Cellular Signalling. - : Elsevier BV. - 0898-6568 .- 1873-3913. ; 27:11, s. 2209-2219
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Histidine domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase (HD-PTP) is a putative phosphatase that has been shown to affect the signaling and downregulation of certain receptor tyrosine kinases. To investigate if HD-PTP affects platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFR beta) signaling, we employed the overexpression of HA-tagged HD-PTP, as well as siRNA-mediated and lentivirus shRNA-mediated silencing of HD-PTP in NIH3T3 cells. We found that HD-PTP was recruited to the PDGFR beta in a ligand-dependent manner. Depletion of HD-PTP resulted in an inability of PDGF-BB to promote tyrosine phosphorylation of the ubiquitin ligases c-Cbl and Cbl-b, with a concomitant missorting and reduction of the degradation of activated PDGFRS. In contrast, ligand-induced internalization of PDGFR beta was unaffected by HD-FTP silencing. Furthermore, the levels of STAM and Hrs of the ESCRT0 machinery were decreased, and immunofluorescence staining showed that in HD-PTP-depleted cells, PDGFR beta accumulated in large aberrant intracellular structures. After the reduction of HD-PTP expression, an NIH3T3-derived cell line that has autocrine PDGF-BB signaling (sis-3 T3) showed increased ability of anchorage-independent growth. However, exogenously added PDGF-BB promoted efficient additional colony formation in control cells, but was not able to do so in HD-PTP-depleted cells. Furthermore, cells depleted of HD-PTP migrated faster than control cells. In summary, HD-PTP affects the intracellular sorting of activated PDGFRS and the migration, proliferation and tumorigenicity of cells stimulated by PDGF.
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| 9. |
- Ma, Haisha, 1983-
(author)
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Regulation of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor Signaling and its Targeting in Cancer Therapy
- 2015
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Overactivity of platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) is a frequent event in many types of solid tumors. Therefore, it is of great importance to uncover the mechanisms that regulate PDGF/PDGFR signalling, to develop efficient inhibitors targeting this pathway. The first step of downregulation of PDGFR activity upon ligand binding is internalization; thus we investigated how endocytosis pathways affect PDGFR signaling. We showed that in Ras-transformed fibroblasts, the internalization of PDGFR is shifted from the routine clathrin-dependent endocytosis to macropinocytosis, which results in enhanced PDGFR activity and subsequent downstream signalling, promoting anchorage-independent growth.We were also interested in how intracellular trafficking regulates signalling attenuation of PDGFR. We found that His-domain containing protein tyrosine phosphatase (HD-PTP) positively regulates phosphorylation level of the ubiquitin-ligases c-Cbl and Cbl-b; consistently, silencing of HD-PTP led to a decreased level of PDGFR ubiquitination (paper II). Consequently, internalized PDGFR could not be sorted properly and escaped degradation. This resulted in enhanced activation of phospholipase C γ (PLCγ) and changed kinetics of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 signalling, which further increased colony formation of HD-PTP silenced cells in soft agar, indicating a tumor suppressor role of HD-PTP.Activation of PDGFR leads to stimulation of downstream pathways. We identified Fer kinase as a critical signal transducer downstream of PDGFR in a proteomic screen. We showed that Fer kinase is essential for PDGF-induced STAT3 activation; as a result (paper III), Fer depletion severely blunted the ability of PDGFR signalling to promote anchorage-independent growth in soft agar and delayed tumor initiation in a mouse model.The crosstalk between host and tumor plays a critical role in tumor progression. At present most anti-cancer drugs are targeting tumor cells; we were interested in how targeting tumor host cells affects the efficacy of anti-tumor therapy. We found that selective PDGFRβ inhibition in host cells exerted tumor inhibitory effects on growth and vascularization of tumors with autocrine PDGF signaling, whereas tumors lacking such stimulation show only minor response on tumor growth (paper IV). Meanwhile, we demonstrated that PDGF/PDGFRβ signalling promotes expression of NG2, a marker for pericytes.
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