4,5-Dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-[4-(4-isopropoxy-benzyl)-phenyl]-amine (RO1138452) is a selective, pseudo-irreversible orthosteric antagonist at the prostacyclin (IP)-receptor expressed by human airway epithelial cells: IP-receptor-mediated inhibition of CXCL9 and CXCL10 release.

The extent to which the prostacyclin (IP) receptor regulates the release of two proinflammatory chemokines from human airway epithelial cells was investigated using the novel and competitive IP-receptor antagonist 4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-[4-(4-isopropoxy-benzyl)-phenyl]-amine (RO1138452). In BEAS-2B human airway epithelial cells, taprostene, a selective IP-receptor agonist, suppressed interferon-gamma-induced CXCL9 and CXCL10 release in a concentration-dependent manner. These effects were mimicked by 8-bromo-cAMP, and they were abolished in cells infected with an adenovirus vector encoding a highly selective inhibitor of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). RO1138452 blocked the inhibitory effect of taprostene on chemokine output in a manner inconsistent with surmountable competitive antagonism. Comparable results were obtained using primary cultures of human airway epithelial cells. The basis of the antagonism imposed by RO1138452 was studied further using BEAS-2B cells stably transfected with a cAMP-response element (CRE) luciferase reporter. On this output, RO1138452 also behaved insurmountably. Mechanistically, this could not be attributed to covalent receptor inactivation, allosterism, or a state of hemiequilibrium. Other studies established that the degree by which RO1138452 antagonized taprostene-induced CRE-dependent transcription was not reversed over a 20-h "washout" period. This pharmacological profile is consistent with the behavior of a pseudo-irreversible antagonist where dissociation from its cognate receptor is so slow that re-equilibration is not achieved at the time the response is measured. Collectively, these data provide compelling evidence that human airway epithelial cells express inhibitory IP-receptors linked to the activation of PKA. Moreover, contrary to existing literature, RO1138452 behaved pseudoirreversibly, emphasizing the need, in drug discovery, to screen potential new medicines in the target tissue(s) of interest.

The CD20 calcium channel is localized to microvilli and constitutively associated with membrane rafts: antibody binding increases the affinity of the association through an epitope-dependent cross-linking-independent mechanism.

CD20 is a B cell-specific membrane protein that functions in store-operated calcium entry and serves as a useful target for antibody-mediated therapeutic depletion of B cells. Antibody binding to CD20 induces a diversity of biological effects, some of which are dependent on lipid rafts. Rafts are isolated as low density detergent-resistant membranes, initially characterized using Triton X-100. We have previously reported that CD20 is soluble in 1% Triton but that antibodies induce the association of CD20 with Triton-resistant rafts. However, by using several other detergents to isolate rafts and by microscopic co-localization with a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked protein, we show in this report that CD20 is constitutively raft-associated. CD20 was distributed in a punctate pattern on the cell surface as visualized by fluorescence imaging and was also localized to microvilli by electron microscopy. The mechanism underlying antibody-induced association of CD20 with Triton-resistant rafts was investigated and found not to require cellular ATP, kinase activity, actin polymerization, or antibody cross-linking but was dependent on the epitope recognized. Thus, antibody-induced insolubility in 1% Triton most likely reflects a transition from relatively weak to strong raft association that occurs as a result of a conformational change in the CD20 protein.

Reduced histone biotinylation in multiple carboxylase deficiency patients: a nuclear role for holocarboxylase synthetase.

The attachment of biotin to apocarboxylases is catalyzed by holocarboxylase synthetase (HCS). An inherited deficiency of HCS results in the disorder 'multiple carboxylase deficiency', which is characterized by reduced activity of all biotin-dependent carboxylases. Here we show that the majority of HCS localizes to the nucleus rather than the cytoplasm based on immunofluorescence studies with antibodies to peptides and full length HCS and on the expression of recombinant HCS. Subnuclear fractionations indicate that HCS is associated with chromatin and the nuclear lamina, the latter in a discontinuous distribution in high salt-extracted nuclear membranes. During mitosis, HCS resolves into ring-like particles which co-localize with lamin B. Nuclear HCS retains its biotinylating activity and was shown to biotinylate purified histones in vitro. Significantly, fibroblasts from patients with HCS deficiency are severely deficient in histone biotinylation in addition to the deficiency of carboxylase activities. We propose that the role of HCS in histone modification may be linked to the participation of biotin in the regulation of gene expression or cell division and that affected patients may have additional disease beyond that due to the effect on carboxylases.

Store-operated cation entry mediated by CD20 in membrane rafts.

B cell activation requires sustained elevation of cytoplasmic free calcium, achieved by influx through store-operated calcium (SOC) channels. The molecular identity of these channels is not known. Ectopic expression of the raft-associated tetraspan protein CD20 in Chinese hamster ovary cells introduced a novel SOC entry pathway that was permeable to strontium as well as to calcium. The activity of this SOC pathway was abolished by deletion of a cytoplasmic sequence in CD20 essential for its efficient raft localization. Strontium-permeable SOC channels were detected in B cells, and B cell receptor-stimulated influx was significantly reduced by downregulation of CD20 expression using short interfering RNA and also by cholesterol depletion. This is the first evidence that raft-associated CD20 constitutes a component of a SOC entry pathway activated by the B cell receptor.