ABSTRACT
The unliganded form of the estrogen receptor is generally thought to be inactive. Our prior studies, however, suggested that unliganded estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) exacerbates adverse vascular injury responses in mice. Here, we show that the presence of unliganded ERα decreases vascular endothelial cell (EC) migration and proliferation, increases smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation, and increases inflammatory responses in cultured ECs and SMCs. Unliganded ERα also regulates many genes in vascular ECs and mouse aorta. Activation of ERα by E2 reverses the cell physiological effects of unliganded ERα, and promotes gene regulatory effects that are predicted to counter the effects of unliganded ERα. These results reveal that the unliganded form of ERα is not inert, but significantly impacts gene expression and physiology of vascular cells. Furthermore, they indicate that the cardiovascular protective effects of estrogen may be connected to its ability to counteract these effects of unliganded ERα.
Subject(s)
Estrogen Receptor alpha/metabolism , Gene Expression/physiology , Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/metabolism , Animals , Aorta/metabolism , Cell Movement/physiology , Cell Proliferation/physiology , Cells, Cultured , Endothelial Cells/metabolism , Estradiol/metabolism , Estrogens/metabolism , Female , Mice , Mice, Knockout , Myocytes, Smooth Muscle/metabolismABSTRACT
The degeneration of substantia nigra (SN) dopamine (DA) neurons in sporadic Parkinson׳s disease (PD) is characterized by disturbed gene expression networks. Micro(mi)RNAs are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and we recently provided evidence that these molecules may play a functional role in the pathogenesis of PD. Here, we document a comprehensive analysis of miRNAs in SN DA neurons and PD, including sex differences. Our data show that miRNAs are dysregulated in disease-affected neurons and differentially expressed between male and female samples with a trend of more up-regulated miRNAs in males and more down-regulated miRNAs in females. Unbiased Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) revealed a network of miRNA/target-gene associations that is consistent with dysfunctional gene and signaling pathways in PD pathology. Our study provides evidence for a general association of miRNAs with the cellular function and identity of SN DA neurons, and with deregulated gene expression networks and signaling pathways related to PD pathogenesis that may be sex-specific.
Subject(s)
Dopaminergic Neurons/metabolism , Gene Regulatory Networks , Mesencephalon/pathology , MicroRNAs/metabolism , Parkinson Disease/pathology , Female , Gene Expression Profiling , Gene Expression Regulation , Humans , Male , MicroRNAs/genetics , Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis , Signal TransductionABSTRACT
Omenn syndrome is a primary immunodeficiency disorder, featuring susceptibility to infections and autoreactive T cells and resulting from defective genomic rearrangement of genes for the T cell and B cell receptors. The most frequent etiologies are hypomorphic mutations in "non-core" regions of the Rag1 or Rag2 genes, the protein products of which are critical members of the cellular apparatus for V(D)J recombination. In this report, we describe an infant with Omenn syndrome with a previously unreported termination mutation (p.R142*) in Rag1 on one allele and a partially characterized substitution mutation (p.V779M) in a "core" region of the other Rag1 allele. Using a cellular recombination assay, we found that while the p.R142* mutation completely abolished V(D)J recombination activity, the p.V779M mutation conferred a severe, but not total, loss of V(D)J recombination activity. The recombination defect of the V779 mutant was not due to overall misfolding of Rag1, however, as this mutant supported wild-type levels of V(D)J cleavage. These findings provide insight into the role of this poorly understood region of Rag1 and support the role of Rag1 in a post-cleavage stage of recombination.
Subject(s)
Alleles , Heterozygote , Homeodomain Proteins/genetics , Mutation, Missense , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/genetics , Amino Acid Substitution , Child , Child, Preschool , Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Proteolysis , Recombination, Genetic , Severe Combined Immunodeficiency/metabolismABSTRACT
The basis for vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is considered to be primarily genetic, with a 30-50% incidence of VUR in first-degree relatives of patients. The search for the causative gene or genes has been elusive, likely because of VUR being genetically heterogeneous with complex inheritance patterns. In this study, a genome-wide analysis of VUR with high-density single nucleotide polymorphisms was conducted with the aim of identifying susceptibility loci for VUR in 98 families with two or more affected children. Using the affected sib-pair method of analysis in 150 sib-pairs, we identified a genome-wide statistically significant linkage peak with an LOD score greater than 4 on chromosome 5 and two linkage peaks with LOD scores greater than 3.6 on chromosomes 13 and 18 were identified in these 98 families. These results suggested that multiple genes are likely to contribute to the formation of VUR phenotype. Further mapping of these linkage peaks may help identify the causative genes.
