ovalbumin and Chromosome-Deletion

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) has been implicated in regulating cell survival signaling through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway. The key role of PI3K in VEGF-mediated signal transduction is established. However, the effects of PTEN on VEGF-mediated signaling in asthma are unknown. This study aimed to determine the effect of PI3K inhibitors and PTEN on VEGF expression in allergen-induced airway inflammation. We have used a female C57BL/6 mouse model for asthma to determine the role of PTEN in allergen-induced airway inflammation, specifically in the expression of VEGF. Allergen-induced airway inflammation leads to increased activity of PI3K in lung tissue. These mice develop the following typical pathophysiological features of asthma in the lungs: increased numbers of inflammatory cells of the airways; airway hyper-responsiveness; increased expression of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-13, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), and eotaxin; increased vascular permeability; and increased levels of VEGF. Administration of PI3K inhibitors or adenoviruses carrying PTEN cDNA reduced the symptoms of asthma and decreased the increased levels of plasma extravasation and VEGF in allergen-induced asthmatic lungs. These results indicate that PTEN reduces VEGF expression in allergen-induced airway inflammation.

Topics: Adenoviridae; Allergens; Androstadienes; Animals; Asthma; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid; Cell Adhesion Molecules; Chemokines; Chromones; Chromosome Deletion; Enzyme Inhibitors; Female; Interleukin-1; Lung; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Morpholines; Ovalbumin; Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; Phosphorylation; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; PTEN Phosphohydrolase; Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; Wortmannin

To examine the effects of aberrant expression of class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins on tolerance development, transgenic mice expressing the I-Ad genes under control of the pancreatic elastase promoter were produced. Such transgenic mice express I-Ad exclusively on exocrine pancreas, without expression in thymus or by lymphocytes. No spontaneous development of autoimmune reactivity toward exocrine pancreas was found in transgene-expressing mice of an H-2b background even though such mice could produce in vitro allogeneic responses against I-Ad. When T cells from nontransgenic H-2b mice as well as transgenic H-2b mice were activated in vitro by I-Ad allogeneic stimulator cells and transferred to transgenic mice, an intense, destructive lymphocytic infiltrate specific for exocrine pancreas developed. These findings suggest that aberrant class II MHC expression alone may not trigger autoimmune reactions. Rather, the unresponsiveness to allogenic class II MHC may result from the inability of exocrine pancreas to initiate primary responses by T cells.

Topics: Animals; Cells, Cultured; Chromosome Deletion; Female; Gene Expression; Genes, MHC Class II; Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; Immune Tolerance; Immunization, Passive; Lymphocytes; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Ovalbumin; Pancreas; Pancreatic Elastase; Promoter Regions, Genetic

We used a cell-free HeLa cell transcription system to identify and characterize transcription factors and the promoter elements that they recognize in RNA polymerase II-transcribed genes. Deletion of the region (-71 to -83) containing the GTCAAA direct repeat resulted in a marked decrease of specific transcription of the ovalbumin gene; transcription could be competed with DNA fragments containing this sequence. Furthermore, DNase I footprinting identified a protein-binding site including this direct repeat with crude extracts and one of the partially purified protein fractions required for transcription. We propose that a soluble factor activates transcription through binding to the direct repeat of GTCAAA sequence upstream from the ovalbumin gene.

Topics: Base Sequence; Chromosome Deletion; Deoxyribonuclease I; HeLa Cells; In Vitro Techniques; Ovalbumin; Plasmids; Promoter Regions, Genetic; RNA Polymerase II; Transcription Factors; Transcription, Genetic

We have previously transferred an ovalbumin-beta-globin fusion gene (ovalglobin) into primary cultures of chick oviduct cells and demonstrated that an ovalbumin gene 5'-flanking sequence between -221 and -95 is necessary for progesterone-mediated transcriptional induction (Dean, D. C., Knoll, B. J., Riser, M. E., and O'Malley, B. W. (1983) Nature (Lond.) 305, 551-554). Here we compare 5'-flanking sequences required for induction of the ovalglobin gene by 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone. The early gene of simian virus 40 was inserted into the same plasmid as the ovalbumin fusion gene to serve as an internal control. Since transcription of the viral early gene was unaffected by the presence of steroid hormone or deletions in the ovalbumin gene 5'-flanking region, the level of its transcripts could be monitored as a reference standard for ovalglobin transcription. Ovalglobin transcripts initiated principally from the ovalbumin cap site in the presence or absence of progesterone and 17 beta-estradiol. Deletion of 5'-flanking sequences to -197 had little effect on the induction with either hormone, while successive deletions to -180, -161, and -143 resulted in a gradual decrease in the level of induction. Deletion to -95 eliminated the induction. The results of this study indicate that DNA control elements for regulation of the ovalbumin gene by estrogen and progesterone either overlap directly or are clustered in close proximity in the 5'-flanking region near the ovalbumin gene promoter.

Topics: Animals; Base Sequence; Cells, Cultured; Chickens; Chromosome Deletion; Diethylstilbestrol; DNA Restriction Enzymes; Estradiol; Female; Genes; Ovalbumin; Oviducts; Plasmids; Progesterone; Transcription, Genetic; Transfection

The intramolecular signals for chicken ovalbumin secretion were examined by producing mutant proteins in Xenopus oocytes. An ovalbumin complementary DNA clone was manipulated in vitro, and constructs containing altered protein-coding sequences and either the simian virus 40 (SV40) early promoter or Herpes simplex thymidine kinase promoter, were microinjected into Xenopus laevis oocytes. The removal of the eight extreme N-terminal amino acids of ovalbumin had no effect on the segregation of ovalbumin with oocyte membranes nor on its secretion. A protein lacking amino acids 2 to 21 was sequestered in the endoplasmic reticulum but remained strongly associated with the oocyte membranes rather than being secreted. Removal of amino acids 231 to 279, a region previously reported to have membrane-insertion function, resulted in a protein that also entered the endoplasmic reticulum but was not secreted. Hybrid proteins containing at their N terminus amino acids 9 to 41 or 22 to 41 of ovalbumin fused to the complete chimpanzee alpha-globin polypeptide were also sequestered by oocyte membranes. We conclude that the ovalbumin "signal" sequence is internally located within amino acids 22 to 41, and we speculate that amino acids 9 to 21 could be important for the completion of ovalbumin translocation through membranes.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Centrifugation, Density Gradient; Chromosome Deletion; Female; Globins; Membranes; Mutation; Oocytes; Ovalbumin; Tunicamycin; Xenopus laevis