Tnk1: a novel intracellular tyrosine kinase gene isolated from human umbilical cord blood CD34+/Lin-/CD38- stem/progenitor cells.

Degenerate PCR was employed to identify novel tyrosine kinase genes from an enriched population of human umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. One novel tyrosine kinase gene, designated Tnk1, was cloned. The sequence of the complete Tnk1 coding region predicts a 72 kD protein. Comparison of Tnk1 to available sequences in protein databases reveals that it is most homologous to Ack, an intracellular tyrosine kinase which associates with the GTP-bound form of p21cdc42Hs. Like Ack, Tnk1 consists of an N-terminal kinase domain, a putative SH3 domain immediately C-terminal to the kinase domain, and a proline-rich C-terminal region. Analysis of Tnk1 mRNA expression demonstrates that Tnk1 is expressed in all cord blood, bone marrow and adult blood sub-populations, as well as in most of the leukemia cell lines examined (16 of 20). Hybridization to fetal multi-tissue Northern blots detected several different Tnk1 transcripts in all fetal tissues examined. In contrast, a single Tnk1 transcript was detected in only five of 16 adult tissues examined (prostate, testis, ovary, small intestine and colon). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of metaphase chromosomes localized the Tnk1 gene to the short arm of chromosome 17 (17p13.1), near the p53 locus. Thus, Tnk1 is a novel tyrosine kinase that may be involved in signalling pathways utilized broadly during fetal development, more selectively in adult tissues and in cell of the lymphohematopoietic system.

Human AML cells in NOD/SCID mice: engraftment potential and gene expression.

Most cases of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) engraft in irradiated non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice. Intravenous transfer of as few as 10(5) human AML cells resulted in engraftment. Cases with poor prognosis clinical features, including FLT3 mutations, tended to engraft efficiently. Nevertheless, AML cells obtained from patients at relapse did not engraft more efficiently than cells obtained from the same patients at initial diagnosis. One passage of human AML cells in NOD/SCID mice did not appear to select for increased virulence, as measured by serial transplantation efficiency. Finally, cDNA microarray analyses indicated that approximately 95% of genes were expressed at similar levels in human AML cells immunopurified after growth in mice, as compared to cells assessed directly from patients. Thus, the growth of human AML cells in NOD/SCID mice could yield large numbers of human AML cells for direct experimental use and could also function as a renewable, potentially unlimited source of leukemia cells, via serial transplantation.

Identification of parotid salivary biomarkers in Sjogren's syndrome by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the most significant salivary biomarkers in Sjögren's syndrome (SS) using proteomic methods. METHODS: Parotid saliva from 20 non-SS subjects and 41 primary SS patients was analysed. Protein expression profiles for each sample were generated by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). Mean peak intensities of SS patients and non-SS subjects were compared by univariate analyses. Samples pooled by diagnosis (SS and non-SS) and labelled with different Cy dyes were compared by two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). Two protein levels that were most significantly different by SELDI-TOF-MS and 2D-DIGE were validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in individual samples. RESULTS: SELDI-TOF-MS of 10-200 kDa peaks revealed eight peaks with >2-fold changes in the SS group that differed from non-SS at P < 0.005. Peaks of 11.8, 12.0, 14.3, 80.6 and 83.7 kDa were increased, while 17.3, 25.4, and 35.4 kDa peaks were decreased in SS samples. 2D-DIGE identified significant increases of beta-2-microglobulin, lactoferrin, immunoglobulin (Ig) kappa light chain, polymeric Ig receptor, lysozyme C and cystatin C in all stages of SS. Two presumed proline-rich proteins, amylase and carbonic anhydrase VI, were reduced in the patient group. Three of these ten biomarkers have not been associated previously with SS. CONCLUSIONS: The salivary proteomic profile of SS is a mixture of increased inflammatory proteins and decreased acinar proteins when compared with non-SS. Future studies will test the ability of these biomarker levels, alone and in combination, to diagnose the salivary component of SS.

The major anaerobically induced outer membrane protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Pan 1, is a lipoprotein.

Pan 1 is an acidic outer membrane protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae that is expressed only when gonococci are grown anaerobically. On silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, Pan 1 migrates as an intense but diffuse 54-kDa protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of Pan 1 from the aniA (anaerobically induced protein) open reading frame reveals a lipoprotein consensus sequence, Ala-Leu-Ala-Ala-Cys, and a processed molecular mass of 39 kDa. Furthermore, there is strong homology at the N terminus and C terminus of Pan 1 to the termini of the gonococcal outer membrane lipoproteins Lip and Laz. [3H]palmitic acid labeling of gonococci grown under oxygen-limited conditions demonstrated specific incorporation of label into Pan 1, suggesting further that Pan 1 is a lipoprotein.

Distribution of a protein antigenically related to the major anaerobically induced gonococcal outer membrane protein among other Neisseria species.

The Pan 1 protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a novel 54-kDa outer membrane protein expressed only when gonococci are grown in the absence of oxygen. It is a major antigen recognized by sera from patients with gonococcal infection. We raised mouse monospecific polyclonal antiserum to gel-purified Pan 1 from gonococcal strain F62. The antiserum was broadly cross-reactive among gonococcal strains; all strains tested reacted in immunoblot analysis proportionate to the amount of Pan 1 visible in silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gels. In immunoblot experiments, N. lactamica and N. cinerea reacted very strongly to the anti-Pan 1 antiserum, whereas N. sicca, N. flava, and N. mucosa did not react at all. The other commensals tested, N. subflava and N. perflava, exhibited only a minor reaction. These results correlated with the apparent amount of Pan 1 seen on SDS-polyacrylamide gels of outer membranes. SDS-polyacrylamide gel analysis of six meningococcal strains revealed no visible anaerobically induced outer membrane proteins, and the subsequent immunoblots showed only slight or no reaction to the anti-Pan 1 antibody. In the four meningococcal strains that did react slightly with the antiserum, a Pan 1-like protein was seen only in anaerobically grown cells. Thus, meningococci did not express Pan 1 at levels comparable to that found in gonococci; however, when Pan 1 was expressed in meningococcal strains, it was oxygen regulated. This is the first example of a protein found in the gonococcal outer membrane that, under identical growth conditions, is not expressed at similar levels in the meningococcus.

Isolation and nucleotide sequence of the gene (aniA) encoding the major anaerobically induced outer membrane protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

When grown under anaerobic conditions, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the etiologic agent of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, expresses several novel outer membrane proteins. One of these, Pan 1, has an apparent molecular mass of 54 kDa in electrophoresis and is recognized by serum samples from patients with gonococcal infection. The presence of antibodies to this protein in patient sera suggests that Pan 1 is expressed during gonococcal infection and, more importantly, that N. gonorrhoeae grows anaerobically in vivo. We have cloned the Pan 1 structural gene, aniA, by screening a gonococcal lambda gt11 expression library with monospecific, polyclonal anti-Pan 1 antiserum. Three distinct immunoreactive recombinants, containing overlapping fragments of DNA, were isolated and confirmed to be coding for Pan 1 protein sequences. Northern (RNA blot) hybridization of an insert from an aniA recombinant to total gonococcal cellular RNA revealed the presence of a 1.5-kb transcript that was specific to RNA from anaerobically grown gonococci, indicating that the aniA gene is regulated at the transcriptional level and is monocistronic. To characterize the aniA gene, we have sequenced the entire 2-kb region spanned by the overlapping recombinants. We have also performed primer extension analysis on RNA isolated from aerobically and anaerobically grown gonococci in order to define the aniA promoter region. Two putative primer extension products specific to organisms grown anaerobically were identified by homology to known Escherichia coli promoter sequences, suggesting that the regulation of aniA expression involves multiple promoter regions.

Characterization of the tyrosine kinase Tnk1 and its binding with phospholipase C-gamma1.

Tnk1 is a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase cloned from CD34+/Lin-/CD38- hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. The cDNA predicts a 72-kDa protein containing an NH(2)-terminal kinase, a Src Homology 3 (SH3) domain, and a proline-rich (PR) tail. We generated rabbit antiserum to a GST-Tnk1(SH3) fusion protein. Affinity-purified anti-Tnk1 antibodies specifically recognized a 72-kDa protein in Tnk1-transfected COS-1 cells and cells which express Tnk1 mRNA. Western blot analysis indicated that Tnk1 is expressed in fetal blood cells, but not in any other hematopoietic tissues examined. Tnk1 immunoprecipitated from cell lysates possessed kinase activity and was tyrosine phosphorylated. In binding experiments with a panel of GST-fusion constructs, only GST-PLC-gamma1(SH3) interacted with in vitro translated Tnk1. GST-protein precipitations from cell lysates confirmed that GST-PLC-gamma1(SH3) associated with endogenously expressed Tnk1. Conversely, GST-Tnk1(PR) protein constructs complexed with endogenously expressed PLC-gamma1. The association of Tnk1 with PLC-gamma1 suggests a role for Tnk1 in phospholipid signal transduction.

The adapter protein CrkL associates with CD34.

CD34 is a cell-surface transmembrane protein expressed specifically at the stem/progenitor stage of lymphohematopoietic development that appears to regulate adhesion. To elucidate intracellular signals modified by CD34, we designed and constructed glutathione-S-transferase (GST)- fusion proteins of the intracellular domain of full-length CD34 (GST-CD34i(full)). Precipitation of cell lysates using GST-CD34i(full) identified proteins of molecular mass 39, 36, and 33 kd that constitutively associated with CD34 and a 45-kd protein that associated with CD34 after adhesion. By Western analysis, we identified the 39-kd protein as CrkL. In vivo, CrkL was coimmunoprecipitated with CD34 using CD34 antibodies, confirming the association between CrkL and CD34. CD34 peptide inhibition assays demonstrated that CrkL interacts at a membrane-proximal region of the CD34 tail. To identify the CrkL domain responsible for interaction with CD34, we generated GST-fusion constructs of adapter proteins including GST-CrkL3' (C-terminal SH3) and GST-CrkL5' (N-terminal SH2SH3). Of these fusion proteins, only GST-CrkL3' could precipitate endogenously expressed CD34, suggesting that CD34 binds the C-terminal SH3 domain of CrkL. Interestingly, there appears to be differential specificity between CrkL and CrkII for CD34, because GST-CD34i(full) did not precipitate CrkII, a highly homologous Crk family member. Furthermore, GST-CD34i(full) did not bind c-Abl, c-Cbl, C3G, or paxillin proteins that are known to associate with CrkL, suggesting that CD34 directly interacts with the CrkL protein. CD34i(full) association with Grb or Shc adapter proteins was not detected. Our investigations shed new light on signaling pathways of CD34 by demonstrating that CD34 couples to the hematopoietic adapter protein CrkL. (Blood. 2001;97:3768-3775)