Regulation and deregulation of cardiac Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange in giant excised sarcolemmal membrane patches

A plasmalemmal Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange mechanism is an important electrogenic determinant of contractility in cardiac cells. As in other cell types, calcium influx by Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange is secondarily activated by cytoplasmic calcium and probably ATP, but these modulatory mechanisms are either absent or altered in isolated cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles. Involvement of a calcium-dependent protein kinase in exchange regulation has been suggested but not verified. Here I describe measurements of outward Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange current, corresponding to calcium influx, in giant excised sarcolemmal patches from guinea pig myocytes. The exchange current is stimulated by both calcium and Mg-ATP from the cytoplasmic face, evidently through separate mechanisms. Activation by cytoplasmic calcium takes place within seconds, is reversible, and does not require ATP. Stimulation by Mg-ATP reverses only slowly over greater than 10 min, or not at all. Unexpectedly, a substantial decrease in exchange current occurs during activation by cytoplasmic sodium, which seems to reflect an inactivation process rather than ion concentration changes or a 'first pass' exchange cycle. This apparent inactivation, and the modulations by cytoplasmic calcium and Mg-ATP, are all abolished by brief treatment of the cytoplasmic surface with chymotrypsin, leaving the exchanger in a maintained state of high activity. Therefore, limited proteolysis deregulates Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange and could contribute to the loss of secondary regulation of the exchange in isolated sarcolemmal vesicles.     

Co-localization of molecules involved in antigen processing and presentation in an early endocytic compartment

The pathways of intracellular traffic involved in antigen processing and presentation have been defined by immunoelectron microscopy. The export pathway for class II histocompatibility molecules and the antigen import pathway meet in a peripheral endocytic compartment having all the molecular machinery believed to be required for antigen processing and presentation, including internalized surface immunoglobulins, proteolytic enzymes and invariant chains. This compartment defines a site where peptides from endocytosed antigen can bind class II molecules en route to the cell surface for presentation to T cells.     

Presentation of viral antigen controlled by a gene in the major histocompatibility complex

We describe a mutant human cell line (LBL 721.174) that has lost a function required for presentation of intracellular viral antigens with class I molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), but retains the capacity to present defined epitopes as extracellular peptides. The cell also has a defect in the assembly and expression of class I MHC molecules, which we show can be restored by exposure of the cells to a peptide epitope. This phenotype suggests a defect in the association of intracellular antigen with class I molecules similar to that described for the murine mutant RMA-S (ref. 5), but in the present case the genetic defect can be mapped within the MHC locus on human chromosome 6.     

Residues of the variable region of the T-cell-receptor beta-chain that interact with S. aureus toxin superantigens

The alpha beta T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) recognizes antigenic peptides in the context of self major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. The specificity of recognition of MHC plus antigen is generally determined by a combination of the variable elements of alpha- and beta-chains of the TCR. Several types of antigen, however, have been identified that, when bound to MHC molecules, stimulate T cells bearing particular variable-region beta-chain (V beta) elements irrespective of the other variable components of the TCR. These have been termed 'superantigens', and here we are concerned with one type of superantigen, the toxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus. T cells have been found that bear closely related members of the same V beta family but respond differently to S. aureus toxins; in particular, cells bearing the human V beta 13.2 element respond to toxin SEC2, whereas cells bearing human V beta 13.1 do not. We have now defined the residues of the V beta element responsible for this difference, and find that they reside in a region thought to lie on the side of the TCR molecule, away from the conventional antigen/MHC-binding site. The evolutionary conservation of this site may be due to its having an important role in some function of the TCR other than the binding of conventional antigen plus MHC.     

Structure of Arc repressor in solution: evidence for a family of beta-sheet DNA-binding proteins

The Arc repressor, which is involved in the switch between lysis and lysogeny of Salmonella bacteriophage P22, does not belong to any of the known classes of DNA-binding proteins. Mutagenesis studies show that the DNA-binding region is located in the 15 N-terminal amino-acid residues. We have now determined the three-dimensional structure of the Arc dimer from an extensive set of interproton-distance data obtained from 1H NMR spectroscopy. A priori, intra- and inter-monomer nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs) cannot be distinguished for a symmetric dimer. But by using the homology with the Escherichia coli Met repressor we could interpret the NOEs unambiguously in an iterative structure refinement procedure. The final structure satisfies a large set of NOE constraints (1,352 for the dimer). It shows a strongly intertwined dimer, in which residues 8-14 of different monomers form an antiparallel beta-sheet. A model for the Arc repressor-operator complex can account for all available biochemical and genetic data. In this model two Arc dimers bind with their beta-sheet regions in successive major grooves on one side of the DNA helix, similar to the Met repressor interaction. Thus, Arc and Met repressors are members of the same family of proteins, which contain an antiparallel beta-sheet as the DNA-binding motif.     

Expression of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator corrects defective chloride channel regulation in cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells.

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) was expressed in cultured cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells and Cl- channel activation assessed in single cells using a fluorescence microscopic assay and the patch-clamp technique. Expression of CFTR, but not of a mutant form of CFTR (delta F508), corrected the Cl- channel defect. Correction of the phenotypic defect demonstrates a causal relationship between mutations in the CFTR gene and defective Cl- transport which is the hallmark of the disease.     

Synthetic analogues of fumagillin that inhibit angiogenesis and suppress tumour growth.

Neovascularization is critical for the growth of tumours and is a dominant feature in a variety of angiogenic diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, haemangiomas, arthritis and psoriasis. Recognition of the potential therapeutic benefit of controlling unabated capillary growth has led to a search for safe and effective angiogenesis inhibitors. We report here the synthesis of a family of novel inhibitors that are analogues of fumagillin, a naturally secreted antibiotic of Aspergillus fumigatus fresenius. We first isolated this fungus from a contaminated culture of capillary endothelial cells. Purified fumagillin inhibited endothelial cell proliferation in vitro and tumour-induced angiogenesis in vivo; it also inhibited tumour growth in mice, but prolonged administration was limited because it caused severe weight loss. Synthesis of fumagillin analogues yielded potent angiogenesis inhibitors ('angioinhibins') which suppress the growth of a wide variety of tumours with relatively few side-effects.     

Expression and characterization of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common lethal genetic disease that manifests itself in airway and other epithelial cells as defective chloride ion absorption and secretion, resulting at least in part from a defect in a cyclic AMP-regulated, outwardly-rectifying Cl- channel in the apical surface. The gene responsible for CF has been identified and predicted to encode a membrane protein termed the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Identification of a cryptic bacterial promoter within the CFTR coding sequence led us to construct a complementary DNA in a low-copy-number plasmid, thereby avoiding the deleterious effects of CFTR expression on Escherischia coli. We have used this cDNA to express CFTR in vitro and in vivo. Here we demonstrate that CFTR is a membrane-associated glycoprotein that can be phosporylated in vitro by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies directed against distinct domains of the protein immunoprecipitated recombinant CFTR as well as the endogenous CFTR in nonrecombinant T84 cells. Partial proteolysis fingerprinting showed that the recombinant and non-recombinant proteins are indistinguishable. These data, which establish several characteristics of the protein responsible for CF, will now enable CFTR function to be studied and will provide a basis for diagnosis and therapy.     

Different voltage-dependent thresholds for inducing long-term depression and long-term potentiation in slices of rat visual cortex

In the hippocampus and neocortex, high-frequency (tetanic) stimulation of an afferent pathway leads to long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission. In the hippocampus it has recently been shown that long-term depression (LTD) of excitatory transmission can also be induced by certain combinations of synaptic activation. In most hippocampal and all neocortical pathways studied so far, the induction of LTP requires the activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-gated conductances. Here we report that LTD can occur in neurons of slices of the rat visual cortex and that the same tetanic stimulation can induce either LTP or LTD depending on the level of depolarization of the postsynaptic neuron. By applying intracellular current injections or pharmacological disinhibition to modify the depolarizing response of the postsynaptic neuron to tetanic stimulation, we show that the mechanisms of induction of LTD and LTP are both postsynaptic. LTD is obtained if postsynaptic depolarization exceeds a critical level but remains below a threshold related to NMDA receptor-gated conductances, whereas LTP is induced if this second threshold is reached.