Biomedical subjects

Jean Chambaz

Publications and source records attributed to Jean Chambaz.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2003

Mutations in PCSK9 cause autosomal dominant hypercholesterolemia.

Autosomal dominant hypercholesterolemia (ADH; OMIM144400), a risk factor for coronary heart disease, is characterized by an increase in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels that is associated with mutations in the genes LDLR (encoding low-density lipoprotein receptor) or APOB (encoding apolipoprotein B). We mapped a third locus associated with ADH, HCHOLA3 at 1p32, and now report two mutations in the gene PCSK9 (encoding proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) that cause ADH. PCSK9 encodes NARC-1 (neural apoptosis regulated convertase), a newly identified human subtilase that is highly expressed in the liver and contributes to cholesterol homeostasis.

Amino Acid Substitution↗

PubMed2003

Apolipoprotein A-II: beyond genetic associations with lipid disorders and insulin resistance.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Apolipoprotein A-II, the second major HDL apolipoprotein, was often considered of minor importance relatively to apolipoprotein A-I and its role was controversial. This picture is now rapidly changing, due to novel polymorphisms and mutations, to the outcome of clinical trials, and to studies with transgenic mice. RECENT FINDINGS: The -265 T/C polymorphism supports a role for apolipoprotein A-II in postprandial very-low-density lipoprotein metabolism. Fibrates, which increase apolipoprotein A-II synthesis, significantly decrease the incidence of major coronary artery disease events, particularly in subjects with low HDL cholesterol, high plasma triglyceride, and high body weight. The comparison of transgenic mice overexpressing human or murine apolipoprotein A-II has highlighted major structural differences between the two proteins; they have opposite effects on HDL size, apolipoprotein A-I content, plasma concentration, and protection from oxidation. Human apolipoprotein A-II is more hydrophobic, displaces apolipoprotein A-I from HDL, accelerates apolipoprotein A-I catabolism, and its plasma concentration is decreased by fasting. Apolipoprotein A-II stimulates ATP binding cassette transporter 1-mediated cholesterol efflux. Human and murine apolipoprotein A-II differently affect glucose metabolism and insulin resistance. A novel beneficial role for apolipoprotein A-II in the pathogenesis of hepatitis C virus has been shown. SUMMARY: The hydrophobicity of human apolipoprotein A-II is a key regulatory factor of HDL metabolism. Due to the lower plasma apolipoprotein A-II concentration during fasting, measurements of apolipoprotein A-II in fed subjects are more relevant. More clinical studies are necessary to clarify the role of apolipoprotein A-II in well-characterized subsets of patients and in the insulin resistance syndrome.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Apoptotic neuronal cell death induced by the non-fibrillar amyloid-beta peptide proceeds through an early reactive oxygen species-dependent cytoskeleton perturbation.

In the present study, we have determined the nature and the kinetics of the cellular events triggered by the exposure of cells to non-fibrillar amyloid-beta peptide (A beta). When cortical neurons were treated with low concentrations of soluble A beta (1-40), an early reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent cytoskeleton disruption precedes caspase activation. Indeed, caspase activation and neuronal cell death were prevented by the microtubule-stabilizing drug taxol. A perturbation of the microtubule network was noticeable after being exposed to A beta for 1 h, as revealed by electron microscopy and immunocytochemistry. Microtubule disruption and neuronal cell death induced by A beta were inhibited in the presence of antioxidant molecules, such as probucol. These data highlight the critical role of ROS production in A beta-mediated cytoskeleton disruption and neuronal cell death. Finally, using FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photo bleaching) analysis, we observed a time-dependent biphasic modification of plasma membrane fluidity, as early as microtubule disorganization. Interestingly, molecules that inhibited neurotubule perturbation and cell death did not affect the membrane destabilizing properties of A beta, suggesting that the lipid phase of the plasma membrane might represent the earliest target for A beta. Altogether our results convey the idea that upon interaction with the plasma membrane, the non-fibrillar A beta induces a rapid ROS-dependent disorganization of the cytoskeleton, which results in apoptosis.

Amyloid beta-Peptides↗

PubMed2002

Restriction of apolipoprotein A-IV gene expression to the intestine villus depends on a hormone-responsive element and parallels differential expression of the hepatic nuclear factor 4alpha and gamma isoforms.

The apoA-I/C-III/A-IV gene cluster, like most intestine-specific genes, displays a specific pattern of expression along the intestinal cephalocaudal and crypt-to-villus axes. We have shown that this specific pattern of expression requires the distal apoA-IV promoter and the apoC-III enhancer. Using a new set of transgenic mice, we demonstrate here that the restriction of apoA-IV gene transcription to villus enterocytes requires a hormone-responsive element (HRE) located within the apoA-IV distal promoter. We showed, using nuclear extracts from villus or crypt epithelial cells, that this HRE bound the transcription factor hepatic nuclear factor 4 (HNF-4). We also found that the HNF-4gamma isoform was produced only in the villus, whereas the HNF-4alpha isoform was produced along the entire length of the crypt-to-villus axis. Our results demonstrate that the HRE of the distal apoA-IV promoter is responsible for the restriction of gene expression to villus epithelial cells and that this HRE binds HNF-4 isoforms. The in vivo observation of parallel gradients for apoA-IV and HNF-4gamma gene expression raises questions concerning whether this transcription factor plays a specific role in the control of enterocyte differentiation.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Resistance of colon cancer cells to long-term 5-fluorouracil exposure is correlated to the relative level of Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L) in addition to Bax and p53 status.

Defects in apoptosis have been implicated in chemoresistance of colon cancer cells. We report here the ability to resist to 5-fluorouracil-induced apoptosis of 8 colon cancer cell lines differing in p53 and bax status: p53(-/0)bax(+/+) for TC7, SW480, HT-29; p53(+/+)bax(-/-) for LS174T, LoVo; p53(+/+) bax(+/-) for HCT116; p53(+/+) or p53(+/0)bax(+/+) for LS513 or HCT-EB, respectively. To approximate to the in vivo therapy, the cell lines were exposed to a long-term treatment of 5-FU. The analysis of proteins implicated in the apoptotic pathway has shown that the independent analysis of p53 or bax status was not sufficient to predict the extent of drug-resistance of all cell lines. In p53(+/+) cell lines but not in p53(-/0) cell lines, a low level of the pro-apoptotic Bax protein was correlated with a greater resistance of cells to 5-FU. In addition, we found that high levels of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-x(L) proteins combined with a low level of Bax were correlated to high 5-FU resistance of wild-type p53 cell lines. The same correlation was obtained for 2 out of 3 mutated p53 cell lines. In conclusion, the relative levels of Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L) and Bax may altogether contribute to determine the resistance of a majority of colon tumor cells to long-term 5-FU treatment, whatever their p53 status.

Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic↗

PubMed2002

Opposite effects of plasma from human apolipoprotein A-II transgenic mice on cholesterol efflux from J774 macrophages and Fu5AH hepatoma cells.

Overexpression of human apolipoprotein A-II (hapo A-II) in transgenic mice (hAIItg mice) induced marked hypertriglyceridemia and low levels of plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) with a high hapo A-II content. We sought to determine whether cholesterol efflux to plasma and HDL from these mice would be affected. In the Fu5AH cell system, plasma from hAIItg mice induced a markedly lower cholesterol efflux than did control plasma, in accordance with the dependence of efflux on HDL concentration. Moreover, HDLs from hAIItg mice were less effective acceptors than were control HDLs. In the J774 macrophage cell system, pretreatment with cAMP, which upregulates ATP binding cassette transporter 1, induced a marked increase in the efflux to hAIItg plasma as well as to purified hapo A-I and hapo A-II, whereas it had no effect on cholesterol efflux to control plasma. A strong positive correlation was established between percent cAMP stimulation of efflux and plasma hapo A-II concentration. The cAMP stimulation of efflux to hAIItg mouse plasma may be linked to the presence of pre-beta migrating HDL containing hapo A-II. Thus, despite lower HDL and apolipoprotein A-I contents, the increased ability of plasma from hAIItg mice to extract cholesterol from macrophage-like cells may have an antiatherogenic influence.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter 1↗

PubMed2002

Two initiator-like elements are required for the combined activation of the human apolipoprotein C-III promoter by upstream stimulatory factor and hepatic nuclear factor-4.

Human apoC-III (-890/+24) promoter activity is strongly activated by hepatic nuclear factor (HNF)-4 through its binding to the proximal (-87/-72) element B. This site overlaps the binding site for an activity that we identified as the ubiquitously expressed upstream stimulatory factor (USF) (Ribeiro, A., Pastier, D., Kardassis, D., Chambaz, J., and Cardot, P. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 1216-1225). In the present study, we characterized the relationship between USF and HNF-4 in the activation of human apoC-III transcription. Although USF and HNF-4 binding to element B is mutually exclusive, co-transfection experiments in HepG2 cells surprisingly showed a combined effect of USF and HNF-4 in the transactivation of the (-890/+24) apoC-III promoter. This effect only requires the proximal region (-99/+24) of the apoC-III promoter and depends neither on USF binding to its cognate site in element B nor on a USF-dependent facilitation of HNF-4 binding to its site. By contrast, we found by electrophoretic mobility shift assay and footprinting analysis two USF low affinity binding sites, located within the proximal promoter at positions -58/-31 (element II) and -19/-4 (element I), which are homologous to initiator-like element sequence. Co-transfection experiments in HepG2 cells show that a mutation in element II reduces 2-fold the USF transactivation effect on the proximal promoter of apoC-III and that a mutation in element I inhibits the combined effect of USF and HNF-4. In conclusion, these initiator-like elements are directly involved in the transactivation of the apoC-III promoter by USF and are necessary to the combined effect between USF and HNF-4 for the apoC-III transcription.

Apolipoprotein C-III↗

PubMed2002

Integrin-mediated functional polarization of Caco-2 cells through E-cadherin--actin complexes.

Enterocyte differentiation is a dynamic process during which reinforcement of cell-cell adhesion favours migration along the crypt-to-villus axis. Functional polarization of Caco-2 cells, the most commonly used model to study intestinal differentiation, is assessed by dome formation and tightness of the monolayer and is under the control of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Furthermore, our biochemical and confocal microscopy data demonstrate that the ECM dramatically reinforces E-cadherin targeting to the upper lateral membrane, formation of the apical actin cytoskeleton and its colocalization with E-cadherin in functional complexes. In our model, these effects were produced by native laminin-5-enriched ECM as well as by type IV collagen or laminin 2, which suggests a common pathway of induction through integrin receptors. Indeed, these effects were antagonized by blocking anti-beta1- and anti-alpha6-integrin antibodies and directly induced by a stimulating anti-beta1-integrin antibody. These results demonstrate that integrin-dependent cell to ECM adhesion reinforces E-cadherin-dependent cell-cell adhesion in Caco-2 cells and further support the notion that enterocyte differentiation is supported by a molecular crosstalk between the two adhesion systems of the cell.

Actins↗