Pathogenesis and treatment of virus-induced autoimmune diabetes: novel insights gained from the RIP-LCMV transgenic mouse model.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Homann.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bone is an estradiol-responsive tissue. Estrogen withdrawal during the menopause causes loss of bone mass and clinically relevant osteoporosis in a third of all women. Sufficient or impaired local production, as well as degradation of estradiol in cells present in the bone microenvironment might be an important mechanism of rescue or might contribute to the development of osteoporosis, respectively. We therefore investigated aromatase and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type IV (17beta-HSD IV) expression in osteoblast- and osteoclast-like cells. Aromatase mRNA was increasingly expressed in myeloid THP 1 cells differentiated along the monocyte/phagocyte pathway exploiting vitamin D and either granulocyte-macrophage-stimulating factor (GMCSF) or macrophage-stimulating factor (MCSF). In long-term cultures, when sequentially exposed to vitamin D (days 0-21) and GMCSF (days 5-10) and plated on collagen, the amount of expression of aromatase mRNA steadily increased along with the increasing expression of osteopontin mRNA, alpha(v) integrin mRNA, c-fms (MCSF-receptor) mRNA and multinucleated cells developing. The conversion of estradiol from testosterone (10(-7) M/l) in the supernatants of dishes mirrored changes in aromatase mRNA expression and by day 21 rose to 30,000 ng/10(7) cells/24 h. 17Beta-HSD IV mRNA expression was abundant in undifferentiated THP 1 cells and was decreased to approximately 50% by day 21. Unstimulated SV-40 immortalized fetal osteoblasts did not express aromatase mRNA, but the expression was stimulated by the addition of the phorbol ester phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Unstimulated osteoblasts from primary cultures did not express aromatase mRNA. Osteoblast-like osteosarcoma cells MG 63 expressed faint levels of aromatase mRNA in contrast to the osteosarcoma cell line HOS 58. 17Beta-HSD IV mRNA was expressed in fetal osteoblasts as well as in osteoblasts from primary culture, MG 63 and HOS 58 cells. In summary, we can show the expression of estradiol metabolizing enzymes in cells which are present in the bone microenvironment. Impaired aromatase expression and/or enhanced expression of 17beta-HSD IV may contribute to the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.
Aromatase cytochrome P450 mRNA and activity was strongly expressed in THP 1 myeloid leukaemia cells after treatment with phorbol-myristate-acetate (PMA) and dexamethasone, low level expression was caused by calcitriol. mRNA species of 4.0, 3.0, 2.4 and 1.1 kb size were differentially stimulated. After calcitriol-mediated differentiation (72 h, measured by CD 14 expression) mRNA expression was further enhanced by PMA (45-fold), dexamethasone (15-fold), oestradiol (3.7-fold), testosterone (2.5-fold) and androstenedione (3.5-fold). Forskolin, cAMP and follicle stimulating hormone had no stimulatory effect. Oestradiol formation from testosterone (oestradiol radioimmunoassay in culture supernatants) increased to > 2000 pg/ml/10(6) cells/24 h after PMA-stimulation, mirrored mRNA expression and was suppressed below 10% of original values in the presence of 4-OH-androstenedione. Exons I.2 and I.4 were expressed in PMA-stimulated cells only, exon I.3 in both PMA- and dexamethasone-stimulated cells. A new splicing variant was expressed after calcitriol-stimulation, which did not hybridize to an exon II-derived oligonucleotide but to an exon III-derived one. Local aromatisation of androgens into oestradiol may be important in the concerted crosstalk of cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage with their respective tissues in inflammation and bone metabolism.
Estradiol is active in proliferation and differentiation of sex-related tissues like ovary and breast. Glandular steroid metabolism was for a long time believed to dominate the estrogenic milieu around any cell of the organism. Recent reports verified the expression of estrogen receptors in "non-target" tissues as well as the extraglandular expression of steroid metabolizing enzymes. Extraglandular steroid metabolism proved to be important in the brain, skin and in stromal cells of hormone responsive tumors. Aromatase converts testosterone into estradiol and androstenedione into estrone, thereby activating estrogen precursors. The group of 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases catalyzes the oxidation and/or reduction of the forementioned compounds, e.g. estradiol/estrone, thereby either activating or inactivating estradiol. Aromatase is expressed and regulated in the human THP 1 myeloid leukemia cell line after vitamin D/GMCSF-propagated differentiation. Aromatase expression is stimulated by dexamethasone, phorbolesters and granulocyte/macrophage stimulating factor (GMCSF). Exons I.2 and I.4 are expressed in PMA-stimulated cells only, exon I.3 in both PMA- and dexamethasone-stimulated cells. Vitamin D-differentiated THP 1 cells produce a net excess of estradiol in culture supernatants, if testosterone is given as aromatase substrate. In contrast, the 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 4 (17 beta-HSD 4) is abundantly expressed in unstimulated THP 1 cells and is further stimulated by glucocorticoids (2-fold). The expression is unchanged after vitamin D/GMCSF-propagated differentiation. 17 beta-HSD 4 expression is not altered by phorbolester treatment in undifferentiated cells but is abolished after vitamin D-propagated differentiation along with downregulation of beta-actin. Protein kinase C activation therefore appears to dissociate the expression of aromatase and 17 beta-HSD 4 in this differentiation stage along the monocyte/phagocyte pathway of THP 1 myeloid cells. The expression of steroid metabolizing enzymes in myeloid cells is able to create a microenvironment which is uncoupled from dominating systemic estrogens. These findings may be relevant in the autocrine, paracrine or iuxtacrine cellular crosstalk of myeloid cells in their respective states of terminal differentiation, e.g. in bone metabolism and inflammation.
In human embryonic kidney cells stably expressing the human m3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) subtype, agonist (carbachol) activation stimulated phospholipase C, increased cytoplasmic calcium concentration, induced tyrosine phosphorylation of various cellular proteins and activated phospholipase D. Bypassing membrane receptors, phospholipase D was activated in these cells by direct activation of protein kinase C by phorbol esters, by direct activation of GTP-binding proteins by A1F4- and a stable GTP analogue (in permeabilized cells), by increasing cytoplasmic calcium concentration with the calcium ionophore A23187 and also apparently by tyrosine phosphorylation. In order to identify possible mechanisms by which the m3 mAChR couples to phospholipase D, various inhibitors of protein kinase C, tyrosine kinases and calcium-dependent events were studied. Prevention of an agonist-induced increase in cytoplasmic calcium concentration did not alter the mAChR-induced phospholipase D stimulation. The protein kinase C inhibitors, calphostin C and staurosporine, efficiently prevented phospholipase D activation by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate but only partially inhibited the activation induced by the mAChR agonist. Additionally, down-regulation of protein kinase C by prolonged exposure to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate abrogated phospholipase D activation by this effector but had only minor or no effects on the response to the mAChR agonist and direct activators of GTP-binding proteins. In contrast, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein abolished the carbachol-induced and A1F4(-)-induced phospholipase D activation but had no effect on enzyme activation by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. The data indicate that phospholipase D in m3 mAChR-expressing human embryonic kidney cells can be activated by various different mechanisms, i.e. receptor agonists, GTP-binding proteins, protein kinase C-dependent and calcium-dependent events and tyrosine phosphorylation. The coupling of m3 mAChR to phospholipase D appears to be largely independent of concomitant phospholipase C activation with subsequent increase in cytoplasmic calcium concentration and protein kinase C activity. The data instead suggest the involvement of an essential protein tyrosine phosphorylation mechanism in phopsholipase D activation by the m3 mAChR and heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins.
Regulation of effector functions by muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes is mediated by pertussis toxin-sensitive and -insensitive G proteins. In membranes from human embryonic kidney 293 cells transfected with m1, m2, and m3 muscarinic acetycholine receptors, we detected the pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins Gi1, Gi2, and Gi3 and the pertussis toxin-insensitive G proteins Gq/11 and Gs. Subtype-specific immunoprecipitation of G protein alpha subunits photolabeled with [alpha-32P] GTP azidoanilide, in the absence and presence of carbachol, revealed the selective coupling of activated muscarinic receptors to G protein subtypes. Gq/11 was activated via m1 and m3 receptors and Gi2 was activated via m2 receptors. All three receptors subtypes mediated the activation of Gi1 and Gi3. Effective activation of Gi1 and Gi3 via m1 and m3 receptors occurred only at high carbachol concentrations (EC50 about 10-20 microM), whereas carbachol with higher potency (EC50 about 1 microM) induced activation of all G1 subtypes via m2 receptors. Thus, coupling of muscarinic receptors and G protein subtypes was principally selective; however, activation of distinct G protein subtypes by different muscarinic receptors occurred with different efficacies.