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R D Eichner

Publications and source records attributed to R D Eichner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Gliotoxin induces apoptosis in macrophages unrelated to its antiphagocytic properties.

We have previously shown that the fungal metabolite and immunomodulating agent gliotoxin induces apparently random double-stranded fragmentation of genomic DNA in a variety of cell types and double- and single-stranded scission in isolated plasmid DNA. The in vitro damage to plasmid DNA appears to be mediated by reactive oxygen species, but the mechanism of damage to genomic DNA is not yet known. In this paper we show that treatment of macrophages with gliotoxin and some analogues gives rise to discrete DNA fragments with molecular weight 170 +/- 30 base pairs. This pattern of DNA fragmentation has the characteristics of apoptosis, a programmed form of cell death. Three structural analogues of gliotoxin and two S-acetylated precursors capable of intracellular hydrolysis to the thiol form induce identical DNA degradation patterns. Only those compounds with the epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) bridged disulfide structure or those capable of extracellular conversion to ETP compounds are equipotent with gliotoxin in their effects on macrophage phagocytosis, although all are capable of generating reactive oxygen species intracellularly. These results suggest that the effect of gliotoxin on macrophage function as assessed by adherence to plastic surfaces is unrelated to DNA damage and in addition suggests a new mechanism by which the toxin and other ETP compounds may damage cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Gliotoxin causes oxidative damage to plasmid and cellular DNA.

The cytotoxic effects of gliotoxin (Müllbacher, A., and Eichner, R. D. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 3835-3837), a fungal secondary metabolite, and related epipolythiodioxopiperazines have been investigated using plasmid and eukaryotic DNA. Incubation of the dithiol derivative of these compounds with DNA and Fe3+ is sufficient to cause single- and double-stranded breaks as determined by neutral agarose gel electrophoresis. The disulfide form is inactive except in the presence of a suitable reducing agent, such as reduced glutathione, dithiothreitol, or reduced pyridine coenzymes. The autooxidation of these dithiols produces reducing equivalents as evidenced by (i) the production of H2O2 and (ii) the generation of thiobarbituric acid reactive products when incubated with deoxyribose. The latter process is inhibited by ethanol and desferrioxamine. The DNA damage is abrogated by metal chelators and catalase. We conclude that the antiproliferative action of gliotoxin may be caused by DNA damage effected by reactive oxygen species or other radicals generated through redox cycling.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Replication of donor lymphocytes in recipients is not essential for the passive transfer of allergic encephalomyelitis.

Gliotoxin is a fungal metabolite belonging to the class of epipolythiodioxopiperazines which possesses both immunomodulating and anti-phagocytic activities. We have examined the effect of gliotoxin on passively induced allergic encephalomyelitis and report here that pulse treating activated experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) effector lymphocytes with gliotoxin inhibits, in a dose-dependent manner, their ability to transfer disease. Cells treated with 300 ng/ml are unable to replicate in vitro in response to concanavalin A stimulation, nor did they produce interleukin-2 (IL-2) following stimulation. Furthermore this concentration of gliotoxin also causes complete fragmentation of genomic DNA in treated cells, yet these cells are still capable of transferring clinical EAE. These data suggest that replication of donor lymphocytes in the recipient is not essential for the development of EAE.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Prevention of graft-versus-host disease by treatment of bone marrow with gliotoxin in fully allogeneic chimeras and their cytotoxic T cell repertoire.

Gliotoxin, a secondary fungal metabolite, at nanomolar concentrations, irreversibly inhibits murine T cell proliferation to mitogen. Treatment of allogeneic spleen cells with gliotoxin allows their transfer into sublethally irradiated recipients without inducing a GVH reaction. Gliotoxin treatment of bone marrow allows the establishment of fully allogenic bone marrow chimeras free of GVH disease. The cytotoxic T cell repertoire against influenza virus in these animals is restricted to both host- and donor-type MHC. However, their immune competence is severely compromised by their lack of host MHC-type stimulator cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

The immunomodulating agent gliotoxin causes genomic DNA fragmentation.

Gliotoxin, a member of the class of secondary fungal metabolites characterized by the presence of an epipolythiodioxopiperazine ring, caused fragmentation of spleen cell DNA as observed by flow cytometry and gel electrophoresis. Gliotoxin was found to cause substantial double-stranded DNA breakage in spleen cells which was dose- and time-dependent. The ability of gliotoxin to cause DNA breakage was also found to be specific to cell type. DNA breakage occurred in all cell types in which gliotoxin inhibited proliferation and so provides a general explanation as to how gliotoxin prevents cell proliferation. Other results showed that gliotoxin bound to a similar extent to both sensitive and resistant cells, indicating that differential uptake is not a likely mechanism to explain cell type selectivity. The results are discussed in terms of a mechanism for gliotoxin action involving genomic DNA as the central target.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Selective resistance of bone marrow-derived hemopoietic progenitor cells to gliotoxin.

The fungal metabolite gliotoxin at low concentrations prevents mitogen stimulation of mature lymphocytes as a result of gliotoxin-induced genomic DNA degradation. Bone marrow, on the other hand, contains a subpopulation of cells resistant to gliotoxin at similar concentrations. This population includes the hemopoietic progenitor cells that grow in vitro in response to appropriate colony-stimulating factors and cells that form colonies in the spleens of lethally irradiated recipients. Gliotoxin treatment of lymph node cell-enriched bone marrow significantly delayed the onset of graft-versus-host disease in fully allogeneic bone marrow chimeras.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Purification and characterization of an inhibitor of plasminogen activator released by rat mammary adenocarcinoma cells.

An inhibitor of plasminogen activator (PA) secreted by a tumorigenic, but non-metastatic, rat mammary adenocarcinoma cell line has been purified to apparent homogeneity and characterized. It strongly inhibited human urokinase, but was 100 times less potent in inhibiting bovine trypsin and had no effect on plasmin or thrombin. A secreted, urokinase-type PA (Mr 48 000) and a cell-associated PA from a metastatic rat adenocarcinoma cell line were also strongly inhibited. In contrast, a tissue-type PA (Mr 66 000), secreted by human melanoma cells, was only slightly inhibited. Purified inhibitor showed a band of Mr 66 000 in sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and an isoelectric point of 4.5 after chromatofocusing. The inhibition of human urokinase was non-competitive.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1986

Structural relationship of epipolythiodioxopiperazines and their immunomodulating activity.

Epipolythiodioxopiperazines were tested for their immunoregulatory activity in vitro. Using the macrophage adherence test as a measure of inhibition of phagocytosis, their effect on stimulator cells in mixed lymphocyte cultures and their ability to inhibit mitogen stimulation of T lymphocytes, a hierarchy of activity was observed, with sporidesmin being the most active, followed by gliotoxin and 1,4-dimethyl-3,6-epidithio-2,5-dioxopiperazine. Derivatives of gliotoxin such as dehydro-, trisulfide and tetrasulfide gliotoxin have activities comparable to gliotoxin. The dimethylthioether derivative of gliotoxin was devoid of activity. The presence of reducing agents abrogated the activity of epipolythiodioxopiperazines. This suggests that the bridged disulfide moiety is the single most important chemical entity for their activity. The differential activities of the active compounds may be attributable to their variations in lipophilic properties.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

The effect of gliotoxin upon macrophage function.

Gliotoxin, a metabolite of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, inhibited phagocytosis of particulate matter by rodent macrophages. In addition, adherence to plastic surfaces by peritoneal and alveolar rodent macrophages, human peripheral blood monocytes, mouse secondary fibroblasts and L929 cells was differentially inhibited by gliotoxin. Electron microscopy which confirmed the inhibition by gliotoxin of phagocytosis of carbon particles by rodent macrophages also revealed gliotoxin-induced morphological alterations. Gliotoxin selectively affected glucose metabolism and macromolecular synthesis of rodent-derived cells and inhibited the basal rate of H2O2 production by human polymorphonuclear neutrophils; bactericidal activity of resident peritoneal macrophages was also abrogated. These gliotoxin-induced changes in cell function and metabolism occurred at concentrations well below generalized toxic levels.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Identification of an agent in cultures of Aspergillus fumigatus displaying anti-phagocytic and immunomodulating activity in vitro.

When cultured in vitro, Aspergillus fumigatus generated a metabolite(s) with anti-phagocytic activity as tested by macrophage adherence to plastic and phagocytosis of particulate matter. The metabolite(s) appeared after 3 d culture and reached a peak concentration after 5-6 d. The action of the anti-phagocytic agent(s) was rapid (5-15 min) and appeared not to alter membrane permeability or cause rapid cell death. Treatment of stimulator spleen cells with the agent(s) inhibited their ability to induce alloreactive and major histocompatibility complex restricted cytotoxic T cells. The metabolite(s) was chloroform-soluble and separated into three biologically active compounds on thin-layer chromatography. These compounds were purified greater than 1000-fold and one of them was identified as gliotoxin, a known metabolite of A. fumigatus, based upon NMR and IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, biological properties and other data.

Adhesiveness↗
PubMed1984

Activation of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in macrophages.

The activity of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (cyclic AMP-PK) was significantly higher (P less than 0.001) in thioglycollate-elicited than in resident rat peritoneal macrophages. The activity ratio of the enzyme (its activity in the absence of added cyclic AMP divided by that in the presence of 5 microM cyclic AMP) was similar in the two cell types. The divalent ion ionophore A23187 induced a rapid increase in the activity ratio of cyclic AMP-PK in both macrophage types. This effect was blocked by pretreating the cells with indomethacin or aspirin (inhibitors of cyclo-oxygenase) and bromo-phenacyl bromide (an inhibitor of phospholipase A2), implicating the synthesis of a prostanoid as an intermediary step. Prostaglandin (PG) E2, 8-bromo cyclic AMP and cholera toxin, all of which inhibit chemiluminescence and/or PG formation in macrophages, increased the activity ratio of cyclic AMP-PK in these cells. We propose that the activation of cyclic AMP-PK plays a central role in the response of macrophages to both endogenously-generated and exogenously added PGE.

Acetophenones↗
PubMed1984

Immunosuppression in vitro by a metabolite of a human pathogenic fungus.

Gliotoxin , a metabolite of Aspergillus fumigatus, inhibits phagocytosis of macrophages at concentrations of 20-50 ng/ml. Pretreatment of stimulator cells in mixed lymphocyte cultures with gliotoxin (100 ng/ml) abrogates induction of alloreactive cytotoxic T cells. The presence of gliotoxin 48 hr after initiation of cytotoxic T-cell induction has no effect. Inhibition of cytotoxic T-cell induction by gliotoxin at low concentrations, acting on the stimulator cells, can be overridden by concanavalin A-activated cell supernatants. Gliotoxin does not induce immediate cell-surface antigen modification on target cells. The possible role of gliotoxin in the etiology of A. fumigatus-related diseases is discussed.

Aspergillus fumigatus↗
PubMed1984

Fasting and diabetes alter adipose tissue glycogen synthase.

In a previous report (J. Biol. Chem. 254: 4678-4683, 1979), we showed that fasting blunted the ability of insulin to promote glucose incorporation into glycogen in vitro. In addition, we showed that glycogen synthase activity was altered in two ways: the concentration of glucose 6-P causing half-maximal activation increased, and positive cooperativity appeared in the glucose 6-P activation of the enzyme. We now show that streptozotocin-diabetes causes the same changes in glucose incorporation and glycogen synthase activity. We show that these changes in glycogen synthase activity persist during enzyme purification; thus it is likely the changes are a result of a structural alteration of the enzyme. Because glycogenolysis of a glycogen particle from rabbit skeletal muscle also caused the appearance of positive cooperativity, we propose that both phosphorylation and glycogenolysis are involved in the appearance of positive cooperativity.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1983

Cyclic AMP and the regulation of prostaglandin production by macrophages.

The ionophore A23187 (6.7 microM) increased the rates of formation of prostaglandins and cyclic AMP in suspensions of thioglycollate-elicited rat peritoneal macrophages. Both effects were inhibited by the calmodulin blocker trifluoperazine (50 microM) and the calcium channel blocker verapamil (500 microM). Inhibitors of phospholipase A2 and cyclo-oxygenase also blocked both actions of A23187. The stimulated prostaglandin formation was markedly reduced when the cells were preincubated with 8-bromo-cyclic AMP (1mM), dibutyryl cyclic AMP (1mM) or cholera toxin (500ng/ml). Addition of exogenous arachidonic acid (30 microM) alleviated this inhibition. We propose that the effect of A23187 on macrophages includes a 'self-limiting' mechanism whereby newly-synthesized prostaglandins can inhibit, via cyclic AMP, a step(s) prior to the transformation of arachidonic acid and thus modulate their own production.

8-Bromo Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate↗
PubMed1983

Measurement of DNA with an automatic spectrophotometer.

A method that uses an automated spectrophotometer to read microtiter plates in a modification of the diphenylamine method of DNA determination in tissue extracts, is presented. The micromethod saves technician time, and reduces exposure to acetic acid fumes. The reproducibility of the method is superior to the manual method. Fewer pipetting steps are required, and the method is suited to large batches of samples.

Animals↗