Novel luciferase-based glucagon-like peptide 1 reporter assay reveals naturally occurring secretagogues.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is a hormone derived from preproglucagon. It is secreted by enteroendocrine cells in response to feeding and, in turn, acts as a critical regulator of insulin release. Modulating GLP-1 secretion holds promise as a strategy for controlling blood glucose levels. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: To dissect GLP-1 regulation and discover specific secretagogues, we engineered a reporter cell line introducing a luciferase within the proglucagon sequence in GLUTag cells. The assay was validated using western blotting and ELISA. A focused natural compounds library was screened. We measured luminescence, glucose uptake and ATP to investigate the mechanism by which newly found secretagogues potentiate GLP-1 secretion. KEY RESULTS: The newly created reporter cell line is ideal for the rapid, sensitive and quantitative assessment of GLP-1 secretion. The small molecule screen identified non-toxic GLP-1 modulators. Quercetin is the most potent newly found GLP-1 secretagogue, while other flavonoids also potentiate GLP-1 secretion. Quercetin requires glucose and extracellular calcium to act as GLP-1 secretagogue. Our results support a mechanism whereby flavonoids cause GLUTag cells to utilize glucose more efficiently, leading to elevated ATP levels, followed by KATP channel blockade and GLP-1 exocytosis. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Our methodology enabled finding of new GLP-1 secretagogues. Quercetin is a potent, naturally occurring GLP-1 secretagogue. Mechanistic studies of newly found secretagogues are possible in newly created reporter cell line. Further validation in more physiological systems, such as primary L-cells or whole organisms, is needed. GLP-1 secretagogues might serve as leads for developing alternative glucose-lowering therapies.

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS STRAINS ISOLATED FROM INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is an infection of the heart endothelium and valves and is frequently a consequence of a sanguine flow turbulence and injury of endocardium. Recent studies revealed an increase of Staphylococcus aureus strains involved in IE, but no evident correlations between the genetic background of this bacterium and IE involvement of certain strains have been found yet. In this study we analyzed the virulence profile, including adhesins, exotoxins, superantigens and biofilm determinants, along with agr type detection, for S. aureus strains isolated from IE, versus non-IE originating strains. We performed also bacterial typing (SCCmec typing, spa-typing and MLST typing), in order to compare our strains with international databases repositories. Although the study was carried out on a reduced number of isolates, our observations confirm the previous works, showing that no major differences were observed between the genetic backgrounds of the two groups of strains analyzed. Notably, the added value of this study was optimization of two new multiplex PCR protocols, and the enrichment of international databases with three new spa-types, three new MLST alleles and four new MLST sequence types.