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J R Levy

Publications and source records attributed to J R Levy.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Regulation of insulin receptor gene expression. Cell cycle-mediated effects on insulin receptor mRNA stability.

Posttranscriptional mechanisms play important roles in insulin receptor gene regulation; variability in cellular insulin receptor number and the growth arrest-mediated increases in insulin receptor mRNA are secondary to changes in insulin receptor mRNA stability. Therefore, further characterization of the pathways and kinetics of insulin receptor mRNA degradation were investigated. The insulin receptor mRNA in the insulin receptor-rich Hep G2 cells is more stable compared with the insulin receptor-sparse MCF-7 cells. Growth arrest results in a significant rise in insulin receptor mRNA in both cell lines. The increase in mRNA is caused by changes in mRNA stability. The half-life of the insulin receptor mRNA in growth-arrested cells is approximately three times that of proliferating cells. The insulin receptor gene contains four polyadenylation sites that produce four species of mRNA of 5.4, 6.9, 8.0, and 9.4 kilobases (kb). The mRNA species are not coordinately regulated. The ratio of the most abundant species (9.4/6.9) is significantly larger in growth-arrested cells compared with proliferating cells. By utilizing a specific cDNA probe for the 9.4-kb mRNA species, it was determined that the diminished 9.4/6.9 ratio in proliferating cells was caused by a more rapid rate of the 9.4-kb mRNA degradation. The kinetics of insulin receptor mRNA degradation were investigated. Insulin receptor mRNA levels were reduced to 56% of their base line within 6 h when growth-arrested cells were stimulated to proliferate; protein inhibition with cycloheximide completely inhibited the decline in insulin receptor mRNA.

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PubMed1992

Glucocorticoids decrease vitamin D receptor number and gene expression in human osteosarcoma cells.

The mechanisms by which glucocorticoids (GC) inhibit some actions of vitamin D [1,25-(OH)2D3] are not well understood, but there is growing evidence that GC alter vitamin D receptor (VDR) number. We studied the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on VDR number and mRNA in the human osteosarcoma cell line, MG-63. The effects of DEX on 1,25-(OH)2D3 binding were examined by incubating confluent cells overnight in media without or with 10(-6) M DEX. DEX decreased VDR number (B max) by approximately 70% (110 versus 32 fmol/mg cellular protein, p less than 0.001) without significantly changing the apparent affinity (K'D) of 1,25-(OH)2D3 for its receptor (3.8 versus 2.2 x 10(-10) M, p greater than 0.05). Overnight incubation of MG-63 cells with DEX produced a time- and dose-responsive decrease in VDR mRNA compared to untreated controls (p less than 0.01). To determine the mechanism of the DEX-mediated decrease in VDR mRNA, the effect of DEX on VDR mRNA stability was studied. We found that the half-life for the VDR mRNA was approximately 5.7 h and was not significantly changed when the cells were incubated with DEX (approximately 6.3 h). We conclude that DEX decreases both VDR number and mRNA in MG-63 osteosarcoma cells. Since the half-life of VDR mRNA was not significantly modified by dexamethasone, glucocorticoids appear to decrease VDR mRNA by inhibiting VDR gene transcription or by affecting the processing of VDR mRNA.

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PubMed1991

Effects of media conditions, insulin, and dexamethasone on insulin-receptor mRNA and promoter activity in HepG2 cells.

Numerous physiological agents and conditions modulate cellular insulin sensitivity by downregulating or upregulating total cellular insulin receptors. In this study, we examined the effects of replacing complete medium in the absence or presence of insulin on the regulation of insulin-receptor gene expression in cultured human hepatoma cells (HepG2). Failure to replace complete medium resulted in growth arrest of HepG2 cells and a six- to sevenfold increase in insulin-receptor mRNA due to the prolongation of insulin-receptor mRNA half-life. Northern analysis revealed multiple insulin-receptor mRNA species; the largest species (11 kilobases) was disproportionately increased in growth-arrested cells. High concentrations of insulin (500 ng/ml) induced a 33.8% decrease in the abundance of insulin-receptor mRNA (n = 14). At lower concentrations, a trend of inhibition was observed but was not statistically significant. Insulin (500 ng/ml) did not affect insulin-receptor mRNA stability. The effect of conditioned media, insulin, and dexamethasone on insulin-receptor promoter activity was also examined. Various constructs of the 5'-flanking region of the insulin-receptor gene were attached immediately upstream to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene and transiently transfected into HepG2 cells via a pBR322-derived plasmid (pCAT). In cells replaced with complete medium, 12 and 118% of the promoter activity was contained within 578 and 877 base pairs, respectively, from the major translational initiation site. Conditioned media from growth-arrested cells in culture for 7 days increased promoter activity approximately twofold in 48 h. However, this increase failed to localize to any specific region on the insulin-receptor promoter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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PubMed1990

Down-regulated insulin receptors in HepG2 cells have an altered intracellular itinerary.

The delivery of insulin and the insulin receptor into an intracellular compartment may be important for eliciting some of the biologic responses of the cell to the hormone. Internalization of insulin-receptor complexes in cells from hyperinsulinemic type II diabetic patients is diminished, suggesting a possible role for this cellular process in insulin resistance. To examine whether hyperinsulinemia contributes to defective insulin-receptor processing in vitro, cultured hepatoma cells (HepG2) were incubated with high concentrations of (500 ng/ml) insulin from 1-3 days. Insulin induced a decrease in the number of total and surface insulin receptors within 24 hours; however, the hormone did not mediate a change in the number of intracellular receptors. The cellular itinerary of control and down-regulated receptors were then compared. Insulin mediated internalization of down-regulated receptors was impaired compared to control receptors; however, the down-regulated receptors that were internalized recycled back to the plasma membrane more efficiently. By covalently labeling the insulin receptor with the photoactive insulin derivative, 125I-NAPA-DP-insulin, it was demonstrated that the rates of receptor degradation of down-regulated and control receptors were similar. These results suggest that incubating HepG2 cells with high concentrations of insulin alters the cellular itinerary of the insulin receptor.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
PubMed1975

Three variants of concealed bigeminy.

Long electrocardiographic strips were analyzed from five patients who exhibited periods of typical "concealed bigeminy," i. e., recurrent unifocal extrasystoles which were separated from one another by odd numbers of normally conducted sinus beats. However, in each of these patients, there were periods in which one of three different variants of concealed bigeminy was observed. Three patients displayed an "even number" variant; i. e., there were large numbers of consecutive extrasystoles which were separated exclusively or preponderantly by even rather than by odd numbers of sinus beats. One other patient exhibited an "interpolated extrasystole" variant: those interectopic intervals which were initiated by an interpolated extrasystole contained an even number of sinus beats, whereas all other interectopic intervals contained an odd number. In the fifth patient, the distribution of the numbers of sinus beats separating extrasystoles was such as to suggest a periodic fluctuation between the classical forms of concealed bigeminy and concealed trigeminy; i. e., a "combined bigeminy and trigeminy" variant.

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