Correlation between luminescence intensity and cytotoxicity in cell-based cytotoxicity assay using luciferase.

The luciferase reporter assay has become one of the conventional methods for cytotoxicity evaluation. Typically, the decrease of luminescence expressed by a constitutive promoter is used as an index of cytotoxicity. However, to our knowledge, there have been no reports of the correlation between cytotoxicity and luminescence intensity. In this study, to accurately verify the correlation between them, beetle luciferase was stably expressed in human hepatoma HepG2 cells harboring the multi-integrase mouse artificial chromosome vector. We showed that the cytotoxicity assay using luciferase does not depend on the stability of luciferase protein and the kind of constitutive promoter. Next, HepG2 cells in which green-emitting beetle luciferase was expressed under the control of CAG promoter were exposed to 58 compounds. The luminescence intensity and cytotoxicity curves of cells exposed to 48 compounds showed similar tendencies, whereas those of cells exposed to 10 compounds did not do so, although the curves gradually approached each other with increasing exposure time. Finally, we demonstrated that luciferase expressed under the control of a constitutive promoter can be utilized both as an internal control reporter for normalizing a test reporter and for monitoring cytotoxicity when two kinds of luciferases are simultaneously used in the cytotoxicity assay.

Effects of duration of electric pulse on in vitro development of cloned cat embryos with human artificial chromosome vector.

The current applications for cat cloning include production of models for the study of human and animal diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the optimal fusion protocol on in vitro development of transgenic cloned cat embryos by comparing duration of electric pulse. Cat fibroblast cells containing a human artificial chromosome (HAC) vector were used as genetically modified nuclear donor cells. Couplets were fused and activated simultaneously with a single DC pulse of 3.0 kV/cm for either 30 or 60 µs. Low rates of fusion and embryo development to the blastocyst stage were observed in the reconstructed HAC-transchromosomic embryos, when the duration of fusion was prolonged to 60 µs. In contrast, the prolongation of electric pulse duration improved the embryo development and quality in the reconstructed control embryos without HAC vector. Our results suggested that the optimal parameters of electric pulses for fusion in cat somatic cell nuclear transfer vary among the types used for donor cells.

Refined human artificial chromosome vectors for gene therapy and animal transgenesis.

Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) have several advantages as gene therapy vectors, including stable episomal maintenance, and the ability to carry large gene inserts. We previously developed HAC vectors from the normal human chromosomes using a chromosome engineering technique. However, endogenous genes were remained in these HACs, limiting their therapeutic applications. In this study, we refined a HAC vector without endogenous genes from human chromosome 21 in homologous recombination-proficient chicken DT40 cells. The HAC was physically characterized using a transformation-associated recombination (TAR) cloning strategy followed by sequencing of TAR-bacterial artificial chromosome clones. No endogenous genes were remained in the HAC. We demonstrated that any desired gene can be cloned into the HAC using the Cre-loxP system in Chinese hamster ovary cells, or a homologous recombination system in DT40 cells. The HAC can be efficiently transferred to other type of cells including mouse ES cells via microcell-mediated chromosome transfer. The transferred HAC was stably maintained in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, tumor cells containing a HAC carrying the suicide gene, herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK), were selectively killed by ganciclovir in vitro and in vivo. Thus, this novel HAC vector may be useful not only for gene and cell therapy, but also for animal transgenesis.

Identification of the chromatin regions coated by non-coding Xist RNA.

Xist non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is essential for X chromosome inactivation (XCI). Some genes can escape from XCI, but how this occurs is unknown. We developed a modified RNA tagging and recovery of associated proteins (TRAP) method to study the association between Xist RNA and its target genes. In mouse cells, Xist RNA was detected on the Uba1 gene, but not on Jarid1c and Utx genes, which escape from XCI. Using this technique we were able to show that the Xist RNA molecule is not present on active genes that escape from XCI, but is present on genes inactivated by XCI, suggesting that this method is a powerful tool for functional analysis of ncRNA.

Correction of a genetic defect in multipotent germline stem cells using a human artificial chromosome.

Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) have several advantages as gene therapy vectors, including stable episomal maintenance that avoids insertional mutations and the ability to carry large gene inserts including regulatory elements. Multipotent germline stem (mGS) cells have a great potential for gene therapy because they can be generated from an individual's testes, and when reintroduced can contribute to the specialized function of any tissue. As a proof of concept, we herein report the functional restoration of a genetic deficiency in mouse p53-/- mGS cells, using a HAC with a genomic human p53 gene introduced via microcell-mediated chromosome transfer. The p53 phenotypes of gene regulation and radiation sensitivity were complemented by introducing the p53-HAC and the cells differentiated into several different tissue types in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, the combination of using mGS cells with HACs provides a new tool for gene and cell therapies. The next step is to demonstrate functional restoration using animal models for future gene therapy.

LRRTM1 on chromosome 2p12 is a maternally suppressed gene that is associated paternally with handedness and schizophrenia.

Left-right asymmetrical brain function underlies much of human cognition, behavior and emotion. Abnormalities of cerebral asymmetry are associated with schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. The molecular, developmental and evolutionary origins of human brain asymmetry are unknown. We found significant association of a haplotype upstream of the gene LRRTM1 (Leucine-rich repeat transmembrane neuronal 1) with a quantitative measure of human handedness in a set of dyslexic siblings, when the haplotype was inherited paternally (P=0.00002). While we were unable to find this effect in an epidemiological set of twin-based sibships, we did find that the same haplotype is overtransmitted paternally to individuals with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder in a study of 1002 affected families (P=0.0014). We then found direct confirmatory evidence that LRRTM1 is an imprinted gene in humans that shows a variable pattern of maternal downregulation. We also showed that LRRTM1 is expressed during the development of specific forebrain structures, and thus could influence neuronal differentiation and connectivity. This is the first potential genetic influence on human handedness to be identified, and the first putative genetic effect on variability in human brain asymmetry. LRRTM1 is a candidate gene for involvement in several common neurodevelopmental disorders, and may have played a role in human cognitive and behavioral evolution.

SIRT2, a tubulin deacetylase, acts to block the entry to chromosome condensation in response to mitotic stress.

We previously identified SIRT2, an nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent tubulin deacetylase, as a protein downregulated in gliomas and glioma cell lines, which are characterized by aneuploidy. Other studies reported SIRT2 to be involved in mitotic progression in the normal cell cycle. We herein investigated whether SIRT2 functions in the mitotic checkpoint in response to mitotic stress caused by microtubule poisons. By monitoring chromosome condensation, the exogenously expressed SIRT2 was found to block the entry to chromosome condensation and subsequent hyperploid cell formation in glioma cell lines with a persistence of the cyclin B/cdc2 activity in response to mitotic stress. SIRT2 is thus a novel mitotic checkpoint protein that functions in the early metaphase to prevent chromosomal instability (CIN), characteristics previously reported for the CHFR protein. We further found that histone deacetylation, but not the aberrant DNA methylation of SIRT2 5'untranslated region is involved in the downregulation of SIRT2. Although SIRT2 is normally exclusively located in the cytoplasm, the rapid accumulation of SIRT2 in the nucleus was observed after treatment with a nuclear export inhibitor, leptomycin B and ionizing radiation in normal human fibroblasts, suggesting that nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling regulates the SIRT2 function. Collectively, our results suggest that the further study of SIRT2 may thus provide new insights into the relationships among CIN, epigenetic regulation and tumorigenesis.

Cloneless genomic DNA analysis: an efficient and simple methods for de novo genomic sequencing projects and gap filling.

The utility of using genomic DNA directly in agarose, i.e. cloneless libraries, in place of large clone libraries, radiation hybrid panels, or chromosome dissection was demonstrated. The advantage of the cloneless library approach is that, in principle, a targeted genomic resource can be developed rapidly for any genomic region using any genomic DNA sample. Here, a human chromosome 20 Not I fragment library was generated by slicing a pulsed field gel lane containing fractionating Not I cleaved DNA from a monosomic hybrid cell line into 2 mm pieces. A reliable PCR method using agarose embedded DNA was developed. InterAlu PCR generated unique patterns of products from adjacent slices (e.g. fractions). Further, the specificity of the interAlu products was demonstrated by FISH analysis and in other hybridization experiments to arrayed interAlu products. STS content mapping was used to order the fractions and also demonstrate the unique content of the library fractions.

Human artificial chromosome (HAC) vector provides long-term therapeutic transgene expression in normal human primary fibroblasts.

Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) segregating freely from host chromosomes are potentially useful to ensure both safety and duration of gene expression in therapeutic gene delivery. However, low transfer efficiency of intact HACs to the cells has hampered the studies using normal human primary cells, the major targets for ex vivo gene therapy. To elucidate the potential of HACs to be vectors for gene therapy, we studied the introduction of the HAC vector, which is reduced in size and devoid of most expressed genes, into normal primary human fibroblasts (hPFs) with microcell-mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT). We demonstrated the generation of cytogenetically normal hPFs harboring the structurally defined and extra HAC vector. This introduced HAC vector was retained stably in hPFs without translocation of the HAC on host chromosomes. We also achieved the long-term production of human erythropoietin for at least 12 weeks in them. These results revealed the ability of HACs as novel options to circumvent issues of conventional vectors for gene therapy.

Proteomic signatures and aberrations of mouse embryonic stem cells containing a single human chromosome 21 in neuronal differentiation: an in vitro model of Down syndrome.

Neurodegeneration in fetal development of Down syndrome (DS) patients is proposed to result in apparent neuropathological abnormalities and to contribute to the phenotypic characteristics of mental retardation and premature development of Alzheimer disease. In order to identify the aberrant and specific genes involved in the early differentiation of DS neurons, we have utilized an in vitro neuronal differentiation system of mouse ES cells containing a single human chromosome 21 (TT2F/hChr21) with TT2F parental ES cells as a control. The paired protein extracts from TT2F and TT2F/hChr21 cells at several stages of neuronal differentiation were subjected to two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis protein separation followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry to identify the proteins differentially expressed between TT2F and TT2F/hChr21 cells. We provide here a novel set of specific gene products altered in early differentiating DS neuronal cells, which differs from that identified in adult or fetal brain with DS. The aberrant protein expression in early differentiating neurons, due to the hChr21 gene dosage effects or chromosomal imbalance, may affect neuronal outgrowth, proliferation and differentiation, producing developmental abnormalities in neural patterning, which eventually leads to formation of a suboptimal functioning neuronal network in DS.

PI3K-Akt pathway: its functions and alterations in human cancer.

Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) is a lipid kinase and generates phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PI(3, 4, 5)P3). PI(3, 4, 5)P3 is a second messenger essential for the translocation of Akt to the plasma membrane where it is phosphorylated and activated by phosphoinositide-dependent kinase (PDK) 1 and PDK2. Activation of Akt plays a pivotal role in fundamental cellular functions such as cell proliferation and survival by phosphorylating a variety of substrates. In recent years, it has been reported that alterations to the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway are frequent in human cancer. Constitutive activation of the PI3K-Akt pathway occurs due to amplification of the PIK3C gene encoding PI3K or the Akt gene, or as a result of mutations in components of the pathway, for example PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10), which inhibit the activation of Akt. Several small molecules designed to specifically target PI3K-Akt have been developed, and induced cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo . Moreover, the combination of an inhibitor with various cytotoxic agents enhances the anti-tumor efficacy. Therefore, specific inhibition of the activation of Akt may be a valid approach to treating human malignancies and overcoming the resistance of cancer cells to radiation or chemotherapy.

Expression of RUNX3 protein in human gastric mucosa, intestinal metaplasia and carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Human runt-related transcription factor gene 3 (RUNX3) is considered as a possible candidate of tumour suppressor gene in human gastric carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To investigate the RUNX3 protein expression in human gastric mucosa and carcinoma, we generated a polyclonal antibody, AS251, which recognized amino acid sequences from 251 to 266 of human RUNX3. The AS251 antibody was immunoreactive with only RUNX3 protein, but not with RUNX1 and RUNX2. The AS251-antibody was available for Western blotting and immunohistochemistry using paraffin-embedded specimens. RESULTS: Western-blot analysis revealed that three (MKN-1, -7 and -45) of six human gastric carcinoma cell lines variably expressed RUNX3 protein, consistent with the expression pattern of RUNX3 mRNA reported previously by Li et al. (Cell 2002;109:113-24). Immunohistochemistry disclosed RUNX3 protein in most chief cells and a few gastrin-containing G cells in normal mucosa, but not in intestinal metaplasia and carcinoma cells. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that RUNX3 may play a physiologic role in chief cells and G cells in gastric mucosa, and that suppression of RUNX3 expression in intestinal metaplasia and carcinoma of human stomach may be implicated in gastric carcinogenesis.

Targeted regulation of imprinted genes by synthetic zinc-finger transcription factors.

Epigenetic control of transcription is essential for mammalian development and its deregulation causes human disease. For example, loss of proper imprinting control at the IGF2-H19 domain is a hallmark of cancer and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, with no targeted therapeutic approaches available. To address this deficiency, we engineered zinc-finger transcription proteins (ZFPs) that specifically activate or repress the IGF2 and H19 genes in a domain-dependent manner. Importantly, we used these ZFPs successfully to reactivate the transcriptionally silent IGF2 and H19 alleles, thus overriding the natural mechanism of imprinting and validating an entirely novel avenue for 'transcription therapy' of human disease.

Cloning of human centromeres by transformation-associated recombination in yeast and generation of functional human artificial chromosomes.

Human centromeres remain poorly characterized regions of the human genome despite their importance for the maintenance of chromosomes. In part this is due to the difficulty of cloning of highly repetitive DNA fragments and distinguishing chromosome-specific clones in a genomic library. In this work we report the highly selective isolation of human centromeric DNA using transformation-associated recombination (TAR) cloning. A TAR vector with alphoid DNA monomers as targeting sequences was used to isolate large centromeric regions of human chromosomes 2, 5, 8, 11, 15, 19, 21 and 22 from human cells as well as monochromosomal hybrid cells. The alphoid DNA array was also isolated from the 12 Mb human mini-chromosome DeltaYq74 that contained the minimum amount of alphoid DNA required for proper chromosome segregation. Preliminary results of the structural analyses of different centromeres are reported in this paper. The ability of the cloned human centromeric regions to support human artificial chromosome (HAC) formation was assessed by transfection into human HT1080 cells. Centromeric clones from DeltaYq74 did not support the formation of HACs, indicating that the requirements for the existence of a functional centromere on an endogenous chromosome and those for forming a de novo centromere may be distinct. A construct with an alphoid DNA array from chromosome 22 with no detectable CENP-B motifs formed mitotically stable HACs in the absence of drug selection without detectable acquisition of host DNAs. In summary, our results demonstrated that TAR cloning is a useful tool for investigating human centromere organization and the structural requirements for formation of HAC vectors that might have a potential for therapeutic applications.

A new mouse model for Down syndrome.

Trisomy 21 (Ts21) is the most common live-born human aneuploidy and results in a constellation of features known as Down syndrome (DS). Ts21 is a frequent cause of congenital heart defects and the leading genetic cause of mental retardation. Although overexpression of a gene(s) or gene cluster on human chromosome 21 (Chr 21) or the genome imbalance by Ts21 has been suggested to play a key role in bringing about the diverse DS phenotypes, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the various phenotypes associated with DS. Four approaches have been used to model DS to investigate the gene dosage effects of an extra copy of Chr 21 on various phenotypes; 1) Transgenic mice overexpressing a single gene from Chr 21, 2) YAC/BAC/PAC transgenic mice containing a single gene or genes on Chr 21, 3) Mice with intact/partial trisomy 16, a region with homology to human Chr 21 and 4) Human Chr 21 transchromosomal (Tc) mice. Here we review our new model system for the study of DS using the Tc technology, including the biological effects of an additional Chr 21 in vivo and in vitro.

Induction of cellular senescence in a telomerase negative human immortal fibroblast cell line, LCS-AF.1-3, by human chromosome 6.

In immortal cells (LCS-AF.1-3) which originated from cultured skin fibroblasts from a patient with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a specific deletion has been identified on chromosome 6. To examine the relationship between this deletion and the loss of function in aging genes, we performed microcell mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT) of normal human chromosome 6 into LCS-AF.1-3 cells and analyzed their characteristics. Transferred human chromosome 6 induced morphological changes in the cells and cellular senescence with growth suppression. In a revertant clone that had escaped from induced senescence, a specific deletion was found at D6S309 in the transferred chromosome 6. High molecular weight telomeric sequences were lost in a clone that had been induced to senescence by introduction of human chromosome 6. On the other hand, human chromosome 7 induces senescence in immortal cells by suppressing the alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT) mechanism. We also performed MMCT of chromosome 7 and discuss the effect of chromosome transfer by comparing the two chromosomes. LCS-AF.1-3 cells containing a transferred chromosome 7 showed no changes in immortality. These results suggest that genes which are new candidates for aging and which suppress the ALT mechanism are located in the region D6S309 in human chromosome 6.

The use of chromosome-based vectors for animal transgenesis.

This article summarizes our efforts to use chromosome-based vectors for animal transgenesis, which may have a benefit for overcoming the size constraints of cloned transgenes in conventional techniques. Since the initial trial for introducing naturally occurring human chromosome fragments (hCFs) with large and complex immunogulobulin (Ig) loci into mice we have obtained several lines of trans-chromosomic (Tc) mice with transmittable hCFs. As expected the normal tissue-specific expression of introduced human genes was reproduced in them by inclusion of essential remote regulatory elements. Recent development of 'chromosome cloning' technique that enable construction of human artificial chromosomes (HACs) containing a defined chromosomal region should prevent the introduction of additional genes other than genes of interest and thus enhance the utility of chromosome vector system. Using this technique a panel of HACs harboring inserts ranging in size from 1.5 to 10 Mb from three human chromosomes (hChr2, 7, 22) has been constructed. Tc animals containing the HACs may be valuable not only as a powerful tool for functional genomics but also as an in vivo model to study therapeutic gene delivery by HACs.

DNA-PKcs is critical for telomere capping.

The DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) is critical for DNA repair via the nonhomologous end joining pathway. Previously, it was reported that bone marrow cells and spontaneously transformed fibroblasts from SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) mice have defects in telomere maintenance. The genetically defective SCID mouse arose spontaneously from its parental strain CB17. One known genomic alteration in SCID mice is a truncation of the extreme carboxyl terminus of DNA-PKcs, but other as yet unidentified alterations may also exist. We have used a defined system, the DNA-PKcs knockout mouse, to investigate specifically the role DNA-PKcs specifically plays in telomere maintenance. We report that primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and primary cultured kidney cells from 6-8 month-old DNA-PKcs-deficient mice accumulate a large number of telomere fusions, yet still retain wild-type telomere length. Thus, the phenotype of this defect separates the two-telomere related phenotypes, capping, and length maintenance. DNA-PKcs-deficient MEFs also exhibit elevated levels of chromosome fragments and breaks, which correlate with increased telomere fusions. Based on the high levels of telomere fusions observed in DNA-PKcs deficient cells, we conclude that DNA-PKcs plays an important capping role at the mammalian telomere.

Preferential expression of an intact WRN gene in Werner syndrome cell lines in which a normal chromosome 8 has been introduced.

Werner syndrome (WS) is a premature aging syndrome caused by mutations in the WRN gene. All mutations of the WRN gene reported thus far are predicted to produce the truncated WRN proteins. The mRNAs that contain chain-termination mutations are supposed to be unstable due to degradation by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). In the present study, we investigated the expressions of intact and nonsense-mutated WRN genes in Werner syndrome cell lines in which a normal chromosome 8 had been introduced by microcell fusion. We demonstrate here that the expression of the mutated WRN gene that produces nonsense mRNAs remains at low levels, resulting in the preferential expression of the intact WRN gene in the WS microcell hybrids. This result supports the idea that imperfect messages containing premature termination codons are eliminated by the RNA surveillance system, suggesting the significance of the NMD mechanism in the etiology of Werner syndrome.