A Case of a Patient with Calpainopathy Carrying Compound Heterozygous Mutations of a de novo Pathogenic Variant of c.1333G>A and a Novel Variant of c.1331C>T in CAPN3.

Calpainopathy is primarily an autosomal recessive inherited myopathy; however, dominantly inherited cases with a pathogenic variant of c.1333G>A have been reported. A 13-year-old Japanese girl presented with toe walking and elevated serum creatine kinase levels. Genetic panel testing revealed compound heterozygosity for c.1333G>A and a novel variant of c.1331C>T in CAPN3, leading to a diagnosis of calpainopathy. A genetic analysis of her parents revealed the possibility that c.1333G>A was de novo. In this patient, the onset age was earlier than that of the reported autosomal dominant cases, suggesting the influence of the novel variant in the contralateral allele.

Anti-nuclear matrix protein 2 antibody-positive dermatomyositis with gastrointestinal ulcers: A case report.

Gastrointestinal manifestations are a very rare complication of dermatomyositis (DM) and are much less frequent in adult cases than in juvenile cases. Only a few previous papers have reported adult patients who had DM with anti-nuclear matrix protein 2 (anti-NXP2) antibodies and who developed gastrointestinal ulcers. Herein, we report a similar case of a 50-year-old man who had DM with anti-NXP2 antibodies followed by relapsing multiple gastrointestinal ulcers. Even after the administration of prednisolone, his muscle weakness and myalgia deteriorated and gastrointestinal ulcers relapsed. In contrast, intravenous immunoglobulin and azathioprine improved his muscle weakness and gastrointestinal ulcers. Based on the parallel disease activity of the muscular and gastrointestinal symptoms, we considered that his gastrointestinal ulcers were a complication of DM with anti-NXP2 antibodies. We also propose that early intensive immunosuppressive therapy would be required for the muscular and gastrointestinal symptoms in DM with anti-NXP2 antibodies.

Glucose deprivation induces G2/M transition-arrest and cell death in N-GlcNAc2-modified protein-producing renal carcinoma cells.

Some cancer cells can survive under glucose deprivation within the microenvironment of a tumor. Recently, we reported that N-linked (ß-N-acetylglucosamine)2 [N-GlcNAc2]-modified proteins induce G2/M arrest and cell death under glucose deprivation. Here, we investigated whether such a response to glucose deprivation contributes to the survival of renal cell carcinomas, which are sensitive to nutritional stress. Specifically, we analyzed seven renal carcinoma cell lines. Four of these cell lines produced N-GlcNAc2-modified proteins and led G2/M-phase arrest under glucose deprivation, leading to cell death. The remaining three cell lines did not produce N-GlcNAc2-modified proteins and undergo G1/S-phase arrest under glucose deprivation, leading to survival. The four dead cell lines displayed significant up-regulation in the UDP-GlcNAc biosynthesis pathway as well as increased phosphorylation of p53, which was not observed in the surviving three cell lines. In addition, the four dead cell lines showed prolonged up-regulated expression of ATF3, which is related to unfolded protein response (UPR), while the surviving three cell lines showed only transient up-regulation of ATF3. In this study, we demonstrated that the renal carcinoma cells which accumulate N-GlcNAc2-modified proteins under glucose deprivation do not survive with abnormaly prolonged UPR pathway. By contrast, renal carcinoma cells that do not accumulate N-GlcNAc2-modified proteins under these conditions survive. Morover, we demonstrated that buformin, a UPR inhibitor, efficiently reduced cell survival under conditions of glucose deprivation for both sensitive and resistant phenotypes. Further studies to clarify these findings will lead to the development of novel chemotherapeutic treatments for renal cancer.

Lysine proximity significantly affects glycation of lysine-containing collagen model peptides.

Advanced glycation end products (AGE) are known to cause diabetes complications in hyperglycemia patients. In this study we prepared hetero-trimers of collagen model peptides comprising Ac-(Pro-Hyp-Gly)(5)-Pro-Lys-Gly-(Pro-Hyp-Gly)(5)-Ala-NH(2) (4) and Ac-(Pro-Hyp-Gly)(11)-Ala-NH(2) (5) to investigate the clustering effect of lysine on AGE formation. The formation rate of carboxymethyllysine over several months was determined for the mixtures of peptides 4 and 5 at (3:0), (2:1) and (1:2) in the presence of glucose. The contents of carboxymethyllysine were significantly enhanced for (3:0) and (2:1) as compared with (1:2), suggesting that the proximity of lysine residues in the trimers accelerated formation of the AGE. Furthermore, a lysine dimerization moiety (GOLD) was identified for the first time from AGEs of glucose origin, which implied the significance of GOLD in oligomerization of collagens and other long-life proteins.

Syntheses, structural characterization and photophysical properties of 4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole rhenium(I) complexes.

Novel chelators, i.e., 4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole derivatives, were synthesized by means of Cu(I)-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and used to prepare luminescent Re(I) complexes [ReCl(CO)(3)(Bn-pyta)], [ReCl(CO)(3)(AcGlc-pyta)] and [ReCl(CO)(3)(Glc-pyta)] (Bn-pyta = 1-benzyl-4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole, AcGlc-pyta = 2-(4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)ethyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside, Glc-pyta = 2-(4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)ethyl beta-d-glucopyranoside). X-Ray crystallography of Bn-pyta and Glc-pyta indicated an azocompound-like structure while the 1,2,4-triazole isomer has an azine character. [ReCl(CO)(3)(Bn-pyta)] crystallized in the monoclinic system with space group P2(1)/n. Bn-pyta ligand coordinates with the nitrogen atoms of the 2-pyridyl group and the 3-position of 1,2,3-triazole ring, which is a very similar coordinating fashion to that of the 2,2'-bipyridine derivative. The glucoconjugated Re(I) complexes [ReCl(CO)(3)(AcGlc-pyta)] and [ReCl(CO)(3)(Glc-pyta)] hardly crystallized, and were analyzed by applying extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. The EXAFS analyses suggested that the glucoconjugation at the 1-position of the 1,2,3-triazole makes no influence to the coordinating fashion of 4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole. [ReCl(CO)(3)(Bn-pyta)] showed a blue-shifted maximum absorption (333 nm, 3.97 x 10(3) M(-1) cm(-1)) compared with [ReCl(CO)(3)(bpy)] (371 nm, 3.35 x 10(3) M(-1) cm(-1)). These absorptions were clearly assigned to be the mixed metal-ligand-to-ligand charge transfer (MLLCT) on the basis of time-dependent density functional theory calculation. The luminescence spectrum of [ReCl(CO)(3)(Bn-pyta)] also showed this blue-shifted feature when compared with that of [ReCl(CO)(3)(bpy)]. The luminescence lifetime of [ReCl(CO)(3)(Bn-pyta)] was determined to be 8.90 mus in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran at 77 K, which is longer than that of [ReCl(CO)(3)(bpy)] (3.17 micros). The blue-shifted electronic absorption and elongated luminescence lifetime of [ReCl(CO)(3)(Bn-pyta)] suggested that 4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole functions as an electron-rich bidentate chelator.