Abstract
We describe here the immunologic characterization of a new mouse strain, SAMP1/Yit, which spontaneously develops a chronic intestinal inflammation localized to the terminal ileum. The resulting ileitis bears a remarkable resemblance to human Crohn’s disease. This strain of mice develops discontinuous, transmural inflammatory lesions in the terminal ileum with 100% penetrance by 30 weeks of age. The intestinal inflammation is characterized by massive infiltration of activated CD4+ and CD8α+TCRαβ+ T cells into the lamina propria and is accompanied by a dramatic decrease in the intraepithelial lymphocyte CD8α+TCRγδ+/CD8α+TCRαβ+ ratio. The results of adoptive transfer experiments strongly suggest that CD4+ T cells that produce a Th1-like profile of cytokines, e.g., IFN-γ and TNF, mediate the intestinal inflammation found in SAMP1/Yit mice. In addition, pretreatment of adoptive transfer recipients with a neutralizing anti-TNF antibody prevents the development of intestinal inflammation, suggesting that TNF plays an important role in the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in this model. To our knowledge, these data provide the first direct evidence that Th1-producing T cells mediate intestinal inflammation in a spontaneous animal model of human Crohn’s disease.
Authors
Michele M. Kosiewicz, Cynthia C. Nast, Anasuya Krishnan, Jesus Rivera-Nieves, Christopher A. Moskaluk, Satoshi Matsumoto, Kosuke Kozaiwa, Fabio Cominelli
Abstract
While greater than 80% of angiotensin II (Ang II) formation in the human heart and greater than 60% in arteries appears to result from chymase activity, no cardiovascular cell–expressed chymase has been previously reported. We now describe the cloning of a full-length cDNA encoding a novel chymase from rat vascular smooth muscle cells. The cDNA encompasses 953 nucleotides, encodes 247 amino acids, and exhibits 74% and 80% homology in amino acid sequence to rat mast cell chymase I and II, respectively. Southern blot analysis indicates that the rat vascular chymase is encoded by a separate gene. This chymase was induced in hypertrophied rat pulmonary arteries, with 11-fold and 8-fold higher chymase mRNA levels in aortic and pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells from spontaneously hypertensive than in corresponding tissues from normotensive rats. We assayed the activity of the endogenous enzyme and of a recombinant, epitope-tagged chymase in transfected smooth muscle cells and showed that Ang II production from Ang I can be inhibited with chymostatin, but not EDTA or captopril. Spontaneously hypertensive rats show elevated chymase expression and increased chymostatin-inhibitable angiotensin-converting activity, suggesting a possible role for this novel enzyme in the pathophysiology of hypertension.
Authors
Caiying Guo, Haisong Ju, Debbie Leung, Hamid Massaeli, Mingda Shi, Marlene Rabinovitch
Abstract
Intravitreal neovascular diseases are a major cause of blindness worldwide. It remains unclear why neovessels in many retinal diseases spread into the physiologically nonvascularized vitreous rather than into the ischemic retinal areas, where the angiogenic factors are released. Here we show that inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is expressed in the ischemic retina. Using iNOS knockout mice and the iNOS inhibitor 1400W, we demonstrate that iNOS expression inhibits angiogenesis locally in the avascular retina, mediated at least in part by a downregulation of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) in cells adjacent to iNOS-expressing cells. At the same time, pathological intravitreal neovascularization is considerably stronger in iNOS-expressing animals. These findings demonstrate that iNOS plays a crucial role in retinal neovascular disease and show that it offers an ideal target for the control of vitreal neovascularization through improvement of the vascularization of the hypoxic retina.
Authors
Florian Sennlaub, Yves Courtois, Olivier Goureau
Abstract
Collagens act as important signaling molecules regulating vascular smooth muscle cell responses during arterial wound repair. Discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) are a novel class of receptor tyrosine kinases that bind to several collagens and stimulate matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production, but little is known about their expression and function in the vasculature. We posited a critical role for the DDRs controlling smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation and thus repair following arterial injury. Smooth muscle cells were isolated from the aortas of mice with a targeted deletion of the DDR1 gene (DDR1-null) and studied in culture using models that mimic critical steps in neointimal thickening. Our studies suggest that DDR1 plays an important role in regulating attachment to collagen, chemotaxis, proliferation, and MMP production in smooth muscle cells. Following mechanical injury to the carotid arteries, cross-sectional area of the neointima was significantly lower in DDR1-null mice than in wild-type mice. There was also a significant decrease in collagen deposition in the injured arteries of the DDR1-null mice. Our results support the hypothesis that DDR1 plays an important role as a collagen receptor, mediating intimal thickening after vascular injury.
Authors
Guangpei Hou, Wolfgang Vogel, Michelle P. Bendeck
Abstract
Autoantibodies to α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptors may contribute to chronic hyperexcitability syndromes and neurodegeneration, but their origin is unclear. We examined LP-BM5 murine leukemia virus–infected mice, which manifest excitotoxic brain lesions and hypergammaglobulinemia, for the presence of AMPA-receptor Ab’s. Endogenous IgG accumulated upon neurons in the neocortex and caudate/putamen of infected mice and interacted with native and recombinant AMPA-receptor subunits with the following relative abundance: GluR3 ≥ GluR1 > GluR2 = GluR4, as determined by immunoprecipitation. In a radioligand assay, IgG preparations from infected mice specifically inhibited [3H]AMPA binding to receptors in brain homogenates, an activity that was lost after preadsorbing the IgG preparation to immobilized LP-BM5 virus. These IgGs also evoked currents when applied to hippocampal pyramidal neurons or to damaged cerebellar granule neurons. These currents could be blocked using any of several AMPA receptor antagonists. Thus, anti–AMPA-receptor Ab’s can be produced as the result of a virus infection, in part through molecular mimicry. These Ab’s may alter neuronal signaling and contribute to the neurodegeneration observed in these mice, actions that may be curtailed by the use of AMPA-receptor antagonists.
Authors
Elena Koustova, Yoshitatsu Sei, Linda Fossom, Mei-Ling Wei, Peter N.R. Usherwood, N. Bradley Keele, Michael A. Rogawski, Anthony S. Basile
Abstract
Hemangioma, the most common tumor of infancy, is a benign vascular neoplasm of unknown etiology. We show, for the first time to our knowledge, that endothelial cells from proliferating hemangioma are clonal, and we demonstrate that these hemangioma-derived cells differ from normal endothelial cells in their rates of proliferation and migration in vitro. Furthermore, migration of hemangioma endothelial cells is stimulated by the angiogenesis inhibitor endostatin, unlike the inhibition seen with normal endothelial cells. We conclude that hemangiomas constitute clonal expansions of endothelial cells. This is consistent with the possibility that these tumors are caused by somatic mutations in one or more genes regulating endothelial cell proliferation.
Authors
Eileen Boye, Ying Yu, Gretchen Paranya, John B. Mulliken, Bjorn R. Olsen, Joyce Bischoff
Abstract
Congenital erythropoietic porphyria, an autosomal recessive inborn error of heme biosynthesis, results from the markedly deficient activity of uroporphyrinogen III synthase. Extensive mutation analyses of 40 unrelated patients only identified approximately 90% of mutant alleles. Sequencing the recently discovered erythroid-specific promoter in six patients with a single undefined allele identified four novel mutations clustered in a 20-bp region: (a) a –70T to C transition in a putative GATA-1 consensus binding element, (b) a –76G to A transition, (c) a –86C to A transversion in three unrelated patients, and (d) a –90C to A transversion in a putative CP2 binding motif. Also, a –224T to C polymorphism was present in approximately 4% of 200 unrelated Caucasian alleles. We inserted these mutant sequences into luciferase reporter constructs. When transfected into K562 erythroid cells, these constructs yielded 3 ± 1, 54 ± 3, 43 ± 6, and 8 ± 1%, respectively, of the reporter activity conferred by the wild-type promoter. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays indicated that the –70C mutation altered GATA1 binding, whereas the adjacent –76A mutation did not. Similarly, the –90C mutation altered CP2 binding, whereas the –86A mutation did not. Thus, these four pathogenic erythroid promoter mutations impaired erythroid-specific transcription, caused CEP, and identified functionally important GATA1 and CP2 transcriptional binding elements for erythroid-specific heme biosynthesis.
Authors
Constanza Solis, Gerardo I. Aizencang, Kenneth H. Astrin, David F. Bishop, Robert J. Desnick
Abstract
Recent reports indicate that genes with tissue-restricted expression, including those encoding the type 1 diabetes autoantigens insulin, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), and the tyrosine-phosphatase-like protein IA-2 (or ICA512), are transcribed in the thymus. The reported modulation of diabetes susceptibility by genetically determined differences in thymic insulin levels and studies in transgenic mice provide correlative and functional evidence that thymic expression of peripheral proteins is crucial for immunological self-tolerance. However, there are no specific data about the existence, tissue distribution, phenotype, and function of those cells that express insulin and other self-antigens in the human thymus. We find that the human thymus harbors specialized cells synthesizing (pro)insulin, GAD, and IA-2, mainly localized in the medulla, and we demonstrate such cells also in peripheral lymphoid organs (spleen and lymph nodes). Phenotypic analysis qualifies these cells as antigen-presenting cells (APCs), including both dendritic cells and macrophages. These cells often appear surrounded by apoptotic lymphocytes, both in thymus and spleen, and may therefore be involved in the deletion of autoreactive lymphocytes. Our findings demonstrate the existence of, and define the tissue distribution and phenotype of, a novel subset of APCs expressing self-antigens in human lymphoid organs that appear to be involved in the regulation of self-tolerance throughout life.
Authors
Alberto Pugliese, Douglas Brown, David Garza, Djanira Murchison, Markus Zeller, Maria Redondo, Juan Diez, George S. Eisenbarth, Dhavalkumar D. Patel, Camillo Ricordi
Abstract
The nuclear oxysterol-receptor paralogues LXRα and LXRβ share a high degree of amino acid identity and bind endogenous oxysterol ligands with similar affinities. While LXRα has been established as an important regulator of cholesterol catabolism in cholesterol-fed mice, little is known about the function of LXRβ in vivo. We have generated mouse lines with targeted disruptions of each of these LXR receptors and have compared their responses to dietary cholesterol. Serum and hepatic cholesterol levels and lipoprotein profiles of cholesterol-fed animals revealed no significant differences between LXRβ–/– and wild-type mice. Steady-state mRNA levels of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, farnesyl diphosphate synthase, and squalene synthase were increased in LXRβ–/– mice compared with LXRβ+/+ mice, when fed standard chow. The mRNA levels for cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase, oxysterol 7α-hydroxylase, sterol 12α-hydroxylase, and sterol 27-hydroxylase, respectively, were comparable in these strains, both on standard and 2% cholesterol chow. Our results indicate that LXRβ–/– mice — in contrast to LXRα–/– mice — maintain their resistance to dietary cholesterol, despite subtle effects on the expression of genes coding for enzymes involved in lipid metabolism. Thus, our data indicate that LXRβ has no complete overlapping function compared with LXRα in the liver.
Authors
S. Alberti, G. Schuster, P. Parini, D. Feltkamp, U. Diczfalusy, M. Rudling, B. Angelin, I. Björkhem, S. Pettersson, J.-Å. Gustafsson
Abstract
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a T cell–mediated disease initiated by antigen-specific CD4+ T cells. Signaling through CD28 is a critical second signal for activation of T cells, and CD28 knockout (CD28KO) mice have been reported to be resistant to induction of EAE. We now report that CD28KO mice have no intrinsic defect in mediating disease, because they developed EAE after passive transfer of primed T cells. After immunization, peripheral T cells from CD28KO mice were primed and developed memory phenotype, but had decreased antigen-specific IFN-γ production as compared with cells from wild-type (WT) animals. Reimmunization of CD28KO mice brought out clinical disease and increased IFN-γ production in vitro. Pathologically, there were cellular infiltrates in the central nervous system, in contrast to single-immunized mice. We show furthermore that blocking B7-1 or CTLA4, but not B7-2, in CD28KO mice induces disease after a single immunization. Thus, EAE can be induced in animals lacking CD28-dependent costimulation, suggesting that alternative costimulatory pathways were used. Blocking the OX40-OX40L costimulatory pathway differentially affected disease induction in CD28KO mice as compared with WT controls. Our data show that EAE may develop in the absence of CD28 T-cell costimulation. These findings have implications for therapies aimed at blocking costimulatory signals in autoimmune diseases.
Authors
Tanuja Chitnis, Nader Najafian, Kald A. Abdallah, Victor Dong, Hideo Yagita, Mohamed H. Sayegh, Samia J. Khoury
No posts were found with this tag.
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)