Transitional changes in the structure of C-reactive protein create highly pro-inflammatory molecules: Therapeutic implications for cardiovascular diseases.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is the prototypic acute-phase reactant that has long been recognized almost exclusively as a marker of inflammation and predictor of cardiovascular risk. However, accumulating evidence indicates that CRP is also a direct pathogenic pro-inflammatory mediator in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. The 'CRP system' consists of at least two protein conformations with distinct pathophysiological functions. The binding of the native, pentameric CRP (pCRP) to activated cell membranes leads to a conformational change resulting in two highly pro-inflammatory isoforms, pCRP* and monomeric CRP (mCRP). The deposition of these pro-inflammatory isoforms has been shown to aggravate the localized tissue injury in a broad range of pathological conditions including atherosclerosis and thrombosis, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Here, we review recent findings on how these structural changes contribute to the inflammatory response and discuss the transitional changes in the structure of CRP as a novel therapeutic target in cardiovascular diseases and overshooting inflammation.

Tetraspanins as regulators of the tumour microenvironment: implications for metastasis and therapeutic strategies.

UNLABELLED: One of the hallmarks of cancer is the ability to activate invasion and metastasis. Cancer morbidity and mortality are largely related to the spread of the primary, localized tumour to adjacent and distant sites. Appropriate management and treatment decisions based on predicting metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis is thus crucial, which supports better understanding of the metastatic process. There are components of metastasis that are common to all primary tumours: dissociation from the primary tumour mass, reorganization/remodelling of extracellular matrix, cell migration, recognition and movement through endothelial cells and the vascular circulation and lodgement and proliferation within ectopic stroma. One of the key and initial events is the increased ability of cancer cells to move, escaping the regulation of normal physiological control. The cellular cytoskeleton plays an important role in cancer cell motility and active cytoskeletal rearrangement can result in metastatic disease. This active change in cytoskeletal dynamics results in manipulation of plasma membrane and cellular balance between cellular adhesion and motility which in turn determines cancer cell movement. Members of the tetraspanin family of proteins play important roles in regulation of cancer cell migration and cancer-endothelial cell interactions, which are critical for cancer invasion and metastasis. Their involvements in active cytoskeletal dynamics, cancer metastasis and potential clinical application will be discussed in this review. In particular, the tetraspanin member, CD151, is highlighted for its major role in cancer invasion and metastasis. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed section on Cytoskeleton, Extracellular Matrix, Cell Migration, Wound Healing and Related Topics. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2014.171.issue-24.

Identification and characterization of a misfolded monomeric serpin formed at physiological temperature.

The native serpin state is kinetically trapped. However, under mildly destabilizing conditions, the conformational landscape changes, and a number of nonnative conformations with increased stability can be readily formed. The ability to undergo structural change is due to intrinsic strain within the serpin's tertiary fold, which is utilized for proteinase inhibition but renders the protein susceptible to aberrant folding and self-association. The relationship between these various conformations is poorly understood. Antichymotrypsin (ACT) is an inhibitory serpin that readily forms a number of inactive conformations, induced via either environmental stress or interaction with proteinases. Here we have used a variety of biophysical and structural techniques to characterize the relationship between some of these conformations. Incubation of ACT at physiological temperature results in the formation of a range of conformations, including both polymer and misfolded monomer. The ability to populate these nonnative states and the native conformation reflects an energy landscape that is very sensitive to the solution conditions. X-ray crystallography reveals that the misfolded monomeric conformation is in the delta conformation. Further polymerization and seeding experiments show that the delta conformation is an end point in the misfolding pathway of ACT and not an on-pathway intermediate formed during polymerization. The observation that ACT readily forms this inactive conformation at physiological temperature and pH suggests that it may have a role in both health and disease.

An updated unified pharmacophore model of the benzodiazepine binding site on gamma-aminobutyric acid(a) receptors: correlation with comparative models.

A successful unified pharmacophore/receptor model which has guided the synthesis of subtype selective compounds is reviewed in light of recent developments both in ligand synthesis and structural studies of the binding site itself. The evaluation of experimental data in combination with a comparative model of the alpha1beta2gamma2 GABA(A) receptor leads to an orientation of the pharmacophore model within the Bz BS. Results not only are important for the rational design of selective ligands, but also for the identification and evaluation of possible roles which specific residues may have within the benzodiazepine binding pocket.

Murine cytomegalovirus resistant to antivirals has genetic correlates with human cytomegalovirus.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) resistance to antivirals is a significant clinical problem. Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection of mice is a well-described animal model for in vivo studies of CMV pathogenesis, although the mechanisms of MCMV antiviral susceptibility need elucidation. Mutants resistant to nucleoside analogues aciclovir, adefovir, cidofovir, ganciclovir, penciclovir and valaciclovir, and the pyrophosphate analogue foscarnet were generated by in vitro passage of MCMV (Smith) in increasing concentrations of antiviral. All MCMV antiviral resistant mutants contained DNA polymerase mutations identical or similar to HCMV DNA polymerase mutations known to confer antiviral resistance. Mapping of the mutations onto an MCMV DNA polymerase three-dimensional model generated using the Thermococcus gorgonarius Tgo polymerase crystal structure showed that the DNA polymerase mutations potentially confer resistance through changes in regions surrounding a catalytic aspartate triad. The ganciclovir-, penciclovir- and valaciclovir-resistant isolates also contained mutations within MCMV M97 identical or similar to recognized GCV-resistant mutations of HCMV UL97 protein kinase, and demonstrated cross-resistance to antivirals of the same class. This strongly suggests that MCMV M97 has a similar role to HCMV UL97 in the phosphorylation of nucleoside analogue antivirals. All MCMV mutants demonstrated replication-impaired phenotypes, with the lowest titre and plaque size observed for isolates containing mutations in both DNA polymerase and M97. These findings indicate DNA polymerase and protein kinase regions of potential importance for antiviral susceptibility and replication. The similarities between MCMV and HCMV mutations that arise under antiviral selective pressure increase the utility of MCMV as a model for in vivo studies of CMV antiviral resistance.

Protein structure from x-ray diffraction.

Protein crystallography is the study of the three-dimensional structures of proteins at near atomic resolution. It has provided at remendous insight into the workings of numerous biological processes over the last few decades. The field has undergone a massive worldwide expansion over the last ten years, not only in academic laboratories, but also in the pharmaceutical industry. The main driving force for this expansion has been the promise of using three-dimensional atomic structures of proteins and other macromolecules to design lead drugs and to improve the action of existing drugs.

GSTZ1d: a new allele of glutathione transferase zeta and maleylacetoacetate isomerase.

The zeta class glutathione transferases (GSTs) are known to catalyse the isomerization of maleylacetoacetate (MAA) to fumarylacetoacetate (FAA), and the biotransformation of dichloroacetic acid to glyoxylate. A new allele of human GSTZ1, characterized by a Thr82Met substitution and termed GSTZ1d, has been identified by analysis of the expressed sequence tag (EST) database. In European Australians, GSTZ1d occurs with a frequency of 0.16. Like GSTZ1b-1b and GSTZ1c-1c, the new isoform has low activity with dichloroacetic acid compared with GSTZ1a-1a. The low activity appears to be due to a high sensitivity to substrate inhibition. The maleylacetoacetate isomerase (MAAI) activity of all known variants was compared using maleylacetone as a substrate. Significant differences in activity were noted, with GSTZ1a-1a having a notably lower catalytic efficiency. The unusual catalytic properties of GSTZ1a-1a in both reactions suggest that its characteristic arginine at position 42 plays a significant role in the regulation of substrate access and/or product release. The different amino acid substitutions have been mapped on to the recently determined crystal structure of GSTZ1-1 to evaluate and explain their influence on function.

Human glutathione transferase P1-1 and nitric oxide carriers; a new role for an old enzyme.

S-Nitrosoglutathione and the dinitrosyl-diglutathionyl iron complex are involved in the storage and transport of NO in biological systems. Their interactions with the human glutathione transferase P1-1 may reveal an additional physiological role for this enzyme. In the absence of GSH, S-nitrosoglutathione causes rapid and stable S-nitrosylation of both the Cys(47) and Cys(101) residues. Ion spray ionization-mass spectrometry ruled out the possibility of S-glutathionylation and confirms the occurrence of a poly-S-nitrosylation in GST P1-1. S-Nitrosylation of Cys(47) lowers the affinity 10-fold for GSH, but this negative effect is minimized by a half-site reactivity mechanism that protects one Cys(47)/dimer from nitrosylation. Thus, glutathione transferase P1-1, retaining most of its original activity, may act as a NO carrier protein when GSH depletion occurs in the cell. The dinitrosyl-diglutathionyl iron complex, which is formed by S-nitrosoglutathione decomposition in the presence of physiological concentrations of GSH and traces of ferrous ions, binds with extraordinary affinity to one active site of this dimeric enzyme (K(i) < 10(-12) m) and triggers negative cooperativity in the vacant subunit (K(i) = 10(-9) m). The complex bound to the enzyme is stable for hours, whereas in the free form and at low concentrations, its life time is only a few minutes. ESR and molecular modeling studies provide a reasonable explanation of this strong interaction, suggesting that Tyr(7) and enzyme-bound GSH could be involved in the coordination of the iron atom. All of the observed findings suggest that glutathione transferase P1-1, by means of an intersubunit communication, may act as a NO carrier under different cellular conditions while maintaining its well known detoxificating activity toward dangerous compounds.

Dichloromethane mediated in vivo selection and functional characterization of rat glutathione S-transferase theta 1-1 variants.

Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum DM4 is able to grow with dichloromethane as the sole carbon and energy source by using a dichloromethane dehalogenase/glutathione S-transferase (GST) for the conversion of dichloromethane to formaldehyde. Mammalian homologs of this bacterial enzyme are also known to catalyze this reaction. However, the dehalogenation of dichloromethane by GST T1-1 from rat was highly mutagenic and toxic to methylotrophic bacteria. Plasmid-driven expression of rat GST T1-1 in strain DM4-2cr, a mutant of strain DM4 lacking dichloromethane dehalogenase, reduced cell viability 10(5)-fold in the presence of dichloromethane. This effect was exploited to select dichloromethane-resistant transconjugants of strain DM4-2cr carrying a plasmid-encoded rGSTT1 gene. Transconjugants that still expressed the GST T1 protein after dichloromethane treatment included rGSTT1 mutants encoding protein variants with sequence changes from the wild-type ranging from single residue exchanges to large insertions and deletions. A structural model of rat GST T1-1 suggested that sequence variation was clustered around the glutathione activation site and at the protein C-terminus believed to cap the active site. The enzymatic activity of purified His-tagged GST T1-1 variants expressed in Escherichia coli was markedly reduced with both dichloromethane and the alternative substrate 1,2-epoxy-3-(4'-nitrophenoxy)propane. These results provide the first experimental evidence for the involvement of Gln102 and Arg107 in catalysis, and illustrate the potential of in vivo approaches to identify catalytic residues in GSTs whose activity leads to toxic effects.

Soldier and family wellness across the life course: a developmental model of successful aging, spirituality, and health promotion, Part II.

As an alternative to the current Department of Defense approach to health promotion and related research, which is critiqued in Part I of this article, the authors present a new, integrative health promotion and wellness model. This age-graded model incorporates successful aging, targeted health promotion, and spirituality in the context of the developmental perspective provided by life course constructs. By using an age-graded, multidisciplinary system of assessment, intervention, and follow-up in the context of preparing military personnel and families for the next season of life, this model advocates the prevention of disease and disability, active engagement with life, the maximization of high cognitive and physical functioning, and positive spirituality. Preliminary, selected illustrations from a variation of this model at the U.S. Army War College are provided. Progressive extrapolation of the model to other military leadership schools is proposed as a more efficacious health promotion strategy for the Department of Defense.

The cholesterol-dependent cytolysins.

In view of the recent studies on the CDCs, a reasonable schematic of the stages leading to membrane insertion of the CDCs can be assembled. As shown in Fig. 3, we propose that the CDC first binds to the membrane as a monomer. These monomers then diffuse laterally on the membrane surface to encounter other monomers or incomplete oligomeric complexes. Presumably, once the requisite oligomer size is reached, the prepore complex is converted into the pore complex and a large membrane channel is formed. During the conversion of the prepore complex to the pore complex, we predict that the TMHs of the subunits in the prepore complex insert into the bilayer in a concerted fashion to form the large transmembrane beta-barrel, although this still remains to be confirmed experimentally. Many intriguing problems concerning the cytolytic mechanism of the CDCs remain unsolved. The nature of the initial interaction of the CDC monomer with the membrane is currently one of the most controversial questions concerning the CDC mechanism. Is cholesterol involved in this interaction, as previously assumed, or do specific receptors exist for these toxins that remain to be discovered? Also, the trigger for membrane insertion and the regions of these toxins that facilitate the [figure: see text] interaction of the monomers during prepore complex formation are unknown. In addition, the temporal sequence of the multiple structural changes that accompany the conversion of the soluble CDC monomer into a membrane-inserted oligomer have yet to be defined or characterized kinetically.

Soldier and family wellness across the life course: a developmental model of successful aging, spirituality, and health promotion. Part I.

The primary purposes of this article are to (1) highlight current challenges facing health promotion advocates within the military and civilian culture; (2) present the strengths and weaknesses of the current Army approach to health promotion and preventive medicine; and (3) present several unifying themes that contribute to enhanced progress within the field of health promotion. A conceptual model that links common goals across the fields of successful aging, health promotion, spirituality and health, and life course is advocated to maximize efficacious interventions and to transform the current Army approach to health promotion. A companion article will describe an integrative model of health promotion and wellness that responds to the challenges and incorporates the unifying themes described in this article.

Crystal structure of maleylacetoacetate isomerase/glutathione transferase zeta reveals the molecular basis for its remarkable catalytic promiscuity.

Maleylacetoacetate isomerase (MAAI), a key enzyme in the metabolic degradation of phenylalanine and tyrosine, catalyzes the glutathione-dependent isomerization of maleylacetoacetate to fumarylacetoacetate. Deficiencies in enzymes along the degradation pathway lead to serious diseases including phenylketonuria, alkaptonuria, and the fatal disease, hereditary tyrosinemia type I. The structure of MAAI might prove useful in the design of inhibitors that could be used in the clinical management of the latter disease. Here we report the crystal structure of human MAAI at 1.9 A resolution in complex with glutathione and a sulfate ion which mimics substrate binding. The enzyme has previously been shown to belong to the zeta class of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) superfamily based on limited sequence similarity. The structure of MAAI shows that it does adopt the GST canonical fold but with a number of functionally important differences. The structure provides insights into the molecular bases of the remarkable array of different reactions the enzyme is capable of performing including isomerization, oxygenation, dehalogenation, peroxidation, and transferase activity.

Human glutathione transferase T2-2 discloses some evolutionary strategies for optimization of the catalytic activity of glutathione transferases.

Steady state, pre-steady state kinetic experiments, and site-directed mutagenesis have been used to dissect the catalytic mechanism of human glutathione transferase T2-2 with 1-menaphthyl sulfate as co-substrate. This enzyme is close to the ancestral precursor of the more recently evolved glutathione transferases belonging to Alpha, Pi, and Mu classes. The enzyme displays a random kinetic mechanism with very low k(cat) and k(cat)/K(m)((GSH)) values and with a rate-limiting step identified as the product release. The chemical step, which is fast and causes product accumulation before the steady state catalysis, strictly depends on the deprotonation of the bound GSH. Replacement of Arg-107 with Ala dramatically affects the fast phase, indicating that this residue is crucial both in the activation and orientation of GSH in the ternary complex. All pre-steady state and steady state kinetic data were convincingly fit to a kinetic mechanism that reflects a quite primordial catalytic efficiency of this enzyme. It involves two slowly interconverting or not interconverting enzyme populations (or active sites of the dimeric enzyme) both able to bind and activate GSH and strongly inhibited by the product. Only one population or subunit is catalytically competent. The proposed mechanism accounts for the apparent half-site behavior of this enzyme and for the apparent negative cooperativity observed under steady state conditions. These findings also suggest some evolutionary strategies in the glutathione transferase family that have been adopted for the optimization of the catalytic activity, which are mainly based on an increased flexibility of critical protein segments and on an optimal orientation of the substrate.

Human glutathione transferase T2-2 discloses some evolutionary strategies for optimization of substrate binding to the active site of glutathione transferases.

Rapid kinetic, spectroscopic, and potentiometric studies have been performed on human Theta class glutathione transferase T2-2 to dissect the mechanism of interaction of this enzyme with its natural substrate GSH. Theta class glutathione transferases are considered to be older than Alpha, Pi, and Mu classes in the evolutionary pathway. As in the more recently evolved GSTs, the activation of GSH in the human Theta enzyme proceeds by a forced deprotonation of the sulfhydryl group (pK(a) = 6.1). The thiol proton is released quantitatively in solution, but above pH 6.5, a protein residue acts as an internal base. Unlike Alpha, Mu, and Pi class isoenzymes, the GSH-binding mechanism occurs via a simple bimolecular reaction with k(on) and k(off) values at least hundred times lower (k(on) = (2.7 +/- 0.8) x 10(4) M(-1) s(-1), k(off) = 36 +/- 9 s(-1), at 37 degrees C). Replacement of Arg-107 by alanine, using site-directed mutagenesis, remarkably increases the pK(a) value of the bound GSH and modifies the substrate binding modality. Y107A mutant enzyme displays a mechanism and rate constants for GSH binding approaching those of Alpha, Mu, and Pi isoenzymes. Comparison of available crystallographic data for all these GSTs reveals an unexpected evolutionary trend in terms of flexibility, which provides a basis for understanding our experimental results.

Arresting pore formation of a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin by disulfide trapping synchronizes the insertion of the transmembrane beta-sheet from a prepore intermediate.

Perfringolysin O (PFO), a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family of pore-forming toxins, forms large oligomeric complexes comprising up to 50 monomers. In the present study, a disulfide bridge was introduced between cysteine-substituted serine 190 of transmembrane hairpin 1 (TMH1) and cysteine-substituted glycine 57 of domain 2 of PFO. The resulting disulfide-trapped mutant (PFO(C190-C57)) was devoid of hemolytic activity and could not insert either of its transmembrane beta-hairpins (TMHs) into the membrane unless the disulfide was reduced. Both the size of the oligomer formed on the membrane and its rate of formation were unaffected by the oxidation state of the Cys(190)-Cys(57) disulfide bond; thus, the disulfide-trapped PFO was assembled into a prepore complex on the membrane. The conversion of this prepore to the pore complex was achieved by reducing the C190-C57 disulfide bond. PFO(C190-C57) that was allowed to form the prepore prior to the reduction of the disulfide exhibited a dramatic increase in the rate of PFO-dependent hemolysis and the membrane insertion of its TMHs when compared with toxin that had the disulfide reduced prior mixing the toxin with membranes. Therefore, the rate-limiting step in pore formation is prepore assembly, not TMH insertion. These data demonstrate that the prepore is a legitimate intermediate during the insertion of the large transmembrane beta-sheet of the PFO oligomer. Finally, the PFO TMHs do not appear to insert independently, but instead their insertion is coupled.

Valine 10 may act as a driver for product release from the active site of human glutathione transferase P1-1.

We have probed the electrophilic binding site (H-site) of human glutathione transferase P1-1 through mutagenesis of two valines, Val 10 and Val 35, into glycine and alanine, respectively. These two residues were previously shown to be the only conformationally variable residues in the H-site and hence may play important roles in cosubstrate recognition and/or product dissociation. Both of these mutant enzymes have been expressed in Escherichia coli and purified and their kinetic properties characterized. The results demonstrate that Val35Ala behaves similarly to wild-type, whereas Val10Gly exhibits a strong decrease of k(cat) and k(cat)/K(m) (cosub) toward two selected cosubstrates: ethacrynic acid and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene. Pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of the GSH conjugation with ethacrynic acid shows that both wild-type and Val10Gly mutant enzymes exhibit the same rate-limiting step: the dissociation of product. However, in the Val10Gly mutant there is an increased energetic barrier which renders the dissociation of product more difficult. Similar results are found for the Val10Gly mutant with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene as cosubstrate. With this latter cosubstrate, Val 10 also exerts a positive role in the conformational transitions of the ternary complex before the chemical event. Crystallographic analysis of the Val10Gly mutant in complex with the inhibitor S-hexyl-GSH suggests that Val 10 optimally orientates products, thus promoting their exit from the active site.

Evaluation of the role of two conserved active-site residues in beta class glutathione S-transferases.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) normally use hydroxy-group-containing residues in the N-terminal domain of the enzyme for stabilizing the activated form of the co-substrate, glutathione. However, previous mutagenesis studies have shown that this is not true for Beta class GSTs and thus the origin of the stabilization remains a mystery. The recently determined crystal structure of Proteus mirabilis GST B1-1 (PmGST B1-1) suggested that the stabilizing role might be fulfilled in Beta class GSTs by one or more residues in the C-terminal domain of the enzyme. To test this hypothesis we mutated His(106) and Lys(107) of PmGST B1-1 to investigate their possible role in the enzyme's catalytic activity. His(106) was mutated to Ala, Asn and Phe, and Lys(107) to Ala and Arg. The effects of the replacement on the activity, thermal stability and antibiotic-binding capacity of the enzyme were examined. The results are consistent with the involvement of His(106) and Lys(107) in interacting with glutathione at the active site but these residues do not contribute significantly to catalysis, folding or antibiotic binding.

Structures of thermolabile mutants of human glutathione transferase P1-1.

An N-capping box motif (Ser/Thr-Xaa-Xaa-Asp) is strictly conserved at the beginning of helix alpha6 in the core of virtually all glutathione transferases (GST) and GST-related proteins. It has been demonstrated that this local motif is important in determining the alpha-helical propensity of the isolated alpha6-peptide and plays a crucial role in the folding and stability of GSTs. Its removal by site-directed mutagenesis generated temperature-sensitive folding mutants unable to refold at physiological temperature (37 degrees C). In the present work, variants of human GSTP1-1 (S150A and D153A), in which the capping residues have been substituted by alanine, have been generated and purified for structural analysis. Thus, for the first time, temperature-sensitive folding mutants of an enzyme, expressed at a permissive temperature, have been crystallized and their three-dimensional structures determined by X-ray crystallography. The crystal structures of human pi class GST temperature-sensitive mutants provide a basis for understanding the structural origin of the dramatic effects observed on the overall stability of the enzyme at higher temperatures upon single substitution of a capping residue.