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R Cassingena

Publications and source records attributed to R Cassingena.

78 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
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Pathophysiology of middle ear epithelium: a new role for prostaglandin E2.

INTRODUCTION: Otitis media with effusion is a disease of the middle ear epithelium resulting from a decreased sol layer as well as increased mucus secretion and plasma-derived protein transudation, which causes mucus plugging. Because the epithelium keeps the middle ear cavities fluid-free and air-filled, we investigated its fluid transport capacities, which may be involved in both efficacy of the mucociliary clearance and drying-out of the posterior ear cavities (Yen PT et al: Acta Otolaryngol (Stockh) 113, 1993). We have established the absorptive capacity of middle ear epithelial cells in primary culture (Herman P, et al: Am J Physiol 262, 1992). However, the paucity of cells obtained by enzymatic digestion led us to develop a new model for further investigation of middle ear epithelial cell. METHODS: We established a middle ear cell line (MESV) using simian virus 40 (SV40) infection of middle ear epithelial cells from the Mongolian gerbil. RESULTS: Investigation of the transport processes using the short-circuit current technique showed that MESV cells retain most characteristics of the original middle ear epithelial cells. Transepithelial sodium transport from the apical to the basal side was responsible for the transepithelial lumen-negative potential difference. CONCLUSION: The presence of high concentrations of prostaglandin E2 in the middle ear effusions has been documented. This work investigates the effect of prostaglandin E2 on the rate of transepithelial ion transport of MESV cells. Prostaglandin E2 increased the rate of electrogenic sodium transport by means of increase in the intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) content. Such a modulation of sodium transport in the course of otitis media could be responsible for the reduced periciliary sol layer that impairs the mucociliary clearance.

Animals↗
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Surface markers on mouse cells transformed after exposure to HeLa chromosomes are Mycoplasma membrane proteins.

Antisera were raised against HeLa cells and mouse cells transformed after exposure to HeLa chromosomes (ME-ch.HeLa). The antisera were positive in indirect immunofluorescence assays on both HeLa and ME-ch.HeLa cells, but were negative on normal mouse cells. Immunoprecipitation of 125I-labelled cell extracts showed that Me-ch.HeLa cells contain at their surface 3 proteins of apparent molecular weights of 185,000, 105,000 and 45,000 daltons, which were also present on the surface of our HeLa cells but not on other mouse cell lines tested. However, further study has shown that these proteins are not normal constituents of HeLa plasma membranes but are in fact surface proteins of Mycoplasma orale.

Animals↗
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The human breast carcinoma cell line SW 613-S: an experimental system to study tumor heterogeneity in relation to c-myc amplification, growth factor production and other markers (review).

Amplification of the c-myc gene has been frequently reported in breast carcinomas. However the precise function of the c-myc protein is still unknown and the nature of the selective advantage offered to a cell by an overexpression of such a protein is unclear. We are addressing this question using the SW 613-S human breast carcinoma cell line as a model system. This cell line harbours an amplified c-myc gene and a mutated c-Ki-ras gene. By various criteria the amplified c-myc gene of SW613-S cells appears undistinguishable from a normal human c-myc gene. The SW613-S cell line is heterogeneous: it contains cells with a high level of amplification and carrying the extra copies of the c-myc gene in double minute chromosomes (DMs) and cells with few c-myc genes integrated into chromosomes. DM-containing cells are progressively lost upon in vitro cultivation but are selected for during in vivo growth, as tumors in nude mice, or by cultivating the cells in a chemically defined, serum-free medium or under conditions preventing anchorage. Clones with different levels of amplification and different chromosomal localization of the c-myc copies were isolated from the SW 613-S cell population. Those with a high level of amplification and expression of the c-myc gene are tumorigenic in nude mice, whereas those with a low level are not. Introduction of c-myc gene copies by transfection confers tumorigenicity to the nontumorigenic clones, indicating that a high level of amplification of the c-myc gene contributes to the tumorigenic phenotype of SW 613-S cells. Tumorigenic clones grow unattached, are able to proliferate in a chemically defined medium, and produce high levels of several growth factors (e.g. TGF-alpha, IGF2). Nontumorigenic clones are more dependent upon anchorage for growth, show a restricted growth in defined medium, and produce low or undetectable level of the growth factors tested. We have identified several genes, besides c-myc, the expression level of which is markedly different in the two types of clones. TGF-alpha, IGF2, PDGF-A, int-2, cytokeratins K8 and K18 and ferritin H chain are overexpressed in tumorigenic clones. In contrast, c-erbB1 (EGF receptor), c-jun, vimentin and p53 are expressed at a higher level in the nontumorigenic clones. Finally the major histocompatibility class I antigens, ferritin L chain, TGF-beta and c-Ki-ras, are examples of genes expressed at the same level in both types of clones.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Breast Neoplasms↗
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Cellular genes possibly involved in the transformation process of the human melanoma cell line XP44 RO (Mel).

P44 Ro (Mel) is a human malignant melanoma cell line derived from a testicular metastasis in a DNA repair deficient, xeroderma pigmentosum patient. This line harbors a N-ras gene mutated in codon 61. To investigate other cellular genes possibly contributing to the expression of its transformed phenotype, four XP44 revertant cell lines were isolated by different selection procedures and the association of the level of expression of various oncogenes (including N-ras) and tumor suppressor genes with the selection for the revertant phenotype was determined. The revertants exhibited a significant but variable degree of phenotypic reversion, according to the selective pressure to which they were submitted, and a phenotypic stability dependent on their constant maintenance in selective medium. Back-revertant lines were isolated by culturing revertant lines in control medium for several weeks. The comparison between parental, revertant and back-revertant cells has revealed that, beyond the mutation in codon 61 of N-ras, two groups of genes appear to be also implicated in the transformation process of XP44 RO (Mel) cells: one group, comprising pim A, trk, Rb and p53, whose expression is independent of the cell selection conditions; the other group, comprising Ha-ras, N-ras, neu 1, fos and met H, whose expression is more or less dependent upon such conditions. The myc gene is apparently not involved in this phenomenon. These results, besides strengthening the concept that carcinogenesis is a multigenic process, suggest that diverse mechanisms can lead to the transformed phenotype, but that these mechanisms might have some pathway(s) in common.

3T3 Cells↗
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Polyamine content and oncogene expression in hepatoma cells in culture during methionine deprivation and refeeding.

From an hepatocarcinoma cell line (LFCL.2A), unable to grow in a culture medium in which methionine was replaced by L-homocysteine, we had previously isolated revertant clones presenting a low growth rate, a loss of tumorigenicity and an inhibition of transcription of three oncogenes: c-Ki-ras, c-Ha-ras and c-myc. Here we showed that long-term deprivation of methionine led to a depletion of spermine, while putrescine and spermidine contents remained unchanged. When the revertant cells were shifted in a medium containing methionine, the oncogene transcription (except the p53 gene) started very rapidly in parallel with an increase in the putrescine content. By contrast, spermidine and spermine contents decreased during the first hours but were not significantly different from control values after numerous subcultures in methionine-containing medium.

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