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U Lichti

Publications and source records attributed to U Lichti.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Local anesthetics inhibit induction of ornithine decarboxylase by the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate.

The induction of ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.17) activity in mouse epidermal cells in vivo and in vitro occurs rapidly after exposure to the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). This induction has characteristics of a cell surface receptor-mediated process. Local anesthetics modify a variety of cellular responses mediated by membrane receptors. When cultured mouse epidermal cells were exposed to the local anesthetics lidocaine, tetracaine, or procaine (0.1-1 mM), induction of the decarboxylase by TPA was inhibited by more than 90%. In vivo, lidocaine essentially abolishes the decarboxylase response of mouse epidermis when applied shortly after TPA. In contrast, local anesthetics have no effect on the enzyme's activity when added directly to the assay mixture and, in concert with TPA, have only a minimal effect on overall protein synthesis relative to controls. However, lidocaine has no effect on TPA-stimulated DNA synthesis in vitro (12-fold with or without lidocaine). Local anesthetics also markedly inhibit induction of the decarboxylase by ultraviolet light, which is probably not membrane mediated. Furthermore, in culture, lidocaine has only a small inhibitory effect on ornithine decarboxylase when given before TPA but is an effective inhibitor even when given up to 4-5 hr after the promoter, a time when decarboxylase activity has already increased. These findings suggest that local anesthetics, which are tertiary amines, do not act at the site of interaction of TPA and its putative receptor but may be acting specifically on polyamine biosynthesis. These drugs could be useful agents to determine the role of the polyamine pathway in tumor promotion.

Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase↗
PubMed1980

Chemical carcinogenesis studies in mouse epidermal cell cultures.

Studies of tumor induction on mouse skin have provided insight into the basis biology of chemical carcinogenesis, but molecular mechanisms have been more difficult to elucidate. Mouse epidermal cell cultures have proven to be a valuable model for performing mechanistic studies. Previous data have indicated that such cultures proliferate and differentiate in a manner highly analogous to epidermis in vivo. In addition, carcinogen metabolism, DNA repair, and responses to tumor promoters are quite similar in mouse skin in vivo and in vitro. Recent data have extended these observations toward defining the biological characteristics of initiated cells and elucidating the mechanism of action of promoters and antipromoters. When mouse epidermis is cultured under conditions of low extracellular Ca++, proliferation is enhanced and terminal differentiation is inhibited. Addition of Ca++ induces terminal differentiation. If cells are treated with carcinogens under low Ca++ conditions and subsequently switched to standard Ca++, cell colonies which do not terminally differentiate evolve. Such colonies continue to synthesize keratin, are subculturable, and may represent preneoplastic cells. In other experiments, epidermal cells derived from mouse skin treated with carcinogens in vivo also demonstrate prolonged in vitro survival and subculturability while controls have a limited lifespan. Such studies suggest that biological alterations can be detected in epidermal cells exposed to carcinogens well before and the phenotypic expression of neoplasia. Exposure of epidermal cells to phorbol-ester tumor promoters induces ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). This induction is enhanced by corticosteroids and markedly inhibited by retinoids. Ultraviolet light also induces ODC in epidermal cells, but kinetic studies suggest that the early pathway of induction (afferent to the nucleus) is different from that of phorbol esters. The later pathways (efferent from the nucleus-i.e., transcription and translation) appear to be similar. Retinoids have only a minor suppressive effect on ODC induction by UV while corticosteroids enhance UV induction to the same extent as seen with phorbol esters These results suggest that the site of retinoids is in the afferent pathway while steroids act on the efferent pathway.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Dissociation of tumor promoter-stimulated ornithine decarboxylase activity and DNA synthesis in mouse epidermis in vivo and in vitro by fluocinolone acetonide, a tumor-promotion inhibitor.

12-O-Tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), a tumor promoter, stimulates DNA synthesis in mouse epidermal cells in vivo and in vitro. This response appears to be mediated through polyamine metabolism because ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.17)activity is markedly increased shortly after promoter exposure and this induction varies in magnitude according to dose and promoter potency of a series of phorbol esters. In vitro, exogenous putrescine (0.01-10 mM) results in a dose-related increase and prolongation of promoter-stimulated DNA DNA synthesis, a phenomenon noted in other systems of polyamine-mediated growth stimulation. The anti-inflammatory steroid fluocinolone acetonide (FA), an inhibitor of tumor promotion, prevents TPA stimulation of epidermal proliferation in vivo and in vitro. In vitro, FA most effectively prevents stimulation of DNA synthesis when applied is not required. Paradoxially, FA potentiates the increase in ornithine decarboxylase activity after TPA administeration both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, the inhibition of TPA-stimulated DNA synthesis by FA in vitro can be reversed by exogenous putrescine. These results suggestthat FA exerts its antipromotion effect by reducing the sensitivity of the cell to polyamines or by reducing intracellular polyamine levels.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Keratinocytes blocked in phorbol ester-responsive early stage of terminal differentiation by sarcoma viruses.

It has been suggested that the initiation step in mouse skin carcinogenesis involves an alteration in epidermal-differentiation, as mouse basal keratinocytes exposed to initiators resist the arrest of cell growth that is normally associated with the induction of terminal differentiation by calcium ions. The growth of epidermal basal cells infected by Kirsten (Ki) or Harvey (Ha) sarcoma viruses is, however, arrested in response to calcium ions, although the cells do not progress through their entire maturation programme when a functioning ras gene of those viruses is expressed. If continuous proliferation in the differentiating cell layers is a requirement for tumour formation in skin, the response of sarcoma virus-infected cells seems inconsistent with the suggestion that an activated ras gene is sufficient to initiate skin carcinogenesis. We now show that sarcoma virus-infected keratinocytes, when induced to differentiate, are blocked at an early, reversible stage of maturation. Furthermore, the cells respond to phorbol ester tumour promoters by undergoing a phenotypic reversion to a less mature stage. These results suggest that activation of a ras gene can produce conditionally initiated cells, in which the full expression of tumorigenicity depends on exposure to tumour promoters.

Acyltransferases↗