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Biomedical subjects

Christine Bole-Feysot

Publications and source records attributed to Christine Bole-Feysot.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Endothelin-1 inhibits apoptosis through a sphingosine kinase 1-dependent mechanism in uterine leiomyoma ELT3 cells.

Uterine leiomyomas, or fibroids, are the most common tumors of the myometrium. The ELT3 cell line, derived from Eker rat leiomyoma, has been successfully used as a model for the study of leiomyomas. We have demonstrated previously the potent mitogenic properties of the peptidic hormone endothelin (ET)-1 in this cell line. Here we investigated the antiapoptotic effect of ET-1 in ELT3 cells. We found that 1) serum starvation of ELT3 cells induced an apoptotic process characterized by cytochrome c release from mitochondria, caspase-3/7 activation, nuclei condensation and DNA fragmentation; 2) ET-1 prevented the apoptotic process; and 3) this effect of ET-1 was fully reproduced by ETB agonists. In contrast, no antiapoptotic effect of ET-1 was observed in normal myometrial cells. A pharmacological approach showed that the effect of ET-1 on caspase-3/7 activation in ELT3 cells was not dependent on phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, ERK1/2, or phospholipase D activities. However, inhibitors of sphingosine kinase-1 (SphK1), dimethylsphingosine and threo-dihydrosphingosine, reduced the effect of ET-1 by about 50%. Identical results were obtained when SphK1 expression was down-regulated in ELT3 cells transfected with SphK1 small interfering RNA. Furthermore, serum starvation induced a decrease in SphK1 activity that was prevented by ET-1 without affecting the level of SphK1 protein expression. Finally, sphingosine 1-phosphate, the product of SphK activity, was as efficient as ET-1 in inhibiting serum starvation-induced caspase-3/7 activation. Together, these results demonstrate that ET-1 possesses a potent antiapoptotic effect in ELT3 cells that involves sphingolipid metabolism through the activation of SphK1.

Animals↗

An open-access long oligonucleotide microarray resource for analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes.

Two collections of oligonucleotides have been designed for preparing pangenomic human and mouse microarrays. A total of 148,993 and 121,703 oligonucleotides were designed against human and mouse transcripts. Quality scores were created in order to select 25,342 human and 24,109 mouse oligonucleotides. They correspond to: (i) a BLAST-specificity score; (ii) the number of expressed sequence tags matching each probe; (iii) the distance to the 3' end of the target mRNA. Scores were also used to compare in silico the two microarrays with commercial microarrays. The sets described here, called RNG/MRC collections, appear at least as specific and sensitive as those from the commercial platforms. The RNG/MRC collections have now been used by an Anglo-French consortium to distribute more than 3500 microarrays to the academic community. Ad hoc identification of tissue-specific transcripts and a approximately 80% correlation with hybridizations performed on Affymetrix GeneChiptrade mark suggest that the RNG/MRC microarrays perform well. This work provides a comprehensive open resource for investigators working on human and mouse transcriptomes, as well as a generic method to generate new microarray collections in other organisms. All information related to these probes, as well as additional information about commercial microarrays have been stored in a freely-accessible database called MEDIANTE.

Animals↗

Regulation of proteolysis by cytokines in the human intestinal epithelial cell line HCT-8: role of IFNgamma.

Protein metabolism contributes in the regulation of gut barrier function, which may be altered during inflammatory states. There are three major proteolytic pathways in mammalian cells: lysosomal, Ca(2+)-activated and ubiquitin-proteasome. The regulation of proteolytic activities during inflammation remains unknown in intestine. Intestinal epithelial cells, HCT-8, were stimulated by IL-1beta, IFNgamma and TNFalpha each alone or in combination (Cytomix). Proteolytic activities were assessed using fluorogenic substrates and specific inhibitors, protein expressions by Western blot. Lysosomal and Ca(2+)-activated pathways were not significantly altered by any treatment. In contrast, the activity of ubiquitin-proteasome system was stimulated by IFNgamma and Cytomix (155, 160 versus 100, P<0.05, respectively) but remained unaffected by IL-1beta and TNFalpha. Free ubiquitin expression, but not ubiquitinated proteins, was enhanced by IFNgamma and Cytomix. The expression of proteasome 20S alpha1 subunit, a constitutive proteasome 20S subunit, was not altered, beta5 subunit expression was weakly decreased by Cytomix and inducible beta5i subunit expression was markedly increased in response to IFNgamma and to Cytomix (202, 206 versus 100, P<0.05, respectively). In conclusion, lysosomal, Ca(2+)-activated and constitutive proteasome activities were not affected by IL-1beta, IFNgamma and TNFalpha alone or in combination, in HCT-8 cells. These results suggest that IFNgamma, but not IL-1beta and TNFalpha, increases immunoproteasome, which might contribute to enhanced antigen presentation during inflammatory bowel diseases.

Acetylcysteine↗

Self-assembled small-molecule microarrays for protease screening and profiling.

Small-molecule microarrays are attractive for chemical biology as they permit the analysis of hundreds to thousands of interactions in a highly miniaturized format. Methods to prepare small-molecule microarrays from combinatorial libraries by a self-assembly process based on the sequence-specific hybridization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) encoded libraries to oligonucleotide arrays are presented. A systematic study of the dynamic range for multiple detection agents, including direct fluorescence of attached fluorescein and cyanine-3 dyes, antibody-mediated fluorescence amplification, and biotin-gold nanoparticle detection, demonstrated that individual PNA-encoded probes can be detected to concentrations of 10 pM on the oligonucleotide microarrays. Furthermore, a new method for parallel processing of biological samples by using gel-based separation of probes is presented. The methods presented in this report are exemplified through profiling two closely related cysteine proteases, cathepsin K and cathepsin F, across a 625-member PNA-encoded tetrapeptide acrylate library. A series of the specific cathepsin K and F inhibitors identified from the library were kinetically characterized and shown to correlate with the observed microarray profile, thus validating the described methods. Importantly, it was shown that this method could be used to obtain orthogonal inhibitors that displayed greater than tenfold selectivity for these closely related cathepsins.

Endopeptidases↗

TAF9b (formerly TAF9L) is a bona fide TAF that has unique and overlapping roles with TAF9.

TFIID plays a key role in transcription initiation of RNA polymerase II preinitiation complex assembly. TFIID is comprised of the TATA box binding protein (TBP) and 14 TBP-associated factors (TAFs). A second set of transcriptional regulatory multiprotein complexes containing TAFs has been described (called SAGA, TFTC, STAGA, and PCAF/GCN5). Using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry, we identified a novel TFTC subunit, human TAF9Like, encoded by a TAF9 paralogue gene. We show that TAF9Like is a subunit of TFIID, and thus, it will be called TAF9b. TFIID and TFTC complexes in which both TAF9 and TAF9b are present exist. In vitro and in vivo experiments indicate that the interactions between TAF9b and TAF6 or TAF9 and TAF6 histone fold pairs are similar. We observed a differential induction of TAF9 and TAF9b during apoptosis that, together with their different ability to stabilize p53, points to distinct requirements for the two proteins in gene regulation. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown of TAF9 and TAF9b revealed that both genes are essential for cell viability. Gene expression analysis of cells treated with either TAF9 or TAF9b siRNAs indicates that the two proteins regulate different sets of genes with only a small overlap. Taken together, these data demonstrate that TAF9 and TAF9b share some of their functions, but more importantly, they have distinct roles in the transcriptional regulatory process.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Contribution of phospholipase D in endothelin-1-mediated extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation and proliferation in rat uterine leiomyoma cells.

Endothelin (ET)-1 is a mitogenic factor in numerous cell types, including rat myometrial cells. In the present study, we investigated the potential role of ET-1 in the proliferation of tumoral uterine smooth muscle cells (ELT-3 cells). We found that ET-1 exerted a more potent mitogenic effect in ELT-3 cells than in normal myometrial cells, as indicated by the increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation, cell number, and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation. The ET-1 was more efficient than platelet-derived growth factor and epidermal growth factor to stimulate proliferation. The ET-1-mediated cell proliferation was inhibited in the presence of U0126, a specific inhibitor of (mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK kinase), indicating that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation is involved. Additionally, ET-1 induced the activation of phospholipase (PL) D, leading to the synthesis of phosphatidic acid (PA). The ET-1-induced activation of PLD was twofold higher in ELT-3 cells compared to that in normal cells. The two cell types expressed mRNA for PLD1a and PLD2, whereas PLD1b was expressed only in ELT-3 cells. The exposure of cells to butan-1-ol reduced ET-1-mediated production of PA by PLD and partially inhibited ERK activation and DNA synthesis. Addition of exogenous PLD or PA in the medium reproduced the effect of ET-1 on ERK activation and cell proliferation. Collectively, these data indicate that ET-1 is a potent mitogenic factor in ELT-3 cells via a signaling pathway involving a PLD-dependent activation of ERK. This highlights the potential role of ET-1 in the development of uterine leiomyoma, and it reinforces the role of PLD in tumor growth.

Animals↗