Biomedical subjects

Kevin Hsiao

Publications and source records attributed to Kevin Hsiao.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Apoptotic cells, at all stages of the death process, trigger characteristic signaling events that are divergent from and dominant over those triggered by necrotic cells: Implications for the delayed clearance model of autoimmunity.

Current models of autoimmunity suggest that delayed clearance of apoptotic cells leads to the presentation of apoptotic antigens in the context of inflammatory signals, with resultant autoimmunity. These models implicitly assume that, in contrast to early apoptotic cells (that retain membrane integrity), late apoptotic cells (with compromised membranes) act like necrotic cells (which also lack intact membranes), possibly because of the release of proinflammatory intracellular contents. We showed previously that early apoptotic and necrotic cells induce distinct mitogen-activated protein kinase modules in macrophages with which they interact. Exposure to apoptotic cells led to nearly complete inhibition of both basal and macrophage colony-stimulating factor-induced ERK1/2 by macrophages. In contrast, necrotic cells induced ERK1/2. We show here that apoptotic cells also strongly induced both c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38, whereas necrotic cells had no detectable effect on c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38. We also compared the signaling events induced in macrophages by exposure to early apoptotic cells, late apoptotic cells, and necrotic cells. The signaling events induced by late apoptotic cells were identical to and just as potent as those induced by early apoptotic cells. Thus, apoptotic cells are functionally equivalent throughout the cell death process, irrespective of membrane integrity. Moreover, the effects of both early and late apoptotic cells on signaling were dominant over those of necrotic cells. These data show that apoptotic cells do not become proinflammatory upon the loss of membrane integrity and are inconsistent with the notion that delayed clearance alone can lead to autoimmunity.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Cytokine dysregulation induced by apoptotic cells is a shared characteristic of macrophages from nonobese diabetic and systemic lupus erythematosus-prone mice.

Macrophages from nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice, which spontaneously develop type I diabetes, share a defect in elicited cytokine production with macrophages from multiple diverse strains of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-prone mice. We have previously shown that, in SLE-prone mice, this defect is triggered by exposure to apoptotic cells. We report in this work that macrophages from prediseased NOD mice also respond abnormally to apoptotic cells, mimicking closely the apoptotic cell-dependent abnormality that we have observed in multiple SLE-prone strains. This defect is characterized by the underexpression of IL-1 beta and multiple other cytokines. In the presence of apoptotic cells or FBS, elicited expression of IL-1 beta by NOD macrophages is markedly reduced compared with that by macrophages from control mice, including three strains of mice that develop type II (nonautoimmune) diabetes. Given the increasing role of apoptotic cells in tolerance and autoimmunity, a macrophage defect triggered by apoptotic cells has broad potential to upset the balance between tolerance and immunity. The concordance of this defect among so many diverse autoimmune-prone strains suggests that the genetic basis for this abnormality may constitute a permissive background for autoimmunity.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

A homogeneous, nonradioactive high-throughput fluorogenic protein phosphatase assay.

Protein phosphatases are critical components in cellular regulation; they do not only act as antioncogenes by antagonizing protein kinases, but they also play a positive regulatory role in a variety of cellular processes that require dephosphorylation. Thus, assessing the function of these enzymes necessitates the need for a robust, sensitive assay that accurately measures their activities. The authors present a novel, homogeneous, and nonradioactive assay to measure the enzyme activity of low concentrations of several protein phosphatases (phosphoserine/phosphothreonine phosphatases and phosphotyrosine phosphatases). The assay is based on the use of fluorogenic peptide substrates (rhodamine 110, bis-phosphopeptide amide) that do not fluoresce in their conjugated form, which is resistant to cleavage by aminopeptidases. However, upon dephosphorylation by the phosphatase of interest, the peptides become cleavable by the protease and release the highly fluorescent-free rhodamine 110. The assay is rapid, can be completed in less than 2 h, and can be carried out in multiwell plate formats such as 96-, 384-, and 1536-well plates. The assay has an excellent dynamic range, high signal-to-noise ratio, and a Z' of more than 0.8, and it is easily adapted to a robotic system for drug discovery programs targeting protein phosphatases.

Biochemistry↗

PubMed2001

Selective in vivo inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase activation using cell-permeable peptides.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), is essential for cellular proliferation and differentiation, and thus there exists great interest to develop specific and selective inhibitors of this enzyme. Whereas small molecule inhibitors PD098095 and U0126 have been used to study MAPK/ERK kinase (MEK), their target selectivity has been questioned recently. The cross-reactivity of ATP-directed inhibitors with other protein kinases prompted us to develop structure-based selective peptide inhibitors of ERK activation. Based on a MEK1-derived peptide, we developed inhibitors of ERK activation in vitro and in vivo. The inclusion of either an alkyl moiety or a membrane-translocating peptide sequence facilitated the cellular uptake of the peptide inhibitor and prevented ERK activation in 4-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-stimulated NIH 3T3 cells or nerve growth factor-treated PC12 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, cell-permeable peptides inhibited ERK-mediated activation of the transcriptional activity of ELK1. The peptides did not have an inhibitory effect on the activity of two other closely related classes of MAPKs, c-Jun amino-terminal kinase or p38 protein kinase. Thus, these peptides may serve as valuable tools for investigating ERK activation and for selective investigation of ERK-mediated responses. With the knowledge of other kinase interacting domains, it would be possible to design cell-permeable inhibitors for investigating diverse cellular signaling mechanisms and for possible therapeutic applications.

3T3 Cells↗