Filter paper cards contaminated with EMLA cream produce artefacts on acylcarnitine analysis.

Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry is a widely applied method for the analysis of acylcarnitines in blood samples spotted on filter paper cards (Guthrie cards). When the filter paper cards are contaminated by EMLA cream, highly intense signals at m/z 221 and 235 are detected under ESI-MS/MS conditions, monitoring for precursors of m/z 85. These signals correspond to the active ingredients prilocaine and lidocaine in EMLA and overlap with the signals from the isotopically labelled internal standards (2H3)propionyl carnitine and (2H3)butyrylcarnitine. This interference prevents the proper quantification of the two short-chain acylcarnitines when samples are analysed without derivatization.

The Ca2+-binding proteins S100A8 and S100A9 are encoded by novel injury-regulated genes.

To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying cutaneous wound repair, we performed a large scale screen to identify novel injury-regulated genes. Here we show a strong up-regulation of the RNA and protein levels of the two Ca(2+)-binding proteins S100A8 and S100A9 in the hyperthickened epidermis of acute murine and human wounds and of human ulcers. Furthermore, both genes were expressed by inflammatory cells in the wound. The increased expression of S100A8 and S100A9 in wound keratinocytes is most likely related to the activated state of the keratinocytes and not secondary to the inflammation of the skin, since we also found up-regulation of S100A8 and S100A9 in the epidermis of activin-overexpressing mice, which develop a hyperproliferative and abnormally differentiated epidermis in the absence of inflammation. Furthermore, S100A8 and S100A9 expression was found to be associated with partially differentiated keratinocytes in vitro. Using confocal microscopy, both proteins were shown to be at least partially associated with the keratin cytoskeleton. In addition, cultured keratinocytes efficiently secreted the S100A8/A9 dimer. These results together with previously published data suggest that S100A8 and S100A9 are novel players in wound repair, where they might be involved in the reorganization of the keratin cytoskeleton in the wounded epidermis, in the chemoattraction of inflammatory cells, and/or in the defense against microorganisms.

Gemcitabine cytotoxicity of human malignant glioma cells: modulation by antioxidants, BCL-2 and dexamethasone.

Gemcitabine is a novel antimetabolite drug that acts by multiple mechanisms, including inhibition of ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase, of dCMP deaminase and of dCTP incorporation into DNA and RNA. Here, we report that gemcitabine induces cytotoxic and clonogenic death of 12 human malignant glioma cell lines at clinically relevant concentrations around 1 microM. Gemcitabine is thus approximately 100-fold more active than the congener drug, cytarabine. Gemcitabine cytotoxicity of glioma cells does not require wild-type p53 activity: (i) there was no difference in the susceptibility to gemcitabine between cell lines with wild-type p53 and cell lines with mutant or deleted p53; (ii) ectopic expression of a temperature-sensitive p53 protein either at wild-type (32.5 degrees C) or at mutant (38.5 degrees C) conformation had no significant influence on gemcitabine-induced cell death. Gemcitabine cytotoxicity was unaffected by the antioxidants, N-acetylcysteine and phenyl-N-tert-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone. There was no correlation between the susceptibility to gemcitabine and the endogenous expression of the B cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2)-family proteins BCL-2, BCL-XL, myeloid cell leukemia-1 (MCL-1), BCL-2-associated X protein (BAX), BCL-2 homologous antagonist/killer (BAK) and BCL-XS. Ectopic expression of BCL-2 moderately attenuated gemcitabine-induced cell death. Similarly, preexposure to the synthetic steroid, dexamethasone, which is commonly used to control cerebral edema in brain tumor patients, reduced gemcitabine cytotoxicity. We conclude that the clinical evaluation of gemcitabine for the adjuvant chemotherapy of malignant glioma is warranted.

Dexamethasone-mediated protection from drug cytotoxicity: association with p21WAF1/CIP1 protein accumulation?

Dexamethasone (DEX)-mediated inhibition of drug-induced, but not CD95 ligand-induced, apoptosis in malignant glioma cells correlates with wild-type p53 status. Here, we examined mechanisms underlying DEX-mediated protection from apoptosis. DEX did not induce p53 expression in two p53 wild-type cell lines (U87MG, LN-229) and did not alter drug-induced p53 accumulation. Forced expression of temperature-sensitive p53val135 in mutant conformation failed to prevent accumulation of endogenous wild-type p53 but acted in a transdominant negative manner to inhibit p53-mediated, camptothecin-induced p21WAF1/CIP1 expression. p53val135-transfected cells retained responsiveness to DEX at restrictive temperature, suggesting that p53 activity is not required for cytoprotection. Forced expression of wild-type p53val135 abrogated the protective effect of DEX, suggesting redundant cytoprotective effects of DEX and p53. Indeed, DEX induced moderate accumulation of p21WAF1/CIP1 in U87MG, LN-229 and p53 mutant LN-18 cells, but not in p53 mutant LN-308 or T98G cells. LN-18 is also the p53 mutant cell line with the best cytoprotective response to DEX. p21WAF1/CIP1 accumulation occurred in the absence of changes in p21WAF1/CIP1 mRNA expression. Wild-type p53 was not required for this DEX effect since DEX induced p21WAF1/CIP1 accumulation in p53val135-transfected LN-229 cells, too. DEX failed to induce p21WAF1/CIP1 expression or cytoprotection in untransformed rat astrocytes. The same lack of modulation of p21WAF1/CIP1 expression and drug toxicity was observed in p21(+/+), p21(+/-) and p21(-/-) human colon carcinoma cells. Paradoxically, while only p21(+/+) and p21(+/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts showed enhance p21WAF1/CIP1 levels after exposure to DEX, only p21(-/-) fibroblasts were protected from drug toxicity by DEX. The present study links DEX-mediated protection from cancer chemotherapy to a p53-independent pathway of regulating p21WAF1/CIP1 expression in glioma cells but this effect appears to cell type-specific.

CD95-mediated apoptosis: no variation in cellular sensitivity during cell cycle progression.

Sensitivity of CD95-mediated apoptosis has been reported to vary during cell cycle progression (FEBS Lett. (1997) 412, 91-93). Here, we report that three human glioma cell lines with different p53 status (i) undergo growth arrest and synchronous cell cycle re-entry after prolonged serum deprivation, (ii) do not exhibit cell cycle-related changes in CD95 expression at the cell surface, and (iii) do not exhibit cell cycle-related changes in susceptibility to DC95 ligand-induced apoptosis. In contrast, cell cycle-specific activity was demonstrated for various cancer chemotherapy drugs. Further, CD95 expression and susceptibility to CD95 ligand-induced apoptosis does not vary during cell cycle progression of Jurkat T cells, HeLa cervical carcinoma and HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. These results do not support a role for the cell cycle phase as an important predictor of vulnerability to CD95-mediated apoptosis.