Rheumatoid arthritis after human parvovirus B19 infection.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Sugamura.
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Human parvovirus B19 (B19) DNA was detected in the synovial tissues in 30 of 39 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and infrequently in those with osteoarthritis and traumatic joints. On the other hand, the expression of the B19 antigen VP-1 was specific (27/27) in RA synovium with active synovial lesions, but not in osteoarthritis and controls. The target cells of B19 were macrophages, follicular dendritic cells, T cells, and B cells, but not synovial lining cells in the synovium. B19-negative bone marrow cells, tonsil cells, and macrophage cell line U-937 cells became positive for the expression of VP-1, and more productive for interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha when cocultured with RA synovial cells. The expression of VP-1 and the production of interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha was significantly inhibited by the addition of neutralizing antibody for B19, suggesting that B19 detected in RA synovial cells is infective. B19 is involved in the initiation and perpetuation of RA synovitis, leading to joint lesions.
We investigated the molecular mechanism of transcriptional activation of the gp34 gene by the Tax oncoprotein of human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I). gp34 is a type II transmembrane molecule belonging to the tumor necrosis factor family and is constitutively expressed on HTLV-I-producing cells but not normal resting T cells. The transcriptional regulatory region of the gp34 gene was activated by HTLV-I Tax in the human T cell line Jurkat, in which endogenous gp34 is induced by Tax. Sequence analysis demonstrated that two NF-kappaB-like elements (1 and 2) were present in the regulatory region. Both NF-kappaB-like elements were able to bind to NF-kappaB or its related factor(s) in a Tax-dependent manner. Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase assays indicated that NF-kappaB-like element 1 was Tax-responsive, although the activity was lower than that the native promoter. NF-kappaB-like element 2 elevated promoter activity when combined with NF-kappaB-like element 1, indicating cooperative function of the elements for maximum promoter function. Unlike typical NF-kappaB elements, the NF-kappaB-like elements in gp34 were not activated by treatment of Jurkat cells with phorbol ester despite induction of the NF-kappaB-like binding activity. Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter assays using the region upstream of the NF-kappaB-like elements identified an upstream region that reduced transcription from cognate and noncognate core promoters in a Tax-independent manner. Our results imply complex regulation of expression of the gp34 gene and suggest implication of gp34 in proliferation of HTLV-I infected T cells.
We assayed IL-6 in 105 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with ALS, MS, HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (HAM), and controls. There was considerable overlap in IL-6 levels in all patient groups. The mean IL-6 in 27 patients with ALS was significantly higher than in 21 patients in the other neurological disease (OND) group (P=0.0075). There were no significant differences in MS or HAM and the OND control group. Overall, CSF IL-6 correlated with protein concentration but not with percentage IgG or IgG-albumin index. Patients with CSF oligoclonal bands were no more likely to have detectable IL-6 than patients without oligoclonal bands. Similarly, IL-6 did not correlate with clinical disease activity in MS when subgroups of patients were compared or when an individual patient was followed over time. The elevated IL-6 in ALS may reflect an ongoing humoral immune response, or IL-6 may be non-specifically expressed in these patients as a putative neurotrophic factor in response to nerve cell degeneration.
We investigated the occurrence of apoptotic cell death in 104 colorectal carcinomas by terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP-diotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) to determine whether apoptosis could be a useful prognostic factor. The apoptotic index (AI) was calculated as the percentage of positive cancer cells per 1,000 cancer cells, the median AI being 4.1, with a range of 1.9-4.7. Apoptosis was less frequently observed in tumors with higher malignant potential, such as those at advanced stages Dukes B, C and D, than those at Dukes stage A (P < 0.05); in tumors showing evidence of moderate differentiation than in well-differentiated tumors (P < 0.05); and in tumors with venous invasion or lymph node metastasis than in those without these features (P < 0.05). Moreover, the subgroup of patients with a low AI of < 4.1 had a significantly poorer survival rate than the subgroup with a high AI in tumors at Dukes stage C, the 5-year survival rates being 33% vs 68% (P < 0.05; Cox-Mantel). Our findings suggest that less apoptosis might result in a greater progression of colorectal carcinoma, and that the rate of apoptosis might be an indicator of the degree of malignancy. Thus it would appear that the frequency of apoptosis in tumor cells could be a useful prognostic factor in colorectal carcinoma.
OBJECTIVES: to clarify the approximation of the frequency of B19-related nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF), and to know the critical period during which maternal infection led to NIHF. METHODS: we investigated the characteristics of 10 cases of antenatal B19 infection diagnosed over the past 10 years in Miyagi prefecture, Japan, and performed a meta-analysis of these cases and those previously reported in the literature. RESULTS: NIHF caused by intrauterine B19 infection was diagnosed between 11 and 23 weeks of gestation in 10 women over the past 10 years in Miyagi prefecture, Japan. The source of infection was the mother's older child in six out of 10 cases, and children at a kindergarten where the mothers worked in two cases. The interval between the onset of infection and the diagnosis of NIHF ranged from 2 to 6 weeks. B19 infection was responsible for 10 (15.2%) in 66 cases of aetiology unknown NIHF in this study, and for 57 (19.1%) of 299 cases of non-malformed or aetiology-unknown NIHF by meta-analysis of the literature. Meta-analysis of the 165 reported cases of antenatal B19 infection, including the 10 cases described above, showed that there was a 10.2% excess risk of fetal death in women infected with B19 during pregnancy and a 12.40% excess risk in women infected during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Transplacental transmission was confirmed in 69 (24.1%) of 286 cases. The mean gestational age at diagnosis of NIHF was 22.8 +/- 5.1 weeks. The mean interval between the onset of maternal infection and diagnosis of NIHF was 6.2 +/- 3.7 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: these approximations will be useful for counselling and management for pregnant women. The critical period during which maternal infection led to NIHF correlated with the hepatic period of hematopoietic activity. These findings suggest that parvovirus B19 may have an affinity for erythroid lineage cells at the hepatic stage of hematopoiesis, which may strongly influence the clinical features of feto-maternal B19 infection.
The IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) gamma chain, the so-called common gamma (gamma(c)) chain, which is shared with multiple cytokine receptors, plays important roles in the immune system. Here we assessed the immunosuppressive ability of mAb specific for the gamma(c) chain in induction of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and allograft rejection in combination with mAb specific for the alpha and beta chains of IL-2R. CBA/N (H-2k) mice were injected i.p. with allogeneic splenocytes from BALB/c (H-2d) mice, and then administered with combinations of anti-IL-2R alpha, anti-IL-2R beta and anti-gamma(c) mAb or a control mAb. Addition of anti-gamma(c) mAb together with anti-IL-2R alpha and anti-IL-2R beta mAb induced a complete inhibition of CTL response. The numbers and populations of CD4+ CD8- and CD4- CD8+ T cells were not significantly affected by administration of the three anti-IL-2R mAb, whereas NK cells were completely depleted in spleens of mice treated with the anti-IL-2R mAb. Furthermore, skin allograft survival was also significantly prolonged by administration of the three anti-IL-2R mAb. These results suggest that the anti-gamma(c) mAb in combination with anti-IL-2R alpha and anti-IL-2R beta mAb is capable of suppressing induction of CTL and NK cells, resulting in prolongation of skin allograft survival.
Infection of erythroid-lineage cells by human parvovirus B19 is characterized by a gradual cytocidal effect. Accumulating evidence now implicates the nonstructural (NS1) protein of the virus in cytotoxicity, but the mechanism underlying the NS1-induced cell death is not known. Using a stringent regulatory system, we demonstrate that NS1 cytotoxicity is closely related to apoptosis, as evidenced by cell morphology, genomic DNA fragmentation, and cell cycle analysis with the human erythroleukemia cell line K562 and the erythropoietin-dependent megakaryocytic cell line UT-7/Epo. Apoptosis was significantly inhibited by an interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta)-converting enzyme (ICE)/CED-3 family protease inhibitor, Ac-DEVD-CHO (CPP32; caspase 3), whereas a similar inhibitor of ICE (caspase 1), Ac-YVAD-CHO, had no effect. Furthermore, stable expression of the human Bcl-2 proto-oncogene resulted in near-total protection from cell death in response to NS1 induction. Mutations engineered into the nucleoside triphosphate-binding domain of NS1 significantly rescued cells from NS1-induced apoptosis without having any effect on NS1-induced activation of the IL-6 gene expression which is mediated by NF-kappaB. Furthermore, using pentoxifylline, an inhibitor of NF-kappaB activation, we demonstrate that the NF-kappaB-mediated IL-6 activation by NS1 is uncoupled from the apoptotic pathway. This functional dissection indicates a complexity underlying the biochemical function of human parvovirus NS1 in transcriptional activation and induction of apoptosis. Our findings indicate that NS1 of parvovirus B19 induces cell death by apoptosis in at least erythroid-lineage cells by a pathway that involves caspase 3, whose activation may be a key event during NS1-induced cell death.
Viral arthritis occurs transiently in most cases, because the infection is self limiting. The arthropathy associated with human parvovirus B19, however, often lasts for more than 2 years and their clinical symptoms may resemble with those of rheumatoid arthritis. Data have been accumulating for the link of B19 infection with chronic polyarthropathy or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and we discuss the possible mechanism for the role of B19 in the etiopathology of RA.
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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of new ELISA for human parvovirus B19 (B19) antibodies and PCR for the diagnosis of acute onset of B19 polyarthritis. METHODS: We evaluated the reproducibility and sensitivity on the detection of anti-B19 antibody by ELISA using recombinant VP-1 and VP-2 (empty particle), and then studied for the prevalence of IgM and IgG B19 antibody in 125 samples for anti-B19 tests. The random study on anti-B19 antibody assay as well as PCR for B19-DNA was also performed in 130 cases with acute onset of arthritis excluding those with known origins, 224 with rheumatoid arthritis and 149 with other categories. RESULTS: The results by using B19-empty particle ELISA were reproducible and showed the assay was a sensitive way for clinical use. IgM anti-B19 antibodies were positive not only in all samples from erythema infectiosum, but also often in those from hemolytic anemia, pure red cell aplasia, fetal hydrops, hepatic injury, fever of unknown origin. Among 130 with acute onset of arthritis, 21 showed positive tests for IgM anti-B19 antibody and/or B19 DNA. On the other hand, 4 among 224 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were positive for IgM anti-B19 antibody, but all of 149 in control group were negative for IgM anti-B19 antibodies and for B19 DNA. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: Anti-B19 ELISA using B19-empty particle which has been introduced as a routine test system, is a useful tool for the diagnosis of acute onset of B19 arthritis. An additional examination using PCR for B19 DNA may contribute for understanding persistent B19 polyarthritis or reactivation of B19 infection.
We previously reported a new type of signal-transducing adaptor molecule, STAM, which was shown to be involved in cytokine-mediated intracellular signal transduction. In this study, we molecularly cloned a 110-kDa phosphotyrosine protein inducible by stimulation with interleukin 2 (IL-2). The 110-kDa molecule was found to be a human counterpart of mouse Hrs (hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate) and to be associated with STAM. Tyrosine phosphorylation of Hrs is induced rapidly after stimulation with IL-2 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor as well as hepatocyte growth factor. The mutual association sites of Hrs and STAM include highly conserved coiled-coil sequences, suggesting that their association is mediated by the coiled-coil structures. Exogenous introduction of the wild-type Hrs significantly suppressed DNA synthesis upon stimulation with IL-2 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, while the Hrs mutant deleted of the STAM-binding site lost such suppressive ability. These results suggest that Hrs counteracts the STAM function which is critical for cell growth signaling mediated by the cytokines.
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The gamma chain in the high-affinity receptor complex for interleukin 2(IL-2) is used in receptor complexes for IL-4 and IL-7. We examined expression and function of the gamma chain in trophoblast cells. Flow cytometric studies demonstrated that the human placental cell line and choriocarcinoma cell lines expressed the IL-2R gamma chain. None of these cell lines expressed the IL-2R alpha and beta chains, whereas the alpha chains of IL-4R and IL-7R were present. The gamma chain and IL-4R and IL-7R mRNA were detected in human placental trophoblasts by the in situ hybridization method. The release of human chorionic gonadotropin by trophoblasts was accelerated by IL-4 and IL-7 in a concentration-dependent manner. These findings indicate that IL-4 and IL-7 are involved in trophoblast function.
BACKGROUND: It has been reported that anticancer drugs induce apoptosis, thus it is considered that apoptosis may be important in cancer chemotherapy. The authors examined whether the administration of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) enhanced apoptosis of gastric carcinoma cells, and investigated the relationship between apoptosis and the expression of Ki-67 and the Bax gene. METHODS: Twenty patients with gastric carcinoma were divided into 2 groups. Ten patients received continuous intravenous 5-FU at 500 mg/body weight/day for 7 days preoperatively whereas the other 10 did not receive any chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and served as controls. For detection of apoptotic cells, apoptotic indices were examined by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) method. The expression of Ki-67 and the Bax gene were examined by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Apoptosis of gastric carcinoma cells increased significantly to 6.1 +/- 3.6% in the 5-FU-treated group compared with the controls (3.2 +/- 1.8%; P < 0.05). The level of expression of Ki-67, a marker of cell proliferation, was inversely correlated with the extent of TUNEL staining that was specific for apoptosis. The percentage of cells that were immunopositive for Ki-67 fell to 50.8 +/- 7.3% of the apoptotic area in the 5-FU-treated group compared with 57.5 +/- 6.9% in the controls (P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between frequency of apoptotic cells and the level of expression of the Bax gene. CONCLUSIONS: The authors demonstrated enhanced apoptosis in gastric tumors after continuous intravenous infusion of 5-FU for 7 days. This result suggests that it may be possible to evaluate the effects of chemotherapy by detecting apoptotic cells.
We have observed that CD4 T lymphocytes from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients marginally express interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) beta and IL-2R gamma chains which are essential for IL-2 signal transduction. To analyze this observation further, we studied the influence of gp120 on the cell surface expression of IL-2R beta and IL-2R gamma by purified CD4 lymphocytes in vitro. Cross-linking of the T cell receptors of these lymphocytes initiates entry into the cell cycle as measured by CD69 and CD71 cell surface expression and [3H]thymidine incorporation. It also induces the cell surface expression of IL-2R beta and IL-2R gamma. We have shown that treatment of the CD4 T lymphocytes with HIV-1 gp120 before anti-CD3 stimulation impedes cell cycle progression as measured by reduced CD71 expression and inhibition of [3H]thymidine incorporation. Furthermore, cell surface expression of IL-2R beta and IL-2R gamma subunits, which from the functional intermediate-affinity IL-2R, are significantly inhibited. More importantly, addition of exogenous IL-2 does not restore the proliferation of the CD4 T cells treated with gp120, suggesting that cells are anergic and/or that the remaining IL-2R are not functional. This is the first study of IL-2R beta and IL-2R gamma dysregulation in the context of HIV infection and shows that CD4 is also involved in IL-2R expression.
We previously identified a putative signal transducing adaptor molecule, named STAM, that contains an Src homology 3 (SH3) domain and immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM). In this report, we demonstrate the functional significance of STAM in cytokine-mediated signal transduction. STAM is associated with Jak3 and Jak2 tyrosine kinases via its ITAM region and phosphorylated by Jak3 and Jak2 upon stimulation with IL-2 and GM-CSF, respectively. An SH3 deletion mutant of STAM confers a dominant-negative effect on DNA synthesis mediated by IL-2 and GM-CSF. Furthermore, the wild-type STAM, but not STAM mutants deleted of SH3 and ITAM, significantly enhances c-myc induction mediated by IL-2 and GM-CSF. These results strongly implicate STAM in the signaling pathways for cell growth and c-myc induction immediately downstream of the Jaks associated with the cytokine receptors.