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B Michelsen

Publications and source records attributed to B Michelsen.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

In vitro transcription of the human insulin gene.

Insulin gene transcription is a highly tissue specific process which only takes place in the pancreatic beta-cell, and may be explained by the interaction of a unique composition of transacting factors and insulin gene 5' enhancer/promoter elements. In order to study differences in transcription factors from either insulin or non insulin producing cell lines we have developed an in vitro transcription assay of the human insulin gene. Efficient transcription was obtained using nuclear extracts from insulin as well as non insulin producing cell lines, and we were so far not able to mimic in vivo conditions present in beta-cells. The method is now routinely being used to test the activity of nuclear extracts before they are used in other analyses such as gel retardation assays and footprinting experiments.

DNA↗
PubMed1989

Site-specific antibodies distinguish single amino acid substitutions in position 57 in HLA-DQ beta-chain alleles associated with insulin-dependent diabetes.

The HLA-DQ beta-chain gene shows a close association with susceptibility or resistance to autoimmune insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and it has been suggested that the amino acid in position 57 may be of pathogenetic importance. To study the expression of the IDDM associated HLA-DQ beta-chain alleles, we immunized rabbits with 12 to 13 amino acid long peptides representing HLA-DQw7 and -DQw8 allelic sequences, differing only by one amino acid in position 57 being aspartic acid (Asp) and alanine (Ala), respectively. Immunoblot analysis of lymphoblastoid cells showed that several antisera recognized a 29-kDa protein, equivalent to the expected molecular size of the HLA-DQ beta-chain to yield two antisera specific for HLA-DQw7 (pos. 57Asp) and three antisera for HLA-DQw8 (pos. 57Ala) positive cells. Analysis of HLA-DR 3/4 positive IDDM patients (n = 24) and controls (n = 19) showed that all (100%) patients were positive for pos. 57Ala antiserum compared to 13 of 19 (68%) of the controls. The remaining six controls reacted with the pos. 57Asp antisera, whereas none of the patients did. We have therefore successfully been able to generate site-specific antibodies that distinguish single amino acid substitutions in predetermined positions of allelic HLA-DQ beta-chain gene products. Such sera should become useful to detect and investigate HLA associated susceptibility to autoimmune diseases in man.

Alleles↗
PubMed1989

Molecular characterization of size and copy number of the human insulin gene in transfected rat islet tumor cell clones.

Two stable transfectants, NHI-6F and NHI-5B, obtained by cotransfection of the human insulin gene (a 15 kb EcoRI genomic fragment) with pSV2-neo into MSL-cells (pluripotent rat islet tumor cells), were characterized with regard to copy number and size of the inserted human sequences by Southern blot analyses using appropriate restriction enzymes. Digestion of total genomic DNA from the NHI-6F clone with EcoRI, SacI and BglII gave in all cases single human insulin gene fragments of 25 kb, 28 kb and 11 kb, respectively. From these data we were able to conclude that NHI-6F carries a single copy of the human insulin gene and that this copy has at least retained the 5' BglI and the 3' BglII flanking sites of human origin. Digestion of NHI-5B DNA gave a different banding pattern compared to NHI-6F (EcoRI: 20 kb; SacI: 7.8 kb; BglII: 11 kb). These data indicate the presence of a single human insulin gene copy in clone NHI-5B with the preservation of the 5' SacI and 3' BglII human flanking sites. In conclusion, the two transfected rat islet tumor clones, NHI-6F and -5B, carry a single copy of the human insulin gene. Each copy is presumably functionally active since known promoter and enhancer elements reside within 400 bp 5' to the gene. NHI-6F and -5B carry 2,500 bp and 4,500 bp 5' to the gene, respectively.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗
PubMed1989

Association of IDDM and attenuated response of 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase to yellow fever vaccine.

Basal and yellow fever vaccination-induced 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (2',5'A) activity was determined in blood mononuclear cells (peripheral blood lymphocytes [PBLs]) from insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and matched control subjects. The live attenuated yellow fever vaccine represented a primary stimulus in all subjects. First, basal 2',5'A activity increased severalfold in response to yellow fever vaccination. In IDDM subjects, this increase was significantly lower (P = .025). Second, the 2',5'A activity increased proportionately to the higher basal 2',5'A activity in IDDM subjects. In control subjects, the increase in 2',5'A activity was not dependent on the basal activity. There was no relationship between basal or stimulated 2',5'A activity and age, sex, duration of IDDM, age at onset of IDDM, metabolic control, or HLA-DQ beta-chain gene polymorphism. There is a direct relationship between 2',5'A activity and latent viral infections associated with the presence of double-stranded RNA and with cellular interferons (IFNs) formed in response to viral infections. The higher basal 2',5'A activity (P = .05) in relation to the stimulated activity may therefore signify a latent infection or the presence of double-stranded RNA in PBLs of IDDM subjects. In vitro stimulation of PBLs showed increased IFN sensitivity in IDDM subjects. Analysis of 2',5'A activity is proposed to be a sensitive measure of the activation of the IFN system and the level of latent infectivity.

2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase↗
PubMed1989

Postimmunization activity of oligoadenylate synthetase in peripheral blood lymphocytes from healthy individuals.

The effect of immunizing healthy individuals with either tetanus toxoid or yellow fever live attenuated vaccine was examined by measuring interferon (IFN)-dependent oligoadenylate synthetase (2-5A) activity. This enzyme converts ATP into oligonucleotides coupled together in 2'-5'diester bonds. The synthetized products possess among other effects growth inhibiting properties and stimulate a latent RNase, thus playing an important role in the defense against viral infections. Although 2-5A activity is known to increase following virus infections and perhaps therefore to reflect a previous IFN exposure, little is known about the ability of vaccines to activate 2-5A in healthy individuals. Controlled dosages of commercially available vaccine preparations were therefore administered to 17 healthy Danish volunteers. In one study, the effect of a primary stimulus, yellow fever, was tested. It was found that the 2-5A activity increased to reach a peak by 1,000% by day nine. In another study, the effect of a secondary stimulus or booster, Tetanus toxoid, was tested. The response to this antigen was a 40% decrease in 2-5A activity from day 1 to day 18. Thus, the 2-5A activity highly reflects the type of antigen used for immunization and possibly even whether the individuals previously had been exposed to the given antigen. As IFNs are very shortlived in vivo measuring 2-5A activity is a sensitive way of estimating changes in blood immune cells to exogenous antigens.

2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase↗
PubMed1988

Gene probes to detect cross-culture contamination in hormone producing cell lines.

Cross-culture contamination of cell lines propagated in continuous culture is a frequent event and particularly difficult to resolve in cells expressing similar phenotypes. We demonstrate that DNA-DNA hybridization to blotted endonuclease-digested cell DNA effectively detects cross-culture contamination to monitor inter-species as well as intra-species cross contamination. An insulin-producing cell-line, Clone-16, originally cloned from a human fetal endocrine pancreatic cell line did not produce human c-peptide as anticipated. DNA from these cells showed no hybridization to the human ALU sequence probe, BLUR, and lacked restriction fragment length polymorphism typical for the human HLA-DQ beta-chain gene. Although a human insulin gene probe showed a weak, nonhuman hybridization pattern, a cDNA probe for the Syrian hamster insulin gene hybridized strongly consistent with a single copy hamster insulin gene. Karyotyping confirmed the absence of human chromosomes in the Clone-16 cells while sizes, centromere indices, and banding patterns were identical to Syrian hamster fibroblasts. We conclude that the insulin-producing Clone-16 cells are of Syrian hamster origin and demonstrate the effective use of gene probes to control the origin of cell cultures.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗
PubMed1988

Tissue-specific expression of transfected human insulin genes in pluripotent clonal rat insulinoma lines induced during passage in vivo.

The pluripotent rat islet tumor cell line MSL-G2 expresses primarily glucagon or cholecystokinin and not insulin in vitro but changes phenotype completely after prolonged in vivo cultivation to yield small-sized hypoglycemic tumors composed almost entirely of insulin-producing beta cells. When a genomic DNA fragment containing the coding and upstream regulatory regions of the human insulin gene was stably transfected into MSL-G2 cells no measurable amounts of insulin or insulin mRNA were detected in vitro. However, successive transplantation of two transfected clones resulted in hypoglycemic tumors that efficiently coexpressed human and rat insulin as determined by human C-peptide-specific immunoreagents. These results demonstrate that cis-acting tissue-specific insulin gene enhancer elements are conserved between rat and human insulin genes. We propose that the in vivo differentiation of MSL-G2 cells and transfected subclones into insulin-producing cells reflects processes of natural beta-cell ontogeny leading to insulin gene expression.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗
PubMed1987

Molecular cloning of a polymorphic DNA endonuclease fragment associates insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with HLA-DQ.

A BamHI 3.7-kilobase (kb) fragment detected by an HLA-DQ beta-chain complementary DNA (cDNA) probe and negatively associated with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) was cloned and sequenced to localize the polymorphism to BamHI sites in intervening sequences of an HLA-DQ beta-chain gene. A probe of the first intervening sequence (IVS 1) showed the BamHI 3.7-kb fragment in 6 of 17 HLA-DR3/4 controls but in 0 of 13 DR-identical IDDM patients. All IDDM patients (13 of 13) had BamHI fragments of 12 and 4 kb, detected in 9 of 17 controls (P less than 0.02). The simple restriction fragment length polymorphism pattern of the IVS 1 probe was exploited by comparing 113 IDDM patients with 177 healthy controls to show increased prevalences in IDDM of the 12-kb (P less than 0.0001) and 4-kb (P less than 0.0001) fragments. In IDDM patients younger than 20 yr at onset, 98% were 12- and/or 4-kb positive, compared with 63% of controls (P less than 0.0001), giving a relative risk of 91.8 for individuals with both fragments. The 12-kb fragment was linked to HLA-DR4, and the 4-kb fragment to HLA-DR3. Both serologic markers were split and a non-DR3/non-DR4 IDDM patient was 4-kb positive. HLA-DQ seems therefore closer, than HLA-DR, to an IDDM susceptibility gene.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1985

Immunological aspects of type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus.

IDDM occurs predominantly among individuals being class II antigen HLA-DR 3 and/or 4 positive, while NIDDM is not associated with HLA-D. Although the HLA-DR 3 or 4 specificities are prerequisites for IDDM to develop, their high frequencies (about 60%) in the background population preclude tissue typing as a predictive test, underlined by the observation that less than 50% of monozygotic twins are concordant for IDDM. The presence of a number of immune abnormalities argues that the causes of IDDM may be sought in an altered immune reaction against antigens present in the pancreatic B cells and/or in the environment. The majority of IDDM patients of short duration show both cellular and humoral autoimmunity against the pancreatic B cells. Similar phenomena may be observed in patients initially diagnosed as NIDDM and treated with oral hypoglycemic agents. It has been speculated that these patients have a retarded form of IDDM. It is possible that the combination of specific Class II antigen molecule(s) and an invading antigen (virus, bacterium, chemical etc.) presented to the immune system triggers the formation of effector cells such as B lymphocytes and cytotoxic T lymphocytes which also cross-react with the pancreatic B cells. Multiple exposures to this or related antigens throughout several years may eventually lead a sufficient loss of pancreatic B cells to cause insulin dependence.

Antibody Formation↗
PubMed1985

Identification of an HLA-DQ beta-chain related genomic sequence associated with insulin-dependent diabetes.

Restriction fragment length polymorphism detected by a cDNA probe for an HLA-DQ beta-chain gene has revealed a HLA-DR4 linked BamH1 3.7 kb fragment which is rarely found among insulin-dependent diabetic patients. The present analysis demonstrates that the BamH1 3.7 kb fragment present on a HLA-DR4 positive chromosome in a healthy individual contains coding sequences for an HLA-DQ beta-chain gene and that the absence of this fragment among HLA-DR4 positive insulin-dependent patients is due to the loss of a BamH1 restriction within an intervening sequence.

Base Sequence↗