PubMed · 14712570
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Anne Underwood. 2003-12-08. When the body attacks itself.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14712570/
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It is well accepted, that there is communication between osteoblasts and endothelial cells. However, the influence of endothelial cells on the differentiation of bone precursors into mature osteoblasts is not yet well understood. We therefore studied the effect of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) on human bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) differentiation towards an osteoblastic phenotype by culturing them in two different types of HUVEC-BMSC cultures (indirect contact, HUVEC-conditioned medium). Typical bone markers (45Ca incorporation, ALP activity, and gene expression of collagen 1 (COL1), osteonectin (ON), matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13), bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2)) and transcription factors (Runx2, osterix (OSX)) were evaluated at different time points. The effect of stimulating HUVEC with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) before co-cultures with BMSC was also evaluated. As expected, BMSC in osteogenic medium (OM) (with dexamethasone) differentiated towards the osteoblastic phenotype, as measured by increased matrix mineralization, high ALP activity, and elevated expression of specific osteoblastic marker genes, when compared to BMSC in non-OM. HUVEC reversibly inhibited osteoblastic differentiation of BMSC in OM, independent of the co-culture type. When HUVEC were removed from the cultures, BMSC differentiated into osteoblasts, albeit at a faster rate than BMSC that were never co-cultured with HUVEC. Stimulation of HUVEC with VEGF before co-culture enhanced the inhibitory effect of HUVEC on BMSC differentiation. This inhibitory effect was connected to a reversible suppression of OSX gene expression and was specific to endothelial cells. We conclude that HUVEC can inhibit dexamethasone-induced BMSC differentiation into osteoblasts in vitro, by interfering with OSX expression, thereby arresting BMSC differentiation at a preosteoblastic stage.
Glucocorticoid hormones induce apoptosis in lymphoid cells. This process is transcriptionally regulated and requires de novo RNA/protein synthesis. However, the full spectrum of glucocorticoid-regulated genes mediating this cell death process is unknown. Through gene expression profiling we discovered that the expression of thioredoxin-intereacting protein (txnip) mRNA is significantly induced by the glucocorticoid hormone dexamethasone not only in the murine T-cell lymphoma line WEHI7.2, but also in normal mouse thymocytes. This result was confirmed by Northern blot analysis in multiple models of dexamethasone-induced apoptosis. The induction of txnip mRNA by dexamethasone appears to be mediated through the glucocorticoid receptor as it is blocked in the presence of RU486, a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist. Deletion and mutation analysis of the txnip promoter identified a functional glucocorticoid response element in the txnip promoter. Reporter assays demonstrated that this glucocorticoid response element was necessary and sufficient for induction of txnip by dexamethasone. Expression of a GFP-TXNIP fusion protein was sufficient to induce apoptosis in WEHI7.2 cells, and repression of endogenous txnip by RNA interference inhibited dexamethasone-induced apoptosis in WEHI7.2 cells. Together, these findings indicate that txnip is a novel glucocorticoid-induced primary target gene involved in mediating glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis.
Privileged medicinal scaffolds based on the structures of 2-amino-3,5-dicyano-6-sulfanylpyridines and the corresponding 1,4-dihydropyridines have been prepared via a single-step, three-component reaction of structurally diverse aldehydes with various thiols and malononitrile. Mechanistic studies revealed that 1,4-dyhidropyridines undergo oxidation by the intermediate Knoevenagel adducts rather than by air oxygen. Although the latter process undermines the yields of pyridines, it results in the formation of substituted enaminonitriles, promising antiinflammatory agents.