Research
Abstract
Changes in neuronal activity alter blood flow to match energy demand with the supply of oxygen and nutrients. This functional hyperemia is maintained by interactions between neurons, vascular cells, and glia. However, how changing neuronal activity prevalent at the onset of neurodegenerative disease affects neurovascular elements is unclear. Here, in mice with photoreceptor degeneration, a model of neuron-specific dysfunction, we combined assessment of visual function, neurovascular unit structure, and the blood-retina barrier permeability. We found that the rod loss paralleled remodeling of the neurovascular unit, comprised of photoreceptors, retinal pigment epithelium, and Muller glia. When significant visual function was still present, blood flow became disrupted and blood-retina barrier began to fail, facilitating cone loss and vision decline. Thus, in contrast to the established view, vascular deficit in neuronal degeneration is not a late consequence of neuronal dysfunction, but is present early in the course of disease. These findings further establish the importance of vascular deficit and blood retina barrier function in neuron-specific loss, and highlight it as a target for early therapeutic intervention.
Authors
Elena Ivanova, Nazia M. Alam, Glen T. Prusky, Botir T. Sagdullaev
Abstract
High autophagic activity in podocytes, terminally differentiated cells which serve as main components of the kidney filtration barrier, is essential for podocyte survival under various challenges. How podocytes maintain such a high level of autophagy, however, remains unclear. Here we report that signal regulatory protein α (SIRPα) plays a key role in promoting podocyte autophagy. Unlike other glomerular cells, podocytes strongly express SIRPα, which is, however, downregulated in patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and mice with experimental nephropathy. Podocyte SIRPα levels are inversely correlated with the severity of podocyte injury and proteinuria but positively with autophagy. Compared to wild-type littermates, Sirpa-deficient mice display greater age-related podocyte injury and proteinuria and develop more rapid and severe renal injury in various models of experimental nephropathy. Mechanistically, podocyte SIRPα strongly reduces Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling, leading to an increase in autophagic activity. Our findings thus demonstrate a critical protective role of SIRPα in podocyte survival via maintaining autophagic activity.
Authors
Limin Li, Ying Liu, Shan Li, Yong Yang, Caihong Zeng, Weiwei Rong, Hongwei Liang, Mingchao Zhang, Xiaodong Zhu, Koby Kidder, Yuan Liu, Zhihong Liu, Ke Zen
Abstract
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are key modulators of inflammation and are important for the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Adoptive immunotherapy with polyclonal Tregs holds promise in organ transplantation, graft-versus-host disease, and autoimmune diseases, but may be enhanced by antigen-specific, long-lived Treg cells. We modified primary human Tregs with chimeric antigen-receptors (CARs) bearing different costimulatory domains and performed in vitro analyses of their phenotype and function. While neither the presence of a CAR nor the type of costimulation domain influenced Foxp3 expression in Tregs, the costimulation domain of the CARs affected CAR Treg surface phenotype and functions such as cytokine production. Furthermore, signaling from the CD28 costimulation domain maintained CAR Treg suppressor function, whereas 4-1B costimulation did not. In vivo, CAR Tregs accumulated at sites expressing target antigen, and suppressed antigen specific effector T cell responses; however, only CAR Tregs with CD28 signaling domains were potent inhibitors of effector T cell mediated graft rejection in vivo. Our findings support the use of CD28 based CAR-Tregs for tissue specific immune suppression in the clinic.
Authors
Angela C. Boroughs, Rebecca C. Larson, Bryan D. Choi, Amanda A. Bouffard, Lauren S. Riley, Erik Schiferle, Anupriya S. Kulkarni, Curtis L. Cetrulo, David Ting, Bruce R. Blazar, Shadmehr Demehri, Marcela V. Maus
Abstract
MHC I-restricted epitopes of chicken ovalbumin (OVA) were originally identified using CD8 T cells as probes. Here, using bioinformatics tools, we identify four additional epitopes in OVA in addition to a cryptic epitope. Each new epitope is presented in vivo, as deduced from the lack of CD8 response to it in OVA-transgenic mice. In addition, CD8 responses to the known and novel epitopes are examined in C57BL/6 mice exposed to the OVA-expressing tumor E.G7 in several ways. No responses to any epitope including SIINFEKL are detected in mice with growing E.G7 or mice immunized with the tumor. Only in E.G7-bearing mice treated with an anti-CTLA4 antibody which depletes tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells, CD8 responses to SIINFEKL and the novel epitope EKYNLTSVL are detected. Finally, all epitopes fails to treat mice with pre-existing tumors. These observations force an important re-consideration of the common assumptions about the therapeutic value of neoepitopes detected by CD8 responses in tumor-bearing hosts.
Authors
Sukrut Hemant Karandikar, John Sidney, Alessandro Sette, Mark Joseph Selby, Alan Jerry Korman, Pramod Kumar Srivastava
Abstract
Because injured mitochondria can accelerate cell death through the elaboration of oxidative free radicals and other mediators, it is striking that proliferator gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α), a stimulator of increased mitochondrial abundance, protects stressed renal cells instead of potentiating injury. Here we report that PGC1α’s induction of lysosomes via transcription factor EB (TFEB) may be pivotal for kidney protection. CRISPR and stable gene transfer showed that PGC1α knockout tubular cells were sensitized to the genotoxic stressor cisplatin whereas transgenic cells were protected. The biosensor mtKeima unexpectedly revealed that cisplatin blunts mitophagy both in cells and mice. PGC1α not only counteracted this effect but also raised basal mitophagy, as did the downstream mediator nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). PGC1α did not consistently affect known autophagy pathways modulated by cisplatin. Instead RNA sequencing identified coordinated regulation of lysosomal biogenesis via TFEB. This effector pathway was sufficiently important that inhibition of TFEB or lysosomes unveiled a striking harmful effect of excess PGC1α in cells and conditional mice. These results uncover an unexpected effect of cisplatin on mitophagy and PGC1α’s exquisite reliance on lysosomes for kidney protection. Finally, the data illuminate TFEB as a novel target for renal tubular stress resistance.
Authors
Matthew R. Lynch, Mei T. Tran, Kenneth M. Ralto, Zsuzsanna K. Zsengeller, Vinod Raman, Swati S. Bhasin, Nuo Sun, Xiuying Chen, Daniel Brown, Ilsa I. Rovira, Kensei Taguchi, Craig R. Brooks, Isaac E. Stillman, Manoj K. Bhasin, Toren Finkel, Samir M. Parikh
Abstract
AXL overexpression is a common resistance mechanism to anti-cancer therapies, including the resistance to BYL719 (Alpelisib) – the p110α isoform specific inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) – in esophagus and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC, HNSCC respectively). However, the mechanisms underlying AXL overexpression in resistance to BYL719 remain elusive. Here we demonstrated that the AP-1 transcription factors, c-JUN and c-FOS, regulate AXL overexpression in HNSCC and ESCC. The expression of AXL was correlated with that of c-JUN both in HNSCC patients and in HNSCC and ESCC cell lines. Silencing of c-JUN and c-FOS expression in tumor cells downregulated AXL expression and enhanced the sensitivity of human papilloma virus positive (HPVPos) and negative (HPVNeg) tumor cells to BYL719 in vitro. Blocking of the c-JUN N-terminal kinase (JNK) using SP600125 in combination with BYL719 showed a synergistic anti-proliferative effect in vitro, which was accompanied by AXL downregulation and potent inhibition of the mTOR pathway. In vivo, the BYL719–SP600125 drug combination led to the arrest of tumor growth in cell line-derived and patient-derived xenograft models, and in syngeneic head and neck murine cancer models. Collectively, our data suggests that JNK inhibition in combination with anti-PI3K therapy is a new therapeutic strategy that should be tested in HPVPos and HPVNeg HNSCC and ESCC patients.
Authors
Mai Badarni, Manu Prasad, Noa Balaban, Jonathan Zorea, Ksenia M. Yegodayev, Ben-Zion Joshua, Anat Bahat Dinur, Reidar Grénman, Barak Rotblat, Limor Cohen, Moshe Elkabets
Abstract
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of cancer cells needs to adapt to the enhanced proteotoxic stress associated with the accumulation of unfolded, misfolded and transformation-associated proteins. One way by which tumors thrive in the context of ER stress is by promoting ER-Associated Degradation (ERAD), although the mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we show that the Small p97/VCP Interacting Protein (SVIP), an endogenous inhibitor of ERAD, undergoes DNA hypermethylation-associated silencing in tumorigenesis to achieve this goal. SVIP exhibits tumor suppressor features and its recovery is associated with increased ER stress and growth inhibition. Proteomic and metabolomic analyses show that cancer cells with epigenetic loss of SVIP are depleted in mitochondrial enzymes and oxidative respiration activity. This phenotype is reverted upon SVIP restoration. The dependence of SVIP hypermethylated cancer cells on aerobic glycolysis and glucose was also associated with sensitivity to an inhibitor of the glucose transporter GLUT1. This could be relevant to the management of tumors carrying SVIP epigenetic loss, because these occur in high-risk patients who manifest poor clinical outcomes. Overall, our study provides insights into how epigenetics helps deal with ER stress and how SVIP epigenetic loss in cancer may be amenable to therapies that target glucose transporters.
Authors
Pere Llinàs-Arias, Margalida Rosselló-Tortella, Paula Lopez-Serra, Montserrat Pérez-Salvia, Fernando Setién, Silvia Marin, Juan P. Muñoz, Alexandra Junza, Jordi Capellades, Maria E. Calleja-Cervantes, Humberto J. Ferreira, Manuel Castro de Moura, Marina Srbic, Anna Martínez-Cardús, Carolina de la Torre, Alberto Villanueva, Marta Cascante, Oscar Yanes, Antonio Zorzano, Catia Moutinho, Manel Esteller
Abstract
The mTOR pathway is central to most cells. How mTOR is activated in macrophages and modulates macrophage physiology remain poorly understood. The tumor suppressor Folliculin (FLCN) is a GAP for RagC/D, a regulator of mTOR. We show here that LPS potently suppresses FLCN in macrophages, allowing nuclear translocation of the transcription factor TFE3, leading to lysosome biogenesis, cytokine production, and hypersensitivity to inflammatory signals. Nuclear TFE3 additionally activates a transcriptional RagD positive feedback loop that stimulates FLCN-independent canonical mTOR signaling to S6K and increases cellular proliferation. LPS thus simultaneously suppresses the TFE3 arm and activates the S6K arm of mTOR. In vivo, mice lacking myeloid FLCN reveal chronic macrophage activation, leading to profound histiocytic infiltration and tissue disruption, with hallmarks of human histiocytic syndromes like Erdheim-Chester Disease. Our data thus identify a critical FLCN-mTOR-TFE3 axis in myeloid cells, modulated by LPS, that balances mTOR activation and curbs innate immune responses.
Authors
Jia Li, Shogo Wada, Lehn K. Weaver, Chhanda Biswas, Edward M. Behrens, Zoltan Arany
Abstract
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is triggered mainly by mutations in genes encoding sarcomeric proteins, but a significant proportion of patients lack a genetic diagnosis. We identified a novel mutation in the ryanodine receptor 2, RyR2-P1124L, in a patient from a genotype-negative HCM cohort. The aim of this study was to determine whether RyR2-P1124L triggers functional and structural alterations in isolated RyR2 channels and whole hearts. We found that P1124L induces significant conformational changes in the SPRY2 domain of RyR2. Recombinant RyR2-P1124L channels displayed a cytosolic loss-of-function phenotype, which contrasted with a higher sensitivity to luminal [Ca2+], indicating a luminal gain-of-function. Homozygous mice for RyR2-P1124L showed mild cardiac hypertrophy, similar to the human patient. This phenotype, evident at 1 yr of age, was accompanied by an increase in the expression of calmodulin (CaM). P1124L mice also showed higher susceptibility to arrhythmia at 8 mo of age, before the onset of hypertrophy. RyR2-P1124L has a distinct cytosolic loss-of-function and a luminal gain-of-function phenotype. This bifunctionally-divergent behavior triggers arrhythmias and structural cardiac remodeling, and involves overexpression of calmodulin as a potential hypertrophic mediator. This study is relevant to continue elucidating the possible causes of genotype-negative HCM and the role of RyR2 in cardiac hypertrophy.
Authors
Francisco J. Alvarado, J. Martijn Bos, Zhiguang Yuchi, Carmen R. Valdivia, Jonathan J. Hernandez, Yan-Ting Zhao, Dawn S. Henderlong, Yan Chen, Talia R. Booher, Cherisse A. Marcou, Filip Van Petegem, Michael J. Ackerman, Hector H. Valdivia
Abstract
Sarcomeric disarray is a hallmark of gene mutations in patients with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, it is unknown when detrimental sarcomeric changes first occur and whether they originate in the developing embryonic heart. Furthermore, Rho Kinase (ROCK) is a serine threonine protein kinase that is critical for regulating the function of several sarcomeric proteins and therefore, our aim was to determine if disruption of ROCK signalling during the earliest stages of heart development would disrupt the integrity of sarcomeres altering heart development and function. Using a mouse model in which the function of ROCK is specifically disrupted in embryonic cardiomyocytes we demonstrate a progressive cardiomyopathy that first appeared as sarcomeric disarray during cardiogenesis. This led to abnormalities in the structure of embryonic ventricular wall and compensatory cardiomyocyte hypertrophy during foetal development. This sarcomeric disruption and hypertrophy persisted throughout adult life, triggering left ventricular concentric hypertrophy with systolic dysfunction, and re-activation of foetal gene expression and cardiac fibrosis, all typical features of HCM. Taken together, our findings establish a novel mechanism for the developmental origin of the sarcomeric phenotype of HCM and suggest that variants in the ROCK genes or disruption of ROCK signalling could, in part, contribute to its pathogenesis.
Authors
Kate E. Bailey, Guy A. MacGowan, Simon Tual-Chalot, Lauren Phillips, Tim J. Mohun, Deborah J. Henderson, Helen M. Arthur, Simon D. Bamforth, Helen M. Phillips
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