Comparison of the effects of agalsidase alfa and agalsidase beta on cultured human Fabry fibroblasts and Fabry mice.

We compared two recombinant alpha-galactosidases developed for enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease, agalsidase alfa and agalsidase beta, as to specific alpha-galactosidase activity, stability in plasma, mannose 6-phosphate (M6P) residue content, and effects on cultured human Fabry fibroblasts and Fabry mice. The specific enzyme activities of agalsidase alfa and agalsidase beta were 1.70 and 3.24 mmol h(-1) mg protein(-1), respectively, and there was no difference in stability in plasma between them. The M6P content of agalsidase beta (3.6 mol/mol protein) was higher than that of agalsidase alfa (1.3 mol/mol protein). The administration of both enzymes resulted in marked increases in alpha-galactosidase activity in cultured human Fabry fibroblasts, and Fabry mouse kidneys, heart, spleen and liver. However, the increase in enzyme activity in cultured fibroblasts, kidneys, heart and spleen was higher when agalsidase beta was used. An immunocytochemical analysis revealed that the incorporated recombinant enzyme degraded the globotriaosyl ceramide accumulated in cultured Fabry fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner, with the effect being maintained for at least 7 days. Repeated administration of agalsidase beta apparently decreased the number of accumulated lamellar inclusion bodies in renal tubular cells of Fabry mice.

The Notch ligand, Delta-1, alters retinoic acid (RA)-induced neutrophilic differentiation into monocytic and reduces RA-induced apoptosis in NB4 cells.

Effects of Notch activation on retinoic acid (RA)-induced differentiation and apoptosis were investigated. NB4, an acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cell line, undergoes neutrophilic differentiation and apoptosis by RA. Notch activation induced by a recombinant Notch ligand, Delta-1, did not affect the growth by itself. Treatment with RA plus Delta-1 made part of NB4 cells monocyte-like shaped and reduced the apoptosis. Similar phenomenon was also observed in primary APL cells. RA treatment induced cleavage of caspase-8 and PARP in NB4. Delta-1 suppressed the RA-induced cleavage of them, which may be a possible mechanism through which Delta-1 suppressed the RA-induced apoptosis.

The Notch ligand, Delta-1, reduces TNF-alpha-induced growth suppression and apoptosis by decreasing activation of caspases in U937 cells.

The Notch signaling pathway plays an important role in the regulation of self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha induces apoptosis through activation of caspase pathway. A monoblastic leukemia cell line, U937, undergoes apoptosis following stimulation with TNF-alpha. We found that Notch activation induced by a recombinant Notch ligand, Delta-1, reduced the TNF-alpha-induced growth suppression and apoptosis in U937 cells. As the molecular mechanism involved, we showed Delta-1 stimulation partially suppressed the sequential activation of caspase-8, caspase-3, and, PARP induced by TNF-alpha. The TNF-alpha-induced activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38, and NF-kappaB was not affected by Delta-1 stimulation. The cells needed to be exposed to Delta-1 prior to TNF-alpha stimulation to reduce the suppressive effect of TNF-alpha. Therefore, we thought that Delta-1 stimulation might reduce the expression of TNF-receptor (R) 1 and proteins to modulate the activation of caspases such as FLIP and XIAP. However, Delta-1 stimulation did not affect their expression. The precise mechanism by which Notch signaling suppresses caspase activation has yet to be determined. This is the first report to show the relationship between Notch activation and TNF-R1 signaling. The findings suggest possible mechanisms by which Notch activation supports cell survival.

Cellular analysis of growth suppression induced by the Notch ligands, Delta-1 and Jagged-1 in two myeloid leukemia cell lines.

It is known that Notch activation promotes the self-renewal of hematopoietic cells. However, we have previously found that the growth of a myeloid leukemia cell line, OCI/AML-6, was suppressed by Notch activation induced by stimulation with a recombinant Notch ligand, Delta-1 protein. We recently found that the growth of another leukemia cell line, THP-1, was also suppressed by the ligands Delta-1 and Jagged-1. In this study, we tried to clarify the cellular and molecular mechanism of the growth suppression induced by Notch activation. Flow cytometric analysis showed that Delta-1 stimulation increased the expression of differentiation markers such as CD11b and CD13 while it decreased the expression of CD117 (c-KIT), a marker for primitive cells in THP-1 cells. In OCI/AML-6 cells, Delta-1 stimulation decreased the expression of CD11b and CD14 and increased CD34 expression. Namely, Delta-1 showed the opposite effects on the differentiation markers of each cell line. Delta-1 stimulation did not increase the binding of annexin V, a marker for apoptotic cells in either cell line. Since the growth of myeloid cells is regulated by MAP kinase and JAK/STAT pathways, we investigated the effects of the ligand stimulation on these pathways. Delta-1 stimulation did not induce the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and STAT3 proteins in either cell line. Pre-exposure to Delta-1 did not affect the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and STAT3 induced by G-CSF in OCI/AML-6 cells, either. Namely, it is thought that these pathways are not involved in the growth suppression caused by Notch ligands. Our study revealed several findings on Notch function. However, the precise mechanism remains to be elucidated.

The Notch ligand, Delta-1, partially inhibits GM-CSF-induced differentiation and apoptosis along with reducing the cleavage of PARP in U937 cells.

Notch signaling plays an important role in the regulation of self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. Human monoblastic U937 cells undergo differentiation into macrophage-like cells, growth suppression, and apoptosis following stimulation with GM-CSF. We examined the effects of Notch activation induced by Notch ligands on GM-CSF-induced differentiation and apoptosis in U937 cells. Furthermore, the molecular mechanism of the effects was investigated. A recombinant Notch ligand, Delta-1 protein did not affect the growth of U937 cells by itself. GM-CSF-induced growth suppression and apoptosis of U937 cells were partially rescued by incubation with Delta-1. Delta-1 also reduced the GM-CSF-induced differentiation. Incubation with Delta-1 did not affect the expression of GM-CSF receptor. GM-CSF stimulation induced the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and STAT5 and the cleavage of caspase-8, which were not affected by Delta-1 incubation, either. GM-CSF stimulation induced the cleavage of PARP, which is the key molecule for differentiation and apoptosis. We found that incubation with Delta-1 significantly suppressed the GM-CSF-induced cleavage of PARP. Taken together, we found that Notch activation induced by Delta-1 partially inhibited GM-CSF-induced differentiation, growth suppression, and apoptosis, along with reducing the GM-CSF-induced cleavage of PARP. These findings suggest one of the mechanisms by which Notch activation inhibits differentiation and apoptosis.

Notch ligands, Delta-1 and Delta-4 suppress the self-renewal capacity and long-term growth of two myeloblastic leukemia cell lines.

The self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors are regulated by the interaction between Notch receptors and Notch ligands. Since AML originates from dysregulated hematopoietic progenitors, some abnormalities in the Notch system may be involved in the abnormal proliferation of AML cells. However, the significance of the Notch system in AML is not known. We examined the functional roles of Notch activation on the in vitro growth of seven human AML cell lines using three kinds of recombinant Notch ligand proteins, Jagged-1, Delta-1 and Delta-4. The ligands significantly affected the growth of two cell lines. In TMD7 cells, Delta proteins promoted the short-term growth, however, suppressing the self-renewal capacity and long-term growth. In OCI/AML-6 cells, Delta proteins suppressed the growth and self-renewal capacity while inducing differentiation into macrophage-like cells. We additionally found that Notch ligands needed to be immobilized on culture wells to affect the cells. These findings were in contrast to our hypothesis that Notch activation in AML cells leads to excessive self-renewal capacity and proliferation. If the Notch system in AML cells is precisely understood, the control of Notch activation will become a novel therapeutic approach for AML.