Kyung Tae Chung

Naringenin-induced apoptosis is attenuated by Bcl-2 but restored by the small molecule Bcl-2 inhibitor, HA 14-1, in human leukemia U937 cells

Naringenin, a naturally occurring citrus flavonone, has shown cytotoxicity in various human cancer cell lines as well as inhibitory effects on tumor growth and there is increasing interest in its therapeutic applications. In this study, the effect of ectopic Bcl-2 expression on naringenin-induced apoptosis was investigated. We found that Bcl-2 overexpression markedly protected human leukemia U937 cells from time- and dose-dependent induction of apoptosis by naringenin, as did caspase-3 and caspase-9 inhibitors. Additionally, Bcl-2 overexpression attenuated naringenin-induced Bax translocation and cytosolic release of cytochrome c. Our results also indicated that co-administration of HA14-1 and naringenin increased apoptosis in Bcl-2 overexpressing U937 cells by restoring mitochondrial dysfunction and activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, as well as by cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Taken together, these observations indicate that Bcl-2 confers apoptosis resistance to naringenin by inhibiting a mitochondrial amplification step in U937 cells.

Isolation of proteins that speifically interact with the ATPase domain of mammalian ER chaperone, BiP

BiP, immunoglobulin binding protein, is an ER homologue of Hsp 70. However, unlike other Hsp70 proteins, regulatory protein(s) for BiP has not been identified. Here, we demonstrated the presence of potential regulatory proteins for BiP using a pull-down assay. Since BiP can bind any unfolded protein, only the ATPase domain of BiP was used for the pull-down assay in order to minimize nonspecific binding. The ATPase domain was cloned to produce recombinant protein, which was then conjugated to CNBr-activated agarose. The structural conformation and ATP hydrolysis activity of the recombinant ATPase domain were similar to those of the native protein. Eight proteins from metabolically labeled mouse plasmacytoma cells specifically bound to the recombinant ATPase protein. The binding of these proteins was inhibited by excess amounts of free ATPase protein, and was dependent on the presence of ATP. These proteins were eluted by ADP. Of these proteins, Grp 170 and BiP where identified, while the others were not identified as known ER proteins, from Western blot analyses. The presence of the ATPase-binding proteins for Bip was first demonstrated in this study, and our data suggest similar regulatory machinery for BiP may exist in the ER, as found in prokaryotes and other cellular compartments.

Lipid A of Salmenella typhimurium Suppressed T-cell Mitogen-Induced Proliferation of Murine spleen Cells in the Presence of Macrophage

Infection with virulent or attenuated Salmonella typhimuriumhas known to induce reduction in proliferative responses of spleen cells. We investigated a role of lipid A from S. typhimurium, a B cell mitogen, on proliferation of spleen cells by T cell mitogens such as concanavaline A and phytohemagglutinin under in vitro and ex vivo conditions. Lipid A alone induced proliferation of spleen cells in vitroin a dose-dependent manner. However, subsequent treatment of concanavaline A or phytohemagglutin in after lipid A treatment induced proliferation suppression of murine spleen cells in vitro and ex vivo. Removal of macrophages from spleen cells, which were obtained from a lipid A-injected mouse, restored proliferation by concanavaline A and phytohemagglutinin, indicating that macrophages appeared to play a role in lipid A-induced suppression. Secreted molecules from macrophages did not accounted for the suppression because suppressive effect was not achieved when the supernatant from macrophage-containing spleen cell culture was conditioned to macrophage-depleted spleen cell culture. Co-culture of spleen cells from lipid A-treated and ?untreated mice showed proliferation suppression as increasing cell numbers of lipid A-treated mouse. These data suggested that the cell-to-cell contact of macrophage with splenic lymphocyte cells is responsible for immune responses against lipid A, which is applicable to the case of human S. typhi infection.