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F Smíd

Publications and source records attributed to F Smíd.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A novel mutation in the coding region of the prosaposin gene leads to a complete deficiency of prosaposin and saposins, and is associated with a complex sphingolipidosis dominated by lactosylceramide accumulation.

A fatal infantile storage disorder with hepatosplenomegaly and severe neurological disease is described. Sphingolipids, including monohexosylceramides (mainly glucosylceramide), dihexosylceramides (mainly lactosylceramide), globotriaosyl ceramide, sulphatides, ceramides and globotetraosyl ceramide, were stored in the tissues. In general, cholesterol and sphingomyelin levels were unaltered. The storage process was generalized and affected a number of cell types, with histiocytes, which infiltrated a number of visceral organs and the brain, especially involved. The ultrastructure of the storage lysosomes was membranous with oligolamellar, mainly vesicular, profiles. Infrequently, there were Gaucher-like lysosomes in histiocytes. The neuropathology was severe and featured neuronal storage and loss with a massive depopulation of cortical neurons and pronounced fibrillary astrocytosis. There was a paucity of myelin and stainable axons in the white matter with signs of active demyelination. Immunohistochemical investigations indicated that saposins A, B, C and D were all deficient. The patient was homozygous for a 1 bp deletion (c.803delG) within the SAP-B domain of the prosaposin gene which leads to a frameshift and premature stop codon. In the heterozygous parents, mutant cDNA was detected by amplification refractory mutation analysis in the nuclear, but not the cytoplasmic, fraction of fibroblast RNA, indicating that the mutant mRNA was rapidly degraded. The storage process in the proband resembled that of a published case from an unrelated family. Saposins were also deficient in this case, leading to its reclassification as prosaposin deficiency, and her mother was found to be a carrier for the same c.803delG mutation. Both of the investigated families came from the same district of eastern Slovakia.

Antigens, CD↗

Immunoaffinity isolation of CEACAM1 on hydrazide-derivatized cellulose with immobilized monoclonal anti-CEA antibody.

Carcinoembryonic cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) is a human membrane glycoprotein belonging to the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family and to the immunoglobulin superfamily. It is expressed in apical membranes of many epithelial cells in gastrointestinal and urogenital tract and also in granulocytes and lymphocytes, and its biological effect in human tissues has recently been discussed in literature. The purpose of this study was to isolate CEACAM1 glycoprotein from bile and characterize its purity and recovery which has not been described before. Affinity chromatography of CEACAM1 on hydrazide-activated cellulose with immobilized monoclonal anti-CEA F34-187 antibody is described. The immunoglobulin carbohydrate moiety was oxidized by periodate and then bound to hydrazide-activated matrix. Crude protein fraction from bile was applied on the affinity column and after extensive washing of non-bound proteins CEACAM1 was eluted with 6 M guanidine-HCl. A single immunopositive 85 kDa band was detected on Western blots with anti-CEA antibody after SDS-PAGE. We found out that CEACAM1 was not stainable with any common method of protein staining and the only non-specific method which could detect the 85 kDa band was a lectin staining.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 is the 85-kilodalton pronase-resistant biliary glycoprotein in the cholesterol crystallization promoting low density protein-lipid complex.

A pronase resistant 85-kd glycoprotein in the Concanavalin A-binding fraction (CABF) of biliary glycoproteins has been reported to act as a promotor of cholesterol crystallization. De Bruijn et al. (Gastroenterology 1996;110:1936-1944) found this protein in a low-density protein-lipid complex (LDP) with potent cholesterol crystallization promoting activity. This study identifies and characterizes this protein. An LDP was prepared from CABF by discontinuous gradient ultracentrifugation. Proteins were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), blotting and immunochemical staining with anti-carcinoembryonic antigen, CEA-related adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) cross-reacting antibodies. Biliary concentrations of CEA cross-reacting proteins were determined in patients with and without gallstones. Two isoforms of CEACAM1 (85- and 115-kd bands), CEA and 2 CEA cross-reacting protein bands of 40 and 50 kd were found in human bile. All bands were also present in CABF, but only a subfraction of the 85-kd band found in the LDP was resistant to digestion with pronase. CEACAM1-85 exhibited potent cholesterol crystallization promoting activity in vitro and accounted for most of the activity in CABF. Total CEA cross-reacting protein concentrations were the same in gallbladder biles from patients with cholesterol and pigment gallstones but only half of those in biles from nongallstone subjects. In conclusion, we have identified the protein component of the cholesterol crystallization promoting LDP to be CEACAM1-85.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

[Pronuclear and antinuclear factors in the pathogenesis of cholesterol cholelithiasis].

Contrary to hitherto published results, the authors provided evidence of significant pronucleation activity in the protein fraction which is not linked to concanavaline A. Delipidation or proteolysis markedly reduce the pronucleation activity of this fraction. Albumin was identified as the main protein in this fraction. The lipid-protein complex formed by albumin and lipids had a high pronucleation and crystallization activity in relation to cholesterol. Calcium ions increased the crystalization activity. Complexes formed by proteins and lipids can be vectors of the main pronucleation activity in bile. In investigations of the main cholesterol fraction the authors provided evidence that only part of so-called pronucleation proteins is linked to vesicles--i.e. IgM, IgA and biliary glycoprotein BGP I and II. The authors assume that only proteins firmly linked to vesicles can participate in the process of cholesterol crystallization. Biliary glycoprotein BGP I and II was present in vesicles and when added into a model bile it presented a high pronucleation activity. Biliary glycoprotein is a new hitherto not identified pronucleation protein in bile.

Bile↗

[Vesicular and pronuclear glycoproteins in the pathogenesis of cholesterol lithiasis].

BACKGROUND: Several biliary proteins have been known to accelerate fusion of cholesterol rich phospholipid vesicles. Some of them are present in vesicular membrane, localisation of other proteins is unknown. Biliary glycoprotein has not been studied in consequence with pathogenesis of cholesterol lithiasis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Low molecular extravesicular proteins were separated from vesicles by gel filtration on a 1200mm column of Sephacryl S-300 HR. Immunoglobulins IgM, IgA, haptoglobin, biliary glycoprotein I (BGP I) and nonspecific crossreactive antigen were eluted along with vesicles. Albumin and alpha 1-acid glycoprotein were eluted later and must be extravesicular. CONCLUSIONS: Fact that BGP I (85 kDa membrane glycoprotein) eluted along with vesicles and not in albumin fraction suggests that it might be bound in vesicular membrane. As a known adhesion molecule it could thus play an important role in pathogenesis of cholesterol cholelithiasis.

Bile↗

Lex glycosphingolipids-mediated cell aggregation.

Glycoconjugates bearing oligosaccharide Lex, Galbeta1-->4(Fucalpha1-->3)GlcNAcbeta1-->3R, are found on the surface of several cell types. Although recent studies have indicated that Lexon both glycosphingolipids (GSL) and polylactosaminoglycans can mediate under certain experimental conditions Lex-Lexinteractions, cell-cell interactions based exclusively on LexGSLs have not been demonstrated. In this study we show that preincubation of nonaggregating rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) cells with purified LexGSLs resulted in incorporation of the GSLs into plasma membrane, as determined by immunostaining, and formation of aggregates in the presence of Ca2+; no aggregates were formed after preincubation of the cells with globoside or sphingomyelin. Lex-mediated aggregation was inhibited by removal of Ca2+or by addition of lactofucopentaose III but not by lactose or lacto-N-fucopentaose II. In a mixture of Lex-positive and Lex-negative RBL cells most of the aggregates were composed exclusively of Lex-positive cells. The combined data suggest that interactions between LexGSL on opposite cell surfaces are strong enough to allow formation of stable cell-cell contacts.

Animals↗

Fine specificity of anti-Le(X) monoclonal antibody TEC-01.

TEC-01 monoclonal antibody recognizes the oligosaccharide structure Galbeta1-->4[Fucalpha1-->3] GlcNAc (Le(X) hapten). To determine its fine specificity, reactivity of TEC-01 antibody with Le(X) glycosphingolipids, isolated from human liver metastasis of adenocarcinoma, and Le(X) neoglycolipid were analysed. Immunostaining of Le(X) glycosphingolipids, fractionated by thin-layer chromatography, showed that TEC-01 reacted with difucosyl and trifucosyl Le(X) glycosphingolipids but not with Le(X) pentasaccharide ceramide. Interestingly, TEC-01 also reacted with Le(X) neoglycolipid prepared by reductive amination from Le(X) pentasaccharide, lacto-N-fucopentaose III, and L-1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerophosphoethanolamine. The combined data suggest that TEC-01 recognizes Le(X) hapten in glycolipids with longer oligosaccharide chain moiety.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Degradation of blood group A glycolipid A-6-2 by normal and mutant human skin fibroblasts.

The degradation of blood group glycolipid A-6-2 (GalNAc(alpha1-->3)[Fuc alpha1-->2]Gal(beta1-->4)GlcNAc(beta1-->3)Gal(beta1-->4)Glc(beta1-->1')C er, IV2-alpha-fucosyl-IV3-alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminylneolact otetraosylceramide), tritium-labeled in its ceramide moiety, was studied in situ, in skin fibroblast cultures from normal controls, from patients with defects of lysosomal alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase, and from patients with other lysosomal storage diseases. Uptake of the glycolipid with apolipoprotein E-coated liposomes was linear with time and with the amount of glycolipid added. In normal cells, the expected array of less polar products and some lipids resulting from re-using the liberated sphingosine, mainly sphingomyelin and phosphatidylcholine, were formed. In alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase-deficient cells, the glycolipid was virtually not degraded; product formation was less than 2% of the normal control rate, suggesting that blood group A-active glycolipids contribute as storage compounds to the pathogenesis of this disease. The expected accumulation of degradation intermediates was seen in fucosidosis, and in Sandhoff, Gaucher, and Farber disease cells, whereas normal turnover rates were found in Tay-Sachs disease cells, G(M2) activator-deficient (variant AB of G(M2) gangliosidosis) and in sulfatide activator- (sap-B-) deficient cells. In G(M1) gangliosidosis and in sap precursor-deficient cells, the lysosomal glycolipid catabolism was found to be strongly retarded; accumulation of individual products could not be seen. Skin fibroblasts from patients with alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase deficiency (Schindler disease) cannot degrade the major blood group A glycolipid.

ABO Blood-Group System↗

[Glycosphingolipids as tumor markers].

Interest in research in the sphere of tumours has concentrated for many years on finding tumour specific antigenic structures which can be used in immunodiagnosis and immunotherapy. During the last 30 years a number of monoclonal antibodies against tumours was prepared by means of which evidence was provided that antigens associated with tumourous processes have very often the nature of carbohydrates, in particular those linked to lipids, i.e. glycolipids. Carbohydrate structures with which anti-tumour antibodies react are usually found (at least in small concentrations) also in normal tissues. In the strict sense, from the chemical aspect specific tumour antigens do not exist but rather antigens associated with the tumourous process-tumour markers. Factors which influence the presence of a glycolipid of a tumour marker may be a) a simplification of the glycolipid spectrum by incomplete biosynthesis with concurrent deficiency of higher complex glycolipids and cumulation of the glycolipid precursor, b) activation of new pathways of biosynthesis, c) changes in the ceramide portion, d) lactonisation in the carbohydrate portion of the molecule, e) changes in the accessibility of the glycolipid molecule, their conformation and density on the cell surface. The author reviews the main glycolipid tumour markers which can be used in immunodiagnostics.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

Prosaposin deficiency: further characterization of the sphingolipid activator protein-deficient sibs. Multiple glycolipid elevations (including lactosylceramidosis), partial enzyme deficiencies and ultrastructure of the skin in this generalized sphingolipid storage disease.

Sphingolipid activator protein (SAP) deficiency, previously described in two sibs and shown to be caused by the absence of the common saposin precursor (prosaposin), was further characterized by biochemical lipid and enzyme studies and by ultrastructural analysis. The 20-week-old fetal sib had increased concentrations of neutral glycolipids, including mono-, di-, tri- and tetrahexosylceramide, in liver, kidney and cultured skin fibroblasts compared with the controls. Glucosylceramide and lactosylceramide were particularly elevated. The kidney of the affected fetus showed additional increases in the concentration of sulphatide, galactosylceramide and digalactosylceramide. Free ceramide was stored in the liver and kidney, and GM3 and GM2 gangliosides were elevated in the liver, but not the brain, of the fetus. Phospholipids, however, were normal in the affected fetus. In the liver biopsy of the propositus, who later died at 16 weeks of age, only a few lipids could be studied. Glucosylceramide, dihexosylceramide and ceramide were elevated in agreement with our previous study. Enzyme studies were undertaken using detergent-free liposomal substrate preparations and fibroblast extracts. The sibs' beta-glucocerebrosidase and beta-galactocerebrosidase activities were clearly reduced, but their sphingomyelinase activities were normal. The normal activity of the latter enzyme and the almost normal tissue concentration of sphingomyelin in prosaposin deficiency suggest that the prosaposin-derived SAPs are not required for sphingomyelinase activity in vivo. In keeping with the biochemical findings, skin biopsies from the sibs showed massive lysosomal storage with a vesicular and membranous ultrastructure. The function of SAPs in sphingolipid degradation and the role of SAPs for enzyme activity in vitro are discussed. In addition, the similarity in neutral glycolipid accumulations in Niemann-Pick disease type C and in prosaposin deficiency are noted. The phenotype of the prosaposin deficient sibs resembled acute neuronopathic (type 2) Gaucher disease more than Farber disease in several aspects, but their genotype was unique.

Brain Chemistry↗

Cardiocyte storage and hypertrophy as a sole manifestation of Fabry's disease. Report on a case simulating hypertrophic non-obstructive cardiomyopathy.

Fabry's disease was diagnosed in an adult patient as a lipid storage-induced non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Stable angina pectoris started 15 years before death, was followed by slowly progressive heart failure and repeated pulmonary thromboembolism with death at 63 years. Autopsy disclosed enormous cardiomegaly (1100 g), cardiac storage of ceramide trihexoside (CTH) of the same intensity as in classical cases of generalized Fabry's disease (11 mg lipid/g wet weight) restricted to cardiocytes. Other tissues (liver, kidney, brain, pancreas, pulmonary artery, coronary arteries) were free of storage. Using proton magnetic resonance analysis on formaldehyde-fixed tissue the stored CTH was identified as globotriaosylceramide. It was enzymatically degradable by control cell cultures but left uncleaved by mutant reference Fabry cells. Alpha-galactosidase activities in peripheral leucocytes of all four of the patient's daughters were in the heterozygous range. The diagnostic difficulties in this monosymptomatic novel variant of Fabry's disease are stressed.

Cardiomegaly↗

Ganglioside composition in experimental tumors with different growth properties.

The composition of gangliosides was studied in four fibrosarcomas (FL, FLA, FLB, FLC) induced in the Lewis rat by Ferridextran, and in two clones of a spontaneous Lewis rat mammary sarcoma (C-1-SAM LEW and C-2-SAM LEW) and two supertransformed clones (S-174 and S-271) derived from these clones, using the B77 virus. The malignancy of the Lewis tumors was tested in terms of their ability to outgrow the RT-5 barrier in LEW.1x rats and expressed as the loss-rate of LEW.1x rats. As for the Ferridextran-induced tumors, the FL was the only one to have been rejected in nearly 100% of the LEW.1x recipients. Following presensitization with FL the other tumors were also rejected, though not at a rate of 100%. The rat loss-rate was: FL--0%, FLC--23.5%, FLB--36.5%, and FLA--82.6%. As malignancy increased, the composition of gangliosides showed signs of progressive simplification indicating a step-by-step repression of ganglioside biosynthesis involving first the disialoganglioside and subsequently also the monosialoganglioside pathways. Some less distinct decrease (but significant at the 5% level of probability) of gangliosides of the disialoganglioside pathway and an increase of the simplest ganglioside (GM3) were observed between the C-1 clone of SAM LEW and its S-174 supertransformant. However, the changes, especially in the C-2 clone and its supertransformant, were not such as would suggest a marked defect in the biosynthesis of gangliosides.

Animals↗

Factors influencing the activity of cellular alkaline phosphatase during growth and sporulation of Bacillus cereus.

Alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) is synthesized in media with a low phosphate concentration (0.37 mM of total and 19 microM of inorganic phosphate, respectively) already during the exponential phase of growth of Bacillus cereus. The enzyme is repressed by higher phosphate concentrations (3.7 mM) during the whole growth period; during sporogenesis the enzyme activity in cells slightly increases even under these conditions. During growth the enzyme is not secreted into the medium, a minor amount being released after cessation of growth. The enzyme activity can be increased by adding Zn2+ ions (10 microM). When during growth without phosphate the pH of the medium decreases below 5.0, the enzyme activity temporarily decreases and growth is slowed down, followed by a subsequent increase of the enzyme activity. In this case the onset of sporulation is also delayed.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗

Rapid ion-exchange separation of human brain gangliosides.

An extract of human brain gangliosides was separated on a Spheron 1000-DEAE spherous fine-grain macroporous glycolmethacrylate anion-exchanger. Linear gradient elution using ammonium acetate in methanol resulted in the complete separation of mono, di-, tri-, tetra- and pentasialogangliosides in 35 min at the load of 2.4 mg/ml of ion-exchanger. The ganglioside fractions thus obtained were characterized by thin-layer chromatography on silica gel. In conclusion, the scope of rapid separation of gangliosides is discussed, based on a combination of column chromatographic methods.

Brain Chemistry↗

Niemann-Pick disease type C. Study on the nature of the cerebral storage process.

A complex neuropathological study of two cases of Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) type C (NPDC) revealed some novel features in the chemical pathology of the neuronal storage. Lipid histochemistry showed the presence of a lipid which met the criteria of a neuronal glycosphingolipid. Sphingomyelin (SM) was not detected in the neurones in any of the regions examined. Lipid chemical analysis of total extracts and of partially purified lysosomal fraction of the brain cortex showed markedly increased levels of neutral ceramide hexosides especially of glucosylceramide and ceramide dihexoside (mostly of its slower band). Phospholipids were not significantly increased. Monosialogangliosides GM2 and GM3 were increased only slightly. The storage process displayed the well known fine structure and was accompanied by a marked secondary increase in some lysosomal enzyme activities. There was neuroaxonal dystrophy (NAD) of considerable intensity and extent. Many spheroids contained masses of degenerated organelles and neurofilaments in various proportions and displayed variable activities of acid phosphatase, nonspecific esterase and dehydrogenases. There was marked brain atrophy accompanied in one case by severe demyelination. Enzyme studies revealed partial decrease of sphingomyelinase (SMase) and beta-glucosidase activities in cultured fibroblasts, as well as lack of cathodic SMase activity on isoelectric focusing. No defects of these enzymes were found in the brain samples. The findings are regarded as significant since they indicate a biochemical defect in which SM is not primarily involved and which may thus be fundamentally different from that in type A of NPD.

Brain↗

Adrenal changes in Niemann-Pick disease: differences between sphingomyelinase deficiency and type C.

Structural, chemical, and histochemical analyses of adrenal tissue performed in 8 cases of Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) revealed stark differences of storage between spingomyelinase (SMase) deficiency (6 cases) and type C (2 cases). In all the full-blown cases of the SMase deficiency group, pronounced sphingomyelin (SM) storage was found in all the zones of the cortical epithelium with slightly increasing centripetal gradient. The storage resulted in the reduction or even disappearance of lipofuscinogenesis in the reticular zone, in the reduction of the physiological fat content, in the generalized foamy transformation of the epithelium, and in moderate organomegaly. The storage was expressed in both A and B types and was roughly proportional to the storage in other viscera. The stromal storage was confined to the vascular endothelium, and in particular, to the macrophages. One of the cases showed the presence of typical spirolactone bodies unmodified in fine structure by the lysosomal storage. Their most conspicuous enzymatic activity was that of non-specific esterase and NADH tetrazolium reductase. The adrenals in type C were macroscopically and histologically normal except for a variable population of stromal foam cells. Chemically, there was slight increase in all phospholipids with borderline or moderate percentual increase of SM. There was also slight increase in some of the lower neutral glycosphingolipids. Electron microscopy dislosed rudimentar storage in lower cortical layer epithelium which by its fine structure and according to results of lipid histochemistry was qualitatively different from that in SMase deficiency. The stromal storage was expressed mainly in macrophages in which there was histochemically detectable amount of SM. There was no storage detectable in medullary cells in neither group of NPD complex. The results point not only to striking quantitative differences in storage intensity between the 2 basic groups of NPD showing the cortical epithelium in type C as being remarkably resistant to the metabolic disorder, but also to difference in quality of the storage very much like that found in other tissues, too.

Adrenal Cortex↗

Niemann-Pick disease type C with enhanced glycolipid storage. Report on further case of so-called lactosylceramidosis.

A case of infantile neurovisceral disease was classified according to the morphological and chemical analysis of fixed tissue as a chemically different type of Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) type C, with glycolipids dominating the storage process. The diagnosis was reached on the basis of massive accumulation of neutral glycolipids in visceral storage elements (hepatocytes and macrophages) as an outstanding feature of lipid histochemistry. Chemical lipid analysis corroborated the findings by detecting a manyfold increase of glucosyl ceramide, lactosyl ceramide, ceramide trihexoside and GM3 ganglioside. In addition, macrophages contained variable quantities of sphingomyelin. The brain showed slightly increased quantities of lactosylceramide (Slower fraction) and glucosyl ceramide. Apart from the classical neuronal storage changes there was also marked neuroaxonal dystrophy. In terms of quality, the glycolipid spectrum was comparable to that of NPD type C, in terms of quantity, the changes were consistent with those in so-called lactosylceramidosis, which, however, was reclassified as NPD type C only recently. In our view, the present case is the second published observation of lactosylceramidosis classifiable as a glycolipid (GL) variety of NPD type C in which the normally considerable tendency to glycolipid storage is further enhanced while the storage of sphingomyelin is less expressed.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗