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R S Haun

Publications and source records attributed to R S Haun.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Establishment of a cholecystokinin-producing rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line.

A rat medullary thyroid carcinoma, which was previously shown to produce high levels of immunoreactive cholecystokinin (CCK), was used to establish a stable cell line. Transplantable tumors were subjected to four series of alternate in vitro and in vivo passages. Cells were prepared from the fourth series of tumors under serum-free medium conditions that prevent fibroblast growth. Subcloning of these cells yielded several propagatable clonal cell lines. One cell line with immunoreactive CCK-8 production was selected for further studies. This high CCK cell line, WE4/2, produces and secretes a CCK-immunoreactive product that coelutes with synthetic CCK-8 sulfate during Sephadex chromatography and HPLC. Northern analysis with a rat CCK cDNA revealed that the cultured cells produce a CCK RNA the same size and with the same 5' end as that previously reported for brain and intestines. In addition, a recombinant plasmid containing about 800 basepairs of 5' flanking sequence of the rat CCK gene linked to the coding sequence of the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene elicited a high level of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity when transfected into the WE4/2 cell line. Therefore, the WE4/2 cell line provides a model system for studying CCK gene expression and biosynthesis.

Animals↗

A gene encoding rat cholecystokinin. Isolation, nucleotide sequence, and promoter activity.

The gene for rat cholecystokinin (CCK) was isolated from a rat genomic DNA library. The transcription unit spans 7 kilobases and is interrupted by two introns. The initiator methionine codon lies 2 bases into exon 2; therefore, exon 1 is a noncoding exon. The transcription initiation site was determined using avian myeloblastosis reverse transcriptase, a cDNA primer, and mRNA isolated from a rat medullary thyroid carcinoma. A "TATA"-like sequence precedes the transcription initiation site at position -34. The polyadenylation site for the gene was mapped by a nuclease protection assay using a cRNA generated by transcription of the exon 3 region of the CCK gene with SP6 bacteriophage RNA polymerase. The sequence AT-TAAA is found 22 bases 5' to the site determined to be the polyadenylation addition site. Two regions of simple repetitive DNA occur within the CCK lambda clone, one within intron 2 and the other 4 kilobases 3' to the gene. Sequence analysis of the repetitive element 3' distal to the gene revealed two copies of the sequence 5'-(AC)n-3', where n is 22 and 25. A 114-base pair sequence of predominantly repeating purine-pyrimidine nucleotides separates these two d(AC) repeats. Transcriptional control elements were investigated by fusing regions of the CCK gene to the structural gene encoding chloramphenicol acetyltransferase. Promoter activity was determined by transfecting COS-7 cells with plasmids containing the gene fusions, followed by determining chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity in cellular extracts. The region necessary for expression of the CCK gene fusions in COS-7 cells is within 144 bases 5' to the initiation of transcription.

Animals↗

Cloning and sequence analysis of a cDNA encoding rat preprocholecystokinin.

Poly(A) RNA was isolated from a rat medullary thyroid carcinoma that exhibited high levels of immunoreactive cholecystokinin (CCK). Double-stranded cDNA was synthesized from the poly(A) RNA and inserted into the Pst I site of pBR322. Bacterial colonies containing CCK cDNA were identified using the hybridization probe d(T-C-C-A-T-C-C-A-N-C-C-C-A-T-G-T-A-G-T-C). The sequence of the probe was deduced from the known amino acid sequence of porcine CCK-8, Asp-Tyr-Met-Gly-Trp-Met-Asp-Phe-NH2. The nucleotide sequence of the cDNA complementary to the mRNA of rat preprocholecystokinin was determined. The cDNA contains 33 nucleotides in the 5'-noncoding region, 199 nucleotides in the 3'-noncoding region, and 345 nucleotides coding for a precursor to CCK, which is 115 amino acids (Mr, 12,826). Examination of the rat CCK gene revealed a suggested transcriptional control sequence analogous to the "TATA" sequence located 33 nucleotides upstream from a proposed transcriptional start site. The amino acid sequence of CCK-39 is flanked by both amino-terminal and carboxyl-terminal extensions. Analysis of CCK mRNA showed that it is approximately equal to 750 nucleotides long. CCK mRNA of the rat brain and intestine appeared to be identical in size to the CCK mRNA of the carcinoma.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Regulation of cholecystokinin secretion from a rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line: role of calcium, cyclic nucleotides, glucocorticoids, neurotensin, and calcitonin gene-related peptide.

CCK-secreting WE rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line resembles other calcitonin-producing (C-cell) lines in that calcium, cAMP, or agents which raise cAMP, dexamethasone, and beta-adrenergic agents all stimulate peptide secretion. Unlike other C-cell lines, the WE cells respond similarly to IBMX (3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor) in the presence and absence of forskolin, implying that these cells secrete substances that raise cAMP levels, whose effect is accentuated by IBMX. Both CGRP and neurotensin, peptides that may be secreted by these cells, caused a small, but significant, increase in CCK secretion. It is possible that these or other secreted substances that activate adenylate cyclase are responsible for the cell's high rate of CCK secretion. Their high rate of CCK synthesis and their regulated secretion suggest that these cells will be a good model for studies of CCK expression, biosynthesis, and processing.

Animals↗