Targeted disruption of the Ceacam1 (MHVR) gene leads to reduced susceptibility of mice to mouse hepatitis virus infection.

The CEACAM1 glycoproteins (formerly called biliary glycoproteins; BGP, C-CAM, CD66a, or MHVR) are members of the carcinoembryonic antigen family of cell adhesion molecules. In the mouse, splice variants of CEACAM1 have either two or four immunoglobulin (Ig) domains linked through a transmembrane domain to either a short or a long cytoplasmic tail. CEACAM1 has cell adhesion activity and acts as a signaling molecule, and long-tail isoforms inhibit the growth of colon and prostate tumor cells in rodents. CEACAM1 isoforms serve as receptors for several viral and bacterial pathogens, including the murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) and Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Neisseria meningitidis in humans. To elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the many biological activities of CEACAM1, we modified the expression of the mouse Ceacam1 gene in vivo. Manipulation of the Ceacam1 gene in mouse embryonic stem cells that contained the Ceacam1a allele yielded a partial knockout. We obtained one line of mice in which the insert in the Ceacam1a gene had sustained a recombination event. This resulted in the markedly reduced expression of the two CEACAM1a isoforms with four Ig domains, whereas the expression of the two isoforms with two Ig domains was doubled relative to that in wild-type BALB/c (+/+) mice. Homozygous (p/p) Ceacam1a-targeted mice (Ceacam1aDelta4D) had no gross tissue abnormalities and were viable and fertile; however, they were more resistant to MHV A59 infection and death than normal (+/+) mice. Following intranasal inoculation with MHV A59, p/p mice developed markedly fewer and smaller lesions in the liver than +/+ or heterozygous (+/p) mice. The titers of virus produced in the livers were 50- to 100-fold lower in p/p mice than in +/p or +/+ mice. p/p mice survived a dose 100-fold higher than the lethal dose of virus for +/+ mice. +/p mice were intermediate between +/+ and p/p mice in susceptibility to liver damage, virus growth in liver, and susceptibility to killing by MHV. Ceacam1a-targeted mice provide a new model to study the effects of modulation of receptor expression on susceptibility to MHV infection in vivo.

Evaluation of the extent of nonlinearity in reportable range studies.

OBJECTIVES: To extend the polynomial method for evaluating linearity in 2 ways. First, we developed a screen to ascertain whether the data were precise enough to permit a reliable evaluation of linearity and therefore eliminate findings of linearity due to low statistical power. Second, we assessed whether the degree of nonlinearity detected by the polynomial method was clinically relevant using a statistically rigorous method. METHODS: Because we assessed linearity relative to a clinically determined level of importance instead of the default value of zero, we used sampling theory based on the noncentral chi(2) distribution. Using statistical power calculations, we incorporated a screen for imprecision that guarantees that the probability of correctly identifying nonlinear methods is at least 80%. RESULTS: With the described methods, we achieved a sensitivity of at least 80% and a specificity of at least 95%. When the data were too imprecise to achieve a sensitivity of 80%, no determination of linearity was made. This procedure mimics the practice in manual inspection of flagging data that appear imprecise by visual inspection and halting the evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: Formal statistical tests for precision and amount of nonlinearity are advantageous because they allow us to quantify and limit classification errors. By formalizing these various aspects of linearity assessment, we maintain some of the complex features of manual methods while making the linearity assessment feasible to apply to a high volume of assessments and removing the between-analyst variability.

Increased insulin sensitivity and obesity resistance in mice lacking the protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B gene.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B (PTP-1B) has been implicated in the negative regulation of insulin signaling. Disruption of the mouse homolog of the gene encoding PTP-1B yielded healthy mice that, in the fed state, had blood glucose concentrations that were slightly lower and concentrations of circulating insulin that were one-half those of their PTP-1B+/+ littermates. The enhanced insulin sensitivity of the PTP-1B-/- mice was also evident in glucose and insulin tolerance tests. The PTP-1B-/- mice showed increased phosphorylation of the insulin receptor in liver and muscle tissue after insulin injection in comparison to PTP-1B+/+ mice. On a high-fat diet, the PTP-1B-/- and PTP-1B+/- mice were resistant to weight gain and remained insulin sensitive, whereas the PTP-1B+/+ mice rapidly gained weight and became insulin resistant. These results demonstrate that PTP-1B has a major role in modulating both insulin sensitivity and fuel metabolism, thereby establishing it as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Neuroendocrine dysplasia in mice lacking protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma (PTP-sigma, encoded by the Ptprs gene) is a member of the LAR subfamily of receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatases that is highly expressed during mammalian embryonic development in the germinal cell layer lining the lateral ventricles of the developing brain, dorsal root ganglia, Rathke's pouch, olfactory epithelium, retina and developing lung and heart. On the basis of its expression and homology with the Drosophila melanogasterorthologues DPTP99 and DPTP100A (refs 5,6), which have roles in the targeting of axonal growth cones, we hypothesized that PTP-sigma may also have a modulating function in cell-cell interactions, as well as in axon guidance during mammalian embryogenesis. To investigate its function in vivo, we generated Ptprs-deficient mice. The resulting Ptprs-/-animals display retarded growth, increased neonatal mortality, hyposmia and hypofecundity. Anatomical and histological analyses showed a decrease in overall brain size with a severe depletion of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH)-immunoreactive cells in Ptprs-/- hypothalamus. Ptprs-/- mice have an enlarged intermediate pituitary lobe, but smaller anterior and posterior lobes. These results suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent signalling pathways regulated by PTP-sigma influence the proliferation and/or adhesiveness of various cell types in the developing hypothalamo-pituitary axis.

Impaired bone marrow microenvironment and immune function in T cell protein tyrosine phosphatase-deficient mice.

The T cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TC-PTP) is one of the most abundant mammalian tyrosine phosphatases in hematopoietic cells; however, its role in hematopoietic cell function remains unknown. In this report, we investigated the physiological function(s) of TC-PTP by generating TC-PTP-deficient mutant mice. The three genotypes (+/+, +/-, -/-) showed mendelian segregation at birth (1:2:1) demonstrating that the absence of TC-PTP was not lethal in utero, but all homozygous mutant mice died by 3-5 wk of age, displaying runting, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy. Homozygous mice exhibited specific defects in bone marrow (BM), B cell lymphopoiesis, and erythropoiesis, as well as impaired T and B cell functions. However, myeloid and macrophage development in the BM and T cell development in the thymus were not significantly affected. BM transplantation experiments showed that hematopoietic failure in TC-PTP -/- animals was not due to a stem cell defect, but rather to a stromal cell deficiency. This study demonstrates that TC-PTP plays a significant role in both hematopoiesis and immune function.

Lack of involvement of nitric oxide in killing of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia by pulmonary alveolar macrophages.

Nitric oxide is an important antimicrobial mechanism of phagocytes from mice and rats, but in the case of human phagocytes, secretion is still controversial. We investigated whether nitric oxide is involved in the killing of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia by human or murine pulmonary alveolar macrophages. Stimulation of the macrophages with gamma interferon and Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide had no effect on fungicidal activity against conidia in vitro, with or without the addition of tetrahydrobiopterin. Killing of conidia (means +/- standard deviations) by murine or human alveolar macrophages, before and after stimulation, was 44% +/- 13% and 49% +/- 12% (P = 0.34) and 24% +/- 5% and 29% +/- 10% (P = 0.20), respectively. Fungicidal activity was unaltered in the presence of the competitive inhibitor NG-monomethyl L-arginine, and nitrite was undetectable in cell supernatants. Peritoneal macrophages from B6C3F1 mice produced 18 mumol of nitrite per 10(6) cells in 18 h. In conclusion, nitric oxide does not appear to be involved in the fungicidal activity of murine or human alveolar macrophages against A. fumigatus conidia.

Acquired immunity in experimental murine aspergillosis is mediated by macrophages.

A number of studies have substantiated the pivotal role of innate defense mechanisms in protection against invasive aspergillosis. However, experiments demonstrating increased resistance to lethal intravenous (i.v.) infection with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia in cortisone-treated or untreated mice preinfected with a sublethal dose of conidia and protection of turkeys inoculated subcutaneously with a killed A. fumigatus germling vaccine against subsequent aerosol challenge led us to speculate that acquired immunity may also contribute to host defense against Aspergillus infection. Five-week-old male BALB/c mice were inoculated i.v. with 1.0 x 10(4) viable conidia or saline and challenged i.v. with 1.0 x 10(6) conidia after 7, 15, or 21 days. No protection against challenge was found after 7 days. However, significant and reproducible protection was observed after 15 and 21 days. Mortality was reduced from 90% in control mice to 53% in preinfected mice 40 days after challenge (P = 0.0002). Increased survival was correlated with decreased content of chitin in lungs, liver, and kidneys 4 and 7 days after challenge (P < 0.05). Mice were again inoculated with 1.0 x 10(4) conidia or saline, and after 21 days, 1.0 x 10(8) or 2.0 x 10(8) splenocytes were transferred to naive syngeneic recipients; 2.0 x 10(8) immune splenocytes conferred significant protection (P = 0.0001) against i.v. challenge with 1.0 x 10(6) conidia, and mortality decreased from 83 to 48% 40 days after challenge. Transfer of immune serum offered no protection despite the presence of antibody against a hyphal homogenate of A. fumigatus, which was absent in the sera of control mice. Protection by immune splenocytes was maintained after selective depletion of T cells but was abolished after removal of plastic-adherent splenocytes. Adherent cells were characterized as macrophages by using morphological criteria, nonspecific esterase, and MAC-1 monoclonal antibody. Production of hydrogen peroxide by peritoneal and splenic macrophages from preinfected mice was the same as and lower than, respectively, that from uninfected controls. However, phagocytosis of conidia by peritoneal or splenic macrophages from mice preinfected i.v. or intratracheally was significantly increased after 2 and 3 h of coculture compared with that from uninfected animals, whereas in vitro killing of conidia by splenic macrophages was unaltered. Peritoneal or splenic macrophages from control or preinfected mice failed to kill hyphae in vitro. Killing of hyphae by polymorphonuclear leukocytes was not significantly different between mice preinfected i.v. and uninfected controls. Taken together, the results indicate that acquired immunity mediated by activated macrophages can be demonstrated in experimental murine aspergillosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)