Xanthine oxidoreductase regulates macrophage IL1ß secretion upon NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by microbial ligands or tissue damage requires intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We present evidence that macrophage secretion of IL1ß upon stimulation with ATP, crystals or LPS is mediated by a rapid increase in the activity of xanthine oxidase (XO), the oxidized form of xanthine dehydrogenase, resulting in the formation of uric acid as well as ROS. We show that XO-derived ROS, but not uric acid, is the trigger for IL1ß release and that XO blockade results in impaired IL1ß and caspase1 secretion. XO is localized to both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments and acts upstream to the PI3K-AKT signalling pathway that results in mitochondrial ROS generation. This pathway represents a mechanism for regulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation that may have therapeutic implications in inflammatory diseases.

The role of human xanthine oxidoreductase (HXOR), anti-HXOR antibodies, and microorganisms in synovial fluid of patients with joint inflammation.

This work is to investigate the levels of human xanthine oxidoreductase (HXOR), its antibodies, and microorganisms in synovial fluid of patients with untreated rheumatoid joint diseases. Synovial fluids were collected from sixty-four patients with rheumatoid joint diseases. Sixty-four age-matched individuals were included as control. Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) proteins level and anti-XOR antibodies were determined in the blood and synovial fluid, using human XOR as antigen, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay. Synovial fluids were cultured for bacteria and fungi. The titers of XOR protein in the synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis were 90.43 ± 23.37 µg/ml (mean ± SD, n = 29) and up to 62.42 ± 8.74 µg/ml (mean ± SD, n = 35) in other joint inflammation. Anti-HXOR antibodies titers in patients were 167.72 ± 23.64 µg/ml, n = 64, which was significantly higher in rheumatoid arthritis patients. The results indicated that anti-HXOR antibodies in synovial fluids have a protective role as high concentrations against XOR were detected in inflammatory arthritis. These antibodies play a role in eliminating XOR from synovial fluids. However, immune complex formation could activate complement and participate in propagating the inflammatory cycle. Synovial aspirate ordinary microbial cultures were negative for any bacteria or fungi, but that does not exclude organisms of special culture requirements.

Xanthine oxidoreductase promotes the inflammatory state of mononuclear phagocytes through effects on chemokine expression, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-{gamma} sumoylation, and HIF-1{alpha}.

The protective effects of pharmacological inhibitors of xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) have implicated XOR in many inflammatory diseases. Nonetheless, the role played by XOR during inflammation is poorly understood. We previously observed that inhibition of XOR within the inflammatory mononuclear phagocytes (MNP) prevented neutrophil recruitment during adoptive transfer demonstrating the role of XOR in MNP-mediated neutrophil recruitment. To further explore the role of XOR in the inflammatory state of MNP, we studied MNP isolated from inflammatory lungs combined with analyses of MNP cell lines. We demonstrated that XOR activity was increased in inflammatory MNP following insufflation of Th-1 cytokines in vivo and that activity was specifically increased by MNP differentiation. Inhibition of XOR reduced levels of CINC-1 secreted by MNP. Expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) in purified rat lung MNP and MNP cell lines reflected both the presence of PPARγ isoforms and PPARγ SUMOylation, and XOR inhibitors increased levels of SUMO-PPARγ in MNP cell lines. Both ectopic overexpression of XOR cDNA and uric acid supplementation reduced SUMO-PPARγ in MNP cells. Levels of the M2 markers CD36, CD206, and arginase-1 were modulated by uric acid and oxonic acid, whereas siRNA to SUMO-1 or PIAS-1 also reduced arginase-1 in RAW264.7 cells. We also observed that HIF-1α was increased by XOR inhibitors in inflammatory MNP and in MNP cell lines. These data demonstrate that XOR promotes the inflammatory state of MNP through effects on chemokine expression, PPARγ SUMOylation, and HIF-1α and suggest that strategies for inhibiting XOR may be valuable in modulating lung inflammatory disorders.

Identification of xanthine dehydrogenase/xanthine oxidase as a rat Paneth cell zinc-binding protein.

Paneth cells are zinc-containing cells localized in small intestinal crypts, but their function has not been fully elucidated. Previously, we showed that an intravenous injection of diphenylthiocarbazone (dithizone), a zinc chelator, induced selective killing of Paneth cells, and purified a zinc-binding protein in Paneth cells. In the present study, we further characterized one of these proteins, named zinc-binding protein of Paneth cells (ZBPP)-1. Partial amino acid sequences of ZBPP-1 showed identity with rat xanthine dehydrogenase (XD)/xanthine oxidase (XO). Anti-rat XD antibody (Ab) recognized ZBPP-1, and conversely anti ZBPP-1 Ab recognized 85 kDa fragment of rat XD in Western blotting. Messenger RNA and protein levels of XD were consistent with our previous data on the fluctuation of Paneth cell population after dithizone injection. Thus, ZBPP-1 is an 85 kDa fragment of XD/XO in Paneth cells. XD/XO in Paneth cells may play important roles in intestinal function.

Selenium-containing xanthine dehydrogenase from Eubacterium barkeri.

A specific dehydrogenase, different from nicotinic acid hydroxylase, was induced during growth of Eubacterium barkeri on xanthine. The protein designated as xanthine dehydrogenase was enriched 39-fold to apparent homogeneity using a three-step purification scheme. It exhibited an NADP-dependent specific activity of 164 micromol xanthine oxidized per min and per mg of protein. In addition it showed an NADPH-dependent oxidase and diaphorase activity. A molecular mass of 530 kDa was determined for the native enzyme and SDS/PAGE revealed three types of subunits with molecular masses of 17.5, 30 and 81 kDa indicating a dodecameric native structure. Molybdopterin was identified as the molybdenum-complexing cofactor using activity reconstitution experiments and fluorescence measurements after KI/I2 oxidation. The molecular mass of the cofactor indicated that it is of the dinucleotide type. The enzyme contained iron, acid-labile sulfur, molybdenum, tungsten, selenium and FAD at molar ratios of 17.5, 18.4, 2.3, 1.1, 0.95 and 2.8 per mol of native enzyme. Xanthine dehydrogenase was inactivated upon incubation with arsenite, cyanide and different purine analogs. Reconstitution experiments of xanthine dehydrogenase activity by addition of selenide and selenite performed with cyanide-inactivated enzyme and with chloramphenicol-treated cells, respectively, indicated that selenium is not attached to the protein in a covalently bound form such as selenocysteine.

Seasonal variation of xanthine oxidoreductase activity in the digestive gland cells of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis: a biochemical, histochemical and immunochemical study.

The activity and the tissue distribution of the oxygen radical producing enzyme xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) were measured in the digestive gland of the common marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk along an annual cycle. No xanthine oxidase (XOX) activity could be measured, the enzyme only displaying xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) activity in all the cases. This is interpreted as a mechanism to avoid the harmful effects of the oxygen radicals that would be produced by XOX during periods following anoxic conditions at low tide. The highest XDH activities coincided with the late spring/early summer months, the activity maxima being recorded from May to July. Histochemically XOR activity was very pronounced in duct and stomach epithelial cells as well as in the surrounding connective tissue and hemolymph vessels, the activity increasing towards the summer months. These seasonal variations in XDH or XOR activities are possibly linked to hormonal changes governing the reproductive cycle and to changes in food availability. The localization of the protein in the connective tissue lining the hemolymph vessels was confirmed immunohistochemically using a polyclonal antibody against rat liver protein that cross-reacted specifically with a polypeptide of 150 kDa of molecular mass in homogenates of the digestive gland. This polypeptide was linked to cytosolic fractions isolated by differential centrifugation from mussel digestive glands. In paraffin sections the antibody labeled the digestive cells of digestive tubules, as well as the connective tissue surrounding the hemolymph vessels, gonadal follicles, digestive epithelia and certain protozoan parasites. Taken together our results suggest that in the digestive gland of bivalve molluscs XOR is involved in the metabolism of purines and in the scavenging of oxygen free radicals.

Properties of xanthine dehydrogenase variants from rosy mutant strains of Drosophila melanogaster and their relevance to the enzyme's structure and mechanism.

Xanthine dehydrogenase, a molybdenum, iron-sulfur flavoenzyme encoded in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster by the rosy gene, has been characterised both from the wild-type and mutant files. Enzyme assays, using a variety of different oxidising and reducing substrates were supplemented by limited molecular characterisation. Four rosy strains showed no detectable activity in any enzyme assay tried, whereas from four wild-type and three rosy mutant strains, those for the [E89K], [L127F] and [L157P]xanthine dehydrogenases (in all of which the mutation is in the iron-sulfur domain), the enzyme molecules, although present at different levels, had extremely similar or identical properties. This was confirmed by purification of one wild-type and one mutant enzyme. [E89K]xanthine dehydrogenase. These both had ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra similar to milk xanthine oxidase. Both were found to be quite stable molecules, showing very high catalytic-centre activities and with little tendency to become degraded by proteolysis or modified by conversion to oxidase or desulfo forms. In three further rosy strains, giving [G353D]xanthine dehydrogenase and [S357F]xanthine dehydrogenase mutated in the flavin domain, and [G1011E]xanthine dehydrogenase mutated in the molybdenum domain, enzyme activities were selectively diminished in certain assays. For the G353D and S357F mutant enzymes activities to NAD+ as oxidising substrate were diminished, to zero for the latter. In addition for [G353D]xanthine dehydrogenase, there was an increase in apparent Km values both for NAD+ and NADH. These findings indicate involvement of this part of the sequence in the NAD(+)-binding site. The G1011E mutation has a profound effect on the enzyme. As isolated and as present in crude extracts of the files, this xanthine dehydrogenase variant lacks activity to xanthine or pterin as reducing substrate, indicating an impairment of the functioning of its molybdenum centre. However, it retains full activity to NADH with dyes as oxidising substrate. Mild oxidation of the enzyme converts it, apparently irreversibly, to a form showing full activity to xanthine and pterin. The nature of the group that is oxidised is discussed in the light of redox potential data. It is proposed that the process involves oxidation of the pterin of the molybdenum cofactor from the tetrahydro to a dihydro oxidation state. This conclusion is fully consistent with recent information [Romäo, M. J., Archer, M., Moura, I., Moura. J.J.G., LeGall, J., Engh, R., Schneider, M., Hof, P. & Huber, R. (1995) Science 270. 1170-1176) from X-ray crystallography on the structure of a closely related enzyme from Desulfovibrio gigas. It is proposed, that apparent irreversibility of the oxidative activating process for [G1011E]xanthine dehydrogenase, is due to conversion of its pterin to the tricyclic derivative detected by these workers. The data thus provide the strongest evidence available, that the oxidation state of the pterin can have a controlling influence on the activity of a molybdenum cofactor enzyme. Implications regarding pterin incorporation into xanthine dehydrogenase and in relation to other molybdenum enzymes are discussed.

Decreased concentration of xanthine dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.204) in rat hepatomas.

Xanthine dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.204), the rate-limiting enzyme of purine degradation, was purified 642-fold to homogeneity from liver of male Wistar rats. Antibody was generated to the purified enzyme in white rabbits and was partially purified. For the immunotitration a radioassay of high sensitivity was developed to determine low enzyme activities. Titration curves with the antibody showed that the xanthine dehydrogenase enzyme protein amounts in slowly growing hepatoma 20 and rapidly growing hepatoma 3924A were 34 and 4% of those of normal liver, which was in good agreement with the decrease in the activity of the enzyme to 33 and 2%, respectively. The contents of flavin adenine dinucleotide, the essential cofactor of the enzyme, in the immunoprecipitates in hepatomas 20 and 3924A were 27 and 4% of that of the normal liver. This is the first report to provide immunological evidence that a decreased enzyme activity in rat hepatomas, that of xanthine dehydrogenase, was due to a decrease in the enzyme protein amount. The markedly decreased xanthine dehydrogenase activity and amount have far-reaching biochemical and pharmacological implications for the tumors.

Xanthine Dehydrogenase (XDH) cross-reacting material in mutants of Drosophila melanogaster deficient in XDH activity.

Rocket immunoelectrophoresis was used to estimate xanthine dehydrogenase cross-reacting material (XDH-CRM) in strains containing the cin and cin mutant genes, which are deficient in XDH enzymatic activity. CRM levels were determined as percentages of CRM in the Oregon-R wild-type strain. The mutant strains contain 72 and 76% of Oregon-R CRM, respectively. CRM levels in strains containing the XDH-deficient mutant genes lxd and mal are 93 and 105%, respectively. The high levels of CRM in these four mutant strains indicate that the primary effects of the mutant genes are on the function of XDH protein rather than its accumulation.

An analysis of xanthine dehydrogenase negative mutants of the rosy locus in Drosophila melanogaster.

Eighteen alleles of the rosy locus in Drosophila melanogaster were characterized to identify putative nonsense mutants. Seven alleles exhibited no evidence of intragenic complementation, no evidence of immunological complementation, no evidence of immunological cross-reactivity to antibodies elicited by wild type xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH), and of course were completely deficient in measurable XDH activity. It is possible that one or more of these highly negative ry alleles are nonsense mutants. The remaining eleven ry alleles code for XDH molecules that retain some antigenic similarities to the wild type enzyme as assessed by immunoelectrophoresis and six of these eleven were capable of intragenic complementation.

The genetic control of molybdoflavoproteins in Aspergillus nidulans. A xanthine dehydrogenase I half-molecule in cnx- mutant strains of Aspergillus nidulans.

The cnx- group of mutants of Aspergillus nidulans lacks xanthine dehydrogenase (xanthine: NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.2.1.37) and nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.3) activities and are thought to be defective in the synthesis of a molybdenum-containing cofactor, 'cnx', common to xanthine dehydrogenase and nitrate reductase [Pateman, J.A., Rever, B.M., Cove, D.J. and Roberts, D.B. (1964) Nature (Lond.) 201, 58-60]. The cnx cofactor has a role in maintaining the aggregated multimeric structure of nitrate reductase [MacDonald, D.W., Cove, D.J. and Coddington, A. (1974) Mol. Gen. Genet. 128, 187-199]. We report here that, in cnx- mutants grown under conditions inducing xanthine dehydrogenase I, a species cross-reacting with antisera to the native enzyme and of half its molecular weight is present, together with cross-reacting molecules of similar molecular weight to the native enzyme. This suggests that the cnx cofactor has a role in maintaining the aggregated structure of xanthine dehydrogenase I. Both cross-reacting species are capable of passing reducing equivalents from NADH to a tetrazolium salt, showing that the cnx cofactor is not necessary for enzymic activity towards NADH.

Aldehyde oxidase and xanthine dehydrogenase from wild-type Drosophila melanogaster and immunologically cross-reacting material from ma-1 mutants. Purification by immunoadsorption and characterization.

The pleiotropic effect of the ma-1 mutation on the enzymes xanthine dehydrogenase and aldehyde oxidase in Drosophila melanogaster can most readily be explained by assuming that the enzymes share a subunit or cofactor whose synthesis is controlled by the ma-1 locus. According to this hypothesis a protein or a tightly bound cofactor common to both enzymes should be inactive or missing in the corresponding immunologically cross-reacting material found in ma-1 flies. Three of the proteins involved were purified by immunoadsorption: xanthine dehydrogenase, xanthine dehydrogenase cross-reacting material and aldehyde oxidase.