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B M Babior

Publications and source records attributed to B M Babior.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Regulation of the activity of caspases by L-carnitine and palmitoylcarnitine.

L-Carnitine facilitates the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondrial matrix where they are used for energy production. Recent studies have shown that L-carnitine is capable of protecting the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury and has beneficial effects against Alzheimer's disease and AIDS. The mechanism of action, however, is not yet understood. In the present study, we found that in Jurkat cells, L-carnitine inhibited apoptosis induced by Fas ligation. In addition, 5 mM carnitine potently inhibited the activity of recombinant caspases 3, 7 and 8, whereas its long-chain fatty acid derivative palmitoylcarnitine stimulated the activity of all the caspases. Palmitoylcarnitine reversed the inhibition mediated by carnitine. Levels of carnitine and palmitoyl-CoA decreased significantly during Fas-mediated apoptosis, while palmitoylcarnitine formation increased. These alterations may be due to inactivation of beta-oxidation or to an increase in the activity of the enzyme that converts carnitine to palmitoylcarnitine, carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I). In support of the latter possibility, fibroblasts deficient in CPT I activity were relatively resistant to staurosporine-induced apoptosis. These observations suggest that caspase activity may be regulated in part by the balance of carnitine and palmitoylcarnitine.

Acylation↗
PubMed2000

Binding of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate to the tetratricopeptide repeat domains at the N-terminus of p67PHOX, a subunit of the leukocyte nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase.

The nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) binding site of the NADPH oxidase complex is believed to be located on the beta, subunit of cytochrome b558. However, our previous studies showed that p67PHOX also contains an NADPH binding site that is essential for normal oxidase activity and that p67PHOX is able to mediate a slow electron transfer from a reduced pyridine nucleotide to an artificial electron acceptor. Using both affinity labeling and fluorescence quenching, we have obtained further evidence that p67PHOX is able to bind NADPH. We have used a number of truncated forms of p67PHOX, including p67PHOX(1-243), p67PHOX(1-210), p67PHOX(1-199), and p67PHOX(244-526) (where the numbers represent the initial and final amino acids in the truncated p67PHOX) in order to localize the binding site. We found that NADPH could bind to p67PHOX(1-243), p67PHOX(1-210), and p67PHOX(1-199) but not to p67PHOX(244-526). The p67PHOX(1-199) fragment consists largely of four tetratricopeptide (TPR) domains. We showed further that Rac2-GTP gamma S and to a lesser extent Rac2-GDP beta S could modulate the binding of NADPH to p67PHOX.

Affinity Labels↗
PubMed2000

Phagocytes and oxidative stress.

Neutrophils and other phagocytes manufacture O(2)(-) (superoxide) by the one-electron reduction of oxygen at the expense of NADPH. Most of the O(2)(-) reacts with itself to form H(2)O(2) (hydrogen peroxide). From these agents a large number of highly reactive microbicidal oxidants are formed, including HOCl (hypochlorous acid), which is produced by the myeloperoxidase-catalyzed oxidation of Cl(-) by H(2)O(2); OH(*) (hydroxyl radical), produced by the reduction of H(2)O(2) by Fe(++) or Cu(+); ONOO(-) (peroxynitrite), formed by the reaction between O(2)(-) and NO(*); and many others. These reactive oxidants are manufactured for the purpose of killing invading microorganisms, but they also inflict damage on nearby tissues, and are thought to be of pathogenic significance in a large number of diseases. Included among these are emphysema, acute respiratory distress syndrome, atherosclerosis, reperfusion injury, malignancy and rheumatoid arthritis.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

Myeloid transcription factor C/EBPepsilon is involved in the positive regulation of lactoferrin gene expression in neutrophils.

Targeted mutation of the myeloid transcription factor C/EBPepsilon in mice results in gram-negative septic death at 3 to 5 months of age. This study defines the underlying molecular defects in their terminal granulocytic differentiation. The mRNA for the precursor protein of the cathelin-related antimicrobial peptides was almost completely absent in the bone marrow cells of C/EBPepsilon-/- mice. This finding may help explain their susceptibility to gram-negative sepsis, because both are bacteriocidal peptides with potent activity against gram-negative bacteria. Superoxide production was found to be reduced in both granulocytes and monocytes of C/EBPepsilon-/- mice. While gp91 phox protein levels were normal, p47phox protein levels were considerably reduced in C/EBPepsilon -/- granulocytes/monocytes, possibly limiting the assembly of the NADPH oxidase. In addition, expression of mRNA of the secondary and tertiary granule proteins, lactoferrin and gelatinase, were not detected, and levels of neutrophil collagenase mRNA were reduced in bone marrow cells of the knock-out mice. The murine lactoferrin promoter has a putative C/EBP site close to the transcription start site. C/EBPepsilon bound to this site in electromobility shift assay studies and mutation of this site abrogated binding to it. A mutation in the C/EBP site reduced the activity of the promoter by 35%. Furthermore, overexpression of C/EBPepsilon in U937 cells increased the activity of the wild-type lactoferrin promoter by 3-fold. In summary, our data implicate C/EBPepsilon as a critical factor of host antimicrobial defense and suggests that it has a direct role as a positive regulator of expression of lactoferrin in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Activation of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase by protein kinase C in a partially recombinant cell-free system.

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase is an enzyme present in phagocytes and B lymphocytes that when activated catalyzes the production of O-2 from oxygen at the expense of NADPH. A correlation between the activation of the oxidase and the phosphorylation of p47(PHOX), a cytosolic oxidase component, is well recognized in whole cells, and direct evidence for a relationship between the phosphorylation of this oxidase component and the activation of the oxidase has been obtained in a number of cell-free systems containing neutrophil membrane and cytosol. Using superoxide dismutase-inhibitable cytochrome c reduction to quantify O-2 production, we now show that p47(PHOX) phosphorylated by protein kinase C activates the NADPH oxidase not only in a cell-free system containing neutrophil membrane and cytosol, but also in a system in which the cytosol is replaced by the recombinant proteins p67(PHOX), Rac2, and phosphorylated p47(PHOX), suggesting that neutrophil plasma membrane plus those three cytosolic proteins are both necessary and sufficient for oxidase activation. In both the cytosol-containing and recombinant cell-free systems, however, activation by SDS yielded greater rates of O-2 production than activation by protein kinase C-phosphorylated p47(PHOX), indicating that a system that employs protein kinase C-phosphorylated p47(PHOX) as the sole activating agent, although more physiological than the SDS-activated system, is nevertheless incomplete.

Cell-Free System↗
PubMed1999

NADPH dehydrogenase activity of p67PHOX, a cytosolic subunit of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase.

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase catalyzes the one-electron reduction of oxygen to O2- at the expense of NADPH. It is a multicomponent enzyme comprising a membrane-bound flavocytochrome (cytochrome b558) and at least four cytosolic components: p47PHOX, p67PHOX, p40PHOX, and Rac, a small GTPase. All the oxidase components except p40PHOX are required for enzyme activity. Many aspects of their function, however, are unclear. Using the electron acceptor ferricyanide, we found that recombinant p67PHOX from baculovirus-infected Sf9 cells could mediate the dehydrogenation of NADPH. NADPH dehydrogenation was not dependent on FAD and was insensitive to superoxide dismutase. Several control experiments showed that NADPH dehydrogenation was accomplished by p67PHOX, not by a trace contaminant in the p67PHOX preparation. The NADPH dehydrogenase activity of p67PHOX was proportional to enzyme concentration, and showed saturation kinetics with NADPH (Km 92 +/- 5 microM), but was inhibited at high concentrations of ferricyanide. NADH was also used as a substrate by p67PHOX (Km 123 +/- 38 microM). Taken together, these results show that p67PHOX is able to mediate pyridine nucleotide dehydrogenation. These findings raise the possibility that p67PHOX might participate directly in electron transfer between NADPH and the oxidase flavin.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Confidentiality.

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Biology↗
PubMed1998

Activation of p47(PHOX), a cytosolic subunit of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase. Phosphorylation of ser-359 or ser-370 precedes phosphorylation at other sites and is required for activity.

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase catalyzes the reduction of oxygen to superoxide (O-2) at the expense of NADPH in phagocytes and B lymphocytes. The enzyme is dormant in resting cells but becomes active when the cells are exposed to appropriate stimuli. During oxidase activation, the highly basic cytosolic oxidase component p47(PHOX) becomes phosphorylated on several serines and migrates to the plasma membrane. We report here that p47(PHOX)-deficient B lymphoblasts expressing the p47(PHOX) S359A/S370A or p47(PHOX) S359K/S370K double mutation show dramatically reduced levels of enzyme activity and phosphorylation of p47(PHOX) as compared with the same cells expressing wild type p47(PHOX). In addition, these mutant p47(PHOX) proteins fails to translocate to the plasma membrane when the cells are stimulated. In contrast, normal phosphorylation and translocation are seen in mutants containing aspartate or glutamate at positions 359 and 370, but oxidase activity is still greatly reduced. These results imply that a negative charge at position 359 and/or 370 is sufficient to allow the phosphorylation and translocation of p47(PHOX) to take place but that features unique to a phosphorylated hydroxyamino acid are required to support O-2 production. These findings, plus those from an earlier study (Inanami, O., Johnson, J. L., McAdara, J. K., El Benna, J., Faust, L. P., Newburger, P. E., and Babior, B. M. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 9539-9543), suggest that oxidase activation requires 1) the sequential phosphorylation of at least two serines on p47(PHOX): Ser-359 or Ser-370, followed by Ser-303 or Ser-304; and 2) the translocation of p47(PHOX) to the membrane at some point after the first phosphorylation takes place.

Arachidonic Acid↗
PubMed1998

Lack of release of cytochrome C from mitochondria into cytosol early in the course of Fas-mediated apoptosis of Jurkat cells.

Several groups have reported that during apoptosis, cytochrome c is released from the mitochondria into the cytosol, but we have found that in apoptotic cells the cytochrome appears to remain with the mitochondria. In hopes of reconciling these findings, we compared the results obtained from cells disrupted by our method (nitrogen cavitation) with those obtained using the cell-disruption method employed by others (homogenization). We observed that at 2 h, cytochrome c levels in apoptotic cytosols from homogenized cells exceeded control levels, whereas cytochrome c levels in apoptotic cytosols from cavitated cells were similar to control. Outer membranes of homogenized mitochondria appeared damaged because the mitochondria had become permeable to cytochrome c, whereas outer membranes of cavitated mitochondria excluded the cytochrome. 4 h after Fas ligation, both cavitated and homogenized mitochondria had released small amounts of cytochrome c into the cytosol, whereas after 6 h the cytochrome had disappeared from the cell lysate. We believe that the differences between our results and those reported by others were due to 1) our examining the cells after a short (2 h) incubation with the anti-Fas antibody, and 2) our use of nitrogen cavitation instead of homogenization to disrupt the cells.

Antibodies↗
PubMed1998

Activation of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase by phorbol ester requires the phosphorylation of p47PHOX on serine 303 or 304.

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase is an enzyme in phagocytes and B lymphocytes that when activated catalyzes the production of O-2 from oxygen and NADPH. During oxidase activation, serine residues in the C-terminal quarter of the oxidase component p47(PHOX) become extensively phosphorylated, the protein acquiring as many as 9 phosphate residues. In a study of 11 p47(PHOX) mutants, each containing an alanine instead of a serine at a single potential phosphorylation site, we found that all but S379A corrected the defect in O-2 production in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed p47(PHOX)-deficient B cells (Faust, L. P., El Benna, J., Babior, B. M., and Chanock, S. J. (1995) J. Clin. Invest. 96, 1499-1505). In particular, O-2 production was restored to these cells by the mutants S303A and S304A. Therefore, apart from serine 379, whose state of phosphorylation in the activated oxidase is unclear, no single potential phosphorylation site appeared to be essential for oxidase activation. We now report that the double mutant p47(PHOX) S303A/S304A was almost completely inactive when expressed in EBV-transformed p47(PHOX)-deficient B cells, even though it was expressed in normal amounts in the transfected cells and was able to translocate to the plasma membrane when the cells were stimulated. In contrast, the double mutant p47(PHOX) S303E/S304E was able to support high levels of O-2 production by EBV-transformed p47(PHOX)-deficient B cells. The surprising discovery that the double mutant S303K/S304K was also able to support considerable O-2 production suggests either that the effect of phosphorylation is related to the increase in hydrophilicity around serines 303 and 304 or that activation involves the formation of a metal bridge between the phosphorylated serines and another region of the protein.

B-Lymphocytes↗
PubMed1998

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase subunit p47PHOX: the role of the cysteine residues.

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase is a multi-subunit enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of oxygen to O2- at the expense of a reduced pyridine nucleotide. We have used site-directed mutagenesis to examine the functional role of the four cysteines in p47PHOX, one of the subunits of the oxidase. For these experiments, mutant proteins in which a single cysteine was replaced with alanine were expressed in p47PHOX-deficient Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphoblasts, and O2- production by these transfected cells was measured. The activity of the mutant C98A was similar to that of wild type, but the maximum rate of O2- production by C196A was significantly larger than seen with wild type. The other two mutants (i.e., C111A and C378A) differed from wild type not only in maximum O2- production, but also in the time required for activation, which was considerably delayed with both of these mutants. The similarity in the time courses of oxidase activation with the C111A and C378A mutants, and the finding that C378A occurs in the sequence CSE, raises the possibility that these cysteines may be involved in redox regulation of oxidase activity.

B-Lymphocytes↗
PubMed1998

Activation of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase in a cell-free system: phosphorylation vs. amphiphiles.

We examined the ability of C-terminal deletion mutants of p47PHOX, a cytosolic subunit of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase, to support the activity of the oxidase in two different cell-free systems, one using protein kinase C and the other an anionic amphiphile (SDS or arachidonic acid) as the oxidase-activating agent. Two deletion mutants were studied: p47PHOXdelta330 and p47PHOXdelta348, each named according to the first residue of the deleted polypeptide. Wild-type (WT) p47PHOX and both mutants were phosphorylated by protein kinase C, but the WT protein was the most heavily phosphorylated, containing 6.0 +/- 0.5 mol phosphate/mol protein. Of the two deletion mutants, only p47PHOXdelta348 could support oxidase activity, and then only in the amphiphile-activated system; neither of the mutants supported oxidase activity in the system activated by protein kinase C. Translocation correlated with activity: WT p47PHOX translocated to the membrane in response to both protein kinase C and amphiphile, but p47PHOXdelta348 translocated only in the amphiphile-activated system. Comparison of these findings with the results of earlier studies suggests that the phosphorylation of p47PHOX is an important component of oxidase activation. The findings provide no information, however, about whether amphiphiles participate in the activation process in intact cells. Consequently, a mechanism of in vivo oxidase activation involving both phosphorylation and the generation of an amphiphile remains a distinct possibility.

Cell-Free System↗
PubMed1997

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor upregulates the vacuolar proton ATPase in human neutrophils.

We have previously shown that granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF ) delays spontaneous neutrophil apoptosis through activation of the vacuolar proton ATPase (v-ATPase). We have now examined the regulation of the v-ATPase in neutrophils exposed to G-CSF in vitro. When neutrophils were cultivated in the absence of G-CSF, the 57-kD cytosolic B subunit of the v-ATPase disappeared within 1 to 2 hours, its loss preceding the nuclear changes of apoptosis and coinciding with the onset of acidification. By contrast, in neutrophils cultured for 2 hours in the presence of G-CSF, the amount of the 57-kD subunit was similar to that in freshly isolated neutrophils. However, inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide and actinomycin D led to loss of the 57-kD subunit even in the presence of G-CSF. These results indicated that ongoing protein synthesis was required to maintain the v-ATPase, and further suggested that G-CSF acted, at least in part, by maintaining synthesis of the 57-kD cytosolic subunit. G-CSF also promoted the translocation of the 57-and 33-kD cytosolic v-ATPase subunits to the membrane. Our findings suggested two coordinate mechanisms by which the activity of the v-ATPase could be increased by G-CSF: the synthesis of cytosolic v-ATPase subunits and their translocation to the membrane.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Bcl-2 and the outer mitochondrial membrane in the inactivation of cytochrome c during Fas-mediated apoptosis.

Fas-driven apoptosis in Jurkat cells results in the inactivation of cytochrome c with cessation of oxygen consumption. Overexpression of Bcl-2 was found to protect against acidification and apoptosis mediated by Fas ligation in these cells. Bcl-2 is present in the outer mitochondrial membrane, but the molecular mechanism by which it protects cells is unknown. Because Bcl-2 projects into the mitochondrial intermembrane space and cytochrome c is located in the intermembrane space, we considered the possibility that Bcl-2 might protect cytochrome c from inactivation during Fas-mediated apoptosis. The present study shows that 1) in Jurkat cells, cytochrome c inactivation during Fas-driven apoptosis requires the permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane; and 2) the post-mitochondrial fraction from CEM cells that overexpress Bcl-2 both prevents and reverses cytochrome c inactivation.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed1997

Activation of the leukocyte NADPH oxidase subunit p47phox by protein kinase C. A phosphorylation-dependent change in the conformation of the C-terminal end of p47phox.

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase of neutrophils is a membrane-bound enzyme that catalyzes the production of O2- from oxygen using NADPH as electron donor. Dormant in resting neutrophils, the enzyme acquires catalytic activity when the cells are exposed to appropriate stimuli. During activation, the cytosolic oxidase components p47phox and p67phox migrate to the plasma membrane, where they associate with cytochrome b558, a membrane-bound flavohemoprotein, to assemble the active oxidase. An essential element of the activation process is the phosphorylation of p47phox, an event that accompanies oxidase activation in whole cells and can activate the oxidase in a cell-free system. We show here that the phosphorylation of p47phox leads to a substantial decrease in the reactivity of cysteine C378 toward N-ethylmaleimide, indicating the occurrence of a conformational change involving the C-terminal region of p47phox. A similar conformational change occurs when p47phox is exposed to arachidonate, one of a number of anionic detergents that activate the oxidase in the cell-free system. We propose that this change in conformation results in the appearance of a binding site through which p47phox interacts with cytochrome b558 during the activation process.

Amino Acid Sequence↗