[Achievements and Future Challenges in the Support of the Balance of Work and Medical Treatment at the Hospital of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, in 2018-2020].

The Japanese government is making full-scale efforts to support working people who suffer from cancer and/or other diseases, as it seeks to support a balance of work and receiving medical treatment. The Hospital of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, opened its Support Center of Treatment and Work Balance in 2018. This is a multi-disciplinary department for supporting the balance of work and medical treatment. It also opened its Department of Occupational Medicine, the first such department in Japan to provide medical diagnosis and treatment dedicated to supporting that same balance. Our team has supported 704 patients through our activities over the past 3 years. The number of patients supported has increased each year, while the number of departments providing support has also trended upward. There has also been an increase in opinions by attending physicians regarding employment, as well as the number of cases covered by public medical insurance. Here we suggest two factors in our hospital's growth in these activities: (1) many of the clinicians are qualified as occupational physicians, and (2) the organizational strength of our team, which has a vision for balancing support and subsequently promotes that vision. We hope that this report will lead to the balance of support activities in Japan and contribute to the model internationally.

Prebiotic effect of fructo-oligosaccharides on the inner ear of DBA/2 J mice with early-onset progressive hearing loss.

Nutrition and dietary habits contribute to the onset and progression of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are non-digestible oligosaccharides and are known as prebiotics, which enhance short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production and antioxidant activity. Although a substantial number of studies have shown that FOS play a role in the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases as prebiotics, little is known about the effects on the inner ear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of FOS on gene expression and spiral ganglion neuron (SGN) protection in the inner ear of DBA/2 J mice, which is a model for early-onset progressive hearing loss. DBA/2 J mice were fed either control diet or FOS diet contained 10% (w/w) of FOS for 8 weeks. Analysis of mice fed the FOS diet revealed a change in intestinal flora including an inversion of the ratio of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, which was followed by a significant increase in SCFAs in the cecum and a decrease in an oxidative stress marker in the serum. In the inner ear, gene expression of neurotrophin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), its receptor, tyrosine kinase receptor b (Trkb), and the SCFA receptor, free fatty acid receptor 3 (FFAR3), were increased by FOS. In addition, the survival rate of SGNs in the inner ear was maintained in FOS-fed mice. Altogether, these results suggest that a compositional variation of the intestinal flora due to a prebiotic effect may be involved in the progression of SNHL.

Extended passaging increases the efficiency of neural differentiation from induced pluripotent stem cells.

BACKGROUND: The use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for the functional replacement of damaged neurons and in vitro disease modeling is of great clinical relevance. Unfortunately, the capacity of iPSC lines to differentiate into neurons is highly variable, prompting the need for a reliable means of assessing the differentiation capacity of newly derived iPSC cell lines. Extended passaging is emerging as a method of ensuring faithful reprogramming. We adapted an established and efficient embryonic stem cell (ESC) neural induction protocol to test whether iPSCs (1) have the competence to give rise to functional neurons with similar efficiency as ESCs and (2) whether the extent of neural differentiation could be altered or enhanced by increased passaging. RESULTS: Our gene expression and morphological analyses revealed that neural conversion was temporally delayed in iPSC lines and some iPSC lines did not properly form embryoid bodies during the first stage of differentiation. Notably, these deficits were corrected by continual passaging in an iPSC clone. iPSCs with greater than 20 passages (late-passage iPSCs) expressed higher expression levels of pluripotency markers and formed larger embryoid bodies than iPSCs with fewer than 10 passages (early-passage iPSCs). Moreover, late-passage iPSCs started to express neural marker genes sooner than early-passage iPSCs after the initiation of neural induction. Furthermore, late-passage iPSC-derived neurons exhibited notably greater excitability and larger voltage-gated currents than early-passage iPSC-derived neurons, although these cells were morphologically indistinguishable. CONCLUSIONS: These findings strongly suggest that the efficiency neuronal conversion depends on the complete reprogramming of iPSCs via extensive passaging.

Balanced interactions between Lyn, the p85alpha regulatory subunit of class I(A) phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, and SHIP are essential for mast cell growth and maturation.

The growth and maturation of bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs) from precursors are regulated by coordinated signals from multiple cytokine receptors, including KIT. While studies conducted using mutant forms of these receptors lacking the binding sites for Src family kinases (SFKs) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) suggest a role for these signaling molecules in regulating growth and survival, how complete loss of these molecules in early BMMC progenitors (MCps) impacts maturation and growth during all phases of mast cell development is not fully understood. We show that the Lyn SFK and the p85α subunit of class I(A) PI3K play opposing roles in regulating the growth and maturation of BMMCs in part by regulating the level of PI3K. Loss of Lyn in BMMCs results in elevated PI3K activity and hyperactivation of AKT, which accelerates the rate of BMMC maturation due in part to impaired binding and phosphorylation of SHIP via Lyn's unique domain. In the absence of Lyn's unique domain, BMMCs behave in a manner similar to that of Lyn- or SHIP-deficient BMMCs. Importantly, loss of p85α in Lyn-deficient BMMCs not only represses the hyperproliferation associated with the loss of Lyn but also represses their accelerated maturation. The accelerated maturation of BMMCs due to loss of Lyn is associated with increased expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf), which is repressed in MCps deficient in the expression of both Lyn and p85α relative to controls. Our results demonstrate a crucial interplay of Lyn, SHIP, and p85α in regulating the normal growth and maturation of BMMCs, in part by regulating the activation of AKT and the expression of Mitf.

Wnt signaling promotes neuronal differentiation from mesenchymal stem cells through activation of Tlx3.

Wnt/ß-catenin signaling promotes neural differentiation by activation of the neuron-specific transcription factors, Neurogenin1 (Ngn1), NeuroD, and Brn3a, in the nervous system. As neurons in cranial sensory ganglia and dorsal root ganglia transiently express Ngn1, NeuroD, and Brn3a during embryonic development, we hypothesized that Wnt proteins could instructively promote a sensory neuronal fate from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) directed to differentiate into neurons. Consistent with our hypothesis, Wnt1 induced expression of sensory neuron markers including Ngn1, NeuroD, and Brn3a, as well as glutamatergic markers in neurally induced MSCs in vitro and promoted engraftment of transplanted MSCs in the inner ear bearing selective loss of sensory neurons in vivo. Given the consensus function of T-cell leukemia 3 (Tlx3), as a glutamatergic selector gene, we postulated that the effects of canonical Wnt signaling on sensory neuron and glutamatergic marker gene expression in MSCs may be mediated by Tlx3. We first confirmed that Wnt1 indeed upregulates Tlx3 expression, which can be suppressed by canonical Wnt inhibitors. Next, our chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that T-cell factor 3/4, Wnt-activated DNA binding proteins, interact with a regulatory region of Tlx3 in MSCs after neural induction. Furthermore, we demonstrated that forced expression of Tlx3 in MSCs induced sensory and glutamatergic neuron markers after neural induction. Together, these results identify Tlx3 as a novel target for canonical Wnt signaling that confers somatic stem cells with a sensory neuron phenotype upon neural induction.

An atypical role for collapsin response mediator protein 2 (CRMP-2) in neurotransmitter release via interaction with presynaptic voltage-gated calcium channels.

Collapsin response mediator proteins (CRMPs) specify axon/dendrite fate and axonal growth of neurons through protein-protein interactions. Their functions in presynaptic biology remain unknown. Here, we identify the presynaptic N-type Ca(2+) channel (CaV2.2) as a CRMP-2-interacting protein. CRMP-2 binds directly to CaV2.2 in two regions: the channel domain I-II intracellular loop and the distal C terminus. Both proteins co-localize within presynaptic sites in hippocampal neurons. Overexpression in hippocampal neurons of a CRMP-2 protein fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein caused a significant increase in Ca(2+) channel current density, whereas lentivirus-mediated CRMP-2 knockdown abolished this effect. Interestingly, the increase in Ca(2+) current density was not due to a change in channel gating. Rather, cell surface biotinylation studies showed an increased number of CaV2.2 at the cell surface in CRMP-2-overexpressing neurons. These neurons also exhibited a significant increase in vesicular release in response to a depolarizing stimulus. Depolarization of CRMP-2-enhanced green fluorescent protein-overexpressing neurons elicited a significant increase in release of glutamate compared with control neurons. Toxin block of Ca(2+) entry via CaV2.2 abolished this stimulated release. Thus, the CRMP-2-Ca(2+) channel interaction represents a novel mechanism for modulation of Ca(2+) influx into nerve terminals and, hence, of synaptic strength.

Increased c-Jun expression and reduced GATA2 expression promote aberrant monocytic differentiation induced by activating PTPN11 mutants.

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is characterized by myelomonocytic cell overproduction and commonly bears activating mutations in PTPN11. Murine hematopoietic progenitors expressing activating Shp2 undergo myelomonocytic differentiation, despite being subjected to conditions that normally support only mast cells. Evaluation of hematopoietic-specific transcription factor expression indicates reduced GATA2 and elevated c-Jun in mutant Shp2-expressing progenitors. We hypothesized that mutant Shp2-induced Ras hyperactivation promotes c-Jun phosphorylation and constitutive c-Jun expression, permitting, as a coactivator of PU.1, excessive monocytic differentiation and reduced GATA2. Hematopoietic progenitors expressing activating Shp2 demonstrate enhanced macrophage CFU (CFU-M) compared to that of wild-type Shp2-expressing cells. Treatment with the JNK inhibitor SP600125 or cotransduction with GATA2 normalizes activating Shp2-generated CFU-M. However, cotransduction of DeltaGATA2 (lacking the C-terminal zinc finger, needed to bind PU.1) fails to normalize CFU-M. NIH 3T3 cells expressing Shp2E76K produce higher levels of luciferase expression directed by the macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (MCSFR) promoter, which utilizes c-Jun as a coactivator of PU.1. Coimmunoprecipitation demonstrates increased c-Jun-PU.1 complexes in mutant Shp2-expressing hematopoietic progenitors, while chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrates increased c-Jun binding to the c-Jun promoter and an increased c-Jun-PU.1 complex at the Mcsfr promoter. Furthermore, JMML progenitors express higher levels of c-JUN than healthy controls, substantiating the disease relevance of these mechanistic findings.

Dynamic expression of the retinoic acid-synthesizing enzyme retinol dehydrogenase 10 (rdh10) in the developing mouse brain and sensory organs.

Organs develop through many tissue interactions during embryogenesis, involving numerous signaling cascades and gene products. One of these signaling molecules is retinoic acid (RA), an active vitamin A derivative, which in mammalian embryos is synthesized from maternal retinol by two oxidative reactions involving alcohol/retinol dehydrogenases (ADH/RDHs) and retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (RALDHs), respectively. The activity of RALDHs is known to be crucial for RA synthesis; however, recently a retinol dehydrogenase (RDH10) has been shown to represent a new limiting factor in this synthesis. We investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of Rdh10 gene transcripts by in situ hybridization and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) during development of the brain and sensory organs. Although Rdh10 relative mRNA levels decline throughout brain development, we show a strong and lasting expression in the meninges and choroid plexuses. Rdh10 expression is also specifically seen in the striatum, a known site of retinoid signaling. In the eye, regional expression is observed both in the prospective pigmented epithelium and neural retina. In the inner ear Rdh10 expression is specific to the endolymphatic system and later the stria vascularis, both organs being involved in endolymph homeostasis. Furthermore, in the peripheral olfactory system and the vibrissae follicles, expression is present from early stages in regions where sensory receptors appear and mesenchymal/epithelial interactions take place. The distribution of Rdh10 transcripts during brain and sensory organ development is consistent with a role of this enzyme in generating region-specific pools of retinaldehyde that will be used by the various RALDHs to refine the patterns of RA synthesis.

Tlx3 exerts context-dependent transcriptional regulation and promotes neuronal differentiation from embryonic stem cells.

The T cell leukemia 3 (Tlx3) gene has been implicated in specification of glutamatergic sensory neurons in the spinal cord. In cranial sensory ganglia, Tlx3 is highly expressed in differentiating neurons during early embryogenesis. To study a role of Tlx3 during neural differentiation, mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells were transfected with a Tlx3 expression vector. ES cells stably expressing Tlx3 were grown in the presence or absence of a neural induction medium. In undifferentiated ES cells, there was no significant difference in gene expression in the presence or absence of Tlx3, even after ES cells were cultured for an extensive time period. In contrast, expression levels of Mash1, Ngn1, and NeuroD were significantly higher in Tlx3-expressing cells after neural induction for 4 days compared with those in cells expressing the control vector. At 7 days after neural induction, whereas expression of the proneural genes was down-regulated, VGLUT2, GluR2, and GluR4 were significantly increased in ES cell-derived neurons expressing Tlx3. The sequential and coordinated expression of the proneural and neuronal subtype-specific genes identifies Tlx3 as a selector gene in ES cells undergoing neural differentiation. In addition, the differential effects of Tlx3 overexpression in undifferentiated ES cells compared with ES cell-derived neurons suggest that Tlx3 exerts context-dependent transcriptional signals on its downstream target genes. The context-dependent function of Tlx3 as a selector gene may be used to establish a novel strategy to conditionally generate excitatory glutamatergic neurons from ES cells to cure various types of neurodegenerative disorders.

Enhanced survival of bone-marrow-derived pluripotent stem cells in an animal model of auditory neuropathy.

OBJECTIVE: The loss of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) is one of the major causes of profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Stem cell replacement therapy, which is still in its infancy, has the potential to treat or cure those who suffer from an array of illnesses and degenerative neurologic disorders, including sensorineural deafness (SNHL). Little is known about the potentials of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their ability to take on properties of SGNs. The two main purposes of this study were to evaluate the survival of mouse MSCs transplanted into normal and ouabain-treated gerbil cochleae and to determine the migratory patterns of MSCs with two differing injection methods. SUBJECTS: Thirty-two Mongolian gerbils, 3 to 4 months old, were used as recipients, and four 6-week-old TgN(ACTbEGFP) mice that ubiquitously express green fluorescent protein (GFP) were used as donors. DESIGN: The animals were deafened by ouabain, which damaged SGNs while leaving hair cell systems intact. After 4 weeks of recovery, the animals received an intraperilymphatic transplantation of 1.0x10(6) GFP-positive undifferentiated MSCs via two different injection methods: scala tympani injection and modiolar injection. Seven days after the transplantation, the survival of MSCs was evaluated by microscopic examination of frozen sections cut through the cochleae of the recipient animals. The number of profiles was counted on the five most central modiolar sections. One-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine any significantdifferences among mean profile counts across the experimental conditions. RESULTS: Our findings indicated that undifferentiated MSCs were able to survive in the modiolus both in the control and the ouabain-treated cochleae. The average number of profiles found in the modiolus was greater in the ouabain-treated cochleae than in the control cochleae. This difference was statistically significant (P<.01) as determined using a one-way ANOVA and an ad hoc Tukey-Kramer's test. With the scala tympani injection, there were no profiles found in the modiolus either in the control or ouabain-treated cochleae. This finding may indicate that donor MSCs need to be directly injected into the modiolus to replace injured SGNs. Finally, there was no evidence of hyperacute rejection in any of the gerbils despite the use of xenotransplantation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may have important clinical implications as a means of delivering MSCs in the cochlea for stem-cell replacement therapy. Survival of transplanted MSCs into the modiolus of the cochlea may result in regeneration of damaged SGNs.

In vivo and in vitro characterization of bone marrow-derived stem cells in the cochlea.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Stem cell replacement therapy has the potential to treat or cure an array of degenerative neurologic disorders, including sensorineural deafness. However, little is known about the potential for marrow-derived stem cells (MSCs) to take on properties of spiral ganglion neurons. The main purpose of this prospective animal study was to evaluate the survival of MSCs transplanted into the gerbil cochlea. METHODS: Eight 3- to 4-month-old Mongolian gerbils were used as recipients. The animals received an intraperilymphatic transplantation of 100,000 green fluorescent protein (GFP)-positive MSCs with scala tympani injection and modiolar injection. Seven days after transplantation, MSC survival was evaluated by microscopic examination of frozen sections cut through the cochleae of the recipient animals. RESULTS: MSCs isolated from the TgN (ACTbEGFP) mouse line used in this study exhibited bright green florescence after five to seven passages in vitro. Seven days after postoperatively, most transplanted MSCs were found in the scala tympani and scala vestibule and only a small number located in the scala media in animals that received both forms of injection. There were no GFP-positive MSCs in the modiolus in animals with scala tympani injection. In contrast, the mean profile count in animals with modiolar injection was 28, which was the highest in all regions. Although MSCs have the potential to migrate, the anatomic barrier between the perilymphatic space and the modiolus might account for the absence of GFP-positive MSCs in this region. CONCLUSION: These findings may have important clinical implications as a means of delivering MSCs in the cochlea for cell replacement therapy.

Dynamic expression of retinoic acid-synthesizing and -metabolizing enzymes in the developing mouse inner ear.

Retinoic acid signaling plays essential roles in morphogenesis and neural development through transcriptional regulation of downstream target genes. It is believed that the balance between the activities of synthesizing and metabolizing enzymes determines the amount of active retinoic acid to which a developing tissue is exposed. In this study, we investigated spatiotemporal expression patterns of four synthesizing enzymes, the retinaldehyde dehydrogenases 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Raldh1, Raldh2, Raldh3, and Raldh4) and two metabolizing enzymes (Cyp26A1 and Cyp26B1) in the embryonic and postnatal mouse inner ear by using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in situ hybridization, and Western blot analysis. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis and Western blot data revealed that the expression of CYP26s was much higher than that of Raldhs at early embryonic ages but that Cyp26 expression was downregulated during embryonic development. Conversely, the expression levels of Raldh2 and -3 increased during development and were significantly higher than the Cyp26 levels at postnatal day 20. At this age, Raldh3 was expressed predominantly in the cochlea, whereas Raldh2 was present in the vestibular end organ. At early embryonic stages, as observed by in situ hybridization, the synthesizing enzymes were expressed only in the dorsoventral epithelium of the otocyst, whereas the metabolizing enzymes were present mainly in mesenchymal cells surrounding the otic epithelium. At later stages, Raldh2, Raldh3, and Cyp26B1 were confined to the stria vascularis, spiral ganglion, and supporting cells in the cochlear and vestibular epithelia, respectively. The downregulation of Cyp26s and the upregulation of Raldhs after birth during inner ear maturation suggest tissue changes in the sensitivity to retinoic acid concentrations.

Skeletal muscle-derived progenitor cells exhibit neural competence.

Skeletal muscle contains heterogenous progenitor cells that give rise to muscle, hematopoietic cells and bone. The exact phenotypic definition of skeletal muscle progenitor cells has not been fully elucidated nor the potential of these cells to differentiate into neurons. Here, we demonstrate that phenotypically homogenous skeletal muscle progenitor cells defined as Lin-CD45-CD117-CD90+ cells express neural stem cell markers and are responsive to neural induction signals. When exposed to neural induction medium containing basic fibroblast growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, skeletal muscle progenitor cells dramatically changed their cell morphology, became postmitotic and began expressing neuronal markers. These results reveal unexpected potentials of muscle progenitor cells and suggest that these cells may potentially be used in cell-based therapies to replace damaged neurons.

VEGF receptor 1 signaling is essential for osteoclast development and bone marrow formation in colony-stimulating factor 1-deficient mice.

VEGF receptor 1 (VEGFR-1/Flt-1) is a high-affinity tyrosine kinase (TK) receptor for VEGF and regulates angiogenesis as well as monocyte/macrophage functions. We previously showed that the osteoclast deficiency in osteopetrotic Csf1op/Csf1op (op/op) mice is gradually restored in an endogenous, VEGF-dependent manner. However, the molecular basis of the recovery is still not clear. To examine which VEGFR is important and to clarify how colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) and VEGF signals interact in osteoclastogenesis, we introduced a VEGFR-1 signaling deficiency (Flt1(TK)-/-) into op/op mice. The original Flt1(TK)-/- mice showed mild osteoclast reduction without bone marrow suppression. The double mutant (op/opFlt1(TK)-/-) mice, however, exhibited very severe osteoclast deficiency and did not have numbers of osteoclasts sufficient to form the bone marrow cavity. The narrow bone marrow cavity in the op/opFlt1(TK)-/- mice was gradually replaced with fibrous tissue, resulting in severe marrow hypoplasia and extramedullary hematopoiesis. In addition to osteoclasts, osteoblasts also decreased in number in the op/opFlt1(TK)-/- mice. These results strongly suggest that the interaction of signals by means of VEGFR-1 and the CSF-1 receptor plays a predominant role not only in osteoclastogenesis but also in the maintenance of bone marrow functions.

Sonic hedgehog and retinoic acid synergistically promote sensory fate specification from bone marrow-derived pluripotent stem cells.

Recent studies demonstrated that stromal cells isolated from adult bone marrow have the competence of differentiating into neuronal cells in vitro and in vivo. However, the capacity of marrow stromal cells or mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to differentiate into diverse neuronal cell populations and the identity of molecular factors that confer marrow stromal cells with the competence of a neuronal subtype have yet to be elucidated. Here, we show that Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and retinoic acid (RA), signaling molecules secreted from tissues in the vicinity of peripheral sensory ganglia during embryogenesis, exert synergistic effects on neural-competent MSCs to express a comprehensive set of glutamatergic sensory neuron markers. Application of Shh or RA alone had little or no effect on the expression of these neuronal subtype markers. In addition, incubation of MSCs with embryonic hindbrain/somite/otocyst conditioned medium or prenatal cochlea explants promoted up-regulation of additional sensory neuron markers and process outgrowth. These results identify Shh and RA as sensory competence factors for adult pluripotent cells and establish the importance of interactions between adult pluripotent cells and the host microenvironment in neuronal subtype specification.

Detection of osteoclastic cell-cell fusion through retroviral vector packaging.

Cell-cell fusion generates multinucleated cells such as osteoclasts in bone, myotubes in muscle, and trophoblasts in placenta. Molecular details governing these fusion processes are still largely unknown. As a step toward identification of fusogenic genes, we tested the concept that retroviral vectors can be packaged as a result of cell-cell fusion. First, we introduced replication-deficient retroviral vectors expressing mCAT-1, which mediates fusogenic interaction with the retroviral envelope protein Env, into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells to generate vector cells. Plasmids expressing virion proteins Gag, Pol, and Env were introduced into a separate culture of CHO cells to generate packaging cells. Co-culturing vector and packaging cells resulted in production of infectious retroviruses carrying the mCAT-1 gene as a consequence of cell-cell fusion. Second, we introduced a retroviral vector into primary osteoclast precursors and co-cultured them with established osteoclast precursor RAW264.7 cells, which turned out to harbor packaging activity. Packaged retroviral vector was detected in culture supernatants only where the osteoclast differentiation factor receptor activator for NF-kappaB ligand (RANKL) induced fusion between these two cell types. These data suggest that retrovirus production can occur as a result of cell-cell fusion. This provides a novel approach for isolating and characterizing fusogenic genes using retroviral expression vectors.

Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase stimulates receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand expression independent of its enzymatic activity and serves as a pathological bone-resorbing factor.

A novel bone-resorbing factor was cloned using an expression cloning technique, which involved a Xenopus oocyte expression system and an assay for osteoclast formation. A candidate clone was isolated from a BW5147 mouse T-lymphoma cell cDNA library. Sequencing analysis identified the factor as gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), which is an enzyme involved in glutathione metabolism. The addition of purified GGT protein to mouse bone marrow culture effectively induced formation of osteoclasts. An antibody against GGT inhibited osteoclast formation but not the enzymatic activity. We also demonstrated that an inactive form of GGT, the enzymatic activity of which had been blocked by chemical modification with a specific inhibitor, acivicin, supported osteoclast formation. These results indicate that GGT acts on osteoclast formation independent of its own enzymatic activity. Furthermore, both native GGT and inactive GGT stimulated the expression of the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) mRNA and protein from bone marrow stromal cells. This report is the first demonstration of a novel biological activity of GGT protein in a manner independent of its enzymatic activity.

Tea catechins inhibit angiogenesis in vitro, measured by human endothelial cell growth, migration and tube formation, through inhibition of VEGF receptor binding.

We have investigated whether tea catechins (EC, ECg, EGC, EGCg) have any inhibitory effects on angiogenesis and which step they affect during the process. The effects of catechins were tested on in vitro models of angiogenesis, namely, growth, migration and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. All four catechins inhibited angiogenesis in vitro in the three different bioassays with concentrations ranging from 1.56 to 100 microM. Among the four catechins tested, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) was the most effective in inhibiting angiogenesis in all three assays. When these four catechins were tested on VEGF binding assay, only EGCg inhibited the binding of VEGF, a major angiogenesis inducing factor, to endothelial cells in a concentration dependent manner. These results indicate that while all four tea catechins inhibit the process of angiogenesis, EGCg alone can reduce the binding of VEGF to its receptors and thus affects the downstream signaling.