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J Tschopp

Publications and source records attributed to J Tschopp.

263 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Antigen-independent binding of IgG dimers to C 1 q as studied by sedimentation equilibrium, complement fixation and electron microscopy.

Rabbit anti-SII pneumococcal polysaccharide IgG antibody was cross-linked by dithiobis (succinimidyl propionate). The IgG dimers were visualized by electronmicroscopy and resembled two Y-shaped structures connected in random orientations. The three arms of the Y's were of equal length. The six globular domains of the IgG protomers could be seen, but the Fab arms and Fc stems could not be distinguished from each other. Electron microscopy revealed that the dimers were bound to the globular heads of C 1 q. From the dependence of thee weight average molecular weight on dimer concentration, and equilibrium constant of about 10(6) M(-1) was derived for the binding of dimers to C 1 q. The number of IgG dimers which could be accommodated at a single C 1 q molecule was derived to be three. The data do not allow a clear distinction between noncooperative and cooperative binding. The binding equilibrium was independent of whether the IgG dimers were liganded with an SII nonasaccharide hapten or not. The results are at variance with an allosteric mechanism of the action of antigen in C1 activation. They lend support to the association hypothesis of complement activation. The data suggest that clusters of about six IgG molecules, connected by a multivalent antigen or arranged at the cell surface, are recognized by C 1 q with a binding constant of about 10(10) M(-1).

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Kinetics of the cooperative association of T4 tail sheath protein P18 to polysheaths.

The polymerization of the monomeric sheath protein P18 to polysheath was followed by light scattering in 1 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7 at a MgCl2 concentration of 5 mM. Sigmoidal kinetics were observed in the case of spontaneous nucleation. These were well fitted by a mechanism involving a slow nucleation step (rate constant kN = 10(-2) M-1 S-1) followed by propagation steps (k = 10(5) M-1 S-1) in which P18 protomers are added to the ends of the polysheath particles. When sonicated polysheaths or contracted sheaths were added as seeds exponential time courses were observed. From the pseudo first order rate constant and the concentration of seeds the above value for the rate constant of propagation was confirmed. The ability of contracted sheaths to nucleate polysheath formation lends support to the conclusion that polysheaths and contracted sheaths have identical structures and differ in their length distributions only. These were measured from electromicrographs and from the distribution of sedimentation coefficients. Poisson type, kinetically controlled size distributions were found after polymerization of polysheath. An extremely slow redistribution towards an exponential distribution was detected. The spontaneous slow formation of polysheaths is much slower than the formation of extended sheath are core baseplates. Extended sheath is a metastable assembly produce of P18 which either dissociates of contracts to form contracted sheath. Polysheaths and contracted sheaths are extremely stable products but their immediate formation is hindered by high nucleation difficulties.

Kinetics↗
PubMed1980

Assembly of subcomponents C1r and C1s of first component of complement: electron microscopic and ultracentrifugal studies.

Monomeric C1s (Mr, 85,000; s20,w, 4.3S), a subcomponent of first component of complement (C1), the dimer (Mr, 170,000; s20,w, 6.7 S) of C1r, another subcomponent, and the tetrameric complex (C1r,C1s)2 (Mr, 340,000; s20,w, 8.7 S) are elongated molecules. Hydrodynamic equivalents of cylindrical shape have a diameter of 3.3 nm and lengths of 20 nm for C1s, 36 nm for (C1r)2, and 64 nm for (C1r,C1s)2. In electron micrographs the C1r,C1s complex appears as a chain composed of six to eight globular domains with a contour length of 51 nm. A structure is proposed in which (C1r)2 forms a core to which C1s protomers are associated at both ends. The C1 complex (s20,w, 16.3 S) reconstituted from C1q, C1r, and C1s dissociates under the conditions used for electron microscopy. Some features of the C1 complex are revealed in the dissociation products.

Centrifugation, Density Gradient↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Structural and functional characterization of complement C8 gamma, a member of the lipocalin protein family.

Human complement component C8 exhibits an unusual structure in that it contains three chains, two of which, alpha and beta, display high sequence homology to other complement and CTL pore-forming proteins. The third chain, C8 gamma, is covalently linked to C8 alpha by a disulfide linkage; it is demonstrated that Cys40 of C8 gamma is linked to Cys164 of C8 alpha, a unique cysteine located in a loop located between the cysteine-rich LDL-receptor class A module and the membrane-inserting region of C8 alpha. C8 gamma was recently identified as a member of the lipocalin protein family, in which all proteins were either shown to, or are believed to bind small hydrophobic ligands. The present results now demonstrate that C8 gamma incorporates retinol and retinoic acid in the presence of 2 M NaCl. Molecular modeling of C8 gamma, based on the crystal structure of the homologous beta-lactoglobulin, reveals a structure of eight antiparallel beta-strands, bearing a highly hydrophobic binding pocket. The residues participating in the pocket formation are highly conserved when compared with the structures of beta-lactoglobulin and retinol-binding protein, both of which are known to interact with retinol. It is therefore proposed that C8 gamma may act as a retinol transporting protein in plasma.

Alpha-Globulins↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Structural/functional similarity between proteins involved in complement- and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis.

Cytolysis mediated by complement or cytolytic lymphocytes results in the formation of morphology similar lesions in the target membrane. These lesions, formed by the polymerization of C9 or perforin respectively, contribute the major killing action by causing osmotic lysis of the target cell. Following the suggestion of Mayer that the mechanisms of humoral and cell-mediated cytotoxicity might be related, studies into the morphology of the membrane lesions formed, and the proteins responsible for causing the lesions, have shown several similarities. While the lesion caused by natural and T-killer cells is a little larger than that caused by complement, its overall shape is similar and in both cases the cylindrical pore is formed by polymerization of a monomeric subunit, C9 (relative molecular mass, Mr = 71,000) for complement, and perforin (Mr = 66,000) for cell-mediated cytotoxicity. C9 has an absolute requirement for a receptor in the target membrane formed by the earlier membrane attack complex components, C5b, C6, C7 and C8 (ref. 8). For perforin, polymerization in a target membrane requires no receptor, specificity being derived from the specific recognition between killer and target cell. Both proteins can be made to polymerize in vitro by the addition of divalent cations (Zn2+ for C9 (ref. 16) and Ca2+ for perforin) and the resultant complexes closely resemble their physiological counterparts. Antibodies raised against lymphocyte-killed targets have also been shown to cross-react with complement proteins, but the antigenically related proteins were not determined in these studies. We show here using purified proteins that perforin, C9 and complexes involving C7 and C8 share a common antigenic determinant which is probably involved in polymerization.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dissection of functional domains in Bcl-2 alpha by site-directed mutagenesis.

Bcl-2 alpha is a mitochondrial or perinuclear-associated oncoprotein that prolongs the life span of a variety of cell types by interfering with programmed cell death. How Bcl-2 confers cell survival is unknown, although antioxidant and antiprotease functions have been proposed. In addition, protein structures of Bcl-2 that are crucial for its survival activity are still ill-defined. Bcl-2 can occur as Bcl-2 alpha or Bcl-2 beta, two alternatively spliced forms which solely differ in their carboxyl termini. The finding that Bcl-2 alpha is active and membrane bound, but Bcl-2 beta is inactive and cytosolic, indicates that the carboxyl terminus contributes to the survival activity of Bcl-2. This region contains two subdomains, a domain X with unknown function and a hydrophobic stretch reported to mediate membrane association of Bcl-2 alpha. Recently Bcl-2-related proteins have been identified. These include Bax that heterodimerizes with Bcl-2 and, when overexpressed, counteracts Bcl-2. Bax contains two highly conserved regions of sequence homology with Bcl-2, referred to as Bcl-2 homology 1 and 2 (BH1 and BH2) domains. Site-directed mutagenesis studies have revealed that both domains are not only novel dimerization motifs for the interaction of Bax with Bcl-2 but also crucial for the survival activity of Bcl-2. Interestingly, the C-terminal end of BH2 encompasses the Bcl-2 alpha/beta splice site, as well as part of domain X in Bcl-2 alpha.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Contribution of TNF/TNF receptor and of Fas ligand to toxicity in murine models of endotoxemia and bacterial peritonitis.

Fas/Fas ligand and TNF/TNF receptors are involved in apoptosis. Whether both systems are involved in septic shock has not been determined so far. We investigated the role of TNF/TNFR and Fas/Fas ligand in models of endotoxemia and of speticemia in mice. Upon LPS challenge, TNF and TNFR p55 were involved in the process inducing lethality. FasL did not contribute to enhance lethality, as evidenced in gld mice, lacing FasL. Following an intraperitoneal injection of live E. coli, TNF and TNFR p55 were necessary to combat infection. Disruption of either gene was associated with enhanced lethality and failure to clear the bacteria. No effect observed in gld mice in this peritonitis model. Thus, these observations confirmed the pathogenic role of TNF/TNFR in endotoxemia and its beneficial role in local bacterial infections. In addition the data ruled out a major role for Fas/FasL in septic shock in mice.

Animals↗