Akihiro Kataoka

ASSOCIATION OF HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT DNA FRAGMENTATION WITH APOPTOTIC OR NON-APOPTOTIC CELL DEATH INDUCED BY CALCIUM IONOPHORE

Calcium ionophore (A23187)‐induced high molecular weight (HMW) and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation were investigated in human leukemia cell lines. An apoptosis‐sensitive cell line, HL‐60, showed HMW, internucleosomal DNA fragmentation and morphological changes of apoptosis by A23187. MOLT‐4, which is resistant to apoptosis, exhibited only HMW DNA fragmentation and died of necrosis under the same conditions. Autodigestion experiments suggested the endonucleolytic activity to cause HMW fragmentation in the cytoplasm of both cell lines. The activity was more dependent on Mg2+ than Ca2+ in HL‐60, whereas it was Ca2+‐dependent in MOLT‐4. These results suggest that HMW DNA fragmentation is not specific to apoptosis.

Role of Protein Tyrosine Phosphorylation in Etoposide-Induced Apoptosis and NF-κB Activation

Abstract When a human myeloid cell line, U937, was incubated with etoposide (10 μg/mL), morphologically apoptotic cells first appeared at 3 hr and increased with time to 50% at 6 hr. Pretreatment of U937 cells for 30 min with a potent tyrosine kinase inhibitor, herbimycin A (10 μM), significantly suppressed the appearance of apoptotic morphological changes. Concomitantly, herbimycin A pretreatment prevented both high molecular weight and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation induced by etoposide. Two major bands at 30 and 66 kDa with enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation inhibited by herbimycin A were detectable after 30 min of incubation with etoposide. In addition, herbimycin A prevented etoposide-induced NF-κB activation. The expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax, on the other hand, were not affected by herbimycin A pretreatment. Herbimycin A was also found to inhibit 1-β- d -arabinofuranosylcytosine-induced apoptotic changes and NF-κB activation. These results suggest that activation of tyrosine kinase(s) may play an important role in apoptotic processes induced by a variety of anti-cancer drugs.

Normal mutation frequencies of somatic cells in patients receiving growth hormone therapy

The number of reported cases of malignancy developing in growth hormone (GH) users worldwide has increased to more than 40. However, the causal relationship between GH administration and the occurrence of malignancies is still uncertain. We investigated somatic cell mutation frequencies (Mfs) or variant frequency (Vf) at three gene loci in patients with pituitary dwarfism receiving GH therapy to clarify the genetic effect of GH. Eighty-eight patients receiving GH therapy for at least 3 months and 42 age-matched healthy controls were studied. Mfs at hypoxanthineguanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and T-cell receptor (TCR) loci in GH users were not significantly higher than in the controls. Although a few patients seemed to have a slightly increased Vf at the glycophorin A (GPA) locus, the difference was not statistically significant. In addition, there was no tendency for the Mfs (Vf) at these loci to increase with the duration of the GH therapy. These data seem to exclude the possibility that GH induces genetic instability in patients with pituitary dwarfism who are receiving GH therapy.

Methotrexate inhibits superoxide production and chemotaxis in neutrophils activated by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor

Treatment of circulating human neutrophils with recombinant human granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (rhG‐CSF) for 30 min augmented superoxide generation and chemotaxis induced by N‐formylmethionyl‐leucyl‐phenylalanine (fMLP) in a dose dependent manner. When neutrophils were treated with 1 μM of methotrexate (MTX) for 60 min after incubation with rhG‐CSF (10 ng/ml), the effects of rhG‐CSF on superoxide generation and chemotaxis were inhibited by approximately 49 and 29%, respectively. Although inhibitory effects of MTX were also seen in neutrophils not pretreated with rhG‐CSF, the degree of inhibition was much less. The addition of either hypoxanthine or guanosine at a concentration of 100 μM to the culture medium significantly attenuated the effects of MTX. However, in neutrophils obtained from a patient with Lesch‐Nyhan syndrome, which lacked hypoxanthine‐guanine phosphoribosyl transferase activity, neither hypoxanthine nor guanosine had any rescue effect. These results suggest that MTX inhibits superoxide generation and chemotaxis in rhG‐CSF‐activated neutrophils, at least in part, by disturbing purine nucleotide biosynthesis.

Augmentation by aphidicolin of 1-β-d-arabinofuranosylcytosine-induced c-jun and NF-κB activation in a human myeloid leukemia cell line: Correlation with apoptosis

Abstract 1-β- d -arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C) (2 μM) can induce apoptosis in a human myeloid leukemia cell line, U937, after 4 h of incubation. Pretreatment of cells with aphidicolin (2 μM) augments ara-C-induced apoptosis, since it was first observed at 0.4 μM ara-C and became more intense at 2 and 10 μM. Although aphidicolin itself had a marginal effect on c- jun expression, it significantly augmented ara-C induced c- jun upregulation by shortening the lag time and lowering ara-C concentrations necessary for the induction of detectable c- jun transcripts. Aphidicolin and ara-C acted synergistically to increase NF-κB DNA binding activity as determined by an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Expression of c- myc was slightly increased through the DNA degradative phase, and was then downregulated. Thus, the activation of NF-κB and c- jun expression seems to be well correlated with the potentiation by aphidicolin of ara-C-induced apoptosis.

Inhibition of superoxide production and chemotaxis by methotrexate in neutrophils primed by TNF-α or LPS

Abstract: We have demonstrated recently that methotrexate (MTX) inhibits superoxide generation and chemotaxis induced by N‐formylmethionyl‐leucyl‐phenylalanine (fMLP) in neutrophils primed by granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G–CSF). To extend these observations, we examined the in vitro effect of MTX on fMLP‐stimulated superoxide generation and chemotaxis in neutrophils primed by either tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) or bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). MTX inhibited superoxide generation and chemotaxis more efficiently in TNF‐α‐or LPS‐primed neutrophils than in unprimed neutrophils. When either hypoxanthine or guanosine was added to the culture medium, the effects of MTX were partially counteracted. Furthermore, MTX caused a significant inhibition of both superoxide production induced by phorbol 12‐myristate‐13‐acetate and chemotaxis induced by interleukin 8 in G‐CSF‐primed neutrophils. These results may support the hypothesis that neutrophils primed by different stimuli are more susceptible to the inhibitory effects of MTX on superoxide generation and chemotaxis irrespective of chemoattractants. Such an effect can be partly attributed to the perturbation of purine nucleotide biosynthesis.

Myelodysplastic syndrome presenting as third malignancy after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and osteosarcoma

Abstract The patient was initially diagnosed as having non-Hodgkins lymphoma and was cured following treatment with prednisolone, vincristine, daunorubicin, l-asparaginase, and cyclophosphamide. Seven years and two months later, he developed osteosarcoma in his right femur. He received chemotherapy consisting of methotrexate, carboplatin, etoposide, and ifosfamide and again obtained remission. After 2 years and 7 months, however, he was found to have pancytopenia with morphological abnormalities in the erythroid and myeloid series. Diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) was made. Cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow cells revealed -5 and -7, which is typical for secondary MDS. This is a rare case of third malignancy presumably caused by alkylating agents.

Varied clinical course of aplastic crisis in hereditary spherocytosis

This study is the first to report a familial case involving differing clinical courses of aplastic crisis triggered by parvovirus B19 in two patients with HS, although similar eosin‐5‐maleimide‐binding test and sodium dodecylsulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis results had been obtained for both. One patient had short‐term mild symptoms, whereas the other patient developed severe anemia that required blood transfusion, experienced fever for 13 days, and did not have any rash. The severity of aplastic crisis is reported to be correlated with the severity of the underlying hemolytic anemia; the present findings show that the severity of infection should also be considered as an important predictive factor of the severity of aplastic crisis.

Constitutive endonuclease to induce high molecular weight or internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in freshly isolated leukemia cells

Using an autodigestion method, we investigated endogenous endonuclease(s) in leukemia cells freshly obtained from pediatric patients with various types of leukemia. Endonucleolytic activity was found to cause both high molecular weight and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation at a neutral pH in whole cell lysates of all common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) blasts, which was Mg2+-dependent and Ca2+-independent. Whole lysates from most acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) cells possessed similar endonuclease activity, but both Mg2+ and Ca2+ were required for the activity. Our results suggest that leukemia cells of different lineages have distinct constitutive endonucleases, which may play a role in the occurrence of apoptosis in these cells.