HEARTBiT: A Transcriptomic Signature for Excluding Acute Cellular Rejection in Adult Heart Allograft Patients.

BACKGROUND: Nine mRNA transcripts associated with acute cellular rejection (ACR) in previous microarray studies were ported to the clinically amenable NanoString nCounter platform. Here we report the diagnostic performance of the resulting blood test to exclude ACR in heart allograft recipients: HEARTBiT. METHODS: Blood samples for transcriptomic profiling were collected during routine post-transplantation monitoring in 8 Canadian transplant centres participating in the Biomarkers in Transplantation initiative, a large (n = 1622) prospective observational study conducted between 2009 and 2014. All adult cardiac transplant patients were invited to participate (median age = 56 [17 to 71]). The reference standard for rejection status was histopathology grading of tissue from endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). All locally graded ISHLT ≥ 2R rejection samples were selected for analysis (n = 36). ISHLT 1R (n = 38) and 0R (n = 86) samples were randomly selected to create a cohort approximately matched for site, age, sex, and days post-transplantation, with a focus on early time points (median days post-transplant = 42 [7 to 506]). RESULTS: ISHLT ≥ 2R rejection was confirmed by EMB in 18 and excluded in 92 samples in the test set. HEARTBiT achieved 47% specificity (95% confidence interval [CI], 36%-57%) given ≥ 90% sensitivity, with a corresponding area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.69 (95% CI, 0.56-0.81). CONCLUSIONS: HEARTBiT's diagnostic performance compares favourably to the only currently approved minimally invasive diagnostic test to rule out ACR, AlloMap (CareDx, Brisbane, CA) and may be used to inform care decisions in the first 2 months post-transplantation, when AlloMap is not approved, and most ACR episodes occur.

A comparative study on the sensitivity of Cyprinus carpio muscle and liver FBPase toward AMP and calcium.

The activity of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase; EC 3.1.3.11) isozymes is influenced by AMP, Ca2+ and by reversible interactions with subcellular structures. In contrast to mammalian and avian isozymes, the kinetic properties of FBPases from ectothermal vertebrates are not fully described. To get some insight into mechanism of glycogen resynthesis in ectothermal vertebrates we examined the features of FBPases isolated from Cyprinus carpio skeletal muscle and liver. To investigate the evolutionary origin of the sensitivity of FBPase to effectors, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of known animal amino acids sequences of the enzyme. Based on our findings, we hypothesize that the high, mammalian-like, sensitivity of FBPase to Ca2+ is not essential for controlling the stability of glyconeogenic complex in striated muscles, instead it ensures the precise regulation of mitochondrial metabolism during prolonged Ca2+ elevation in contracting muscle fibers. Comparison of the kinetic properties of vertebrate and insect FBPases suggests that the high sensitivity of muscle isozyme to inhibitors has arisen as an adaptation enabling coordination of energy metabolism in warm-blooded animals.

Transport and cytotoxicity of the anticancer drug 3-bromopyruvate in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We have investigated the cytotoxicity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae of the novel antitumor agent 3-bromopyruvate (3-BP). 3-BP enters the yeast cells through the lactate/pyruvate H(+) symporter Jen1p and inhibits cell growth at minimal inhibitory concentration of 1.8 mM when grown on non-glucose conditions. It is not submitted to the efflux pumps conferring Pleiotropic Drug Resistance in yeast. Yeast growth is more sensitive to 3-BP than Gleevec (Imatinib methanesulfonate) which in contrast to 3-BP is submitted to the PDR network of efflux pumps. The sensitivity of yeast to 3-BP is increased considerably by mutations or chemical treatment by buthionine sulfoximine that decrease the intracellular concentration of glutathione.

Structure of E69Q mutant of human muscle fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase.

Human fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase is an allosteric enzyme that is regulated by different ligands. There are only two known isozymes in human tissues: the liver isozyme (the key enzyme of gluconeogenesis), which is regulated by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, and its muscle counterpart (participating in glycogen synthesis), which is regulated by calcium ions. AMP, which is an allosteric inhibitor of both isozymes, inhibits the muscle isozyme with an I(0.5) that is 35-100 times lower than for the liver isozyme and the reason for this difference remains obscure. In studies aiming at an explanation of the main differences in the regulation of the two isozymes, it has been shown that only one residue, in position 69, regulates the sensitivity towards calcium ions. As a consequence of this finding, an E69Q mutant of the muscle isozyme, which is insensitive to calcium ions while retaining all other kinetic properties resembling the liver isozyme, has been prepared and crystallized. Here, two crystal structures of this mutant enzyme in complex with AMP with and without fructose 6-phosphate (the product of the catalytic reaction) are presented. The AMP binding pattern of the muscle isozyme is quite similar to that of the liver isozyme and the T conformations of the two isozymes are nearly the same.

Nuclear targeting of FBPase in HL-1 cells is controlled by beta-1 adrenergic receptor-activated Gs protein signaling cascade.

Muscle fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase), a well-known regulatory enzyme of glyconeogenic pathway has recently been found inside nuclei of several cell types (cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, myogenic progenitor cells). This surprising finding raised a question concerning the role of FBPase in this compartment of the cell, and of the extracellular signals regulating nuclear transport of the enzyme. In the present paper we show that, in HL-1 cardiomyocyte cell line, the activity of adenylyl cyclase and cAMP-dependent protein kinase A is essential to nuclear import of FBPase. The import is also stimulated by isoproterenol (a nonselective beta-adrenergic receptors agonist) and inhibited by metoprolol (a selective beta1 antagonist), strongly suggesting that nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling of FBPase is under the control of beta1-adrenergic receptor-dependent Gs protein signaling cascade.

Glu 69 is essential for the high sensitivity of muscle fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase inhibition by calcium ions.

Muscle fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) is highly sensitive toward inhibition by AMP and calcium ions. In allosteric inhibition by AMP, a loop 52-72 plays a decisive role. This loop is a highly conservative region in muscle and liver FBPases. It is feasible that the same region is involved in the inhibition by calcium ions. To test this hypothesis, chemical modification, limited proteolysis and site directed mutagenesis Glu(69)/Gln were employed. The chemical modification of Lys(71-72) and the proteolytic cleavage of the loop resulted in the significant decrease of the muscle FBPase sensitivity toward inhibition by calcium ions. The mutation of Glu(69)-->Gln resulted in a 500-fold increase of muscle isozyme I(0.5) vs. calcium ions. These results demonstrate the key role that the 52-72 amino acid loop plays in determining the sensitivity of FBPase to inhibition by AMP and calcium ions.

Rabbit muscle fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase is phosphorylatedin vivo.

Phosphorylated fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) was isolated from rabbit muscle in an SDS/PAGE homogeneous form. Its dephosphorylation with alkaline phosphatase revealed 2.8 moles of inorganic phosphate per mole of FBPase. The phosphorylated FBPase (P-FBPase) differs from the dephosphorylated enzyme in terms of its kinetic properties like K(m) and k(cat), which are two times higher for the phosphorylated FBPase, and in the affinity for aldolase, which is three times lower for the dephosphorylated enzyme. Dephosphorylated FBPase can be a substrate for protein kinase A and the amount of phosphate incorporated per FBPase monomer can reach 2-3 molecules. Since interaction of muscle aldolase with muscle FBPase results in desensitisation of the latter toward AMP inhibition (Rakus & Dzugaj, 2000, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 275, 611-616), phosphorylation may be considered as a way of muscle FBPase activity regulation.