Cystic fibrosis: Part II.
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When Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA in 1953, a biological revolution began. One result of this revolution is the Human Genome Project. The primary goal of this international project is to obtain the complete nucleotide sequence of the human genome by the year 2005. Although molecular biologists and geneticists are most enthusiastic about the Human Genome Project, all areas of clinical medicine and fields of biology will be affected. Cystic fibrosis is the most common, inherited, lethal disease of white persons. In 1989, researchers located the cystic fibrosis gene on the long arm of chromosome 7 by a technique known as positional cloning. The most common mutation (a 3-base pair deletion) of the cystic fibrosis gene occurs in 70% of patients with cystic fibrosis. The knowledge gained from genetic research on cystic fibrosis will help researchers develop new therapies (e.g., gene) and improve standard therapies (e.g., pharmacologic) so that a patient's life span is increased and quality of life is improved. The purpose of this review is twofold. First, the article provides an overview of the Human Genome Project and its clinical significance in advancing interdisciplinary care for patients with cystic fibrosis. Second, the article includes a discussion of the genetic basis, pathophysiology, and management of cystic fibrosis.
This article focuses on three potential mechanisms by which pancreatic dysfunction occurs in cystic fibrosis. These include (1) obstruction of pancreatic ducts by inspissated plugs, (2) inhibition of endocytosis in acinar cells, and (3) imbalance in membrane lipids in cystic fibrosis regulated cells. Any of these abnormalities alone or in combination may explain the development of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency.
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A new semielemental formula made up of whey protein hydrolysate, medium-chain triglyceride as 50% of fat, and glucose polymer was studied in 21 cystic fibrosis infants to determine whether its intestinal absorption was better than that of a standard milk-based formula. Each experiment lasted 10 days, during which the patient was fed for 5 days on one formula and immediately afterwards for 5 days on the alternative formula, without any pancreatic enzyme replacement. Fat and nitrogen absorption were assessed by 3-day balance studies, stool fat was assayed by a modified Van de Kamer method, and stool nitrogen by an automatic method. Ten infants with very severely impaired digestive function (coefficient of fat absorption on normal diet less than or equal to 75%) showed a highly significant improvement in fat and nitrogen absorption, leading to a significant gain in weight when fed on semielemental diet compared with standard diet. No significant improvement was observed in fat and nitrogen absorption or in weight gain in the 11 infants with less severe malabsorption (coefficient of fat absorption on normal diet greater than 75%). These results were obtained over a short period and have to be confirmed over a prolonged period of study with pancreatic enzyme supplementation. However, they suggest that such a semielemental diet should be effective for short-term treatment in selected CF infants who have difficulty in starting to thrive adequately.
The study evaluates two methods of assay of fecal chymotrypsin (titrimetric and spectrophotometric method) as an index of exocrine pancreatic function. The assay was performed on 101 control subjects and 128 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients by the first method, and 75 controls and 102 CF patients by the second method. CF subjects were subdivided into four groups based on pancreatic function: total pancreatic insufficiency in the first group, partial pancreatic insufficiency in the second group, normal pancreatic function in the third group, and pancreatic insufficiency plus enzymatic treatment in the fourth group. Fifty-four CF patients were examined in the first group, 27 in the second group, 19 in the third group, and 28 in the fourth group by the titrimetric method; 23, 25, 50, and 65, respectively by the spectrophotometric method. The spectrophotometric method was highly reproducible and more sensitive and specific. With such a method the assay on stool random sampling correlated with the duodenal output of chymotrypsin after hormonal stimulation as well as fecal output of 72 h. The test had sensitivity and specificity of 100% if referred to CF patients with total pancreatic insufficiency. It was calculated that CF patients with normal fecal chymotrypsin have a probability of 76% to have a normal pancreatic function and a probability of 24% to have a partially compromised pancreatic function. The assay separates distinctly CF patients with a fat absorption coefficient greater than 90% from those with a coefficient less than 90%. The test is proposed for current clinical use in diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic insufficiency in cystic fibrosis.
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Techniques available for the study of lipase activity in the gut are unsatisfactory. Breath tests measuring labelled carbon dioxide (13CO2) may provide a useful means for this assessment. Six subjects with cystic fibrosis and pancreatic insufficiency and 10 controls received a test meal containing [13C] trioctanoin, and breath 13CO2 was measured using a dual inlet, dual detector isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Comparison of postprandial breath 13CO2 enrichment allowed complete separation between children with pancreatic insufficiency and controls. Administration of one capsule of pancreatic enzyme with the test meal resulted in an increase in 13CO2 production in all six patients, and four capsules produced a further increase in five of the six. Serial fat balance studies on four of the patients while receiving comparable doses of oral enzyme failed to demonstrate a progressive improvement in fat absorption. The [13C]trioctanoin breath test may prove a safe, non-invasive technique not only for the detection of pancreatic insufficiency, but also for the quantitative study of intraluminal lipolysis.
The fluorescein dilaurate test, a non-invasive test of exocrine pancreatic function, was carried out on 21 children with cystic fibrosis and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, and 12 healthy siblings. The test clearly discriminated between the patients with cystic fibrosis and severe exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and the normal control subjects.
In the heterozygous state, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) exon 11 mutation G551D has been described as "severe," causing pancreatic insufficiency. Two cystic fibrosis (CF) patients homozygous for this mutation showed a mild rather than severe pancreatic phenotype and a variable pulmonary phenotype.
Retrovirus-mediated transfection of cDNA for the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene into the CF pancreatic cell line, CFPAC-1, confers adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent regulation of Cl conductance. We used patch-clamp techniques to identify the single-channel basis of this conductance pathway and to study its properties. Forskolin or cAMP activated Cl channels with a conductance of 9 +/- 1 pS in 26 of 62 cell-attached patches of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-transfected CFPAC-1 cells. The current-voltage (I-V) relation showed slight outward rectification (chord conductance of 10 +/- 2 pS at +80 mV vs. 7 +/- 1 pS at -80mV) with high Cl concentrations (170 mM) in the pipette solution. Channel kinetics were voltage sensitive, with longer openings at positive clamp voltages. Channel properties were unaffected by the substitution of N-methyl-D-glucamine for pipette Na or by the addition of disulfonic stilbenes (100 microM DNDS or DIDS) to the pipette. The channels usually inactivated within seconds of patch excision, but in three of nine patches, activity could be maintained by addition of the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A and ATP. With equal Cl concentrations on both membrane surfaces, the single-channel I-V relation was linear, suggesting that the outward rectification of the cell-attached channel is due to a pipette-to-cell Cl gradient. Anion substitution on the extracellular side of the membrane indicates a halide permselectivity of Br approximately Cl greater than I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is responsible for adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)-activated chloride transport in epithelial cells. Isolated rabbit pancreatic acini possess a cAMP-activated chloride efflux mechanism distinct from zymogen granule secretion. To determine whether CFTR is expressed in acini, we used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a 480-base pair (bp) sequence from reverse-transcribed rabbit acinar RNA. The PCR product was consistent with a 480-bp band amplified in T84 cells, and its sequence was > 90% homologous to human CFTR. CFTR antibody M3A7 recognized a 180- and a 160-kDa protein from acinar membranes consistent with bands seen in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with CFTR. To determine if CFTR was responsible for the cAMP-activated chloride efflux previously demonstrated in pancreatic acini, we incubated acinar cells for 20 h with 1.75 microM CFTR antisense or sense oligodeoxynucleotide. Chloride efflux, in response to 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate and phorbol ester but not to calcium ionophore, was selectively inhibited by CFTR antisense oligodeoxynucleotide. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotide did not inhibit acinar amylase secretion. These findings indicate that isolated pancreatic acini can be used for future studies of CFTR expression and function.
The perforated-patch configuration of the patch-clamp technique was used to record whole cell currents from human epithelial CFPAC-1 cells defective for functional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). In CFPAC-1 cells, adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) stimulation with forskolin (10 microM) plus 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (400 microM) activated neither Cl- nor K+ currents. In the same cells transfected with wild-type CFTR gene, cAMP stimulation produced activation of both Cl- and K+ currents. In Cl(-)-depleted medium (gluconate as a substitute), cAMP stimulation evoked a K+ current in CFTR-transfected but not in untransfected CFPAC-1 cells. This cAMP-evoked K+ current was the sum of two components: 1) a time-independent inwardly rectifying component, and 2) a slowly relaxing component activated at positive voltages. Increasing intracellular Ca2+ with ionomycin (1 microM) activated K+ currents in either transfected or untransfected cells. In transfected cells, blocking the CFTR conductance with high-concentration glibenclamide (100 microM) reduced the K+ current when activated by cAMP but not when activated by Ca2+. Pretreating CFTR-transfected cells for 48 h with interferon-gamma downregulated CFTR gene expression and reduced cAMP but not Ca2+ activation of the whole cell K+ current. From these results, we conclude that functional membrane CFTR protein influences activation by cAMP of epithelial K+ currents.
From purulent cystic fibrosis (CF) sputum, previous investigators partially purified a trypsinlike protease. A similar purified enzyme is available commercially as "human sputum trypsin." To explore the nature and origin of this preparation, we purified and NH2 terminally sequenced its major protein component. The resulting sequence, Ile-Val-Gly-Gly-Tyr-Thr-(Cys)-Ala-Ala-Asn-Ser-Val/Ile-Pro-Tyr-Gln-Val -Ser-Leu-Asn-Ser, differs from known human proteins but is identical to porcine trypsin, including the Val/Ile polymorphism at residue 12. Specific activity and electrophoretic and inhibition profiles and immunoreactivity of sputum and porcine pancreatic trypsin are nearly identical. Because porcine trypsin is a major ingredient of digestive enzyme supplements taken by CF patients with pancreatic dysfunction, we propose that one or more lots of human sputum trypsin derive from enzyme supplements and are of porcine origin. The path by which trypsin ends up in sputum is unknown. Because sputum trypsin is active but susceptible to inactivation by plasma alpha1-proteinase inhibitor, it is unlikely to derive from trypsin absorbed into the bloodstream. However, it may originate from tracheally aspirated stomach contents or from digestive supplement-contaminated saliva mixed with expectorated sputum. The imbalance between proteases and antiproteases in CF bronchial secretions allows trypsin to remain active despite sensitivity to serpins and secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor. Furthermore, because sputum trypsin activates human progelatinase B, it may be responsible in part for the reported presence of activated matrix metalloproteinases in CF sputum.
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In order to determine the value of noninvasive tests in the analysis of pancreatic function in cystic fibrosis, 14 older cystic fibrosis patients were studied by a set of noninvasive tests of exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function. The tests, comprising trypsin, total amylase, pancreatic isoamylase, lipase, pancreatic polypeptide (PP), glucose and insulin in fasting serum, PP, glucose and insulin in postprandial serum, and p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) excretion in urine, were compared to fecal fat excretion after discontinuation of pancreatic enzyme supplementation. Eleven of the 14 patients were found to have a fecal fat excretion of more than 7 g/day. Serum levels of trypsin, pancreatic isoamylase and lipase, and the urinary excretion of PABA showed significant negative correlations with fecal fat excretion. Endocrine pancreatic function was abnormal in the majority of patients with fibrocystic disease. Although serum trypsin, postprandial PP, and urinary PABA excretion were the most sensitive tests for severe exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, the differences in sensitivity were rather modest. Therefore, the type of test to be selected for clinical use is mainly dependent upon factors as accessibility, simplicity, patient's acceptability, and costs.