Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disease associated with intense angiogenesis and vascular expression of integrin αvβ3. Intra-articular administration of a cyclic peptide antagonist of integrin αvβ3 to rabbits with antigen-induced arthritis early in disease resulted in inhibition of synovial angiogenesis and reduced synovial cell infiltrate, pannus formation, and cartilage erosions. These effects were not associated with lymphopenia or impairment of leukocyte function. Furthermore, when administered in chronic, preexisting disease, the αvβ3 antagonist effectively diminished arthritis severity and was associated with a quantitative increase in apoptosis of the angiogenic blood vessels. Therefore, angiogenesis appears to be a central factor in the initiation and persistence of arthritic disease, and antagonists of integrin αvβ3 may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for RA.
Authors
Chris M. Storgard, Dwayne G. Stupack, Alfred Jonczyk, Simon L. Goodman, Robert I. Fox, David A. Cheresh
Abstract
Angiotensin II type 2 (AT2) receptor is abundantly expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) of the fetal vasculature during late gestation (embryonic day 15–20), during which the blood vessels undergo remodeling. To examine directly the influence of AT2 receptor expression in the developmental biology of VSMC, we studied cultures of VSMC from fetal and postnatal wild-type (Agtr2+) and AT2 receptor null (Agtr2–) mice. Consistent with in vivo data, AT2 receptor binding in cultured Agtr2+ VSMC increased by age, peaking at embryonic day 20, and decreased dramatically after birth. Angiotensin II–induced growth in Agtr2+ VSMC (embryonic day 20) was increased by the AT2 receptor blocker PD123319, indicating that the AT2 receptors are functional and exert an antigrowth effect in Agtr2+ VSMC. Growth of VSMC in response to serum decreased age dependently and was higher in Agtr2– than in Agtr2+, inversely correlating with AT2 receptor expression. However, serum-induced growth in Agtr2+ and Agtr2– VSMC and the exaggerated Agtr2– VSMC growth was maintained even in the presence of PD123319 or losartan, an AT1 receptor blocker. Moreover, Agtr2– VSMC showed greater growth responses to platelet-derived growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor, indicating that Agtr2– cells exhibit a generalized exaggerated growth phenotype. We studied the mechanism responsible for this phenotype and observed that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activity was higher in Agtr2– VSMC at baseline and also in response to serum. ERK kinase inhibitor PD98059 inhibited both growth and ERK phosphorylation dose–dependently, while the regression lines between growth and ERK phosphorylation were identical in Agtr2+ and Agtr2– VSMC, suggesting that increased ERK activity in Agtr2– VSMC is pivotal in the growth enhancement. Furthermore, the difference in ERK phosphorylation between Agtr2+ and Agtr2– was abolished by vanadate but not by okadaic acid, implicating tyrosine phosphatase in the difference in ERK activity. These results suggest that the AT2 receptor expression during the fetal vasculogenesis influences the growth phenotype of VSMC via the modulation of ERK cascade.
Authors
Masahiro Akishita, Masaaki Ito, Jukka Y.A. Lehtonen, Laurent Daviet, Victor J. Dzau, Masatsugu Horiuchi
Abstract
Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is upregulated in renal parenchymal cells during kidney disease. To investigate whether MCP-1 promotes tubular and/or glomerular injury, we induced nephrotoxic serum nephritis (NSN) in MCP-1 genetically deficient mice. Mice were analyzed when tubules and glomeruli were severely damaged in the MCP-1–intact strain (day 7). MCP-1 transcripts increased fivefold in MCP-1–intact mice. MCP-1 was predominantly localized within cortical tubules (90%), and most cortical tubules were damaged, whereas few glomerular cells expressed MCP-1 (10%). By comparison, there was a marked reduction (>40%) in tubular injury in MCP-1–deficient mice (histopathology, apoptosis). MCP-1–deficient mice were not protected from glomerular injury (histopathology, proteinuria, macrophage influx). Macrophage accumulation increased adjacent to tubules in MCP-1–intact mice compared with MCP-1–deficient mice (70%, P < 0.005), indicating that macrophages recruited by MCP-1 induce tubular epithelial cell (TEC) damage. Lipopolysaccharide-activated bone marrow macrophages released molecules that induced TEC death that was not dependent on MCP-1 expression by macrophages or TEC. In conclusion, MCP-1 is predominantly expressed by TEC and not glomeruli, promotes TEC and not glomerular damage, and increases activated macrophages adjacent to TEC that damage TEC during NSN. Therefore, we suggest that blockage of TEC MCP-1 expression is a therapeutic strategy for some forms of kidney disease.
Authors
Gregory H. Tesch, Andreas Schwarting, Koji Kinoshita, Hui Y. Lan, Barrett J. Rollins, Vicki Rubin Kelley
Abstract
The role of the plasminogen activation system (PAS) was investigated during the course of infection of a relapsing fever Borrelia species in plasminogen-deficient (plg –/–) and control (plg+/+ and plg+/–) mice. Subcutaneous inoculation of 104 spirochetes resulted in a peak spirochetemia five days after infection with 20–23 × 106 organisms per milliliter of whole blood in all mice, indicating that the PAS had no effect on the development of this phase of the infection. Anemia, thrombocytopenia, hepatitis, carditis, and splenomegaly were noted in all mice during and immediately after peak spirochetemia. Fibrin deposition in organs was noted in plg–/– mice but not in controls during these stages. Significantly greater spirochetal DNA burdens were consistently observed in the hearts and brains of control mice 28–30 days after infection, as determined by PCR amplification of this organism's flagellin gene (flaB), followed by quantitative densitometry. Furthermore, the decreased spirochetal load in brains of plg –/– mice was associated with a significant decrease in the degree of inflammation of the leptomeninges in these mice. These findings indicate a role for the PAS in heart and brain invasion by relapsing fever Borrelia, resulting in organ injury.
Authors
Joseph A. Gebbia, Juan Carlos Garcia Monco, Jay L. Degen, Thomas H. Bugge, Jorge L. Benach
Abstract
We investigated the effect of increasing dietary cholesterol on bile acid pool sizes and the regulation of the two bile acid synthetic pathways (classic, via cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase, and alternative, via sterol 27-hydroxylase) in New Zealand white rabbits fed 3 g cholesterol/per day for up to 15 days. Feeding cholesterol for one day increased hepatic cholesterol 75% and cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase activity 1.6 times without significant change of bile acid pool size or sterol 27-hydroxylase activity. After three days of cholesterol feeding, the bile acid pool size increased 83% (P < 0.01), and further feeding produced 10%–20% increments, whereas cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase activity declined progressively to 60% below baseline. In contrast, sterol 27-hydroxylase activity rose 58% after three days of cholesterol feeding and remained elevated with continued intake. Bile drainage depleted the bile acid pool and stimulated downregulated cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase activity but did not affect sterol 27-hydroxylase activity. Thus, increasing hepatic cholesterol does not directly inhibit cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase and initially favors enzyme induction, whereas increased bile acid pool is the most powerful inhibitor of cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase. Sterol 27-hydroxylase is insensitive to the bile acid flux but is upregulated by increasing hepatic cholesterol.
Authors
Guorong Xu, Gerald Salen, Sarah Shefer, G. Stephen Tint, Lien B. Nguyen, Thomas S. Chen, David Greenblatt
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