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Biomedical subjects

K M Goldstein

Publications and source records attributed to K M Goldstein.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Hematopoietic differentiation activity of a recombinant human interleukin-6 (IL-6) isoform resulting from alternatively spliced deletion of the second exon.

We have previously identified and cloned an alternatively spliced form of human interleukin-6 mRNA lacking exon II, which encodes amino acid residues known to be important in gp130-mediated signal transduction pathways. We expressed and purified the recombinant protein (rIL6-alt) resulting from this alternatively spliced mRNA and now report the initial characterization of its biologic activities with comparison to full length IL6 (rIL6-full). rIL6-alt was found to have 10(4) to 10(5) fold less activity in proliferation assays with 7TD1 murine plasmacytoma cells and did not competitively inhibit the stimulatory activity of rIL6-full. In addition, like rIL6-full, rIL6-alt had antiproliferative activity toward M1 murine myeloblast cells and was 10-200-fold less active than rIL6-full. In contrast, in assays with human HL60 promyelocytic leukemia cells, rIL6-alt had greater antiproliferative activity than rIL6-full and more strongly upregulated phagocytosis as well as surface expression of the differentiation antigen CD11b. rIL6-full and rIL6-alt upregulated the level of lysozyme mRNA in HL60 cells approximately equally. These findings suggest that IL6-alt, which lacks amino acid residues encoded by the second exon of the gene, is not a natural inhibitor of IL6-full but may be relatively tissue specific and may play a role in modulation of hematopoietic cell growth and differentiation.

Alternative Splicing↗

Expression of the monocytic differentiation/activation factor P48 in Mycoplasma species.

P48 is a 48 kd monocytic differentiation/activation factor previously purified from the conditioned medium of the Reh human pre-B cell leukemia line. It induces differentiation of HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells along the monocytic pathway and production of IL1, TNF-alpha and IL6 in human monocytes and monocytic cell lines. Recently our laboratory isolated cDNA clones for P48 from Reh cells and genomic clones from Mycoplasma fermentans DNA and showed that P48 is a M. fermentans gene product. In this paper we report the analysis of P48 expression at the DNA, mRNA and protein levels in different Mycoplasma species. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis of extracted DNA using P48-specific oligonucleotide primers revealed P48 sequences in M. fermentans but not M. hominis, M. iowae, M. genitalium or M. capricolum. Southern analysis of Mycoplasma DNAs revealed hybridizing bands in M. fermentans and M. capricolum under low stringency, but only in M. fermentans under high stringency. Consistent with this, Northern blot studies revealed a single hybridizing transcript in M. fermentans but not in other Mycoplasma species tested. However, Western blot studies with anti-P48 antibodies revealed P48 antigenic material in M. fermentans, as well as M. hominis and M. iowae. These studies demonstrate that the gene for P48 is derived from M. fermentans or a closely related species and is absent in these other species tested. However, the P48 protein exhibits shared antigenic determinants among several Mycoplasma species which presently are of unknown function or significance. P48 is a Mycoplasma -derived immunomodulatory molecule which may be important in Mycoplasma pathophysiology and may be useful in understanding human haematopoietic differentiation and the control of cytokine biosynthesis.

Animals↗

cDNA and genomic cloning and expression of the P48 monocytic differentiation/activation factor, a Mycoplasma fermentans gene product.

P48 is a 48 kDa monocytic differentiation/activation factor previously purified from the conditioned medium of the Reh human pre-B cell leukaemia cell line. It induces growth arrest and differentiation of HL-60 human promyelocytic leukaemia cells along the monocytic pathway and the production of the cytokines interleukin 1, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin 6 in human monocytes and monocytic cell lines. The cDNA for P48 was cloned from Reh cellular RNA using 3' reverse amplification of cDNA ends. Southern blot probing with P48 cDNA revealed hybridization with DNA from Reh and Molt-4 cells, but not with DNA from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Subsequent studies using PCR and Southern analysis revealed P48 sequences in DNA isolated from Mycoplasma fermentans but not M. hominis, M.iowae, M.synoviae or M.lypophilum. Although initial studies using Mycoplasma culture and hybridization techniques had failed to reveal Mycoplasma infection in our Reh and Molt-4 cell lines, subsequent PCR studies using Mycoplasma genus-specific rRNA primrs revealed Mycoplasma sequences in these cell lines. Using the P48 cDNA probe, we isolated a genomic clone from M. fermentans DNA which was found to be 98.5% identical with the P48 cDNA clone, and the deduced amino acid sequence agreed with N-terminal microsequencing data for P48 protein purified from the Reh cell line conditioned medium. The 5' end of the gene has a number of consensus sequences characteristic of prokaryotic genes, and the deduced amino acid sequence has a number of features suggesting that P48 is a lipoprotein. The P48 cDNA was expressed in pMAL in Escherichia coli, and the 60 kDa expressed fusion protein was found to react with anti-P48 antibodies on Western blots. This is consistent with a pMAL fusion protein representing the sum of the 42 kDa maltose-binding protein and 18 kDa of P48 recombinant protein, suggesting that native P48 has significant post-translational modification. Consistent with this, Northern blot studies revealed a single 1 kb transcript. The recombinant fusion protein was found to possess anti-proliferative activity against HL-60 cells, and antibodies against recombinant P48 were found to block the biological activity of native P48 isolated from conditioned medium. These studies demonstrate that P48, a molecule with immunomodulatory and haematopoietic differentiation activities, is derived from M. fermentans or a closely related species. P48 may be important in the pathophysiology of Mycoplasma infections and may be useful in dissecting the mechanisms involved in mammalian haematopoietic cell differentiation, immune function and cytokine biosynthesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Detection and analysis of an alternatively spliced isoform of interleukin-6 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Oligonucleotide primers for human interleukin-6 (IL-6) that bracketed the entire coding region of the gene were used in reverse transciptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) studies to examine lL-6 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). In addition to the predicted 0.64-kb RT-PCR product, a second 0.45-kb product was observed. Cloning and dideoxy sequence analysis of this product revealed evidence for an alternatively spliced lL-6 transcript lacking exon II. Further RT-PCR analysis using forward primers ending at or one base before the exon I donor splice site again yielded both products. Additional primers were designed and successfully used to selectively distinguish the two forms of IL-6 transcript. Both transcripts were prominent in peripheral blood monocytes and lymphocytes, whereas only the 0.64-kb, full-length transcript was prominent in the lL-6-producing 5637 (human bladder carcinoma) cell line. Northern analysis revealed, in addition to the predominant 1.3-kb transcript, several minor transcripts at 1.9 to 4.8 kb that hybridized with the alternatively spliced cDNA probe but not with an exon II probe. Western analysis revealed lL-6 polypeptides of predicted size (26 to 29 kD) in culture medium from PBMC, while showing an immunoreactive band at 17 kD in cell lysates. These findings suggest the existence of an alternatively spliced form of lL-6 mRNA, which would encode for a polypeptide missing the gp130 interactive (signal-transducing) domain contained in exon II while retaining the lL-6 receptor (p80) domain. Such a molecule could in theory function as a natural antagonist of lL-6, as it would be expected to bind to the IL-6 receptor but not lead to signal transduction.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The effects of prenatal and perinatal complications on development at one year of age.

35 variables descriptive of birth and obstetric complications, prematurity, maternal discomfort, and demographic status were studied for a sample of 322 infants. Factor analyses of these variables resulted in 7 major factors that were used to predict developmental status at 1 year of age for 233 of the subjects. Factors identified as "prematurity," "delivery and related variables," "ethnicity," and "complications" made significant independent contributions to Cattell DQ at 1 year. When Cattell DQs were corrected for the effects of gestational age, only delivery and related variables remained critical, confirming the importance of this factor for later development.

Anesthesia, Obstetrical↗

Toward a modification of the indices of neonatal prematurity.

In a study of 233 infants, traditional indices of neonatal prematurity were excessively high for predicting developmental lag at 1 yr., and alternative cut-off scores were suggested. Prematurity indices were especially important for infants with below-average development.

Age Factors↗

Data-driven analysis approach for biomarker discovery using molecular-profiling technologies.

High-throughput molecular-profiling technologies provide rapid, efficient and systematic approaches to search for biomarkers. Supervised learning algorithms are naturally suited to analyse a large amount of data generated using these technologies in biomarker discovery efforts. The study demonstrates with two examples a data-driven analysis approach to analysis of large complicated datasets collected in high-throughput technologies in the context of biomarker discovery. The approach consists of two analytic steps: an initial unsupervised analysis to obtain accurate knowledge about sample clustering, followed by a second supervised analysis to identify a small set of putative biomarkers for further experimental characterization. By comparing the most widely applied clustering algorithms using a leukaemia DNA microarray dataset, it was established that principal component analysis-assisted projections of samples from a high-dimensional molecular feature space into a few low dimensional subspaces provides a more effective and accurate way to explore visually and identify data structures that confirm intended experimental effects based on expected group membership. A supervised analysis method, shrunken centroid algorithm, was chosen to take knowledge of sample clustering gained or confirmed by the first step of the analysis to identify a small set of molecules as candidate biomarkers for further experimentation. The approach was applied to two molecular-profiling studies. In the first study, PCA-assisted analysis of DNA microarray data revealed that discrete data structures exist in rat liver gene expression and correlated with blood clinical chemistry and liver pathological damage in response to a chemical toxicant diethylhexylphthalate, a peroxisome-proliferator-activator receptor agonist. Sixteen genes were then identified by shrunken centroid algorithm as the best candidate biomarkers for liver damage. Functional annotations of these genes revealed roles in acute phase response, lipid and fatty acid metabolism and they are functionally relevant to the observed toxicities. In the second study, 26 urine ions identified from a GC/MS spectrum, two of which were glucose fragment ions included as positive controls, showed robust changes with the development of diabetes in Zucker diabetic fatty rats. Further experiments are needed to define their chemical identities and establish functional relevancy to disease development.

Algorithms↗