The viral etiology of Paget's disease of bone: a new perspective.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A J Kahn.
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A case-control study was done to elucidate risk factors for neonatal tetanus (NNT) in rural Pakistan; three controls were selected for each of the 69 cases. Factors commonly believed to be associated with NNT, such as the tool used to cut the umbilical cord and the method of preparing the tool, were not confirmed as risk factors. However, applying ghee to the wound stump was. New prevention opportunities deriving from the finding should be pursued aggressively while efforts to develop effective delivery systems to immunise mothers against tetanus continue, a task made difficult by sociocultural factors.
Trends in single-parent, female-headed families in Western Europe are analyzed and compared. The authors "explore the 'single-parent family' phenomenon in Western Europe, the factors that account for the growth in the numbers of these families, how these families are perceived and the policy responses in the different countries; we also note some patterns." Data are from a variety of sources. Some comparisons are made with the situation in the United States.
Osteoclasts resorb bone by first attaching to the bone surface and then secreting protons into an isolated extracellular compartment formed at the cell-bone attachment site. This secretion of protons (local acidification) is required to solubilize bone hydroxyapatite crystals and for activity of bone collagen-degrading acid proteases. However, the large quantity of protons required, 2 mol/mol of calcium, would result in an equal accumulation of cytosolic base equivalents. This alkaline load must be corrected to maintain cytosolic pH within physiologic limits. In this study, we have measured cytoplasmic pH with pH-sensitive fluorescent compounds, while varying the extracellular ionic composition of the medium, to determine the nature of the compensatory mechanism used by osteoclasts during bone resorption. Our data show that osteoclasts possess a chloride/bicarbonate exchanger that enables them to maintain normal intracellular pH in the face of a significant proton efflux. This conclusion follows from the demonstration of a dramatic cytoplasmic acidification when osteoclasts that have been incubated in bicarbonate-containing medium are transferred into bicarbonate-free medium. This acidification is absolutely dependent on and proportional to medium [Cl-]. Furthermore, acidification is inhibited by the classic inhibitor of red cell anion exchange, 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonate, and by diphenylamine-2-carboxylate, an inhibitor of chloride specific channels. However, the acidification process is neither energy nor sodium dependent. The physiologic importance of chloride/bicarbonate exchange is demonstrated by the chloride dependence of recovery from an endogenous or exogenous alkaline load in osteoclasts. We conclude that chloride/bicarbonate exchange is in large part responsible for cytoplasmic pH homeostasis of active osteoclasts, showing that these cells are similar to renal tubular epithelial cells in their regulation of intracellular pH.
Because metabolic acids stimulate bone resorption in vitro and in vivo, we focused on the cellular events produced by acidosis that might be associated with stimulation of bone remodeling. To this end, we exposed isolated chicken osteoclasts to a metabolic (butyric) acid and observed a fall in both intracellular pH and cytosolic calcium [( Ca2+]i). These phenomena were recapitulated when bone resorptive cells, alkalinized by HCO3 loading, were transferred to a bicarbonate-free environment. The acid-induced decline in osteoclast [Ca2+]i was blocked by either NaCN or Na3VO4, in a Na+-independent fashion, despite the failure of each inhibitor to alter stimulated intracellular acidification. Moreover, K+-induced membrane depolarization also reduced cytosolic calcium in a manner additive to the effect of protons. These findings suggest that osteoclasts adherent to bone lack functional voltage-operated Ca2+ channels, and they reduced [Ca2+]i in response to protons via a membrane residing Ca-ATPase. Most importantly, acidosis enhances formation of podosomes, the contact areas of the osteoclast clear zone, indicating increased adhesion to substrate, an early step in bone resorption. Thus, extracellular acidification of osteoclasts leads to decrements in intracellular pH and calcium, and appears to promote cell-matrix attachment.
Recent work indicates that PTH can stimulate osteoblastic cells to secrete neutral collagenase, an enzyme thought to be linked to bone matrix turnover. Since recent studies suggest that the calcium/protein kinase-C (PKC) message system is involved in signal transduction stimulated by PTH, we examined the role of these putative second messengers of PTH in the regulation of collagenase production by the osteoblastic tumor cell line UMR 106-01. Immunohistochemical staining of cells exposed to PTH (10(-7) M) revealed that about 20% of the entire population was positive for collagenase, compared to less than 3% staining positively in control untreated cells. Incubation with the cAMP analog 8-bromo-cAMP (8BrcAMP) increased the number of collagenase-staining cells in a dose-dependent manner (ED0.5 = 2.5 x 10(-4) M), but to a lower level than PTH, with the maximal effect producing about 15% positive cells. The calcium ionophore ionomycin (10(-7) M) was ineffective, whereas phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a PKC activator, increased collagenase-specific staining to about 5%, but only at high concentrations (10(-5) M). Incubation of UMR 106-01 cells with ionomycin and PMA did not change the effect of the latter. When the three agents were used in combination, an additive effect was observed, which fully reproduced that of PTH. Similarly, the amount of collagenase released into the medium by cells stimulated with maximal concentrations of 8BrcAMP (10(-3) M) was only 80% of that induced by maximal doses of PTH (10(-7) M). PMA (10(-5) M) was slightly stimulatory, and ionomycin was ineffective alone, but they were synergistic with submaximal doses of 8BrcAMP (10(-4) M). In agreement with the immunohistochemical results, the full hormonal effect was reproduced when the three second messenger analogs were used in combination. In conclusion, signal transduction from PTH receptor to collagenase production is mediated mainly by cAMP; the Ca2+/PKC system appears to have a contributory role necessary for the full expression of hormonal response. These results support the hypothesis of a dual pathway of target cell activation by PTH.
PTH stimulates osteoblast-like cells to produce a product(s) capable of increasing cellular bone resorption. We have investigated this phenomenon using primary cultures of osteoblasts and the clonal osteoblast-like cell line ROS 17/2. Conditioned medium from PTH-stimulated populations of either culture increases bone resorption compared to conditioned medium measured in three independent assay systems; the isolated osteoclast assay system, elicited macrophages, and the fetal bone rudiment system. Characterization of the factor(s) of PTH-stimulated osteoblast-like cell (ROS 17/2) suggests that the compound(s) is not prostaglandin (no inhibition by indomethacin; not extractable in diethylacetate). Rather, it is heat and protease sensitive. In addition, secretion of the product is sensitive to cycloheximide. These findings lead us to the conclusion that the factor(s) is protein. Further work demonstrates the necessity for a divalent cation for retention of factor activity. Finally, we have estimated the molecular radius of the factor as about 110,000 daltons and perhaps a second at about 70,000 daltons using a sizing column. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of [35S]methionine-labeled PTH-stimulated ROS culture supernatants reveals relatively increased secretion of proteins with these approximate molecular radii.
Cells of the clonal rat osteogenic sarcoma cell line, UMR 106-01, were used to investigate the regulation of collagen synthesis by PTH in osteoblastic cells. Monolayer cultures of cells were labeled with [3H] proline in order to determine both collagen type and rates of production. Analysis of labeled extracellular polypeptides on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that UMR 106-01 cells synthesized predominantly type I collagen, accounting for 45.48 +/- 2.09% of the radioactivity incorporated into total protein. After 24-h treatment with bovine PTH (1-34, 10(-8) M), collagen synthesis (i.e. collagenase-digestible protein) was decreased to 29.45 +/- 1.39% of total protein production. This decrease was first observed 12 h after addition of hormone and greatest inhibition was achieved at 24 h. The effect of PTH was dose dependent, with half-maximal inhibition of collagen synthesis occurring at 5 x 10(-10) M after 24-h treatment. In contrast, when steady state levels of mRNA for type I collagen chains were examined by Northern blot analysis, the concentration of PTH that reduced collagen synthesis by 35-45% (10(-8) M), caused a net decrease of approximately 80-96% in the number of procollagen transcripts; a small reduction in beta-actin mRNA levels was also observed. The effect of the hormone on procollagen message level was dose dependent, with significant inhibition observed at 10(-10) M PTH and, as with collagen synthesis, maximal after 24 h.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3), the biologically active form of vitamin D3, has been shown to inhibit the activation of T cell hybridomas and heterogeneous populations of mononuclear leukocytes. Because the response of various clones to 1,25(OH)2D3 may differ, we have examined the proliferative effects of the steroid on an antigen-specific cloned, nontransformed T helper cell line (D10.G4.1 [D10 cells]), and find that in contrast to these previous studies, the steroid is a potent stimulator of lectin-induced proliferation. In these experiments, D10 cells were incubated with concanavalin A and 1,25(OH)2D3, and although the lectin or steroid alone has minimal proliferative effects, their co-addition prompts up to a 50-fold increase in 3H-TdR incorporation at a concentration of 2.5 to 5 X 10(-9) M 1,25(OH)2D3, with significant mitogenesis occurring at 0.1 to 0.3 X 10(-9) M 1,25(OH)2D3. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 and 24,25(OH)2D3 have similar activity, but at concentrations two to three times greater than that of 1,25(OH)2D3, reflecting their relative affinities for the 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor. In addition, lectin treatment enhances 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor capacity fourfold to fivefold, an event coupled with the appearance of positive cooperativity. Although the steroid does not affect the quantity of bioassayable T cell growth factors as assessed by HT-2 cell proliferation, the expression of immunoreactive IL 2 receptors by lectin-activated D10 cells exposed to 1,25(OH)2D3 is enhanced. In contrast to its proliferative effect in the absence of IL 1, 1,25(OH)2D3 exerts biphasic effects on D10 replication when this monokine is present. Specifically, this steroid augments D10 proliferation at low concentrations of recombinant IL 1, but as the abundance of the monokine increases in the presence of 10(-10) to 10(-8) M 1,25(OH)2D3, the peak response of D10 cells to optimal IL 1 concentrations is diminished. Therefore, in this clone, 1,25(OH)2D3 presents itself as a regulator of T helper cell proliferation.
Thrombin, a major procoagulant enzyme and growth factor, is also selectively chemotactic for monocytes and macrophages but not for neutrophils. This effect stands in contrast to other well-known chemotactic agents such as fMet-Leu-Phe, C5a fragments, and LTB4, which stimulate directed cell movement in both cell types, and have important physiological implications. The human leukemic cell line HL-60, which is capable of differentiating either along granulocytic or monocytic lineages, was therefore used to explore the development of this selective monocyte/macrophage chemotactic response to thrombin. Esterolytically inactive DIP-alpha-thrombin, as well as the thrombin-derived chemotactic peptide CB67-129, elicits a dose-dependent chemotactic response in HL-60 cells differentiated to monocytelike cells by treatment with 1,25(OH)2D3 (HL-60/mono), whereas no such response is evident in either undifferentiated HL-60 cells or in cells differentiated into granulocytes by treatment with DMSO (HL-60/gran). Similarly, early events which characterize stimulation of inflammatory cells by chemotactic agents are also evident, but only in monocyte-differentiated cells. In HL-60/mono, thrombin selectively stimulates rapid cytosolic Ca2+ elevation as well as rapid cytoskeletal association of cytosolic actin. Following thrombin stimulation, maximal actin association in these cells occurs within 30 sec (declining to basal levels at the end of 5 min), and maximal Ca2+ elevations are also evident within 15-20 sec, suggesting a temporal relationship between these two events. Thus, the events accompanying stimulation of HL-60/mono by thrombin are characteristic of those seen following stimulation of inflammatory cells by chemotaxins, with a major difference being the selectivity of thrombin as a chemotaxin for cells of macrophage/monocytic lineage. The selective chemotactic responsiveness of HL-60/mono to thrombin appears to relate to the development of specific receptors on these cells as part of monocytic differentiation: HL-60/mono (but HL-60/gran nor undifferentiated HL-60) are capable of significant specific 125-I-labeled alpha-thrombin-binding (ka approximately 20 nM), and possess an estimated 400,000 thrombin-binding sites per cell. Our findings further suggest that the thrombin response of HL-60 and particularly the expression of thrombin receptors on these cells may serve as a useful model system for exploring the biology of monocyte/macrophage differentiation.
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Collagenases that specifically cleave native collagen at neutral pH have been implicated in the maintenance and turnover of connective tissue. In bone, the origin of neutral collagenase has remained equivocal, although recent studies have indicated that it is synthesized by the osteoblast. In the present work, regulation of secretion of neutral collagenase and a collagenase inhibitory activity was investigated using the osteoblastic tumor cell line UMR 106-01 and a variety of bone-resorbing agents. Under basal conditions, UMR 106-01 cells produced very low levels of collagenase but substantial amounts of the inhibitory activity. Exposure to PTH and, to a lesser extent, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, prostaglandin E2, retinoic acid, and epidermal growth factor stimulated the release of collagenase, an effect not seen with interleukin-1 or heparin. The stimulation of collagenase by PTH was dose dependent, with a half-maximal response occurring at 10(-8) M. Inclusion of isobutylmethylxanthine decreased the concentration of PTH required to produce half-maximal stimulation to 2 X 10(-10) M, indicating action via cAMP. With respect to the inhibitory activity, PTH and epidermal growth factor were the only agents, among those tested, able to enhance its production. Both hormones caused a 50-100% increase over control levels 72 h after hormone administration. There were notable differences in the time courses of production of collagenase and the inhibitor. After treatment with PTH, the enzyme reached maximal concentrations between 12-48 h, but declined to undetectable levels by 96 h. In contrast, the inhibitory activity was secreted in a linear fashion, with the highest concentrations achieved around 72-96 h. These results suggest a complex pattern of regulation of collagenase and inhibitor secretion by the osteoblastic cell, with the steady accumulation of inhibitor perhaps being responsible for the ultimate curtailment of enzyme activity.
It has been recognized for many years that alpha-thrombin, like other better known mitogens (eg, PDGF, EGF, etc) is capable of initiating proliferation in quiescent cells belonging to the fibroblast family. However, unlike these other peptides, thrombin is a serine protease whose function as a growth stimulator for fibroblasts is intimately linked to its esterolytic activity. Thus, while native alpha-thrombin is capable of evoking DNA synthesis in G0/G1-arrested cells, neither enzymatically inactive thrombin (eg, iPR2P-alpha-thrombin) nor partially degraded thrombin (eg, gamma-thrombin) shares in this capability. Data from our laboratory have shown that thrombin is chemotactic for peripheral blood monocytes and for cells belonging to the monocyte/macrophage family and that this activity is not dependent upon thrombin's enzymatic properties. Our recent findings demonstrate that thrombin also serves as a growth factor for these cells, and this mitogenic capability is independent of esterolytic function and resides in the same region of the molecule as that responsible for chemotaxis. Additionally, by means of techniques such as computer modeling and peptide synthesis, we have now been able to delineate a distinct mitogenic subsite within this chemotactic thrombin sequence. Thus, the sequence in the thrombin B chain that mediates chemotaxis represents a true cell interactive exosite additionally capable of stimulating growth and possibly other biological functions in cells of macrophage/monocyte lineage.
Human peripheral mononuclear cells responded chemotactically to 4-carboxyl-L-glutamic acid. The maximal chemotactic response occurred at 0.1 nM. No chemotactic response was found with neutrophils or fetal bovine fibroblasts. Glutamic acid, a neuroexcitatory dicarboxylic amino acid and the parent compound of 4-carboxyglutamic acid, did not stimulate chemotaxis in any of the cells tested. However, it functioned as an antagonist to 4-carboxyglutamic acid (ED50 approximately 2 pM; ED100 approximately 10 pM). In contrast to the lack of response to glutamic acid, its dicarboxylic cyclic analogue, kainic acid, excited a chemotactic response in mononuclear cells. The data suggest that mononuclear phagocytes have receptors for dicarboxylic neuroexcitatory amino acids, and we speculate that 4-carboxyglutamic acid, a tricarboxylic acid, may have a previously unrecognized role as a neuroexcitatory amino acid.
In contrast to fibroblasts, the exposure of G0/G1-arrested J774 cells, a murine macrophage-like tumor cell line, with either active or esterolytically inactive diisopropyl phosphorofluoridate-conjugated alpha-thrombin (the enzymatically active form of thrombin, EC 3.4.21.5) results in a mitogenic response as measured by increased [3H]thymidine incorporation. This response to thrombin is optimal at 10 nM and is specifically blocked by hirudin, a high-affinity thrombin inhibitor. When prethrombin 1 [a single-chain prothrombin derivative lacking fragment 1, resulting from the action of thrombin on prothrombin] is cleaved with cyanogen bromide, a fragment (peptide CB67-129) is produced that, like the parent thrombin molecule, is mitogenic for J774 cells but not for fibroblasts. Limited tryptic digests of this fragment retain the ability to stimulate macrophages--a function that can be mimicked by a synthetic tetradecapeptide homologue of CB67-129 (representing residues 367-380 of the human thrombin B chain sequence) but not by any of a series of well-known growth promoters, including platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, nerve growth factor, and fibroblast epidermal growth factor, nerve growth factor, and fibroblast growth factor. The mitogenic effects of this peptide are not limited to J774 cells but can be expressed in other macrophage-like tumor cell lines, including P388D1, RAW, and PU5. In addition to increased [3H]thymidine incorporation, the synthetic B chain peptide stimulates cell proliferation as evidenced by a dose-dependent increase in total protein per culture well and cell number. We conclude that the thrombin molecule contains a macrophage growth factor domain that is separate and distinct from its active center. Thus, thrombin, in addition to its major role in hemostasis and thrombosis, may also have important functions in such basic processes as the inflammatory response and monocytopoiesis.
Osteoclasts are the principal resorptive cells of bone, yet their capacity to degrade collagen, the major organic component of bone matrix, remains unexplored. Accordingly, we have studied the bone resorptive activity of highly enriched populations of isolated chicken osteoclasts, using as substrate devitalized rat bone which had been labeled in vivo with L-[5-3H]proline or 45Ca, and bone-like matrix produced and mineralized in vitro by osteoblast-like rat osteosarcoma cells. When co-cultured with a radiolabeled substrate, osteoclast-mediated mineral mobilization reached a maximal rate within 2 h, whereas organic matrix degradation appeared more slowly, reaching maximal rate by 12-24 h. Thereafter, the rates of organic and inorganic matrix resorption were essentially linear and parallel for at least 6 d when excess substrate was available. Osteoclast-mediated degradation of bone collagen was confirmed by amino acid analysis. 39% of the solubilized tritium was recovered as trans-4-hydroxyproline, 47% as proline. 10,000 osteoclasts solubilized 70% of the total radioactivity and 65% of the [3H]-trans-4-hydroxyproline from 100 micrograms of 25-50 micron bone fragments within 5 d. Virtually all released tritium-labeled protein was of low molecular weight, 99% with Mr less than or equal to 10,000, and 65% with Mr less than or equal to 1,000. Moreover, when the 14% of resorbed [3H]proline-labeled peptides with Mr greater than or equal to 2,000 were examined for the presence of TCA and TCB, the characteristic initial products of mammalian collagenase activity, none was detected by SDS PAGE. In addition, osteoclast-conditioned medium had no collagenolytic activity, and exogenous TCA and TCB fragments were not degraded by osteoclasts. On the other hand, osteoclast lysates have collagenolytic enzyme activity in acidic but not in neutral buffer, with maximum activity at pH 4.0. These data indicate that osteoclasts have the capacity to resorb the organic phase of bone by a process localized to the osteoclast and its attachment site. This process appears to be independent of secretion of neutral collagenase and probably reflects acid protease activity.
Recently, we have shown that thrombin is a chemotaxin and growth-promoting agent for cells of the mononuclear phagocytic lineage. These activities are independent of thrombin's enzymatic activity. Unlike other chemotactic factors, thrombin is specific for monocytes and does not attract granulocytes. To further explore the cellular specificity we have used a human leukemia cell line HL-60 that is capable of in vitro differentiation toward either monocytes (HL-60/mono) following incubation with 1,25(OH)2D3, or granulocytes (HL-60/gran) following incubation with DMSO. In contrast to undifferentiated HL-60 cells or HL-60/gran, we find that HL-60/mono respond chemotactically to intact human alpha-thrombin, esterolytically inactive iPR2P-alpha-thrombin, and the thrombin-derived peptide CB67-129, previously shown to contain the thrombin chemotactic exosite. In addition, thrombin induces in HL-60/mono association of actin with the cytoskeleton and causes an increase in levels of free cytosolic Ca2+. These phenomena are well characterized as early events occurring concomitant with directed cell movement associated with exposure to chemotactic agents such as FMLP. Furthermore, in contrast to fibroblasts, both iPR2P-alpha-thrombin and the thrombin chemotactic peptide CB67-129 evoke dose-dependent [3H]TdR incorporation, protein synthesis, and cell replication in growth-arrested J-744 cells, a murine macrophage-like cell line. Limited tryptic digests of CB67-129 lose chemotactic activity but retain full mitogenic activity, demonstrating that as with PDGF, the sites on CB67-129 required for chemotaxis and mitogenesis are clearly dissociable. The mitogenic effects of the CB67-129 digest can be mimicked by a synthetic tetradecapeptide analogue of CB67-129 (residues 367-380) that includes the loop B insertion sequence, previously shown to be critical for thrombin's chemotactic effects. From these data, it is apparent that the loop B insertion is critical for thrombin's nonenzymic biological effects on cells, but additional sites are required for stimulation of cell movement.
HL-60 cells are induced to differentiate along a monocytic pathway by the active metabolites of vitamin D3, e.g. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3]. All such differentiated cells share a number of features in common but are heterogeneous in their ability to adhere to solid substrates and to resorb devitalized bone matrix. Here, we show that, in addition, as compared to the nonadherent, adherent cells are smaller, less likely to be in the S phase, more enriched in the human monocyte-specific cell surface antigen, 63D3, and contain less cmyc messenger RNA (mRNA). In addition, we document that removal of the hormone leads to dedifferentiation. For these susceptible mononuclear cells, removal of 1,25-(OH)2D3 results in a reversion to a more myeloblastic phenotype, renewed cell proliferation, and the rapid appearance of elevated levels of cmyc mRNA. Finally, we report that the cells that do not revert upon 1,25-(OH)2D3 removal are those that became multinucleated during treatment.