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Biomedical subjects

S M Simon

Publications and source records attributed to S M Simon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

P-glycoprotein does not reduce substrate concentration from the extracellular leaflet of the plasma membrane in living cells.

P-glycoprotein (Pgp), a member of the ATP-binding cassette family of transporters, is an important mediator of multidrug resistance in cancer. Pgp exhibits a very broad specificity for substrates. These substrates share a common feature of being amphipathic and can orient into either leaflet of the membrane bilayer. Current evidence suggests that Pgp recognizes and extracts substrates from the membrane bilayer, but from which leaflet is unresolved. To directly test whether Pgp can decrease substrate concentration in the extracellular leaflet of the plasma membrane in living cells, we used the fluorescent lipid analogue 1-[4-(trimethylamino)phenyl]-6-phenylhexa-1,3,5-triene (TMA-DPH). TMA-DPH in the extracellular solution rapidly partitions into the extracellular leaflet of the plasma membrane and exhibits slow transbilayer flipping into the cytoplasmic leaflet. Because TMA-DPH fluorescence is confined to the extracellular leaflet in early time points after addition but labels intracellular membranes after longer incubation, we can assess the effect of Pgp on TMA-DPH concentration from both extracellular leaflet and intracellular membranes. Transient transfection with a Pgp and the green fluorescence protein (GFP) fusion protein generated cells with heterogeneous expression levels of Pgp-GFP. Compared with nonexpressing cells, cells expressing Pgp-GFP showed decreased accumulation of TMA-DPH in intracellular membranes but similar levels of accumulation in the extracellular leaflet of the plasma membrane. Additionally, in drug-selected MCF7/Adr cells, which constitutively express high levels of Pgp, inhibition of Pgp by cyclosporin A resulted in significantly increased accumulation of TMA-DPH in intracellular membranes but no difference in its accumulation in the extracellular leaflet of the plasma membrane. These data indicate that whereas Pgp can extract TMA-DPH from the cytoplasmic leaflet of the membrane, any activity Pgp may possess in the extracellular leaflet is insufficient to decrease TMA-DPH concentration there and, therefore, does not contribute to lowering the cellular levels. Pgp is the prototype of an increasing number of clinically important ATP-binding cassette transporters of amphipathic drugs and lipids. These results may help decipher a common mechanism of these transporters.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗
PubMed2001

Assembling filamentous phage occlude pIV channels.

Filamentous phage f1 is exported from its Escherichia coli host without killing the bacterial cell. Phage-encoded protein pIV, which is required for phage assembly and secretion, forms large highly conductive channels in the outer membrane of E. coli. It has been proposed that the phage are extruded across the bacterial outer membrane through pIV channels. To test this prediction, we developed an in vivo assay by using a mutant pIV that functions in phage export but whose channel opens in the absence of phage extrusion. In E. coli lacking its native maltooligosacharride transporter LamB, this pIV variant allowed oligosaccharide transport across the outer membrane. This entry of oligosaccharide was decreased by phage production and still further decreased by production of phage that cannot be released from the cell surface. Thus, exiting phage block the pIV-dependent entry of oligosaccharide, suggesting that phage occupy the lumen of pIV channels. This study provides the first evidence, to our knowledge, for viral exit through a large aqueous channel.

Coliphages↗
PubMed2001

Insulin-regulated release from the endosomal recycling compartment is regulated by budding of specialized vesicles.

In several cell types, specific membrane proteins are retained intracellularly and rapidly redistributed to the surface in response to stimulation. In fat and muscle, the GLUT4 glucose transporter is dynamically retained because it is rapidly internalized and slowly recycled to the plasma membrane. Insulin increases the recycling of GLUT4, resulting in a net translocation to the surface. We have shown that fibroblasts also have an insulin-regulated recycling mechanism. Here we show that GLUT4 is retained within the transferrin receptor-containing general endosomal recycling compartment in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells rather than being segregated to a specialized, GLUT4-recycling compartment. With the use of total internal reflection microscopy, we demonstrate that the TR and GLUT4 are transported from the pericentriolar recycling compartment in separate vesicles. These data provide the first functional evidence for the formation of distinct classes of vesicles from the recycling compartment. We propose that GLUT4 is dynamically retained within the endosomal recycling compartment in CHO cells because it is concentrated in vesicles that form more slowly than those that transport TR. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes, cells that naturally express GLUT4, we find that GLUT4 is partially segregated to a separate compartment that is inaccessible to the TR. We present a model for the formation of this specialized compartment in fat cells, based on the general mechanism described in CHO cells, which may explain the increased retention of GLUT4 and its insulin-induced translocation in fat cells.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed2000

Imaging constitutive exocytosis with total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy.

Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy has been applied to image the final stage of constitutive exocytosis, which is the fusion of single post-Golgi carriers with the plasma membrane. The use of a membrane protein tagged with green fluorescent protein allowed the kinetics of fusion to be followed with a time resolution of 30 frames/s. Quantitative analysis allowed carriers undergoing fusion to be easily distinguished from carriers moving perpendicularly to the plasma membrane. The flattening of the carriers into the plasma membrane is seen as a simultaneous rise in the total, peak, and width of the fluorescence intensity. The duration of this flattening process depends on the size of the carriers, distinguishing small spherical from large tubular carriers. The spread of the membrane protein into the plasma membrane upon fusion is diffusive. Mapping many fusion sites of a single cell reveals that there are no preferred sites for constitutive exocytosis in this system.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

In situ biochemical demonstration that P-glycoprotein is a drug efflux pump with broad specificity.

While P-glycoprotein (Pgp) is the most studied protein involved in resistance to anti-cancer drugs, its mechanism of action is still under debate. Studies of Pgp have used cell lines selected with chemotherapeutics which may have developed many mechanisms of resistance. To eliminate the confounding effects of drug selection on understanding the action of Pgp, we studied cells transiently transfected with a Pgp-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein. This method generated a mixed population of unselected cells with a wide range of Pgp-GFP expression levels and allowed simultaneous measurements of Pgp level and drug accumulation in living cells. The results showed that Pgp-GFP expression was inversely related to the accumulation of chemotherapeutic drugs. The reduction in drug concentration was reversed by agents that block multiple drug resistance (MDR) and by the UIC2 anti-Pgp antibody. Quantitative analysis revealed an inverse linear relationship between the fluorescence of Pgp-GFP and MDR dyes. This suggests that Pgp levels alone limit drug accumulation by active efflux; cooperativity between enzyme, substrate, or inhibitor molecules is not required. Additionally, Pgp-GFP expression did not change cellular pH. Our study demonstrates the value of using GFP fusion proteins for quantitative biochemistry in living cells.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗
PubMed2000

Tracking single proteins within cells.

We present experiments in which single proteins were imaged and tracked within mammalian cells. Single proteins of R-phycoerythrin (RPE) were imaged by epifluorescence microscopy in the nucleoplasm and cytoplasm at 71 frames/s. We acquired two-dimensional trajectories of proteins (corresponding to the projection of three-dimensional trajectories onto the plane of focus) for an average of 17 frames in the cytoplasm and 16 frames in the nucleus. Diffusion constants were determined from linear fits to the mean square displacement and from the mean displacement squared per frame. We find that the distribution of diffusion constants for RPE within cells is broader than the distributions obtained from RPE in a glycerol solution, from a Monte Carlo simulation, and from the theoretical distribution for simple diffusion. This suggests that on the time scales of our measurements, the motion of single RPE proteins in the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm cannot be modeled by simple diffusion with a unique diffusion constant. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to follow the motion of single proteins within cells and that the technique of single molecule tracking can be used to probe the dynamics of intracellular macromolecules.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Staphylococcus aureus RN6390 replicates and induces apoptosis in a pulmonary epithelial cell line.

Staphylococcus aureus frequently colonizes the airways of patients with compromised airway defenses (e.g., cystic fibrosis [CF] patients) for extended periods. Persistent and relapsing infections may be related to live S. aureus bacteria actively residing inside epithelial cells. In this study, we infected a respiratory epithelial cell line, which was derived from a CF patient, with S. aureus RN6390. Internalization of S. aureus was found to be time and dose dependent and could be blocked by cytochalasin D. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that internalized bacteria resided within endocytic vacuoles without any evidence of lysosomal fusion in a 24-h period. The results of internalization experiments and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy of epithelial cells infected with green fluorescent S. aureus indicate that, after an initial lag period of 7 to 9 h, intracellular bacteria began to replicate, with three to five divisions in a 24-h period, leading to apoptosis of infected cells. Induction of apoptosis required bacterial internalization and is associated with intracellular replication. The slow and gradual replication of S. aureus inside epithelial cells hints at the role of host factors or signals in bacterial growth and further suggests possible cross talk between host cells and S. aureus.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed1999

A mechanism for tamoxifen-mediated inhibition of acidification.

Tamoxifen has been reported to inhibit acidification of cytoplasmic organelles in mammalian cells. Here, the mechanism of this inhibition is investigated using in vitro assays on isolated organelles and liposomes. Tamoxifen inhibited ATP-dependent acidification in organelles from a variety of sources, including isolated microsomes from mammalian cells, vacuoles from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and inverted membrane vesicles from Escherichia coli. Tamoxifen increased the ATPase activity of the vacuolar proton ATPase but decreased the membrane potential (Vm) generated by this proton pump, suggesting that tamoxifen may act by increasing proton permeability. In liposomes, tamoxifen increased the rate of pH dissipation. Studies comparing the effect of tamoxifen on pH gradients using different salt conditions and with other known ionophores suggest that tamoxifen affects transmembrane pH through two independent mechanisms. First, as a lipophilic weak base, it partitions into acidic vesicles, resulting in rapid neutralization. Second, it mediates coupled, electroneutral transport of proton or hydroxide with chloride. An understanding of the biochemical mechanism(s) for the effects of tamoxifen that are independent of the estrogen receptor could contribute to predicting side effects of tamoxifen and in designing screens to select for estrogen-receptor antagonists without these side effects.

Acids↗
PubMed1999

An aqueous channel for filamentous phage export.

Filamentous phage f1 exits its Escherichia coli host without killing the bacterial cell. It has been proposed that f1 is secreted through the outer membrane via a phage-encoded channel protein, pIV. A functional pIV mutant was isolated that allowed E. coli to grow on large maltodextrins and rendered E. coli sensitive to large hydrophilic antibiotics that normally do not penetrate the outer membrane. In planar lipid bilayers, both mutant and wild-type pIV formed highly conductive channels with similar permeability characteristics but different gating properties: the probability of the wild-type channel being open was much less than that of the mutant channel. The high conductivity of pIV channels suggests a large-diameter pore, thus implicating pIV as the outer membrane phage-conducting channel.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1999

Tamoxifen inhibits acidification in cells independent of the estrogen receptor.

Tamoxifen has been reported to have numerous physiological effects that are independent of the estrogen receptor, including sensitization of resistant tumor cells to many chemotherapeutic agents. Drug-resistant cells sequester weak base chemotherapeutics in acidic organelles away from their sites of action in the cytosol and nucleus. This work reports that tamoxifen causes redistribution of weak base chemotherapeutics from acidic organelles to the nucleus in drug-resistant cells. Agents that disrupt organelle acidification (e.g., monensin, bafilomycin A1) cause a similar redistribution. Measurement of cellular pH in several cell lines reveals that tamoxifen inhibits acidification of endosomes and lysosomes without affecting cytoplasmic pH. Similar to monensin, tamoxifen decreased the rate of vesicular transport though the recycling and secretory pathways. Organellar acidification is required for many cellular functions, and its disruption could account for many of the side effects of tamoxifen.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1998

Defective acidification in human breast tumor cells and implications for chemotherapy.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a significant problem in the treatment of cancer. Chemotherapeutic drugs distribute through the cyto- and nucleoplasm of drug-sensitive cells but are excluded from the nucleus in drug-resistant cells, concentrating in cytoplasmic organelles. Weak base chemotherapeutic drugs (e.g., anthracyclines and vinca alkaloids) should concentrate in acidic organelles. This report presents a quantification of the pH for identified compartments of the MCF-7 human breast tumor cell line and demonstrates that (a) the chemotherapeutic Adriamycin concentrates in acidified organelles of drug-resistant but not drug-sensitive cells; (b) the lysosomes and recycling endosomes are not acidified in drug-sensitive cells; (c) the cytosol of drug-sensitive cells is 0.4 pH units more acidic than the cytosol of resistant cells; and (d) disrupting the acidification of the organelles of resistant cells with monensin, bafilomycin A1, or concanamycin A is sufficient to change the Adriamycin distribution to that found in drug-sensitive cells, rendering the cell vulnerable once again to chemotherapy. These results suggest that acidification of organelles is causally related to drug resistance and is consistent with the hypothesis that sequestration of drugs in acidic organelles and subsequent extrusion from the cell through the secretory pathways contribute to chemotherapeutic resistance.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Biogenesis of polytopic membrane proteins: membrane segments of P-glycoprotein sequentially translocate to span the ER membrane.

The initial steps in the biogenesis of membrane proteins parallel those of secretory proteins. However, membrane proteins contain a signal to stop translocation across the membrane. For polytopic membrane proteins, those with multiple transmembrane segments, little is known of the temporal sequence or relationship between synthesis of the nascent proteins, translocation, folding, and integration of the membrane segments into the bilayer. Here we demonstrate that latent membrane segments translocate sequentially as they emerge from the ribosome and do not accumulate on the cytosolic side to form loops, or larger structures, prior to translocation across the membrane.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗
PubMed1996

Biogenesis of polytopic membrane proteins: membrane segments assemble within translocation channels prior to membrane integration.

The initial steps in the biogenesis of membrane proteins parallel that of secretory proteins. The translocation of membrane proteins, however, must be interrupted prior to the complete traversal of the membrane. This is followed by their folding and integrating into the lipid bilayer. We have previously shown that as each latent transmembrane segment (TMS) in a polytopic membrane protein emerges from the ribosome, it sequentially translocates across the membrane. Here we demonstrate that these translocated TMSs can be extracted from the membrane with urea. This suggests that nascent TMSs do not integrate into the bilayer as they achieve a transmembrane topography. The integration is delayed until after the protein is synthesized and released from the ribosome. Prior to insertion into the bilayer, these TMSs appear to be stabilized by salt-sensitive electrostatic bonds within an aqueous-accessible compartment.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗
PubMed1996

Defective pH regulation of acidic compartments in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) is normalized in adriamycin-resistant cells (MCF-7adr).

Alkalinization of normally acidic intracellular compartments or acidification of a mildly alkaline cytoplasm by biochemical or genetic manipulation has been demonstrated to inhibit both endocytosis and secretion (Tartakoff, 1983a; Cosson et al., 1989; Mellman et al., 1986; Davoust et al., 1987; Cosson et al., 1989; van Deurs et al., 1989; Maxfield & Yamashiro, 1991; Hansen et al., 1993). These results provide the basis for the conclusion that the maintenance of pH gradients between acidic vesicular compartments and a mildly alkaline cytoplasm is an essential biochemical requirement for the correct functioning of the endocytotic and secretory machinery. Tumor cells have been shown to have an abnormally acidic cytoplasmic pH (Warburg, 1956; Simon & Schindler, 1994). Here we report that the intracellular vesicular compartments in tumor cells (MCF-7) derived from a human breast cancer fail to acidify. This failure results in a significant decrease in the pH gradient (0.9 pH unit) between the vesicular luminal compartments and the cytoplasm. These defects are correlated with a disruption in the organization and function of the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and the pericentriolar recycling compartment (PRC). In marked distinction, drug-resistant tumor cells (MCF-7adr) derived from the MCF-7 line that are resistant to the most widely employed chemotherapeutic drug, adriamycin, appear normal in both acidification and organization of the PRC and TGN. Treatment of drug-resistant MCF-7adr cells with nigericin and monensin, ionophores demonstrated to disrupt vesicular acidification (Tartakoff, 1983b), leads to a resensitization of these cells to adriamycin. Drug sensitivity is proposed to result from an acidification defect within vesicles of the recycling and secretory pathways. A functional consequence of this defect is the diminished capacity of cells to remove cytotoxic drugs from the cytoplasm by sequestration of protonated drugs within the vesicles, followed by drug secretion through the activity of the secretory and recycling pathways.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1994

Cell biological mechanisms of multidrug resistance in tumors.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a generic term for the variety of strategies tumor cells use to evade the cytotoxic effects of anticancer drugs. MDR is characterized by a decreased sensitivity of tumor cells not only to the drug employed for chemotherapy but also to a broad spectrum of drugs with neither obvious structural homology nor common targets. This pleiotropic resistance is one of the major obstacles to the successful treatment of tumors. MDR may result from structural or functional changes at the plasma membrane or within the cytoplasm, cellular compartments, or nucleus. Molecular mechanisms of MDR are discussed in terms of modifications in detoxification and DNA repair pathways, changes in cellular sites of drug sequestration, decreases in drug-target affinity, synthesis of specific drug inhibitors within cells, altered or inappropriate targeting of proteins, and accelerated removal or secretion of drugs.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗