Search

Hemocytes play an important role in cellular reactions in the immune system. Although the recognition of pathogens is thought to involve pattern-recognition proteins (PRPs) in insects, the exact mechanisms by which insect hemocytes recognize pathogens are not clear. This study examined the mechanism by which Bombyx mori hemocytes recognize microorganisms and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescence-labeled bacterial or fungal cells were observed to bind to hemocytes and this binding was inhibited by adding lipoteichoic acid (LTA) or beta-1,3-glucan. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) bound to hemocytes directly. These results suggest that hemocytes have a mechanism that recognizes LPS, LTA, and beta-1,3-glucan directly. Previously, we identified two types of C-type lectin (BmLBP and BmMBP) and showed that they recognize a variety of PAMPs leading to the induction of nodule formation. These lectins enhanced hemocyte binding to microorganisms and their direct binding to hemocytes suggests that hemocytes have a mechanism for recognizing microorganisms using lectin receptors.

Multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1) is an ATP-binding cassette transporter that confers multidrug resistance on tumor cells. Much convincing evidence has accumulated that MRP1 transports most substances in a GSH-dependent manner. On the other hand, several reports have revealed that MRP1 can transport some substrates independently of GSH; however, the importance of GSH-independent transport activity is not well established and the mechanistic differences between GSH-dependent and -independent transport by MRP1 are unclear. We previously demonstrated that the amino acids W261 and K267 in the L0 region of MRP1 were important for leukotriene C4 (LTC4) transport activity of MRP1 and for GSH-dependent photolabeling of MRP1 with azidophenyl agosterol-A (azidoAG-A). In this paper, we further tested the effect of W222L, W223L and R230A mutations in MRP1, designated dmL0MRP1, on MRP1 transport activity. SN-38 is an active metabolic form of CPT-11 that is one of the most promising anti-cancer drugs. Membrane vesicles prepared from cells expressing dmL0MRP1 could transport SN-38, but not LTC4 or estradiol-17 (beta-D-glucuronate), and could not be photolabeled with azidoAG-A. These data suggested that SN-38 was transported by a different mechanism than that of GSH-dependent transport. Understanding the GSH-independent transport mechanism of MRP1, and identification of drugs that are transported by this mechanism, will be critical for combating MRP1-mediated drug resistance. We performed a pairwise comparison of compounds that are transported by MRP1 in a GSH-dependent or -independent manner. These data indicated that it may be possible to predict compounds that are transported by MRP1 in a GSH-independent manner.

MRP1 is a 190-kDa membrane glycoprotein that confers multidrug resistance to tumor cells. The accumulated evidence has proved that GSH interacts with MRP1 and stimulates drug transport. However, the mechanism of GSH-dependent drug transport by MRP1 remains unclear. In this study, we used limited tryptic digestion of MRP1 in isolated membrane vesicles, in the presence and absence of GSH, to investigate the influence of GSH on MRP1 conformation. We found that GSH inhibited the generation of an approximately 35-kDa C-terminal tryptic fragment (including a C-terminal His tag) termed C2 from MRP1. This effect of GSH was not because of direct inhibition of trypsin activity, and agosterol A enhanced the inhibitory effect of GSH. The main cleavage site in MRP1 for the generation of the C2 fragment by trypsin resided between TMD2 and NBD2 of MRP1. Limited tryptic digestion of membrane vesicles expressing various truncated and co-expressed MRP1 fragments in the presence and absence of GSH revealed that GSH inhibited the production of the C2 fragment only in the presence of the L(0) region of MRP1. Thus the L(0) region is required for the inhibition of trypsinization of the C-terminal half of MRP1 by GSH. These findings, together with previous reports, suggest that GSH induces a conformational change at a site within the MRP1 that is indispensable for the interaction of MRP1 with its substrates.

Thymidine phosphorylase (TP), an enzyme involved in the reversible conversion of thymidine to thymine, is identical to an angiogenic factor, platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF). Both TP and one of the TP-degradation products of thymidine 2-deoxy-D-ribose (dRib) display endothelial cell chemotactic activity in vitro and angiogenic activity in vivo. Recently, we demonstrated that 2-deoxy-L-ribose (lRib) could abolish the inhibitory effect of dRib on hypoxia-induced apoptosis. This suggested that lRib may be a useful inhibitor of dRib and thereby of TP functions. Therefore, we investigated the ability of lRib to inhibit the range of biological activities of TP and dRib. lRib suppressed both dRib-induced endothelial cell migration in a chemotaxis assay and endothelial tube formation induced by dRib in a collagen gel. lRib could also suppress the biological effects of TP in vivo assays of angiogenesis and tumor growth. Thus, in a corneal assay of angiogenesis, lRib inhibited angiogenesis induced by the implantation of recombinant TP. In a dorsal air sac assay of angiogenesis, lRib inhibited angiogenesis induced by the implantation of KB cells overexpressing TP (KB/TP). In a tumor growth assay, lRib treatment considerably decreased the growth rate of KB/TP cells xenografted into nude mice and also resulted in an increase in the proportion of apoptotic cells in KB/TP tumors. These findings demonstrate that TP and dRib play an important role in angiogenesis and tumor growth, and that these effects can be inhibited by lRib. Thus, lRib is a potentially useful agent for the suppression of TP-dependent angiogenesis and tumor growth.