Head position affects the direction of occlusal force during tapping movement.

Despite numerous reports describing the relationship between head position and mandibular movement in human subjects, the direction and magnitude of force at the occlusal contacts have not been investigated in relation to head position. The objective was to investigate the effect of head position on the direction of occlusal force while subjects performed a tapping movement. Twenty-three healthy adult subjects were asked to sit on a chair with their back upright and to perform 15 tapping movements in five different head positions: natural head position (control); forward; backward; and right and left rolled. The direction and magnitude of force were measured using a small triaxial force sensor. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Bonferroni test were used to compare head positions in each angle of the anteroposterior axis direction and the lateral axis direction with respect to the superior axis. The force element in the anteroposterior axis shifted to the forward direction in the head position pitched backward, compared with control, pitched forward and rolled left positions (P = .02, <.01 and <.01, respectively). The force direction in the lateral axis with the head position rolled to the right or left shifted to the left and right directions, respectively, compared with those in the other positions (P < .05). Results of this study suggest that the head should be maintained in a position in which a stable tapping movement can be performed in a relaxed position without anteroposterior and lateral loading.

The long terminal repeat negative control region is a critical element for insertional oncogenesis after gene transfer into hematopoietic progenitors with Moloney murine leukemia viral vectors.

Integrating vectors based on γ-retroviruses and containing full-length long terminal repeats (LTRs) have been associated with activation of oncogene expression and leukemogenesis in human gene therapy trials. Identification of the specific molecular elements of the LTRs that have a role in insertional oncogenesis events is important as it can lead to the development of safer gene transfer vectors. The negative control region (NCR) of the LTR is a particularly well-conserved sequence among mammalian γ-retroviruses with demonstrated regulatory activity of gene transcription in hematopoietic cells, which led us to hypothesize that this region may have a role in insertional oncogenesis after γ-retroviral vector (GV)-mediated gene transfer into hematopoietic progenitors. We used an in vitro assay of murine bone marrow cell immortalization to compare the immortalization capabilities of a series of GVs carrying murine leukemia virus (MLV) LTR deletion mutants. Compared with GV carrying the full-length MLV LTR, deletion of the complete LTR enhancer sequence showed significant reduction of immortalization rates. However, the use of a mutant LTR deleted of the enhancer sequence, with exception of the NCR, did not affect immortalization. Importantly, the inclusion of an LTR mutant devoid only of the NCR did show significant reduction of immortalization rates compared with the full LTR sequence. Therefore, our data point to the NCR as a key element for immortalization and justify additional studies to evaluate its specific role in MLV-mediated insertional oncogenesis.

Cloning and functional analysis of human p51, which structurally and functionally resembles p53.

The p53 tumor suppressor gene, which is induced by DNA damage and/or stress stimuli, causes cells to undergo G1-arrest or apoptotic death; thus it plays an essential role in human carcinogenesis. We have searched for p53-related genes by using degenerate PCR, and have identified two cDNA fragments similar to but distinct from p53: one previously reported, p73, and the other new. We cloned two major splicing variants of the latter gene and named these p51A and p51B (a human homologue of rat Ket). The p51A gene encodes a 448-amino-acid protein with a molecular weight of 50.9 kDa; and p51B, a 641-amino-acid protein with a molecular weight of 71.9 kDa. In contrast with the ubiquitous expression of p53, expression of p51 mRNA was found in a limited number of tissues, including skeletal muscle, placenta, mammary gland, prostate, trachea, thymus, salivary gland, uterus, heart and lung. In p53-deficient cells, p51A induced growth-suppression and apoptosis, and upregulated p21waf-1 through p53 regulatory elements. Mutations in p51 were found in some human epidermal tumors.

Erythropoietin and Friend virus gp55 activate different JAK/STAT pathways through the erythropoietin receptor in erythroid cells.

Abnormal erythropoietin (EPO)-independent cell growth is induced after infection of erythroid progenitor cells with a polycythemic strain of Friend virus (FVp). Binding of its Env-related glycoprotein (gp55) to the EPO receptor (EPOR) mimics the activation of the EPOR with EPO. We investigated the gp55-EPOR signaling in erythroblastoid cells from mice infected with FVp and in cells of FVp-induced or gp55-transgenic-mouse-derived erythroleukemia cell lines, comparing it with the EPO-EPOR signaling in EPO-responsive erythroblastoid cells. While the Janus protein tyrosine kinase JAK2 and the transcription factor STAT5 became tyrosine phosphorylated with the EPO stimulation in EPO-responsive erythroblastoid cells from anemic mice, JAK1 and STAT5 were constitutively tyrosine phosphorylated in all of these FVp gp55-induced erythroblastoid or erythroleukemic cells. Moreover, this constitutively tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT5 was unable to bind to its specific DNA sequences and did not translocate to the nucleus. Nuclear translocation and DNA binding of this STAT5 species required EPO stimulation. These findings clearly indicate that the FVp gp55-EPOR signaling is distinct from the EPO-EPOR signaling and suggest that STAT5 may not play an essential role in the transmission of the cell growth signals in FVp gp55-induced erythroleukemia cells.

A novel nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, Srm: cloning and targeted disruption.

We have isolated a novel nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, Srm, that maps to the distal end of chromosome 2. It has SH2, SH2', and SH3 domains and a tyrosine residue for autophosphorylation in the kinase domain but lacks an N-terminal glycine for myristylation and a C-terminal tyrosine which, when phosphorylated, suppresses kinase activity. These are structural features of the recently identified Tec family of nonreceptor tyrosine kinases. The Srm N-terminal unique domain, however, lacks the structural characteristics of the Tec family kinases, and the sequence similarity is highest to Src in the SH region. The expression of two transcripts is rather ubiquitous and changes according to tissue and developmental stage. Mutant mice were generated by gene targeting in embryonic stem cells but displayed no apparent phenotype as in mutant mice expressing Src family kinases. These results suggest that Srm constitutes a new family of nonreceptor tyrosine kinases that may be redundant in function.

Structure-function relationships of two closely related group IC3 intron ribozymes from Azoarcus and Synechococcus pre-tRNA.

The two group IC3 pre-tRNA introns from Azoarcus and Synechococcus share very analogous secondary structures. They are small group I ribozymes that possess only two peripheral domains, P2 and P9. However, the 3'-splice site hydrolysis activity of the Synechococcus ribozyme critically depends on P2 whereas that of Azoarcus does not, indicating that the structure-function relationships of the two ribozymes are strikingly different despite their structural resemblance. To identify the element(s) that determines the catalytic properties of these ribozymes, we undertook analyses of chimeric ribozymes prepared by swapping their structural elements. We found that the difference can be attributed to a small number of nucleotides within the conserved core region. Further analysis by employing in vitro selection revealed that a base triple interaction (P4bp3 x J6/7-2) is a critical element for determining activity and suggests the existence of a novel base quintuple involving the base triple P4bp5 x J8/7-5.

Preparation of concanavalin A-ricin A-chain conjugate and its biologic activity against various cultured cells.

For the development of therapeutic agents that possess tissue-specific carriers, a method was devised to synthesize an artificial protein hybrid conjugate containing a moiety which binds to a cell membrane receptor and an active fragment of a toxic protein. By the introduction of an activated sulfhydryl group into concanavalin A (Con A), a conjugate of Con A and the ricin A-chain cross-linked with a disulfide linkage was synthesized. The purified conjugate was studied with regard to its inhibitory activity against protein synthesis in cell-free and cultured cell systems. The Con A-rich A-chain conjugate retained about one-third the inhibitory activity of ricin in a cell-free protein synthesis system. It also was highly toxic to cultured normal cells. These results indicate that the conjugate is a structural and functional analog of ricin and that the original membrane-binding chain (B-chain of ricin) could be replaced by Con A. Transformed cells were insensitive to this conjugate and required a longer preincubation time. The sensitivity of the normal cells was reduced in the presence of local anesthetics.

Production of recombinant rat viruses as a method of oncogene isolation in coculture medium.

A simple oncogene isolation was proved using the SD1-T rat embryonic cell line. The SD1-T cell line, which releases endogenous rat leukemia virus, was cocultured with (a) normal rat kidney cells transformed by cloned v-mos DNA, (b) the rat mammary tumor cell line (63SP), or (c) normal rat kidney cells transformed by 63SP DNA. Within 1 mo, oncogenic viruses were recovered from all three coculture supernatants. During this period, increase of oncogenic transcripts was observed in the cocultured cells. The oncogenic viruses appeared to contain the mos gene in cocultures (a) and ras-related sequences in cocultures (b) and (c). The emergence of virus containing mos from mos DNA-mediated normal rat kidney transformants demonstrated "rescue" of the active cellular oncogene by the rat leukemia virus. This coculture system seems to facilitate "rescue" of oncogenes functioning in the tumor and transformed cells.

Thy-1 as a negative growth regulator in ras-transformed mouse fibroblasts.

To identify molecules on the cell surface involved in negative growth regulation, we assumed that their amounts would be reduced after malignant transformation. We analyzed several proteins by fluorescence-activated cell sorter in mouse NIH 3T3 and its transformed cell lines. Surprisingly, the amount of Thy-1, a cell surface glycoprotein anchored in the cell membrane by a glycophosphatidyl inositol linkage, was significantly decreased in the transformed NIH 3T3 lines, especially in ras-transformed NIH 3T3 lines. The malignant properties of clones of NIH 3T3 transformed by Kirsten murine sarcoma virus have a good correlation not only with the high amount of RAS proteins but also inversely with the amount of Thy-1. NIH 3T3 subpopulations lacking Thy-1 exhibit more susceptibility to the induction of colony-forming ability in soft agar by Kirsten murine sarcoma virus than the Thy-1-positive populations. Finally the transfection of Thy-1 complementary DNA to the ras-transformed NIH 3T3 significantly inhibits the colony formation in soft agar as well as the tumor formation in nude mice. Our results suggest that Thy-1 has negative effects on the anchorage-independent growth of ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells.

Fas drives cell cycle progression in glioma cells via extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation.

Recent studies have revealed that a variety of malignant tumors express Fas and/or its ligand FasL. However, tumor cells expressing Fas are not always susceptible to Fas-mediated cell death, and the biological significance of simultaneous expression of Fas and FasL in the same tumor is not known. In the present study, we addressed this question in three glioma cells lines, A-172, T98G, and YKG-1, which express both Fas and FasL endogenously and their Fas transfectants. We report here that: (a) in gliomas, [3H]TdR incorporation was enhanced by anti-Fas IgM monoclonal antibody CH-11 and conversely inhibited by anti-FasL monoclonal antibody NOK-2; (b) cross-linking of Fas with CH-11 drove both cell cycle progression and apoptosis as demonstrated by the induction of the S-G2 phase of DNA and RNA and fragmented nuclei; (c) phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), but not of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase or p38, was induced by cross-linking of Fas; (d) a mitogen-activated protein kinase/ERK kinase 1 (MEK1) inhibitor PD98059 completely blocked CH-11-induced ERK phosphorylation as well as cell cycle progression without affecting induction of apoptosis; and (e) a broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor Z-Asp-CH2-DCB inhibited CH-11-induced ERK phosphorylation, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis. These results indicate that Fas-mediated caspase activation elicits two independent cellular responses; one is to induce apoptosis and another is to promote cell cycle progression; the latter is closely linked to the MEK-ERK pathway. Together, our data strongly suggest that FasL may play a role as an autocrine growth factor in gliomas.

Early decrease in hyaluronidase-sensitive cell surface charge during the differentiation of Friend erythroleukemic cells by dimethyl sulfoxide.

Early membrane events in erythroid differentiation were investigated by means of cell electrophoresis utilizing cultured Friend erythroleukemia cell clones of different inducibility. The cell electrophoretic mobility decreased by 18% within 30 min of treatment with 1.5% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in highly inducible clones but not in noninducible clones. The reduced mobility persisted for 5 days of incubation with DMSO until hemoglobin synthesis. DMSO treatment for less than 16 hr and subsequent incubation without the drug resulted in the complete recovery of the mobility and no hemoglobin synthesis. Longer exposure to DMSO resulted in the loss of recovery of mobility and an increasing fraction of benzidine-positive cells seen on Day 5. Measurement of the electrophoretic mobility after the removal of acidic sugars by their specific enzymes suggested that hyaluronidase-sensitive negative charges were lost from the cell surface only in highly inducible clones. The mobility reduction associated with hyaluronic acid was also caused by other potent inducers (sodium butyrate, N-methylacetamide, and N,N-dimethylacetamide). These results suggest that the decrease in cell surface glycocalyx might be an early step in the induction of differentiation of Friend erythroleukemia cells.

The transcriptional activities of p53 and its homologue p51/p63: similarities and differences.

p51/p63 is a novel p53 homologue that has been shown to act as a transcriptional activator through the p53-binding sequence of the p21/WAF1 promoter and to induce apoptosis when it is expressed transiently in a human tumor cell line. We developed transcription assay systems for these two related genes in both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mammalian cells and used them to investigate the functional similarities and differences of these genes. We found that p51/p63 trans-activated the previously identified p53 target genes, but the degree of the transactivation by p51/p63 differed from that by p53. These results suggest that the cellular signal on p51/p63 cross-talks partially but not completely with that of the p53 pathway.

Regional localization of Fyn in adult brain; studies with mice in which fyn gene was replaced by lacZ.

Mutant mice in which beta-galactosidase gene (lacZ) was inserted into fyn locus were generated by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells to examine the Fyn expression in the central nervous system. In adult brain, intensive beta-galactosidase activity was observed in olfactory bulb, cerebellum and hippocampus of the limbic system; the subcellular distribution of the activity was apparent not only in cell body but also in neural processes, and homozygous mutant mice live-born displayed an anatomical abnormality in the neural cell layer of the hippocampal formation. In spinal cord it was specifically expressed in dorsal horn, and in brain stem it was more characteristic in the sensory pathway, suggesting roles of Fyn in the sensory nervous network. In the white matter area, it was intense at postnatal day 10 but not detectable in adult, suggesting Fyn's role in myelinization.

Molecular cloning of a novel serine/threonine kinase, MRK, possibly involved in cardiac development.

We have isolated a novel member of putative serine/threonine kinase from a rat heart cDNA library using polymerase chain reaction methods. The novel kinase is transcribed as 2.6 kb mRNA encoding for a protein of 629 amino acids with the C-terminal non-catalytic portion. Amino acids analysis revealed that the N-terminal catalytic domain is 87% identical to the male-germ cell associated kinase (MAK), a cdc2-related serine/threonine kinase found to promote meiosis during spermatogenesis. Therefore, we designated this novel kinase as the MAK-related kinase (MRK). MRK protein, with a molecular weight of 66 kD, was shown to phosphorylate itself and the exogenous substrates, histone H1 and myelin basic protein. In addition, phosphoamino acid analysis confirmed the serine/threonine-specific protein kinase activity of MRK. Although MRK was ubiquitous in adult rat tissues, the expression of MRK protein in embryos was restricted primarily to embryonic myocardium during early organogenesis. This finding suggests that MRK may be a participant in cardiac development.

p51A (TAp63gamma), a p53 homolog, accumulates in response to DNA damage for cell regulation.

p51A, or TAp63gamma, a translation product of gene p51, or p63, was identified as a homolog of p53 in its primary structure and transactivating function. p53 plays a decision-making role in inducing either cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in response to DNA damage, and thereby preserves genome integrity of living cells. To compare the biological activities between p51A and p53, cell lines with low-level, constitutive expression of each protein were obtained by cDNA transfection of mouse erythroleukemic cells. Production of p51A with an apparent molecular mass of 57-kilodalton (kD) accompanied induction of p21waf1 and appearance of hemoglobin-producing cells. After DNA-damaging treatment either with ultraviolet light (UV) irradiation or with actinomycin D, the p51A protein accumulated in time courses corresponding to those of wild-type p53, and caused an increase in the hemoglobin-positive cell count. In contrast, p53-accumulated cells underwent apoptosis without exhibiting the feature of erythroid differentiation. The mode of p21waf1 and Bax-alpha upregulations varied between p51A- and p53-expressing cells and between the types of DNA damage. These results suggest the possibility that p51A induces differentiation under genotoxic circumstances. There may be cellular factors that control p51A protein stability and transactivating ability.

Induction of erythroid differentiation by inhibition of Ras/ERK pathway in a friend murine leukemia cell line.

The role of Ras and MAP kinases (MAPKs) in the regulation of erythroid differentiation was studied using a cell line (SKT6) derived from Friend virus (Anemic strain)-induced murine erythroleukemia. This cell line undergoes differentiation in vitro in response to erythropoietin (EPO) or other chemical inducers such as dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). When a constitutively active ras mutant (ras12V) was expressed in SKT6 cells, EPO-induced differentiation was inhibited. Conversely, a dominant negative ras mutant (ras17N) induced differentiation even in the absence of EPO, suggesting that the basal Ras activity is essential for the maintenance of the undifferentiated phenotype and proliferative potential in this cell line. Rapid inactivation of ERK was observed after expression of ras17N. Slow but significant inactivation of ERK was also observed during EPO-induced differentiation. Furthermore, overexpression of a constitutively active mutant of ERK-activating kinase (MAPKK) was found to suppress erythroid differentiation, while pharmacological inhibition of MAPKK induced differentiation. These findings suggest that down-regulation of Ras/ERK signaling pathway may be an essential event in EPO-induced erythroid differentiation in this system.

A follistatin-like gene, mac25, may act as a growth suppressor of osteosarcoma cells.

mac25, a retinoic acid-inducible gene that is expressed at high levels in senescent epithelial cells, was initially cloned as a gene that is differentially expressed in meningioma. Although the homology of its product with members of family of insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins was suggested, the product also exhibits strong homology to follistatin, an activin-binding protein. However, a domain corresponding to the carboxyl terminus of follistatin is not found in mac25. The carboxyl-terminally truncated form of follistatin, generated by alternative splicing, has stronger activin-binding activity than the complete form. This result suggests that mac25 might act as an activated follistatin. Clonal growth of a p53-deficient osteosarcoma cell line was strongly inhibited when the murine mac25 gene, as well as the p53 gene, was introduced. Resembling activins that belong to the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily, mac25 and p53 might associate with similar but distinct targets, namely cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors. However, there is no evidence for compensation of p53 function by mac25 in the development of p53-deficient mice, as judged from the pattern of expression of mac25 in mice. mac25 might act as a tumor suppressor, modulating signaling of the TGF-beta family, as does alpha-inhibin.

Fyn expression during early neurogenesis in mouse embryos.

Fyn is a member of the Src family of tyrosine kinases which are thought to play important roles in cell to cell interactions during morphogenesis. The developmental profile of Fyn expression was examined using mutant mice in which lacZ gene was introduced into this locus. The expression was characteristic in the neural system. Though at low levels, it was detected in the headfold at embryonic day (E) 7.5 and in the luminal surface of neuroectoderm along the entire neural groove at E8.5. The expression appeared regional in rhombomeres at E8.5 and E9.5. Consistent expression was also found at a low level in the notochord. The expression was high in later stages of the neural tube which consists of three layers; it was in the marginal layer but not in the germinal layer. High expression was also found in developing dorsal root filaments of neural crest origin. Non-expression in dividing neuroepithelial cells and expression in developing neural fibers appeared ubiquitous features of Fyn expression throughout the entire brain.

Mutational analysis of p51A/TAp63gamma, a p53 homolog, in non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.

p51, a novel family member of human p53, is a recently identified candidate tumor suppressor gene mapped at chromosome 3q28. Like p53, p51 was found to activate p21Waf1/Cip1 and to induce apoptosis. Since the DNA loss at 3q is reported in several cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we screened for mutations in p51A (TAp63gamma), an isoform of p51 with short C-terminal region, in 80 NSCLCs as well as 85 breast cancers by RT-PCR single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and DNA sequencing. In NSCLCs, p51 was expressed in most tumors at variable levels and we found three missense and one silent mutations: Gln31His (transactivation domain) in two tumors, Ala148Pro (DNA-binding domain) and Leu248Leu (DNA-binding domain). In the tumor with Ala148Pro or the silent mutation, only the mutant gene appeared to be expressed. The modified FASAY method to test the ability of yeast expressing p51A cDNA to grow in medium lacking histidine has revealed that Ala148Pro results in a loss of function, while Gln31His does not. In contrast to NSCLC, no mutation was observed in all 85 breast cancers by the similar method. Our results suggest that, because of infrequent mutation, p51 may not be a Knudson type tumor suppressor in most NSCLCs and breast cancers. Nevertheless, in at least a part of NSCLC, p51 may play a certain role in carcinogenesis in a tissue-specific manner.