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Biomedical subjects

H Nunoi

Publications and source records attributed to H Nunoi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Post-translational processing of rac p21s is important both for their interaction with the GDP/GTP exchange proteins and for their activation of NADPH oxidase.

rac1 and rac2 p21s are ras p21-like small GTP-binding proteins which are implicated in the NADPH oxidase-catalyzed superoxide generation in phagocytes. rac1 and rac2 p21s have a Cys-A-A-Leu (A = aliphatic amino acid) structure in their C-terminal region which may undergo post-translational processing including prenylation, proteolysis, and carboxyl methylation. We studied the function of this post-translational processing of rac p21s in their interaction with the stimulatory and inhibitory GDP/GTP exchange proteins for rac p21s, named smg GDS and rho GDI, and in their NADPH oxidase activation. We produced human recombinant rac1 and rac2 p21s in insect cells and purified them from the membrane and soluble fractions as the post-translationally processed and unprocessed forms, respectively. Post-translationally processed rac1 and rac2 p21s were sensitive to both smg GDS and rho GDI, but post-translationally unprocessed rac1 and rac2 p21s were insensitive to them. The GTP gamma S (guanosine 5'-(3-O-thio)triphosphate)-bound form of post-translationally processed rac1 and rac2 p21s stimulated the NADPH oxidase activity, but post-translationally unprocessed rac1 and rac2 p21s were far less effective. These results indicate that both rac1 and rac2 p21s stimulate the NADPH oxidase activity and that their post-translational processing is important not only for their interaction with smg GDS and rho GDI but also for their NADPH oxidase activation.

Amino Acid Sequence

Role of Mg2+ in activation of NADPH oxidase of human neutrophils: evidence that Mg2+ acts through G-protein.

The membrane fraction and three cytosolic proteins of neutrophils, p47-phox, p67-phox and a G-protein, are involved in the cell-free activation of the O2(-)-generating NADPH oxidase in the presence of SDS, though it has been controversial whether the G-protein is required or just enhancing the activity. We have used the three cytosolic factors, the solubilized membrane fraction, GTP gamma S and SDS, and found that both G-protein and GTP gamma S are essential for the activation of the NADPH oxidase. The effect of GTP gamma S is modified by Mg2+: the cations enhance the O2- generation at low concentrations of GTP gamma S, whereas they attenuate the activity at higher concentrations of GTP gamma S. In presence of 10 microM GTP gamma S, the maximal activity is observed at 0.1 microM Mg2+, which is several-fold higher than that at 1 mM Mg2+. The omission of Mg2+ followed by the chelation with EDTA results in loss of the activation, which is completely restored by the addition of Mg2+. Thus, Mg2+ seems to modulate the activation of the NADPH oxidase at the level of the G-protein.

Antibodies, Monoclonal

Regulation of the superoxide-generating NADPH oxidase by a small GTP-binding protein and its stimulatory and inhibitory GDP/GTP exchange proteins.

The superoxide-generating NADPH oxidase system in phagocytes consists of at least membrane-associated cytochrome b558 and three cytosolic components named SOCI/NCF-3/sigma 1/C1, SOCII/NCF-1/p47-phox, and SO-CIII/NCF-2/p67-phox. p47-phox and p67-phox were isolated, and their primary structures were determined, but SOCI has not been well characterized. In the present study, we first purified SOCI to homogeneity from the cytosol fraction of the differentiated HL-60 cells. The purified SOCI was a small GTP-binding protein (G protein) with a M(r) of about 22,000. The guanosine 5'-(3-O-thio)triphosphate-bound form, but not the GDP-bound form, of this small G protein showed the SOCI activity. The partial amino acid sequence of SOCI thus far determined was identical to the amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA encoding rac2 p21. None of the purified small G proteins, including Ki-ras p21, smg p21B/rap1B p21, rhoA p21, and rac1 p21, showed the SOCI activity. These results indicate that SOCI is a small G protein very similar, if not identical, to rac2 p21. The GDP/GTP exchange reaction of SOCI was stimulated and inhibited by stimulatory and inhibitory GDP/GTP exchange proteins for small G proteins, named smg GDS and rho GDI, respectively. The NADPH oxidase activity was also stimulated and inhibited by smg GDS and rho GDI, respectively. These results indicate that the superoxide-generating NADPH oxidase system is regulated by both smg GDS and rho GDI through rac2 p21 or the rac2-related small G protein in phagocytes.

Amino Acid Sequence

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency: identification of novel mutations in two Japanese patients with a severe form.

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency is a disorder with mutations of the gene for the beta subunit, a component common to three adhesion molecules; LFA-1, Mac-1 and p150,95. The molecular basis of the disorder was studied in two patients with its severe form. In the first patient, the mutant gene expressed an aberrant mRNA, 1.2 kb longer than usual, resulting from a G to A substitution at the splice donor site of a 1.2 kb intron. Several aberrantly spliced messages, arising from splicing at cryptic donor sites, were also identified. The beta subunit proteins deduced from the mRNA sequences lacked half the carboxyl terminal portion. In the second patient, the mutation was a G to A transition at nucleotide 454, which resulted in an Asp128 to Asn substitution of the beta subunit. The 128th Asp residue is located in a region crucial for the association with alpha subunits and strictly conserved among the integrin beta subunits so far analyzed.

Adult

[Molecular bases of chronic granulomatous disease--analysis of the involvement of cytosol factors for NADPH oxidase].

During the past 5 years, the discovery of cell-free superoxide generation system (Bromberg Y, Pick E: Cell Immunol 88:213-221, 1984) has been revolutionized our understanding of phagocyte superoxide generation. Using cell-free system, it was clarified that NADPH oxidase for superoxide generation was comprised of components present in both the plasma membrane as well as in the cytosol. This oxidase could be kept inactive by keeping its components separated from each other within the cell and then quickly bringing them together in the plasma membrane upon activation. We analyzed cytosol components with column method, and clarified that 3 neutrophil cytosol factors (NCF-1/-2/-3) was necessary for reconstitute the cytosol activity which was missing in an autosomal recessive type of Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD) patients (Nunoi H, et al:Science 242:1298-1301, 1988). NCF-1/-2 were analyzed with B1 antibody and found their molecular weight as 47 and 67 kilodalton respectively. One of autosomal CGD patients was missing NCF-67k and the others were missing NCF-47k. NCF-47k and -67k were cloned with this antibody and sequenced and expressed as recombinant NCF-47k/-67k using baculovirus/insect cell system. Using these recombinants, we are trying to purify NCF-3 which is reported as small G protein in these days. Using monoclonal antibodies against these recombinants, we analyzed tissues with immunohistochemical methods and are trying to classify the type of CGD patients in Japan. In summary, at least five oxidase components now have been identified (alpha and beta chain of cytochrome b558 (gp91-phox, p22-phox) and NCF-47k/-67k/-3 (p47-phox/p67-phox/delta-1 or SOCI)).

Cytosol

Characterization of neutrophil NADPH oxidase factors p47-phox and p67-phox from recombinant baculoviruses.

Superoxide production by phagocytic blood cells involves assembly of an active NADPH oxidase complex from components found both in membrane and cytosolic locations in resting cells. We recently cloned cDNAs encoding two cytosolic components (p47-phox and p67-phox) of the oxidase that are deficient in distinct forms of autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease. The precise roles of p47-phox and p67-phox were explored further using purified factors produced in large quantities using recombinant baculoviruses to infect cultured Sf9 insect cells. Neither p47-phox nor p67-phox are thought to represent the flavoprotein components of the oxidase, since neither of the purified recombinant factors contained or bound FAD. Recombinant p47-phox and p67-phox are capable of restoring the deficient cytosol from chronic granulomatous disease patient neutrophils to nearly normal levels in a cell-free reconstitution system. Both p47-phox and p67-phox, used together in the absence of neutrophil cytosol, are incapable of supporting cell free production of superoxide, confirming the involvement of other soluble factor(s) in the assembly of an active oxidase in vitro.

Baculoviridae

Evidence for a functional cytoplasmic domain of phagocyte oxidase cytochrome b558.

Cytoplasmic domains of transmembrane proteins play a critical role in cellular processes involving interactions between membrane and cytosolic components. Activation of the phagocytic cell respiratory burst oxidase, the electron transport chain responsible for superoxide anion (O2-.) production, requires membrane components including cytochrome b558 and several cytosolic proteins; but the biochemical interactions of these components are poorly understood. Cytochrome b558 is an electron transport component of the oxidase. A role for cytochrome b558 in the organization or integration of other oxidase components has also been hypothesized. Antibodies binding the cytoplasmic carboxyl-terminal tail of the transmembrane 91-kDa subunit of cytochrome b558 specifically inhibited an amphiphile-activated cell-free O2-.-generating system that requires neutrophil membranes and cytosol. Synthetic peptides encompassing a 7-amino acid carboxyl-terminal sequence (RGVHFIF) within the same region of the 91-kDa subunit blocked activation of the oxidase by arachidonate, but did not affect activity of the assembled oxidase when added after arachidonate to the cell-free O2-.-generating system. The same peptides inhibited activation of the respiratory burst when allowed to diffuse into electrically permeabilized neutrophils before stimulation with formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine or phorbol myristate acetate. These studies define a functional cytoplasmic domain of the transmembrane 91-kDa subunit of cytochrome b558 which may mediate interactions with other cellular proteins essential to activation of the phagocyte respiratory burst.

Amino Acid Sequence

Cloning of a 67-kD neutrophil oxidase factor with similarity to a noncatalytic region of p60c-src.

Chronic granulomatous diseases (CGDs) are characterized by recurrent infections resulting from impaired superoxide production by a phagocytic cell, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (reduced) (NADPH) oxidase. Complementary DNAs were cloned that encode the 67-kilodalton (kD) cytosolic oxidase factor (p67), which is deficient in 5% of CGD patients. Recombinant p67 (r-p67) partially restored NADPH oxidase activity to p67-deficient neutrophil cytosol from these patients. The p67 cDNA encodes a 526-amino acid protein with acidic middle and carboxyl-terminal domains that are similar to a sequence motif found in the noncatalytic domain of src-related tyrosine kinases. This motif was recently noted in phospholipase C-gamma, nonerythroid alpha-spectrin (fodrin), p21ras-guanosine triphophatase-activating protein (GAP), myosin-1 isoforms, yeast proteins cdc-25 and fus-1, and the 47-kD phagocyte oxidase factor (p47), which suggests the possibility of common regulatory features.

Amino Acid Sequence

A disease with immune deficiency, skin abscesses, pancytopenia, abnormal bone marrow karyotype, and increased sister chromatid exchanges: an autosomal recessive chromosome instability syndrome?

A 19-year-old girl is described with microcephaly, short stature, mental retardation, pigmentation of the skin, and recurrent skin abscesses over the whole body. Her elder brother and sister both showed growth and developmental retardation, microcephaly, and anemia. Both died during childhood. Their parents were first cousins. Laboratory studies of the proband revealed hyperchromic erythrocytes with an increased HbF content, thrombocytopenia, an impaired mitogenic response of the PHA-stimulated lymphocytes, and partial impairment of humoral and cellular immunity. She developed pancytopenia in the terminal stage of the disease. Cytogenetic studies of the bone marrow revealed 46,XX, 15p+, -18, +mar karyotype, increased chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges, in cultured lymphocytes and skin fibroblasts. She died at age 20. Thus, the disorder in the patient was deduced as an unclassified chromosomal breakage syndrome with an apparently autosomal recessive inheritance.

Abscess

Genetic variants of chronic granulomatous disease: prevalence of deficiencies of two cytosolic components of the NADPH oxidase system.

Chronic granulomatous disease, a syndrome of recurrent infections and failure of oxidative microbicidal activity in phagocytes, results from defects in the gene for one of several components of an oxidase system that can undergo activation. To determine the relative prevalence of certain of the genetic variants of this disorder, we used immunoblotting to detect two specific neutrophil cytosolic proteins of 47 and 67 kd recently shown to be required for oxidase activation. Chronic granulomatous disease is usually an X-linked disorder associated with the absence of membrane cytochrome b558. Of our 94 patients with chronic granulomatous disease, however, 36 had a phenotype characterized by autosomal inheritance, normal membrane oxidase components (including cytochrome b558), and functionally defective cytosolic activity in a cell-free oxidase system. We studied 25 of these 36 patients and found that 22 lacked the 47-kd cytosolic protein, and the remaining 3 were missing the 67-kd component. Patients with chronic granulomatous disease whose functional defect was localized to the neutrophil membrane (classic X-linked cytochrome b-negative type and two other rare variants) had normal amounts of both cytosolic components. We estimate that approximately 33 percent of all patients with chronic granulomatous disease are missing the 47-kd cytosolic oxidase component and about 5 percent of patients are missing the 67-kd component. Chronic granulomatous disease caused by a defect in any cytosolic factors other than the 47-kd and 67-kd proteins, if it exists, is apparently rare.

Adolescent

Recombinant 47-kilodalton cytosol factor restores NADPH oxidase in chronic granulomatous disease.

A 47-kilodalton neutrophil cytosol factor (NCF-47k), required for activation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase superoxide (O2-.) production, is absent in most patients with autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease (AR-CGD). NCF-47k cDNAs were cloned from an expression library. The largest clone predicted a 41.9-kD protein that contained an arginine and serine-rich COOH-terminal domain with potential protein kinase C phosphorylation sites. A 33-amino acid segment of NCF-47k shared 49% identity with ras p21 guanosine triphosphatase activating protein. Recombinant NCF-47k restored O2-. -producing activity to AR-CGD neutrophil cytosol in a cell-free assay. Production of active recombinant NCF-47k will enable functional regions of this molecule to be mapped.

Amino Acid Sequence

Two forms of autosomal chronic granulomatous disease lack distinct neutrophil cytosol factors.

Chronic granulomatous diseases of childhood (CGD) are a group of disorders of phagocytic cell superoxide (O2.-) production (respiratory burst). Anion exchange chromatography separated from normal neutrophil cytosol a 47-kilodalton neutrophil cytosol factor, NCF-1, that restored activity to defective neutrophil cytosol from most patients with autosomally inherited CGD in a cell-free O2.--generating system. A 65-kilodalton factor, NCF-2, restored activity to defective neutrophil cytosol from one patient with autosomal CGD. NCF-1, NCF-2, and a third cytosol fraction, NCF-3, were inactive alone or in pairs, but together replaced unfractionated cytosol in cell-free O2.- generation. Neutrophils deficient in NCF-1, but not NCF-2, did not phosphorylate the 47-kilodalton protein. It is proposed that NCF-1, NCF-2, and NCF-3 are essential for generation of O2.- by phagocytic cells and that genetic abnormalities of these cytosol components can result in the CGD phenotype.

Blotting, Western

Severe hypoplasia of lymphoid tissues in Mo1 deficiency.

A lymph node was examined from a 4-year-old female child with documented "Mo1" (CR3) deficiency. There was hypoplasia of the lymph node, with small, poorly delineated germinal centers and overall lymphopenia. Retrospective analysis of the clinical course of a decreased elder sister of the index patient indicated that the elder sister probably also had "Mo1" deficiency. Review of findings at autopsy revealed severe hypoplasia of all lymphoid organs with lymphopenia. Our observations suggest that lymphoid tissue hypoplasia may be a feature of CR3 deficiency and is likely a result of the defective lymphocyte adherence functions to endothelium associated with absent lymphocyte function-associated antigen (LFA-1).

Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte

Analysis of cell proteins in lymphoblasts of acute lymphocytic leukemia by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

The two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) method developed by O'Farrell was used to analyze the differences of major proteins between lymphoblasts from children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) at diagnosis (lymphoblasts, n = 6), normal lymphocytes (n = 6) and lymphocytes from children with ALL in complete remission (lymphocytes in CR, n = 12). Among all the spots, those which were deeply stained and large were termed 'major spots'. Their number was 118. Two spots (No. B1 and B2) were characteristic of lymphoblasts, three spots (No. N1-N3) were characteristic of normal lymphocytes. In lymphocytes in CR, the latter spots were not always detected, and furthermore, the former spots were detected in several gels. These findings may relate to the insufficient recovery of functions of lymphocytes in CR. Several spots (No. 6, 55 and 57) in lymphoblasts were remarkably larger than those in normal lymphocytes. Spot No. 67, an actin spot, in lymphoblasts was smaller than that in normal lymphocytes. Spots No. 6, 55 and 57 in lymphocytes in CR were relatively small in size.

Adolescent