Acute hematological effects of solar particle event proton radiation in the porcine model.

Acute radiation sickness (ARS) is expected to occur in astronauts during large solar particle events (SPEs). One parameter associated with ARS is the hematopoietic syndrome, which can result from decreased numbers of circulating blood cells in those exposed to radiation. The peripheral blood cells are critical for an adequate immune response, and low blood cell counts can result in an increased susceptibility to infection. In this study, Yucatan minipigs were exposed to proton radiation within a range of skin dose levels expected for an SPE (estimated from previous SPEs). The proton-radiation exposure resulted in significant decreases in total white blood cell count (WBC) within 1 day of exposure, 60% below baseline control value or preirradiation values. At the lowest level of the blood cell counts, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes and eosinophils were decreased up to 89.5%, 60.4%, 73.2% and 75.5%, respectively, from the preirradiation values. Monocytes and lymphocytes were decreased by an average of 70% (compared to preirradiation values) as early as 4 h after radiation exposure. Skin doses greater than 5 Gy resulted in decreased blood cell counts up to 90 days after exposure. The results reported here are similar to studies of ARS using the nonhuman primate model, supporting the use of the Yucatan minipig as an alternative. In addition, the high prevalence of hematologic abnormalities resulting from exposure to acute, whole-body SPE-like proton radiation warrants the development of appropriate countermeasures to prevent or treat ARS occurring in astronauts during space travel.

External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for patients with malignant pheochromocytoma and non-head and -neck paraganglioma: combination with 131I-MIBG.

In patients with malignant pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, 131I-MIBG radiotherapy can achieve an objective response rate of 30-50% with the dose limiting toxicity being hematologic. Patients with disseminated disease, who also have a few index bulky or symptomatic lesions, may benefit from the addition of targeted external beam radiotherapy alone or in combination with systemic 131I-MIBG. The records of patients with malignant paraganglioma who were treated with external beam radiotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania from February 1973 to February 2011 were reviewed in an institutional review board approved retrospective study. Of the 17 patients with tumors in the thorax, abdomen, or pelvis, 76% had local control or clinically significant symptomatic relief for at least 1 year or until death. As expected, the predominant toxicity was due to irradiation of tumor-adjacent normal tissues without clinically significant hematologic toxicity. Due to widespread systemic metastases with areas of bulky, symptomatic tumor, 5 of the 17 patients were treated with sequential 131I-MIBG (2 mCi/kg per treatment) and external beam radiotherapy to 9 sites. In these patients, all areas that were irradiated with external beam radiotherapy showed durable objective response despite all patients eventually experiencing out-of-field systemic progression requiring other treatment. Four of these patients remain alive with excellent performance status 16, 18, 23, and 24 months after external beam radiotherapy. External beam radiotherapy can be highly effective in local management of malignant paraganglioma and can be used in conjunction with 131I-MIBG due to nonoverlapping toxicities with excellent control of locally bulky tumors.

Intraperitoneal photodynamic therapy.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis and sarcomatosis are generally incurable problems for which there are few good treatment options. Intraperitoneal PDT is potentially an ideal therapy for peritoneal carcinomatosis because of its relatively superficial treatment effect. A Phase II trial of IP PDT with the first generation photosensitizer, Photofrin, demonstrates that this treatment approach is tolerable clinically but is associated with substantial toxicity suggesting a narrow therapeutic index. Remarkably, responses were observed in heavily pre-treated patients suggesting clinical activity. Correlative studies of photosensitizer uptake in human tumour and normal tissues show little tumour selectivity. This lack of photosensitizer selectivity for tumour in combination with tumour hypoxia (as opposed to oxic normal tissues) is likely a major reason for the narrow therapeutic index of intraperitoneal PDT. However, the advent of novel and potentially molecularly targeted photosensitizers, combined with enhancement of PDT cancer cell cytotoxicity through inhibition of growth factor signaling should greatly improve the therapeutic index of intraperitoneal PDT. In addition, other approaches, including the use of nanotechnology, may allow the administration of fractionated PDT which may also improve the therapeutic index of this treatment. The clinical implementation of these technologies may allow for highly effective and well tolerated treatment of intraperitoneal carcinomatosis with PDT.

CD45 negatively regulates monocytic cell differentiation by inhibiting phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-dependent activation and tyrosine phosphorylation of protein kinase Cdelta.

The protein-tyrosine phosphatase CD45 is expressed on all monocytic cells, but its function in these cells is not well defined. Here we report that CD45 negatively regulates monocyte differentiation by inhibiting phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-dependent activation of protein kinase C (PKC) delta. We found that antisense reduction of CD45 in U937 monocytic cells (CD45as cells) increased by 100% the ability of PMA to enlarge cell size, increase cell cytoplasmic process width and length, and induce surface expression of CD11b. In addition, reduction in CD45 expression caused the duration of peak PMA-induced MEK and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 activity to increase from 5 min to 30 min while leading to a 4-fold increase in PMA-dependent PKCdelta activation. Importantly, PMA-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of PKCdelta was also increased 4-fold in CD45as cells. Finally, inhibitors of MEK (PD98059) and PKCdelta (rottlerin) completely blocked PMA-induced monocytic cell differentiation. Taken together, these data indicate that CD45 inhibits PMA-dependent PKCdelta activation by impeding PMA-dependent PKCdelta tyrosine phosphorylation. Furthermore, this blunting of PKCdelta activation leads to an inhibition of PKCdelta-dependent activation of ERK1/2 and ERK1/2-dependent monocyte differentiation. These findings suggest that CD45 is a critical regulator of monocytic cell development.

JAK1-dependent phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) is inhibited by IRS-1 serine phosphorylation.

Serine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) reduces its ability to act as an insulin receptor substrate and inhibits insulin receptor signal transduction. Here, we report that serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 induced by either okadaic acid (OA) or chronic insulin stimulation prevents interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha)-dependent IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation and IFN-alpha-dependent IRS-1/phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K) association. In addition, we demonstrate that serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 renders it a poorer substrate for JAK1 (Janus kinase-1). We found that treatment of U266 cells with OA induced serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 and completely blocked IFN-alpha-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 and IFN-alpha-dependent IRS-1/PI3K association. Additionally, IRS-1 from OA-treated cells could not be phosphorylated in vitro by IFN-alpha-activated JAK1. Chronic treatment of U266 cells with insulin led to a 50% reduction in IFN-alpha-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 and IRS-1/PI3K association. More importantly, serine-phosphorylated IRS-1-(511-722) could not be phosphorylated in vitro by IFN-alpha-activated JAK1. Taken together, these data indicate that serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 prevents its subsequent tyrosine phosphorylation by JAK1 and suggest that IRS-1 serine phosphorylation may play a counter-regulatory role in pathways outside the insulin signaling system.

Insulin activates caspase-3 by a phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase-dependent pathway.

Activation of the caspase proteases by c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1) has been proposed as a mechanism of apoptotic cell death. Here we report that insulin activates caspase-3 by a pathway requiring phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3-kinase). JNK1 assays demonstrated that insulin treatment of myeloma cells induced 3-fold activation of JNK1. Inhibition of PI3-kinase with wortmannin and LY294002 blocked insulin-dependent activation of JNK1. Caspase assays demonstrated that insulin increased caspase-3 activity 3-fold and that inhibition of PI3-kinase blocked this effect. Cell death was doubled by insulin and was due to a 3-fold increase in apoptosis of cells in the G1/G0 phase of the cell cycle. Inhibition of PI3-kinase completely blocked this effect. Finally, inhibition of caspase-3 with benzyloxycarbonyl-Asp-2,6-dichlorobenzoyloxymethylketone blocked cell death due to insulin. Taken together, these findings indicate that insulin activates caspase-3 by a PI3-kinase-dependent pathway resulting in increased apoptosis and cell death.

Phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase associates with an insulin receptor substrate-1 serine kinase distinct from its intrinsic serine kinase.

Serine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) has been proposed as a counter-regulatory mechanism in insulin and cytokine signalling. Here we report that IRS-1 is phosphorylated by a wortmannin insensitive phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI 3-kinase)-associated serine kinase (PAS kinase) distinct from PI 3-kinase serine kinase. We found that PI 3-kinase immune complexes contain 5-fold more wortmannin-insensitive serine kinase activity than SH2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase-2 (SHP2) and IRS-1 immune complexes. Affinity chromatography of cell lysates with a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein for the p85 subunit of PI 3-kinase showed that PAS kinase associated with the p85 subunit of PI 3-kinase. This interaction required unoccupied SH2 domain(s) but did not require the PI 3-kinase p110 subunit binding domain. In terms of function, PAS kinase phosphorylated IRS-1 and, after insulin stimulation, PAS kinase phosphorylated IRS-1 in PI 3-kinase-IRS-1 complexes. Phosphopeptide mapping showed that insulin-dependent in vivo sites of IRS-1 serine phosphorylation were comparable to those of PAS kinase phosphorylated IRS-1. More importantly, PAS kinase-dependent phosphorylation of IRS-1 reduced by 4-fold the ability of IRS-1 to act as an insulin receptor substrate. Taken together, these findings indicate that: (a) PAS kinase is distinct from the intrinsic serine kinase activity of PI 3-kinase, (b) PAS kinase associates with the p85 subunit of PI 3-kinase through SH2 domain interactions, and (c) PAS kinase is an IRS-1 serine kinase that can reduce the ability of IRS-1 to serve as an insulin receptor substrate.

Phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase is associated with a serine kinase that is activated by okadaic acid.

Okadaic acid (OA) is a potent inhibitor of PP1 and PP2A serine/threonine phosphatases and an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI 3-kinase) recruitment/ activation. Here we report that PI 3-kinase associates with a serine kinase activated by OA. Whole cell phosphorylation studies showed that PI 3-kinase associates with a wortmannin insensitive 76 kDa serine phosphoprotein (pp76) distinct from the p85 subunit of PI 3-kinase. Serine kinase assays demonstrated that pp76 phosphorylation was dependent upon a wortmannin insensitive serine kinase contained within PI 3-kinase/pp76 complexes and that this kinase had different cation requirements than PI 3-kinase serine kinase. Treatment of whole cells with OA lead to a wortmannin-independent 7.6-fold increase in pp76 serine phosphorylation and to a 7-fold rise in pp76 kinase activity. Together, these findings indicate that pp76 is a PI 3-kinase associated phosphoprotein and suggest that pp76 may be a novel PI 3-kinase associated serine kinase that is activated by OA.

Site-specific phosphorylation of the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 Rev protein accelerates formation of an efficient RNA-binding conformation.

Phosphorylation is important in the regulation of many cellular processes, yet the precise role of protein phosphorylation for many RNA-binding protein substrates remains obscure. In this report, we demonstrate that phosphorylation of a recombinant human immunodeficiency virus type-1 Rev protein promotes rapid formation of an efficient RNA-binding state. The apparent dissociation constant for ligand binding is enhanced 7-fold for the protein following phosphorylation; however, phosphate addition leads to a 1. 6-fold decrease in RNA ligand-protein complex stability. RNA ligand binding stimulates slow formation of an equally competent binding state for the unphosphorylated protein, indicating that the addition of phosphate or ligand binding promotes a similar conformational change in Rev. Phosphorylation directly alters the conformation of Rev, as revealed by modification experiments that monitor the solvent accessibility of cysteines in the protein. These biochemical properties are attributed to the addition of phosphate at one of two serine residues (Ser-54 or Ser-56) that lie within the multimerization domain adjacent to the RNA-binding helix. Glutaraldehyde-mediated cross-linking experiments revealed that phosphorylation of Rev does not affect Rev multimerization activity. The Rev protein from the less pathogenic HIV-2 isolate lacks this phosphorylation site in the amino acid sequence; thus, the described biochemical properties of the phosphorylated protein may contribute to Rev activity and possibly to HIV-1 virulence during natural infection.