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Biomedical subjects

E Khoury

Publications and source records attributed to E Khoury.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) downregulates c-kit proto-oncogene product expression in normal and acute myeloid leukemia CD34+ cells via p55 TNF alpha receptors.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), as a modulator of hematopoiesis, interacts with many growth factor receptors, such as interleukin-3, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF), and granulocyte-CSF receptors. Here, we studied the interactions between TNF alpha and the stem cell factor (SCF) receptor, c-kit, in normal CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors and their leukemic counterpart, ie, acute myeloid leukemic (AML) CD34+ cells coexpressing c-kit antigen. The results showed that (1) incubation of normal bone marrow mononuclear cells with 200 U/mL rhTNF alpha for 20 hours induced a diminution of 31.2% +/- 5.2% of CD34+ cells coexpressing c-kit; (2) the same decrease was observed using purified CD34+ cells and, furthermore, their proliferative response to SCF was inhibited by 31.5% +/- 7.3% after exposure to TNF alpha; (3) similar experiments performed on CD34+ c-kit+ AML cells from 11 patients gave comparable results. Further analysis at the mRNA level indicated that TNF alpha decreased c-kit mRNA transcripts. Moreover, using monoclonal antibodies against the two types of TNF alpha receptors, p75 and p55, we showed that the downregulation of c-kit proto-oncogene product by TNF alpha, on normal and leukemic CD34+ cells, was exclusively mediated by the TNF alpha p55 receptor. Therefore, we conclude that TNF alpha acts as a downregulator of the SCF receptor expression.

Adult

Tumor necrosis factor alpha in human long-term bone marrow cultures: distinct effects on nonadherent and adherent progenitors.

Although tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) exerts a variety of activities on hematopoietic cells, suggesting it may have some potential therapeutic applications, its long-term effects on hematopoiesis are not well defined. Therefore, we took the advantage of long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMCs) to evaluate the long-term role of TNF alpha on both the microenvironment and the hematopoietic progenitors. LTBMCs were inoculated with 100 U/ml of recombinant human TNF alpha (rhTNF alpha) either at the onset of the cultures (d0) or at day 21 (d21) when the adherent layer (AL) was already established. Then TNF alpha was added at each weekly medium change. The cellularity and the content of progenitors in both the nonadherent layer (NAL) and AL, the formation of the AL, and the presence of various cytokines in the supernatants were examined weekly. The data showed 1) a strong and durable inhibitory effect on total nonadherent cells; 2) a rapid and transient inhibition of NA progenitors, whereas adherent progenitors were lately affected; and 3) microenvironmental changes consisting of the disappearance of adipocytes and the secretion of high levels of interleukin 6. The results suggest that the inhibitory effects of TNF alpha on the NAL are in part counterbalanced by stromal modifications that in turn lead to a faster exhaustion of hematopoiesis.

Bone Marrow

Reversible inhibitory effects and absence of toxicity of the tetrapeptide acetyl-N-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro (AcSDKP) in human long-term bone marrow culture.

The effects of acetyl-N-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro (Ac-SDKP) in human long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMCs) were assessed by measuring the number of progenitors and the development of stromal cells over a 6-week course. In a first set of experiments, AcSDKP was added weekly at each medium change. Under these conditions, no significant effect of the peptide was observed. In contrast, by adding AcSDKP daily at 10(-10) M, the growth of the progenitors of the non-adherent (NA) compartment was inhibited by about 35%. This inhibition was entirely reversible; after stopping the addition of the peptide at the fourth week, the number of progenitors returned to control level within 2 weeks. Conversely, AcSDKP did not significantly change the number of the progenitors present in the adherent layer. In addition, AcSDKP did not affect the formation of the stromal layer nor induce the secretion of cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), interleukin 3 (IL-3), or interleukin 6 (IL-6). Our results indicate that AcSDKP has inhibitory but reversible effects on NA progenitors and does not induce long-term modifications of the microenvironment, both of particular interest for its clinical application.

Amino Acid Sequence

Effects of butyric acid on cell cycle regulation and induction of histone H1(0) in mouse cells and tissue culture. Inducibility of H1 (0)in the late S-G2 phase of the cell cycle.

We have examined the regulation of the synthesis of histone H1(0) in cultured mammalian cells treated with butyric acid. Treatment of cells with the inducer results in the arrest of synthesis of DNA and the other histones, while increasing the synthesis of H1(0) by a factor of 11. The induction of H1(0) by butyric acid occurs in a pulse with a peak at six hours, followed by a decrease to negligible levels. This pulse-like induction appears to be due to the fact that the cells are inducible for H1(0) only in the late S or G2 phases of the cell cycle. This, coupled with the fact that butyric acid blocks cells in G1, results in the burst of H1(0) synthesis after addition of the inducer. The G1 block provoked by butyric acid does not appear to result from the accumulation of H1(0). Removal of butyric acid from G1-blocked cells resulted in the resumption of cellular proliferation without prior loss of H1(0), demonstrating that the presence of this histone is not sufficient to prevent cellular proliferation.

Animals

Immunopathologic and morphologic studies of skeletal muscle in Chagas' disease.

Skeletal muscle biopsies from 21 individuals infected with Trypanosoma cruzi were studied my means of immunofluorescence, ultrastructural immunochemical, light and electron microscopic, and histochemical procedures. In 12 cases, definite morphologic alterations were found. These alterations were coincident with the presence of circulating antibodies against the plasma membrane of striated muscle fibers and endothelial cells (EVI antibodies). In almost all cases the lesions also presented autologous immunoglobulins bound to the plasma membrane of muscle fibers and endothelial cells. Interstitial inflammatory exudate was not observed in the diseased muscle. On the basis of these observations, it is suggested that the EVI antibody is related to some of the pathogenetic mechanism of skeletal muscle damage in Chagas' disease.

Adenosine Triphosphatases