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S Yonehara

Publications and source records attributed to S Yonehara.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

In vivo analysis of Fas antigen-mediated apoptosis: effects of agonistic anti-mouse Fas mAb on thymus, spleen and liver.

Fas antigen (Fas/CD95) is a cell surface receptor protein that mediates apoptosis-inducing signals. To analyze the function of Fas in vivo, we examined the effects of agonistic anti-Fas antibodies in mice. The i.p. administration of the hamster anti-mouse Fas mAb, RK-8, which induced apoptosis both in vivo and in vitro, did not kill adult mice, whereas those given the another hamster anti-mouse Fas mAb, Jo2, rapidly died of fulminant hepatitis with hemorrhage. Histological analyses of mice given RK-8 indicated severe damage of the thymus, and moderate damage of the spleen and liver. Most of the thymocytes and some hepatocytes underwent apoptosis within 1 day of administration. Flow cytometry revealed that CD4+ T cells were more sensitive to Fas-mediated apoptosis than CD8+ T cells. At day 7 after administration, the thymus was atrophied. These in vivo effects of RK-8 were transient; the thymus was regenerated, and the liver and spleen were apparently normal 1 month after injection. The administration of RK-8 into newborn mice caused severe damage of the liver and thymus. Most of the hepatocytes died and jaundice was induced. The newborn mice died within 1 week. Most hepatocytes of newborn mice may be more sensitive to apoptosis-inducing signals through Fas than those of adult mice. These results indicated that functional Fas, which introduces the death signal in vivo, is expressed on thymocytes, CD4+ splenocytes, and some adult and most newborn mouse hepatocytes.

Animals↗

Infection with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare with abscess, ulceration and fistula formation.

Infections caused by Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex are generally manifested as pulmonary disease, osteomyelitis or lymphadenitis, and cutaneous infection is rare. We describe a case of M. intracellulare infection of the skin in a 79-year-old man without apparent immunologically disabling disease or therapy. He had cutaneous infection of the right hand over 10 years, developing a fistula and, finally, an ulcer and abscess, 2 months before his death from heart failure. Mycobacterium intracellulare was identified by both microbiological characteristics and DNA-DNA hybridization.

Abscess↗

Therapeutic effect of the anti-Fas antibody on arthritis in HTLV-1 tax transgenic mice.

We have recently demonstrated Fas-mediated apoptosis in the synovium, of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and suggested that it may be one factor responsible for the regression of RA. To examine whether the induction of apoptosis caused by anti-Fas mAb may play a potential role as a new therapeutic strategy for RA, we investigated the effect of anti-Fas mAb (RK-8) on synovitis in an animal model of RA, the human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-1) tax transgenic mice. We report here that administration of anti-Fas mAb into mice intra-articularly improved the paw swelling and arthritis within 48 h. Immunohistochemical study and in vitro culture studies showed that 35% of synovial fibroblasts, 75% of mononuclear cells, and some of polymorphonuclear leukocytes infiltrating in synovium underwent apoptosis by anti-Fas mAb. In situ nick end labeling analysis and electron microscope analysis clearly showed that many cells in synovium were induced apoptosis by anti-Fas mAb administration. However, local administration of anti-Fas mAb did not produce systemic side effects. Results demonstrated that administration of anti-Fas mAb in arthritic joints of the HTLV-1 tax transgenic mice produced improvement of arthritis. These findings suggest that local administration of anti-Fas mAb may represent a useful therapeutic strategy for proliferative synovitis such as RA.

Alanine Transaminase↗

Chromosome 22 complements apoptosis in Fas-and TNF-resistant mutant UK110 cells.

Fas and p55 tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) transfer an apoptosis signal when they are crosstinked with their ligands or agonistic antibodies. However, the signal transduction mechanism of apoptosis via Fas and p55 TNFR has not yet been elucidated. We previously described a recessive mutant UK110 from the human monocytic leukemia U937 cell line, that showed resistance against Fas- and p55 TNFR-mediated apoptosis. By cytogenetic analysis and microcell-fusion method, we demonstrate here that introduction of chromosome 22 can specifically restore the sensitivity to Fas- and TNF-mediated apoptosis in UK110 cells. Moreover, introduction of chromosome 22 into UK110 can complement the processing of interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE)-like proteases, such as CPP32/Yama/Apopain and ICH-1L, after treatment with anti-Fas and anti-p55 TNFR antibodies. These results suggest that the product of a gene located on chromosome 22 participates in the Fas-and p55 TNFR-mediated apoptosis at a point upstream of ICE-like proteases.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Concanamycin A, a powerful tool for characterization and estimation of contribution of perforin- and Fas-based lytic pathways in cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

Perforin- and Fas-based cytolytic pathways are two major mechanisms of cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Recently, we have shown that an inhibitor of vacuolar type H+-ATPase, concanamycin A (CMA), inhibits perforin-based cytotoxic activity, mostly due to accelerated degradation of perforin by an increase in the pH of lytic granules. Here we show that CMA failed to inhibit the cytolytic activity of CD4+ CTL clone and perforin-deficient CD8+ CTL clone, which exclusively mediate Fas-based cytotoxicity, although CMA inhibited acidification and induced drastic vacuolation of cytoplasmic granules in these clones. In a wide range of alloantigen-specific CTL, a significant amount of the lysis of Con A blasts from normal mice and of Fas-positive tumor cells remained unaffected even in excess concentrations of CMA. However, CMA almost completely inhibited the lysis of Con A blasts from lpr mice and of Fas low expressing or negative tumor cells. Cytolysis by alloantigen-specific CD8+ CTL derived from gld mice was completely prevented by CMA. Furthermore, CMA-insensitive cytolysis exerted by CD8+ CTL clone was completely inhibitable by soluble Fas molecules. Thus, these data clearly indicate not only that CMA-insensitive cytolysis mediated by alloantigen-specific CTL is Fas dependent, but also that CMA is a selective inhibitor to block only the perforin-based killing pathway. In contrast, brefeldin A blocked the Fas-based cytotoxicity, but only marginally reduced the perforin-based cytotoxicity. Moreover, CMA and brefeldin A in combination completely abrogated all cytolytic activity of alloantigen-specific CTL. Taken together, these results reveal that CTL mainly exert perforin-based cytotoxicity and complementary Fas-based cytotoxicity, and that CMA is a powerful tool to clarify the contributions of the two distinct cytolytic pathways.

Animals↗

A possible involvement of Fas-Fas ligand signaling in the pathogenesis of murine autoimmune gastritis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: A Th1 clone, II-6, established from an autoimmune gastritis BALB/c mouse that underwent thymectomy 3 days after birth, recognized a 15 mer peptide constructing the alpha subunit of H+, K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase as antigen and induced gastritis in nu/nu mice by adoptive transfer. The aim of this study was to examine the molecular mechanism of target (parietal cells) destruction in either thymectomized or II-6 cell-transferred nu/nu mice. METHODS: Expression of Fas, major histocompatibility complex class II, and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 molecules on the gastric mucosa of these mice were immunohistochemically examined. In situ DNA fragmentation in these thymectomized or nu/nu mice was tested by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated digoxigenin-deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end label (TUNEL) method. Moreover, activity of II-6 cells to induce apoptosis was tested by using the 15 mer peptide-pulsed B lymphoma cells, A20.2J, as the target. RESULTS: A portion of parietal cells in gastritis-bearing thymectomized or nu/nu mice at an early stage expressed Fas, major histocompatibility complex class II, and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 molecules and was TUNEL positive. Fas-ligand message was induced on activated II-6 cells and caused DNA fragmentation of the antigen-pulsed A20.2J cells. CONCLUSIONS: Cognate interaction between Fas antigen on the target and Fas ligand on the effector seems to be one possible mechanism for the target cell destruction in organ-specific autoimmune gastritis.

Animals↗

Role of macrophages in the development of arteritis in MRL strains of mice with a deficit in Fas-mediated apoptosis.

The lpr and gld genes have been shown to encode the Fas antigen deletion mutant and the Fas ligand (FasL) mutant, respectively. An MRL strain of mice bearing the gld gene was observed to spontaneously develop granulomatous arteritis, similar to that in mice bearing the lpr gene, indicating that arteritis in this strain is due to an inefficient Fas-FasL interaction resulting in an incapacity for Fas-mediated apoptosis. The arterial lesions in both strains were characterized by a remarkable perivascular accumulation of activated macrophages bearing Mac-2 antigen, following the infiltration of CD4+ cells, and this resulted in the destruction of the arterial wall. Almost all of these infiltrating cells were Fas-positive, as determined in MRL/gld mice. Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), which is present at increased levels in MRL/lpr mice, but not in MRL/Mp- +/+ (MRL/+) mice, induced the expression of Mac-2 antigen and Fas antigen on spleen adherent cells of MRL/+ mice. Moreover, continuous infusion of M-CSF into the peritoneal cavity of subcutis of MRL/+ mice induced the release of oxygen radicals of peritoneal macrophages or granuloma formation associated with the massive accumulation of Mac-2+ cells, respectively. These findings suggest that macrophages in these mice, which may be activated by M-CSF and may avoid Fas-mediated apoptosis, play a critical role as effector cells in the destruction of arterial wall.

Animals↗

Induction of Fas-dependent apoptosis in synovial infiltrating cells in rheumatoid arthritis.

Apoptosis is a feature of the synovium of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We have recently shown that RA synoviocytes were susceptible to anti-Fas mAb and undergo apoptosis in vitro. To investigate whether infiltrating mononuclear cells also undergo Fas-dependent apoptosis, double-labeling techniques combined with immunohistochemical examination with anti-CD3 mAb and the TdT-mediated dUTP-blotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) method to detect apoptotic cells, or in situ RT assay to detect Fas mRNA, were performed using frozen tissue sections. We also examined the in vitro induction of Fas-dependent apoptosis in freshly isolated synovium infiltrating mononuclear cells (SIM), synovial stromal cells (SSC) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) using tissues from nine patients with RA and three with osteoarthritis (OA). The results showed expression of Fas antigen and apoptotic cells in a number of CD3-bearing cells in RA synovial tissues. In vitro treatment with anti-Fas mAb produced a significant apoptosis of RA SIM and SSC, while none of PBL, and neither SIM nor SSC from OA exhibited apoptosis. Moreover, approximately 50% of CD4+, CD3+ and CD45RO+ cells, and > 90% of Fas-expressing cells of RA SIM underwent apoptosis in response to anti-Fas mAb, as detected by flow cytometry. Our results suggest that RA synovial infiltrating lymphocytes acquire high susceptibility to anti-Fas mAb and undergo apoptosis. Such a phenomenon of infiltrating T cells in RA synovium may play an important pathophysiological role and suggest a possible therapeutic effect for anti-Fas mAb in RA.

Aged↗

Functional significance of the Fas molecule in naive lymphocytes.

The Fas molecule mediates apoptotic signal in many cell types. Mouse mutations (lpr, lprcg, gld), which impair the function of Fas, cause spontaneous autoimmune disease. We generated Fas-deficient (Fas-/-) mice by homologous recombination. In embryonic stem cells Fas-/- mice developed lpr-like disease, confirming that the abnormality of Fas is causal in the lpr phenotype. We also made Fas-/- chimeric mice composed of a mixture of Fas+/+ and Fas-/- cells. The chimeric mice also showed the lpr phenotype. In Fas-/-, chimeric mice, the Fas-deficient population expanded progressively among mature T and B lymphocytes. The expansion of Fas-deficient lymphocytes occurred at the naive, pre-primed, lymphocyte stage. These results suggest that the Fas molecule functions not only after antigenic stimulation, as previously hypothesized, but also at the naive lymphocyte stage.

Animals↗

IL-4 and anti-CD40 protect against Fas-mediated B cell apoptosis and induce B cell growth and differentiation.

Most Th2 clones, when activated, produce IL-4 and express CD40 ligand (CD40L) on their cell surface. Therefore, they can induce growth and differentiation of B cells by cognate help. In contrast, activated Th1 clones, which produce IFN-gamma and express both CD40L and Fas ligand (FasL) on their cell surface, often induce B cell apoptotic cell death. To understand the mechanism by which Th2 cells can induce B cell growth and differentiation in the presence of FasL-positive cells, we stimulated B cells with IL-4, anti-IgM and/or anti-CD40 in the presence of anti-Fas. We report here that addition of anti-Fas strongly inhibited anti-CD40-induced B cell proliferation without affecting anti-IgM-induced B cell proliferation. Furthermore we showed that stimulation of B cells with anti-CD40 induced the expression of Fas molecules on the B cells (approximately 30%) and rendered them highly sensitive to anti-Fas-mediated apoptotic cell death. Indeed, over 23% of anti-CD40-stimulated B cells showed hypodiploid DNA after being incubated with anti-Fas, while h2 cells could dominate over FasL-positive Th1 cells by production of CD40L and IL-4, which in combination induce antibody production and inhibit the Th1 cell-mediated immune response.

Animals↗

Sarcoidosis after interferon therapy for chronic active hepatitis C.

Sarcoidosis is characterized by multisystemic granulomatous lesions of unknown etiology. A 62-year-old woman developed sarcoidosis after treatment with alpha-2a interferon (IFN) for 24 weeks (total dose: 522 million units) for chronic hepatitis C. She developed complete atrioventricular block and multiple noncaseating granulomatous lesions in the lung. IFN therapy, which may disturb cellular immune activation in some patients, may have contributed to the onset and progression of sarcoidosis.

Antiviral Agents↗

Fas antigen expression in brains of patients with Alzheimer-type dementia.

Fas antigen (CD95) is a cell surface protein that mediates apoptosis. We have investigated the immunohistochemical localization of Fas antigen in postmortem brain tissue from control subjects, patients with Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD), and from a few patients with diffuse Lewy body disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and adrenoleukodystrophy. In all brains, including controls, vascular endothelial cells and residual blood plasma were weakly stained. In ATD brains, senile plaques and a small number of star-like cells were brains of patients with neurological diseases other than ATD. In double immunostaining for Fas and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a small number of cells were positive for both antigens. The majority of Fas-positive astrocytes were, however, negative for GFAP. This implies the downregulation of GFAP production in these cells. Doubly labeled astrocytes were also found around senile plaques, suggesting that the Fas immunoreactivity in senile plaques was derived from astrocytic membranes. The results of this study indicate that Fas antigen is expressed by a subset of reactive astrocytes in degenerative neurological diseases. Such astrocytes may undergo the Fas-mediated apoptotic process.

Aged↗

Role for ceramide as an endogenous mediator of Fas-induced cytotoxicity.

Triggering of the Fas/APO-1 cell-surface receptor induces apoptosis through an uncharacterized chain of events. Exposure of Fas-sensitive cells to an agonist monoclonal antibody induced cell death and a 200-300% elevation in endogenous levels of the sphingolipid ceramide, a proposed intracellular mediator of apoptosis. In contrast, similar treatment of Fas-resistant cells caused insignificant changes in ceramide levels. Because resistant cell lines expressed the Fas antigen, these results indicate that these cells have a defect in the proximal signaling events leading to ceramide generation. Exposure of the resistant cell lines to a synthetic analog of ceramide induced apoptosis, thus bypassing Fas resistance and indicating that the signaling pathways downstream of ceramide were intact. Furthermore, activation of protein kinase C with the diacylglycerol analog phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate significantly reduced Fas-induced cytotoxicity, suggesting opposing roles for ceramide and protein kinase C in regulation of apoptosis. These results provide evidence for ceramide as a necessary and sufficient lipid mediator of Fas-mediated apoptosis and suggest this process may be modulated via activation of additional signal-transduction pathways.

Antigens, Surface↗

Expression and function of mouse Fas antigen on immature and mature T cells.

We prepared mAbs specific for the mouse Fas Ag (CD95) and used them to analyze the expression and apoptosis-inducing activity of the Fas Ag on murine immunocytes. Cytofluorometry of mouse bone marrow, thymus, and splenocytes using the mAbs indicated that cells of the T lineage, except for bone marrow cells, expressed Fas Ag on the surface. CD4-CD8- undifferentiated thymocytes expressed low levels of Fas Ag. Immature CD4+CD8+ thymocytes and mature CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ thymocytes were highly positive for Fas Ag. CD4+CD8+ thymocytes were specifically sensitive to the apoptosis-inducing activity of anti-Fas, although CD4-CD8-, CD4+CD8-, and CD4-CD8+ thymocytes were resistant. Spleen T cells were resistant to anti-Fas, whereas they expressed Fas Ag. The superantigen, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) administered to BALB/c mice, induced clonal expansion and successive clonal deletion of spleen T cells bearing the V beta 8 TCR, which specifically reacts to SEB. Such clonal deletion of V beta 8 T cells was highly suppressed in lpr mice, which have defects in the Fas Ag gene. In SEB-administrated BALB/c mice, expression of Fas Ag was significantly enhanced on V beta 8, but not on V beta 6 T cells, which cannot react to SEB. Moreover, V beta 8 T cells in SEB-primed mice were sensitive to the cell-killing activity of anti-Fas, although V beta 6 T cells were resistant. These findings show that the expression level and apoptosis-inducing activity of Fas Ag on peripheral T cells are directly up-regulated by stimulation through the TCR in vivo.

Animals↗

Normal clonal expansion but impaired Fas-mediated cell death and anergy induction in interleukin-2-deficient mice.

Despite a normal development of all major lymphoid subsets, with time, interleukin-2 (IL-2)-deficient mice develop a fatal immunopathology. The disease phenotype is characterized by lymphoadenopathy, splenomegaly, T cell infiltration of various organs, overproduction of a number of cytokines and autoantibody formation. Phenotypically, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells exhibit features characteristic of antigenically experienced cells. The accumulation of cells with a memory phenotype together with the previous suggestion of an involvement of IL-2 in the termination phase of immune responses prompted us to study the fate of superantigen-reactive T cells in IL-2-deficient mice in comparison to their IL-2-producing littermates. We show that expansion in vivo of CD4+ and, to a lesser extent, CD8+ T cells reactive to the superantigens staphylococcal enterotoxin A and B (SEA and SEB) proceeds normally in the absence of IL-2, but that fewer CD4+ cells are subsequently deleted. The residual superantigen-reactive cells fail to become anergic as measured by proliferation in vitro in response to the same superantigen. T cell blasts generated in vitro from lymph node cells of IL-2-deficient mice by superantigen stimulation in the absence of exogenous IL-2 also fail to become anergic. In contrast to cells from IL-2-producing littermates, they do not exhibit Fas-induced apoptosis when cultured on anti-Fas antibody-coated plates, although Fas expression by IL-2-deficient cells is normal or even elevated compared to the IL-2-producing control cells. The data suggest that activation of T cells in the absence of IL-2 fails to generate a signal which is necessary to activate the apoptotic pathway and thus leads to an accumulation of antigen-experienced cells and the chronic inflammatory responses observed in IL-2-deficient mice.

Animals↗

Expression of the Fas antigen on primary human leukemia cells.

The antigen defined by the monoclonal antibody anti-Fas can mediate apoptosis, is associated with the receptor for tumor necrosis factor, and is expressed on a limited number of human tissues. In this study we analyzed the expression of Fas on primary human leukemic cells and on mononuclear cells from other hematologic disorders. A total of 95 samples of blood or bone marrow were studied by indirect immunofluorescence. These samples included the normal controls, 47 cases of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), 11 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 21 cases of leukemic lymphoma, seven cases of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), five cases of plasma cell leukemia or multiple myeloma, and five cases of myelodysplastic or myeloproliferative syndromes. Normal controls were negative without exception. Among AML, 13/47 cases (28%) were positive; among ALL, 1/11 cases (9%) was positive; among leukemic lymphomas, 3/21 cases (14%) were positive. In a case of plasma cell leukemia which strongly expressed the Fas antigen, we demonstrated that the antibody mediates cell lysis, which was synergistically enhanced by the addition of rabbit complement. In patients with AML, Fas positivity had no obvious clinical relevance. Taken together, our results show that approximately 30% of cases of AML and occasionally other leukemias express the Fas antigens, whereas normal controls are negative in our test system. These findings may be useful in the treatment of refractory leukemias or may permit the purging of autologous transplants.

Antigens, Surface↗

Role of point mutation of the K-ras gene in tumorigenesis of B6C3F1 mouse lung lesions induced by urethane.

In order to elucidate the role of point mutation of the K-ras gene in the tumorigenetic process of lung tumors, an experimental model of lung lesions in mice induced by the administration of urethane was used. A total of 135 B6C3F1 male mice, 6 weeks old, were given urethane in the drinking water at 0, 6, 60, 600 or 1200 ppm, and were then killed after varying periods of time. The lung lesions were histologically characterized as hyperplasia, adenoma and adenocarcinoma. Point mutations in codons 12 and 61 of the K-ras gene were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and confirmed by using dideoxy sequencing analysis. K-ras gene mutation was identified in 9 (23.7%) of 38 lesions classified as hyperplasia, 31 (46.3%) of 67 adenomas, and 3 (50%) of 6 adenocarcinomas. The most frequent mutation was an AT-to-TA transversion at the second base of codon 61 and this pattern accounted for 65% of the three mutant forms observed. These results suggest that the point mutation of K-ras gene is involved in all stages of mouse lung tumorigenesis, i.e., activation of this gene can also influence the later stages of lung lesions.

Adenocarcinoma↗