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Biomedical subjects

J F Schneider

Publications and source records attributed to J F Schneider.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Cellular transformation by a unique isolate of human papillomavirus type 11.

Infection with human papillomavirus type 11 (HPV 11) is associated with benign epithelial proliferations and rarely with malignant and metastasizing tumors. Because of the biological diversity displayed in tissues infected with HPV 11, we have examined the capacity of various isolates of HPV 11 to transform cultured cells and compared their molecular differences by DNA sequence analysis. Five isolates of HPV 11 were examined for their ability to transform primary neonatal rat kidney epithelial cells and NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblasts in DNA transfection experiments using calcium phosphate precipitation. Included in these studies are the prototype isolate from a laryngeal papilloma (HPV 11P); HPV 11VC from a verrucous carcinoma of the penis; HPV 11Epi from the viral episomes of a primary squamous cell carcinoma; and two integrated genomes (HPV 11Int 1 and HPV 11Int 2) of the metastases. Only HPV 11VC cotransfected with the oncogene Ha-ras transformed neonatal rat kidney epithelial cells with an efficiency comparable to that of HPV 16 DNA. HPV 11VC DNA alone transformed NIH 3T3 cells. Analysis of the DNA sequence of HPV 11P and 11VC revealed 16 single nucleotide changes in the upstream regulatory region and open reading frames E1, E2, E4, and E5, five resulting in amino acid substitutions. This is the first demonstration of cellular transformation by a natural isolate HPV 11 DNA in vitro and illustrates that minimal changes in the DNA sequence of certain viruses confer oncogenicity to what are normally nontransforming viruses.

3T3 Cells

Molecular cloning and sequence analysis of the cDNA for northern pike (Esox lucius) growth hormone.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the northern pike (Esox lucius) cDNA for pregrowth hormones was determined from clones derived from a pituitary gland cDNA library. Seventeen cDNA clones were isolated from a single mRNA species. A cDNA of 1,227 nucleotides was sequenced and found to encode a polypeptide of 209 amino acid residues, which included a putative signal sequence of 22 amino acid residues. Sequence comparison of the northern pike growth hormone gene to other known growth hormone genes revealed similarities closest to other members of the superorder Protacanthopterygii, which includes the Salmonidae family (i.e., salmon and trout).

Amino Acid Sequence

Rhesus papillomavirus type 1 cooperates with activated ras in transforming primary epithelial rat cells independent of dexamethasone.

Rhesus Papillomavirus type 1 (RhPV-1) was recently cloned from a rhesus monkey lymph node metastasis of a penile squamous cell carcinoma. In this paper, we demonstrate that RhPV-1 cooperates with the activated ras oncogene to transform primary cells at a level comparable to human papillomavirus type 16. The viral DNAs were cloned such that their expression was under the control of their natural promoter elements. Unlike human papillomavirus type 16, RhPV-1 DNA cooperated with ras independently of the hormone dexamethasone. However, dexamethasone did have a positive influence on the ability of some RhPV-1 cotransformed cells to grow in soft-agar assays. The transformed cells are highly tumorigenic in vivo in nude mice.

Animals

The detection of mercury, lead, and methylmercury binding sites on lysozyme by carbon-13 NMR chemical shifts of the carboxylate groups.

The chemical shift changes observed in the carbon-13 NMR spectra of the carboxylate region in conjunction with previous fluorescence data indicate that mercury and lead bind to both disulfide bridge 64-80 and to Asp-52 in hen egg-white lysozyme. Methylmercury appears to bind primarily to the disulfide linkage. The carbon-13 NMR results support previous investigations by halide ion NMR and x-ray crystallography. The combined information from all of these techniques is useful for providing a clearer description of heavy metal binding to proteins.

Binding Sites

Heterogeneity of adenovirus type 5 E1A proteins: multiple serine phosphorylations induce slow-migrating electrophoretic variants but do not affect E1A-induced transcriptional activation or transformation.

The 289-amino-acid product encoded by the adenovirus E1A 13S mRNA has several pleiotropic activities, including transcriptional activation, transcriptional repression, and when acting in concert with certain oncogene products, cell transformation. In all cell types in which E1A has been introduced (except bacteria), E1A protein is extensively posttranslationally modified to yield several isoelectric and molecular weight variants. The most striking variant is one that has a retarded mobility, by about Mr = 2,000, in sodium dodecyl sulfate gels. We have investigated the nature of this modification and have assessed its importance for E1A activity. Phosphorylation is responsible for the altered mobility of E1A, since acid phosphatase treatment eliminates the higher apparent molecular weight products. By using several E1A deletion mutants, we show that at least two seryl residues, residing between residues 86 and 120 and 224 and 289, are the sites of phosphorylation and that each phosphorylation can independently induce the mobility shift. However, E1A mutants lacking these seryl residues transcriptionally activate the adenovirus E3 and E2A promoters and transform baby rat kidney cells to near wild-type levels.

Adenovirus Early Proteins

Mutational analysis of the adenovirus E1a gene: the role of transcriptional regulation in transformation.

To determine whether the transcription regulatory activities of the adenoviral E1a gene play a role in its ability to transform primary cells we have constructed an extensive series of mutations within the E1a gene. The mutants have been characterized for their ability to transactivate the adenoviral early promoters, repress the transcriptional stimulation of the polyoma virus enhancer, establish primary baby rat kidney cells in culture and cooperate with the activated Ha-ras oncogene in morphologically transforming these cells. The mutant phenotypes reveal that: (i) the two transcription regulatory activities of E1a are separable since essential protein domains map within different regions of the protein; (ii) transactivation is unlikely to contribute significantly to E1a-mediated transformation since several isolated mutants lost the ability to transactivate but were nevertheless efficient at transformation; and (iii) both establishment and oncogene cooperation are linked to enhancer repression suggesting that E1a transforms cells by the repression of a cellular enhancer.

Adenoviridae

Percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty for aortic stenosis in elderly patients at high risk for surgery.

Six elderly patients had percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty for severe, symptomatic calcific aortic stenosis because valve replacement surgery was considered too risky in five patients with severe coexisting cardiac or other medical problems and because one patient refused to have surgery. The procedure resulted in a significant reduction in the mean (+/-SD) aortic valve gradient, from 47 +/- 13 to 32 +/- 12 mm Hg (change, -32%, p less than 0.01), and a significant increase in the mean area of the aortic valve, from 0.64 +/- 0.12 to 0.90 +/- 0.17 cm2 (change, +40%, p less than 0.001). Blood loss from the femoral puncture site was the only major procedural complication. At a mean follow-up of 2 months after the procedure, all patients were alive and dyspnea had improved by two New York Heart Association functional classes in four patients and by one functional class in two patients. A significant short-term increase in aortic valve area and alleviation in symptoms can be achieved safely by percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty in elderly patients with severe calcific aortic stenosis who are at high risk for surgical complications.

Aged

Clinical-electrocardiographic correlates of newly acquired left bundle branch block: the Framingham Study.

To determine whether any associated electrocardiographic findings in persons with newly acquired complete left bundle branch block (LBBB) correlate with the prevalence of associated clinically apparent cardiovascular abnormalities, electrocardiograms (ECGs) from all 55 members of the Framingham Study cohort in whom LBBB developed during 18 years of routine prospective biennial examinations were reviewed. A QRS axis left of or equal to 0 degrees, left atrial conduction delay and an inverted T wave in lead V6 on the first ECG with LBBB, and an abnormal ECG in the Framingham examination preceding the appearance of LBBB each correlated with the prevalence of systemic hypertension, cardiomegaly, coronary heart disease and congestive heart failure. However, neither the PR interval nor the duration of the QRS complex on the first ECG with LBBB correlated with the prevalence of any of the associated cardiovascular abnormalities. The 8 patients with neither left atrial conduction delay nor a QRS axis left of or equal to 0 degrees on the first Framingham ECG with LBBB nor an abnormal ECG on the examination preceding the appearance of LBBB were 6 times more likely to remain free of all of the clinical cardiovascular abnormalities than the 47 patients with 1 or more of these 3 electrocardiographic findings (p less than 0.001).

Adult

Newly acquired left bundle-branch block: the Framingham study.

The clinical implications of newly acquired left bundle-branch block (LBBB) were examined prospectively in the Framingham Study population. During 18 years of observation 55 people developed LBBB. The mean age at the onset of LBBB was 62; LBBB occurred largely in people with antecedent hypertension, cardiac enlargement, coronary heart disease, or a combination of these. Coincident with or subsequent to the onset of LBBB, 48% developed clinical coronary disease or congestive failure for the first time. Throughout the entire period of observation only 11% remained free of clinically apparent cardiovascular abnormalities. Within 10 years of the onset of LBBB, 50% had died from cardiovascular diseases. In men, the appearance of LBBB contributed independently to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. Comparison with age- and sex-matched control subjects free from LBBB confirmed that in the general adult population, newly acquired LBBB is most often a hallmark of advanced hypertensive or ischemic heart disease, or both.

Adult

The effect of amino acids on protein metabolism as measured in long-term experiments in immature brain explants.

In a study of a system suitable for investigating long-term effects on brain protein metabolism, we measured amino-acid incorpration into isolated immature brain explants incubated under sterile conditions up to ten days. Measurements of changes in total proteins, total DNA, cell number during the experiments, and 14C-thymidine incorporation measurements indicated no significant net growth; new cell formation was below 5% in a 5-day period; therefore, amino-acid incorporation was mainly due to protein turnover. The rate of incorporation in our immature brain preparation was similar to that of the adult brain in vivo: by ten days about one-half of the tissue protein turned over. The label incorporated was released in subsequent incubations with cold amino acids. Such release occurred in all subcellular fractions examined. Incorporation was fairly stable; at temperatures below 30 degrees C it rapidly declined, but it was not affected when phenylalanine or the branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine) were elevated in the incubation medium. Brief exposure to low amino-acid media had no effect; longer exposure resulted in tissue damage. Our model system indicates that overall brain protein turnover is not sensitive to such variations in the level of most amino acids, which may occur under various conditions. Protein metabolism of the nervous system occurs at a high rate. A recent long-term labeling method (Lajtha, Latzkovits, and Toth, 1976) gave a best fit to incorporation curves by assuming two compartments for adult brain proteins, one of which (about 6%) has a half-life of 15 hr and the other (94%) has a half-life of ten days. The disappearance of protein-bound label with time under conditions in which all proteins were previously labeled indicated that most, possibly all, proteins in brain are in a dynamic state (Lajtha and Toth, 1966). Incorporation of amino acids was found in all proteins and structures that have been studied to date; myelin proteins previously thought less active are also metabolized at a significant rate (Sabri, Bone, and Davison, 1974; Lajtha, Toth, Fujimoto, and Agrawal, 1977). We have fairly extensive information available in addition to turnover studies about the mechanisms of protein synthesis in brain (Roberts, 1971); protein breakdown was also studied in some detail (Marks and Lajtha, 1971). In contrast to our knowledge about protein metabolism under physiological equilibrium conditions, our information about alterations during functional demands or pathological conditions is scanty. Although a significant amount of work has been reported, largely because of technical difficulties the results are difficult to interpret unequivocally. The present report represents our effort to address some of the obstacles: to develop a system in which influences on long-term incorporation can be studied...

Amino Acids

Clinical diagnosis with the stable isotope 13C in CO2 breath tests: methodology and fundamental considerations.

The methodology for measuring in vivo oxidation of substrates labeled with the nonradioactive carbon isotope 13C has been developed with isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The use of 13C offers the possibility of utilizing CO2 breath tests in infants, children, pregnant women, and all subjects in whom 14CO2 breath tests cannot be used. The excretion of 140 nmol/kg-hr of 13CO2 produced from the oxidation of the labeled substrate could be detected with 95% confidence during a total CO2 excretion of 9 mM/kg-hr. The precision of CO2 breath tests using 13C is limited by the natural fluctuations of the ratio of 13C/12C in expired CO2, which occur with a standard deviation of 0.72%, or approximately 7 parts 13CO2 per 10(6) parts expired CO2. Larger excursions in the ratio were observed if the subjects ate shortly before or during the breath test. Clinically significant diagnostic tests can reasonably be expected to require the excretion of 2 to 20 times as much labeled CO2, or 0.28 to 1.4 micronM/kg-hr.

Adult

Effects of methadone hydrochloride on the growth of organotypic cerebellar cultures prepared from methadone-tolerant and control rats.

Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were given dl-methadone (5 mg/kg) for at least 3 months and then mated. The drug was continued throughout pregnancy and after delivery. The newly born pups were divided into two groups. One group was tested for in vivo methadone tolerance, while the animals in the othergroup were used to prepare organotypic cerebellar cultures. Various amounts of dl-methadone were added to the media of half of these cerebellum cultures. The effect of the drug in the medium was assessed by measuring explant outgrowth. Similar experiments were carried out with control animals. Statistical analysis of the data obtained in the in vivo portion of the experiment indicates that the pups of methadone-treated mothers tolerate methadone better than those of untreated mothers. The culture experiments revealed that the addition of methadone to the medium reduced explant outgrowth size and this was a dose-related effect. Also, there was significantly less outgrowth from explants prepared using pups of methadone-treated mothers as compared to the controls. There was no significant difference in the effect of methadone on the growth of cultures prepared from the methadone-tolerant and control animals.

Animals