PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Y Lécluse

Publications and source records attributed to Y Lécluse.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Identification of human and mouse HIRA-interacting protein-5 (HIRIP5), two mammalian representatives in a family of phylogenetically conserved proteins with a role in the biogenesis of Fe/S proteins.

The human HIRA protein is encoded from a region of chromosome 22q that is critical for the DiGeorge syndrome and the velocardiofacial syndrome. We have previously reported that it directly interacts with core histones, with a novel histone-binding protein, HIRIP3, and during mouse embryogenesis, with the developmentally regulated homeodomain protein Pax3, suggesting a promoter-targeted function at the chromatin level. We here report on HIRA-interacting protein 5 (HIRIP5), a small acidic protein that interacted with HIRA in a double-hybrid screen performed in yeast and in in vitro protein interaction experiments. HIRIP5 has highly conserved homologs in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including the NFU1 gene product which has been implicated in iron metabolism in mitochondria of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By radioactive in situ hybridization, the HIRIP5 gene was mapped to the 2p13-p15 chromosomal region, separate from any region previously associated with DiGeorge syndrome.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Apoptosis of tumoral and nontumoral lymphoid cells is induced by both mdm2 and p53 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides.

Following stress signals, the p53 tumor suppressor protein plays a critical role in regulation of cell proliferation, mainly through induction of growth arrest or apoptosis. Therefore, this protein needs to be strictly regulated and numerous studies have shown that the MDM2 protein is an essential element for p53 regulation in normal cells and, most importantly, that overexpression of MDM2 is responsible for p53 inactivation in various types of tumors. A previous study showed that this is the case in some Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cell lines, where enhanced translation of mdm2 messenger RNA results in overexpression of the protein that complexes and inactivates wild-type p53. To further investigate the role of the p53/MDM2 complex in these BL cells, as well as in other lymphoid cells that do not overexpress MDM2, this study used antisense oligodeoxynucleotides directed either against mdm2 or against p53. Results show that the mdm2 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide induces apoptosis of cells that express a high or low level of MDM2 protein, only if they contain wild-type p53. Moreover, apoptosis is independent of the accumulation of p53 following mdm2 antisense treatment. Finally, the p53 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide, which inhibits the expression of wild-type p53, also induces a decrease of the MDM2 level in cells, whether or not they overexpress this protein, and causes apoptosis of these cells. These results indicate that decreasing the MDM2 protein level by directly or indirectly targeting its biosynthesis is a potent tool for the induction of apoptosis.

Apoptosis↗

ATM-dependent phosphorylation and accumulation of endogenous BLM protein in response to ionizing radiation.

Bloom's syndrome (BS), a rare genetic disease, arises through mutations in both alleles of the BLM gene which encodes a 3'-5' DNA helicase identified as a member of the RecQ family. BS patients exhibit a high predisposition to development of all types of cancer affecting the general population and BLM-deficient cells display a strong genetic instability. We recently showed that BLM protein expression is regulated during the cell cycle, accumulating to high levels in S phase, persisting in G2/M and sharply declining in G1, suggesting a possible implication of BLM in a replication (S phase) and/or post-replication (G2 phase) process. Here we show that, in response to ionizing radiation, BLM-deficient cells exhibit a normal p53 response as well as an intact G1/S cell cycle checkpoint, which indicates that ATM and p53 pathways are functional in BS cells. We also show that the BLM defect is associated with a partial escape of cells from the gamma-irradiation-induced G2/M cell cycle checkpoint. Finally, we present data demonstrating that, in response to ionizing radiation, BLM protein is phosphorylated and accumulates through an ATM-dependent pathway. Altogether, our data indicate that BLM participates in the cellular response to ionizing radiation by acting as an ATM kinase downstream effector.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Core histones and HIRIP3, a novel histone-binding protein, directly interact with WD repeat protein HIRA.

The human HIRA gene has been named after Hir1p and Hir2p, two corepressors which together appear to act on chromatin structure to control gene transcription in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. HIRA homologs are expressed in a regulated fashion during mouse and chicken embryogenesis, and the human gene is a major candidate for the DiGeorge syndrome and related developmental disorders caused by a reduction to single dose of a fragment of chromosome 22q. Western blot analysis and double-immunofluorescence experiments using a specific antiserum revealed a primary nuclear localization of HIRA. Similar to Hir1p, HIRA contains seven amino-terminal WD repeats and probably functions as part of a multiprotein complex. HIRA and core histone H2B were found to physically interact in a yeast double-hybrid protein interaction trap, in GST pull-down assays, and in coimmunoprecipitation experiments performed from cellular extracts. In vitro, HIRA also interacted with core histone H4. H2B- and H4-binding domains were overlapping but distinguishable in the carboxy-terminal region of HIRA, and the region for HIRA interaction was mapped to the amino-terminal tail of H2B and the second alpha helix of H4. HIRIP3 (HIRA-interacting protein 3) is a novel gene product that was identified from its HIRA-binding properties in the yeast protein interaction trap. In vitro, HIRIP3 directly interacted with HIRA but also with core histones H2B and H3, suggesting that a HIRA-HIRIP3-containing complex could function in some aspects of chromatin and histone metabolism. Insufficient production of HIRA, which we report elsewhere interacts with homeodomain-containing DNA-binding factors during mammalian embryogenesis, could perturb the stoichiometric assembly of multimolecular complexes required for normal embryonic development.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Intracellular signaling events in CD77-mediated apoptosis of Burkitt's lymphoma cells.

In the hematopoietic system CD77, a glycolipid surface antigen, is restricted to group I Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell lines and a subset of germinal center B lymphocytes. Recently, we have reported that recombinant B subunits of Verotoxin, which specifically binds to CD77, induce programmed cell death of CD77+ BL cells. Here, we show that an anti-CD77 monoclonal antibody (38.13) immobilized on tissue culture dishes also induces apoptosis, and we have explored the signal transducing events leading to this cell death. We show that ligation of CD77 antigen causes an increase of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration owing to an influx of extracellular Ca2+ through calcium channels. Chelation of extracellular Ca2+ with EGTA partially prevents anti-CD77-induced apoptosis, indicating that this process is probably Ca2+ dependent. We show that the cross-linking of CD77 provokes an increase of intracellular cAMP levels followed by cAMP-dependent protein kinase activation. We report that BL cells produce ceramide when they are exposed to 38.13 but, unexpectedly, without a concomitant decrease in sphingomyelin or CD77 content. Finally, we provide evidence that C2-ceramide, calcium ionophore, and forskolin (which increases intracellular levels of cAMP) independently induce apoptosis of CD77+ BL cells and, moreover, that C2-ceramide and forskolin strongly synergize to cause cell death. The possible role of CD77-mediated apoptosis in the B cell selection that occurs in germinal centers is discussed.

Apoptosis↗

A human homolog of the S. cerevisiae HIR1 and HIR2 transcriptional repressors cloned from the DiGeorge syndrome critical region.

The DiGeorge syndrome (DGS) is a developmental disorder affecting derivatives of the third and fourth pharyngeal pouches. DGS patients present an interstitial deletion in one of their two chromosomes 22. Cosmid DAC30 was mapped to the DGS smallest critical region. Iterative cDNA library screening initiated with a DAC30 gene fragment candidate yielded a cDNA contig whose assembled nucleotide sequence is consistent with the widely transcribed, 4.2-4.4 kb long, messengers detected by northern analysis. The deduced protein sequence, 1017 amino acids in length, entirely encompasses the 766 amino acids previously designated as TUPLE1. The completed protein has been renamed HIRA because it contains various features matching those found in HIR1 and HIR2, two repressors of histone gene transcription characterized in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Strikingly alike in their N-terminal third, HIRA and HIR1 contain seven copies of the WD repeat, a motif implicated in protein-protein interactions, suggesting that they might define a new subfamily of functionally homologous proteins. The remainder of the human polypeptide highly resembles a corresponding fragment in HIR2. We propose that HIRA, alone, could have a part in mechanisms of transcriptional regulation similar to that played by HIR1 and HIR2 together. The presence of a single copy of the HIRA gene in DGS patients possibly accounts for some of the abnormalities associated with this syndrome.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Isolation of cosmids and fetal brain cDNAs from the proximal long arm of human chromosome 22.

The proximal portion of human chromosome 22q appears to carry genes implicated in the pathogenesis of various developmental disorders, including the cat eye syndrome (CES) and the DiGeorge syndrome (DGS). A cosmid library was prepared from a radiation hybrid selected for its content in chromosome 22 fragments. A large fraction of cosmids containing human DNA were found to derive from the juxtacentromeric region of chromosome 22, as shown by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) performed using individual cosmids or cosmid pools as probes. Finer mapping was obtained for individual cosmids by hybridization to a somatic cell hybrid mapping panel which splits the long arm of the chromosome into 14 bins numbered 1 to 14 from the centromere to the telomere. Of the 10 cosmids mapped, eight belonged to group 1, the other two to group 14, in agreement with FISH data. Rare endonuclease sites and fragments conserved between species were searched in single cosmids, resulting in the selection of seven cosmid fragments which were used to screen a human fetal brain cDNA library. Three cDNAs were identified, encoded from two chromosome 22 genes which appeared to be novel, as determined from partial end sequence and comparison with the database entries. Fine localization of the 30.9 cDNA indicated that the corresponding gene was located in a segment of proximal 22q overlapping with the critical DGS region.

Animals↗