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J Landwehr

Publications and source records attributed to J Landwehr.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Marked resistance of RAR gamma-deficient mice to the toxic effects of retinoic acid.

Excessive intake of retinol or of retinoic acid causes a syndrome of characteristic toxic effects known as hypervitaminosis A. To test the role of the nuclear retinoic acid receptor (RAR gamma) in this process we produced mice with a targeted disruption of the RAR gamma gene and examined toxic effects of repeated doses of retinoic acid and two other synthetic retinoids, Ro 15-1570 and Ro 40-6055. Surprisingly, homozygous mutant mice were resistant to fourfold higher doses of retinoic acid than wild-type mice as well as to elevated doses of the synthetic retinoids, indicating that RAR gamma may have a major role in mediating retinoid toxicity, a finding that possibly has practical implications for reducing the toxicity of synthetic retinoids in clinical use.

Animals↗

Cloning and characterization of the gene encoding murine insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2, mIGFBP-2.

We present a characterization of the single-copy gene, mIGFBP-2, encoding the murine insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (mIGFBP-2). It consists of four exons with sizes of 470 +/- 2, 227, 141 and > 475 nucleotides (nt). The first intron spans 23 kb of genomic sequence, and the complete gene extends to more than 28 kb. Two kb of the 5'-flanking region were sequenced. This region has no TATA or CAAT boxes but is G+G-rich and contains several potential regulatory sequence motifs. A total of five GC boxes, which may serve as potential binding sites for a transcription factor, Sp1, are present immediately upstream of the transcription start point (tsp). By primer extension, we identified a single tsp at nt position -85 +/- 2. The murine IGFBP-2 locus was mapped to the proximal region of mouse chromosome 1, to a region of conserved synteny with human chromosome 2q. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of mouse, rat and human IGFBP-2 reveals a high degree of homology between all three species.

Animals↗

Structure of the human insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2 gene.

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are polypeptide hormones with structural homology to proinsulin. IGFs circulate in blood bound to specific IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs). cDNA sequences of six members of a family of human and rat IGFBPs have been published. Here we present a partial characterization of the human IGFBP-2 gene. This single copy gene is located on chromosome 2 and spans a total of more than 32 kilobases (kb) of genomic sequence. It is organized in four exons with sizes of more than 568, 220, 141, and 496 nucleotides. The intron between exon one and exon two contributes 27 kb to the size of the IGFBP-2 gene. The second and the third introns comprise 1.1 kb and 1.95 kb, respectively. When the structure of the IGFBP-2 gene is compared to that of the IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-3 genes, the exon boundaries are found to be conserved in these three genes. A single transcriptional start site was localized to 113 +/- 2 nucleotides 5' of the ATG start codon of IGFBP-2 translation. Furthermore, the region between nucleotides -635 and -2 upstream of the ATG was demonstrated to exhibit promoter activity in human Jurkat K16 cells. This region is devoid of TATA or CAAT consensus sequence motifs and has a high content of dC and dG nucleotides. In this respect the putative IGFBP-2 promoter region resembles the promoters which are often associated with housekeeping genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Cloning, sequence analysis and expression of a cDNA encoding a novel insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP-2).

Insulin-like growth factors bind with high affinity to specific binding proteins in extracellular fluids. To identify structural characteristics of IGF-binding proteins that might define their physiological roles, we determined the complete primary structure of a novel human IGF-binding protein (IGFBP-2) from a cloned cDNA. The cDNA encodes a 328 amino acid IGF-binding protein precursor which contains a 39-residue signal peptide. The mature 289 amino acid IGFBP-2 has a predicted Mr of 31,325. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells stably transformed with the IGFBP-2 cDNA secreted a 36 kd protein which bound, with different affinities, IGFII and IGFI, but did not bind insulin. The predicted protein sequence of this IGF-binding protein shares extensive amino acid homology (greater than 85%) with the IGF-binding protein secreted by rat BRL-3A cells, but less than 40% homology with human IGFBP-1. Therefore IGFBP-2, and not IGFBP-1 as previously suggested, represents the human homologue of the rat BRL-BP (alpha IGFBP-2). Moreover, from alignment of the predicted protein sequences of IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2, extensive conservation of the distribution of cysteine residues is observed. Although the overall amino acid homology shared by these proteins is not high, we suggest that they represent a family of structurally related human IGFBPs. Southern blot analysis of human DNA demonstrates that IGFBP-2 is encoded by a single-copy gene, different from that of IGFBP-1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A low molecular weight insulin-like growth factor binding protein from rat: cDNA cloning and tissue distribution of its messenger RNA.

Rat serum contains two major forms of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding proteins (BPs) that have apparent mol wts of about 35,000 and 150,000. We have isolated a cDNA clone encoding an IGF-BP whose N-terminal sequence is completely homologous to the NH2-terminal of the Buffalo rat liver cells-3A BP. The 270 amino acid mature protein has a predicted mol wt of 29,500. It contains a cysteine rich domain at each end of the molecule and an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) tripeptide motif near its C-terminus which suggests that this BP might associate with integrin cell surface receptors. The mature protein shares only partial homology with two published human IGF-BPs. Northern blot analysis shows that its mRNA is abundant in several fetal tissues, in adult brain, testes, ovaries, and kidney. Expression in the liver is high in fetal life but decreases to a barely detectable level in adulthood. However, upon hypophysectomy, the mRNA level increases at least 20-fold which suggests a hormonal regulation for the hepatic production of this small IGF-BP.

Amino Acid Sequence↗