Olivier Donzé

Inhibiting the Mitochondrial Fission Machinery Does Not Prevent Bax/Bak-Dependent Apoptosis

ABSTRACT Apoptosis, induced by a number of death stimuli, is associated with a fragmentation of the mitochondrial network. These morphological changes in mitochondria have been shown to require proteins, such as Drp1 or hFis1, which are involved in regulating the fission of mitochondria. However, the precise role of mitochondrial fission during apoptosis remains elusive. Here we report that inhibiting the fission machinery in Bax/Bak-mediated apoptosis, by down-regulating of Drp1 or hFis1, prevents the fragmentation of the mitochondrial network and partially inhibits the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria but fails to block the efflux of Smac/DIABLO. In addition, preventing mitochondrial fragmentation does not inhibit cell death induced by Bax/Bak-dependent death stimuli, in contrast to the effects of Bcl-xL or caspase inhibition. Therefore, the fission of mitochondria is a dispensable event in Bax/Bak-dependent apoptosis.

APRIL secreted by neutrophils binds to heparan sulfate proteoglycans to create plasma cell niches in human mucosa

The bone marrow constitutes a favorable environment for long-lived antibody-secreting plasma cells, providing blood-circulating antibody. Plasma cells are also present in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) to mediate local frontline immunity, but how plasma cell survival there is regulated is not known. Here we report that a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) promoted survival of human upper and lower MALT plasma cells by upregulating expression of the antiapoptotic proteins bcl-2, bcl-xL, and mcl-1. The in situ localization of APRIL was consistent with such a prosurvival role in MALT. In upper MALT, tonsillar epithelium produced APRIL. Upon infection, APRIL production increased considerably when APRIL-secreting neutrophils recruited from the blood infiltrated the crypt epithelium. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) retained secreted APRIL in the subepithelium of the infected zone to create APRIL-rich niches, wherein IgG-producing plasma cells accumulated. In lower MALT, neutrophils were the unique source of APRIL, giving rise to similar niches for IgA-producing plasmocytes in villi of lamina propria. Furthermore, we found that mucosal humoral immunity in APRIL-deficient mice is less persistent than in WT mice. Hence, production of APRIL by inflammation-recruited neutrophils may create plasma cell niches in MALT to sustain a local antibody production.

The protein kinase PKR: a molecular clock that sequentially activates survival and death programs.

Cell death and survival play a key role in the immune system as well as during development. The control mechanisms that balance cell survival against cell death are not well understood. Here we report a novel strategy used by a single protein to regulate chronologically cell survival and death. The interferon‐induced protein kinase PKR acts as a molecular clock by using catalysis‐dependent and ‐independent activities to temporally induce cell survival prior to cell death. We show that the proapoptotic protein PKR surprisingly activates a survival pathway, which is mediated by NF‐κB to delay apoptosis. Cell death is then induced by PKR through the phosphorylation of eIF‐2α. This unique temporal control might serve as a paradigm for other kinases whose catalytic activity is not required for all of their functions.

The Hsp90 chaperone complex is both a facilitator and a repressor of the dsRNA-dependent kinase PKR

PKR, a member of the eukaryotic initiation‐factor 2α (eIF‐2α) kinase family, mediates the host antiviral response and is implicated in tumor suppression and apoptosis. Here we show that PKR is regulated by the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) molecular chaperone complex. Mammalian PKR expressed in budding yeast depends on several components of the Hsp90 complex for accumulation and activity. In mammalian cells, inhibition of Hsp90 function with geldanamycin (GA) during de novo synthesis of PKR also interferes with its accumulation and activity. Hsp90 and its co‐chaperone p23 bind to PKR through its N‐terminal double‐stranded (ds) RNA binding region as well as through its kinase domain. Both dsRNA and GA induce the rapid dissociation of Hsp90 and p23 from mature PKR, activate PKR both in vivo and in vitro and within minutes trigger the phosphorylation of the PKR substrate eIF‐2α. A short‐term exposure of cells to the Hsp90 inhibitors GA or radicicol not only derepresses PKR, but also activates the Raf–MAPK pathway. This suggests that the Hsp90 complex may more generally assist the regulatory domains of kinases and other Hsp90 substrates.

Hsp104 interacts with Hsp90 cochaperones in respiring yeast

ABSTRACT The highly abundant molecular chaperone Hsp90 functions with assistance from auxiliary factors, collectively referred to as Hsp90 cochaperones, and the Hsp70 system. Hsp104, a molecular chaperone required for stress tolerance and for maintenance of [psi + ] prions in the budding yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae, appears to collaborate only with the Hsp70 system. We now report that several cochaperones previously thought to be dedicated to Hsp90 are shared with Hsp104. We show that the Hsp90 cochaperones Sti1, Cpr7, and Cns1, which utilize tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domains to interact with a common surface on Hsp90, form complexes with Hsp104 in vivo and that Sti1 and Cpr7 interact with Hsp104 directly in vitro. The interaction is Hsp90 independent, as further emphasized by the fact that two distinct TPR domains of Sti1 are required for binding Hsp90 and Hsp104. In a striking parallel to the sequence requirements of Hsp90 for binding TPR proteins, binding of Sti1 to Hsp104 requires a related acidic sequence at the C-terminal tail of Hsp104. While Hsp90 efficiently sequesters the cochaperones during fermentative growth, respiratory conditions induce the interaction of a fraction of Hsp90 cochaperones with Hsp104. This suggests that cochaperone sharing may favor adaptation to altered metabolic conditions.

Cleavage of mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein in the liver of patients with chronic hepatitis C correlates with a reduced activation of the endogenous interferon system

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection induces the endogenous interferon (IFN) system in the liver in some but not all patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Patients with a pre‐activated IFN system are less likely to respond to the current standard therapy with pegylated IFN‐α. Mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is an important adaptor molecule in a signal transduction pathway that senses viral infections and transcriptionally activates IFN‐β. The HCV NS3‐4A protease can cleave and thereby inactivate MAVS in vitro, and, therefore, might be crucial in determining the activation status of the IFN system in the liver of infected patients. We analyzed liver biopsies from 129 patients with CHC to investigate whether MAVS is cleaved in vivo and whether cleavage prevents the induction of the endogenous IFN system. Cleavage of MAVS was detected in 62 of the 129 samples (48%) and was more extensive in patients with a high HCV viral load. MAVS was cleaved by all HCV genotypes (GTs), but more efficiently by GTs 2 and 3 than by GTs 1 and 4. The IFN‐induced Janus kinase (Jak)‐signal transducer and activator of transcription protein (STAT) pathway was less frequently activated in patients with cleaved MAVS, and there was a significant inverse correlation between cleavage of MAVS and the expression level of the IFN‐stimulated genes IFI44L, Viperin, IFI27, USP18, and STAT1. We conclude that the pre‐activation status of the endogenous IFN system in the liver of patients with CHC is in part regulated by cleavage of MAVS. (HEPATOLOGY 2010.)

Hsp90 Binds and Regulates the Ligand-Inducible α Subunit of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor Kinase Gcn2

ABSTRACT The protein kinase Gcn2 stimulates translation of the yeast transcription factor Gcn4 upon amino acid starvation. Using genetic and biochemical approaches, we show that Gcn2 is regulated by the molecular chaperone Hsp90 in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Specifically, we found that (i) several Hsp90 mutant strains exhibit constitutive expression of a GCN4-lacZ reporter plasmid; (ii) Gcn2 and Hsp90 form a complex in vitro as well as in vivo; (iii) the specific inhibitors of Hsp90, geldanamycin and macbecin I, enhance the association of Gcn2 with Hsp90 and inhibit its kinase activity in vitro; (iv) in vivo, macbecin I strongly reduces the levels of Gcn2; (v) in a strain expressing the temperature-sensitive Hsp90 mutant G170D, both the accumulation and activity of Gcn2 are abolished at the restrictive temperature; and (vi) the Hsp90 cochaperones Cdc37, Sti1, and Sba1 are required for the response to amino acid starvation. Taken together, these data identify Gcn2 as a novel target for Hsp90, which plays a crucial role for the maturation and regulation of Gcn2.

The molecular chaperone Cdc37 is required for Ste11 function and pheromone-induced cell cycle arrest

The molecular chaperone Cdc37 is thought to act in part as a targeting subunit of the heat‐shock protein 90 (Hsp90) chaperone complex. We demonstrate here that Cdc37 is required for activity of the kinase Ste11 in budding yeast. A cdc37 mutant strain is defective in Ste11‐mediated pheromone signaling and in accumulation and functional maturation of the constitutively active Ste11 version Ste11ΔN. Moreover, Cdc37, Ste11ΔN and Hsp90 coprecipitate pairwise. Thus, Hsp90 and Cdc37 may transiently associate with Ste11 to promote proper folding and/or association with additional regulatory factors. Our results establish Ste11 as the first endogenous Cdc37 client protein in yeast.

Production of the plasma-cell survival factor a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) peaks in myeloid precursor cells from human bone marrow

The bone marrow (BM) is an organ extremely efficient in mediating long-term survival of plasma cells (PCs), ensuring an immune humoral memory. This implies that the BM must provide continuously key PC survival factors. Our results show that the BM is an organ constitutively rich in a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), a member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily implicated in PC survival. APRIL production is induced during hematopoiesis in myeloid cells by non-lineage-committing factors such as stem cell factor, thrombopoietin, IL-3, and FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand. Notably, APRIL production, both in the human and mouse systems, peaks in myeloid precursor cells, before dropping in fully mature granulocytes. Myeloid cells secrete APRIL that circulates freely in BM plasma to act on PCs, usually at distance from APRIL production sites. Selective APRIL in vivo antagonism and in vitro coculture experiments further demonstrated that myeloid precursor cells mediates PC survival in an APRIL-dependent manner Thus, APRIL production by myeloid precursor cells shows that the 2 main BM functions, hematopoiesis and long-term PC survival, are linked. Such constitutive and high APRIL production may explain why BM mediates long-term PC survival.

A non-radioactive method for inexpensive quantitative RT-PCR

Abstract We present a novel method for quantitative RT-PCR that involves direct incorporation of digoxigenin-11-dUTP (DIG-dUTP) during amplification of cDNAs, separation of RT-PCR products by agarose gel electrophoresis, Southern transfer to a nylon membrane, and chemiluminescent detection with an anti-DIG antibody. The whole procedure can be done in about a day and has the following advantages: It is highly sensitive, specificity is confirmed by monitoring the size of the RT-PCR product, it is non-radioactive, quantitative, and does not require expensive specialized equipment.