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Prasenjit Mitra

Publications and source records attributed to Prasenjit Mitra.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

RNAi-based analysis of CAP, Cbl, and CrkII function in the regulation of GLUT4 by insulin.

Stimulation of glucose transport by insulin in cultured adipocytes through translocation of intracellular GLUT4 glucose transporters to the plasma membrane has been suggested to require phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase-dependent and independent mechanisms. To test the involvement of a PI 3-kinase-independent pathway leading to activation of the TC10 GTPase, the putative intermediates CAP, c-Cbl, Cbl-b, and CrkII were selectively depleted in 3T3-L1 adipocytes using highly efficient small interfering (si) RNAs. Simultaneous depletion of the ubiquitination factors c-Cbl plus Cbl-b in cultured adipocytes had the expected effect of delaying dephosphorylation of EGF receptors upon removal of EGF. However, siRNA-mediated gene silencing of both Cbl isoforms or CAP or CrkII in these cells failed to attenuate insulin-stimulated deoxyglucose transport or Myc-tagged GLUT4-GFP translocation at either sub-maximal or maximal concentrations of insulin. The dose-response relationship for insulin stimulation of deoxyglucose transport in primary adipocytes derived from c-Cbl knock-out mice was also identical to insulin action on adipocytes from wild type mice. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that CAP, Cbl iso-forms, and CrkII are not required components of insulin signaling to GLUT4 transporters.

3T3 Cells↗

A novel phosphatidylinositol(3,4,5)P3 pathway in fission yeast.

The mammalian tumor suppressor, phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN), inhibits cell growth and survival by dephosphorylating phosphatidylinositol-(3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PI[3,4,5]P3). We have found a homologue of PTEN in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe (ptn1). This was an unexpected finding because yeast (S. pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) lack the class I phosphoinositide 3-kinases that generate PI(3,4,5)P3 in higher eukaryotes. Indeed, PI(3,4,5)P3 has not been detected in yeast. Surprisingly, upon deletion of ptn1 in S. pombe, PI(3,4,5)P3 became detectable at levels comparable to those in mammalian cells, indicating that a pathway exists for synthesis of this lipid and that the S. pombe ptn1, like mammalian PTEN, suppresses PI(3,4,5)P3 levels. By examining various mutants, we show that synthesis of PI(3,4,5)P3 in S. pombe requires the class III phosphoinositide 3-kinase, vps34p, and the phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase, its3p, but does not require the phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate 5-kinase, fab1p. These studies suggest that a pathway for PI(3,4,5)P3 synthesis downstream of a class III phosphoinositide 3-kinase evolved before the appearance of class I phosphoinositide 3-kinases.

Evolution, Molecular↗

Regional expression of CXCL12/CXCR4 in liver and hepatocellular carcinoma and cell-cycle variation during in vitro differentiation.

The CXCL12 / CXCR4 system may be important in carcinoma. Expression of the alpha-chemokine SDF-1alpha (stromal cell derived factor-1alpha) / CXCL12 mRNA is reduced in many carcinomas, yet its tissue protein expression may guide metastasis. Here we first compare the mRNA and protein expression of CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 in human liver, hepatocellular carcinoma, and malignant cell lines, and then assess cell cycle variation in CXCR4 expression. CXCR4 mRNA was present in most normal human tissues and malignant cell lines; it was only marginally reduced in hepatomas, while CXCL12 was markedly reduced, P < 0.0001. Immuno-histochemical staining of adjacent non-malignant liver showed regional CXCR4 cytoplasmic and cell-surface staining, limited to those hepatocytes around the central vein, a distribution resembling that of CXCL12. CXCL12 protein was not present in hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vivo, nor was cytoplasmic CXCR4 staining; nuclear CXCR4 protein expression in some malignant hepatocytes and CXCR4 staining of capillary endothelial cells around tumor cells were noted. In some malignant cell lines that had no CXCL12 on northern blots CXCL12 was weakly detectable by RT-PCR or protein staining in the cytoplasm of a few cells. With a view to future manipulation of CXCL12 / CXCR4 expression and growth we noted that in HT-29 cells CXCR4 protein expression was less on confluent than on non-confluent cells and varied during the cell cycle. Higher expression was associated most closely with the percentage of cells in the S-phase and inversely with the percentage of cells in the G1-phase. Treatment of HT-29 cells with butyrate reduced CXCR4 cell surface expression and reduced the percentage of cells in S-phase. In summary, CXCL12 protein expression parallels its mRNA, being markedly reduced in malignant cell lines and hepatomas; in liver, the regional distributions of CXCL12 and cytoplasmic CXCR4 are similar; finally, in HT-29, CXCR4 expression correlates with the S-phase of the cell cycle and is reduced during butyrate-induced differentiation.

Blotting, Northern↗