Compound- and sex-specific effects on programming of energy and immune homeostasis in adult C57BL/6JxFVB mice after perinatal TCDD and PCB 153.

Early life exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds has been linked to chronic diseases later in life, like obesity and related metabolic disorders. We exposed C57BL/6JxFVB hybrid mice to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and the constitutive androstane receptor/pregnane X receptor agonist polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB 153) in an experimental design relevant for human exposure. Exposure occurred during gestation and lactation via maternal feed to a wide dose range (TCDD: 10-10,000 pg/kg body weight/day; PCB 153: 0.09-1406 µg/kg body weight/d). Then exposure was ceased and offspring were followed up to 1 year of age. Metabolic parameters like body weight, fat pad weights, glucose tolerance, endocrine serum profile, and neurobehavioral and immunological parameters were determined. Body weight was transiently affected by both compounds throughout the follow-up. TCDD-exposed males showed decreased fat pad and spleen weights and an increase in IL-4 production of splenic immune cells. In contrast, females showed increased fat pad weights and production of IFNγ. PCB 153-exposed males showed an increase in glucose, whereas females showed an increase in glucagon, a decrease in pancreas weight, and an increase in thymus weight. In conclusion, early life exposure to TCDD appears to affect programming of energy and immune homeostasis in offspring, whereas the effects of perinatal PCB 153 were mainly on programming of glucose homeostasis. Both compounds act sex-specifically. Lowest derived BMDLs (lower bounds of the (two sided) 90%-confidence interval for the benchmark dose) for both compounds are not lower than current tolerable daily intakes.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in immune response genes in acute Q fever cases with differences in self-reported symptoms.

Genes involved in human immune response are well recognized to influence the clinical course of infection. The association of host genetics with susceptibility to and severity of clinical symptoms in acute Q fever was investigated. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IFNG (rs2430561/rs1861493), STAT1 (rs1914408), and VDR (rs2228570) genes were determined in 85 patients from the 2007 Dutch acute Q fever outbreak, and a symptom score was calculated. IFNG rs1861493 showed a significant association with the symptom score; IFNG rs2430561 showed a similar trend. These SNPs were then used to reproduce results in a 2009 outbreak population (n = 123). The median symptom score differed significantly in both populations: 2 versus 7. The significant association of IFNG rs1861493 with symptom score in the first population was not reproduced in the second population. We hypothesize that individuals in the second outbreak were exposed to a higher Coxiella burnetii dose compared to the first, which overruled the protection conferred by the A-allele of IFNG rs1861493 in the first population.

Liver DNA methylation analysis in adult female C57BL/6JxFVB mice following perinatal exposure to bisphenol A.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a compound released from plastics and other consumer products used in everyday life. BPA exposure early in fetal development is proposed to contribute to programming of chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, by affecting DNA methylation levels. Previously, we showed that in utero and lactational exposure of C57BL/6JxFVB hybrid mice via maternal feed using a dose range of 0-3000µg/kg body weight/day resulted in a sex-dependent altered metabolic phenotype in offspring at 23 weeks of age. The most univocal effects were observed in females, with reduced body weights and related metabolic effects associated with perinatal BPA exposure. To identify whether the effects of BPA in females are associated with changes in DNA methylation, this was analyzed in liver, which is important in energy homeostasis. Measurement of global DNA methylation did not show any changes. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis at specific CpG sites in control and 3000µg/kg body weight/day females with the digital restriction enzyme analysis of methylation (DREAM) assay revealed potential differences, that could, however, not be confirmed by bisulfite pyrosequencing. Overall, we demonstrated that the observed altered metabolic phenotype in female offspring after maternal exposure to BPA was not detectably associated with liver DNA methylation changes. Still, other tissues may be more informative.

Correlations between peripheral blood Coxiella burnetii DNA load, interleukin-6 levels, and C-reactive protein levels in patients with acute Q fever.

From 2007 to 2010, the Netherlands experienced the largest reported Q fever outbreak, with >4,000 notified cases. We showed previously that C-reactive protein is the only traditional infection marker reflecting disease activity in acute Q fever. Interleukin-6 is the principal inducer of C-reactive protein. We questioned whether increased C-reactive protein levels in acute Q fever patients coincide with increased interleukin-6 levels and if these levels correlate with the Coxiella burnetii DNA load in serum. In addition, we studied their correlation with disease severity, expressed by hospital admission and the development of fatigue. Interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels were analyzed in sera from 102 patients diagnosed with seronegative PCR-positive acute Q fever. Significant but weak negative correlations were observed between bacterial DNA loads expressed as cycle threshold values and interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels, while a significant moderate-strong positive correlation was present between interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels. Furthermore, significantly higher interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels were observed in hospitalized acute Q fever patients in comparison to those in nonhospitalized patients, while bacterial DNA loads were the same in the two groups. No marker was prognostic for the development of fatigue. In conclusion, the correlation between interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels in acute Q fever patients points to an immune activation pathway in which interleukin-6 induces the production of C-reactive protein. Significant differences in interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels between hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients despite identical bacterial DNA loads suggest an important role for host factors in disease presentation. Higher interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels seem predictive of more severe disease.

Isolation of DNA probes specific for rat chromosomal regions 19p, 19q and 4q and their application for the analysis of diethylstilbestrol-induced aneuploidy in binucleated rat fibroblasts.

DNA probes specific for rat chromosomes 19p, 19q and 4q were isolated, characterized and used for the detection and analysis of diethylstilbestrol(DES)-induced aneuploidy. By denaturing and partially reassociating total genomic DNA a new rat repetitive DNA family was isolated, which was located on chromosome 19p21. Sequencing of a number of subclones from cos76-1 and other clones of this so-called 76-family revealed that the repeat units are interrupted with large areas of other (unique) DNA. Consequently, after fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) the signals in interphase nuclei are large and spread out. The other two probes, cos25 (chromosome 4q) and cos42-47 (chromosome 19q), were isolated by screening cosmid libraries with probes isolated previously in our laboratory. The repeat unit of cos25 is a 2174 bp long EcoRI unit that contains three Sau3A sites and is tandemly organized. Sequencing of subclones of cos42-47 revealed that this probe was in fact the 5S RNA gene, located on 19q12. In order to determine if these probes were suitable probes for aneuploidy detection, two series of dual colour FISH with the combinations cos25/cos76-1 (4q/19p) and cos42-47/cos76-1 (19q/19p) were carried out on slides from an in vitro micronucleus assay with DES. With all three probes used, an increase in binucleated cells with non-disjunction or chromosome loss was observed in the DES-treated cultures. Scoring of additional micronucleated cells on slides hybridized with the cos25/cos76-1 (4q/19p) probes revealed that the hybridization signal of probe cos25 (4q) was over-represented in the micronuclei of the control cultures. The simultaneous use of the 19q and 19p probes is a particularly valuable tool for the detection of aneuploidy, since it allows distinction between aneugenic and clastogenic events in binucleated cells. Results of this analysis showed that apart from aneuploidy, DES also induced structural chromosome aberrations, although to a lesser extent.

A lack of radiation-induced ornithine decarboxylase activity prevents enhanced reactivation of herpes simplex virus and is linked to non-cancer proneness in xeroderma pigmentosum patients.

Patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a DNA repair disorder, run a large risk of developing skin cancer in sun-exposed areas. Cancer proneness in these patients correlates with a mammalian SOS-like response, "enhanced reactivation (ER) of viruses." Here, we report that radiation-induced activation of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) gene, a putative proto-oncogene, is required for this response. Various diploid fibroblast strains derived from a non-cancer-prone subclass of XP patients, which lack the ER response, were irradiated with 2 J/m2 and assessed for gene induction. In these fibroblasts, an absence of induction of ODC by UV-C was observed at the levels of mRNA, protein, and enzyme activity. This lack of induction is quite specific because the genes for fos and collagenase were induced as they were in normal XP cells. The apparent linkage between non-cancer proneness and a lack of ER and ODC induction was confirmed in a fibroblast strain derived from a patient with another DNA repair disorder, trichothiodystrophy, which does not lead to cancer proneness: in these cells, no induction of the ER response nor of ODC occurs after UV-C irradiation. Repair deficiency, however, is not essential because the simultaneous lack of ODC and ER induction after 10 J/m2 UV-C was found in at least one repair-proficient fibroblast. Next, a specific inhibitor of ODC, difluoromethylornithine, at a dose of 10 mM, completely blocked the ER response in cultured normal skin fibroblasts, suggesting that the ODC enzyme is in fact essential for the ER response. Difluoromethylornithine, although it did not affect other processes such as DNA repair, leads to a block in the cell division cycle at the G1-S transition. Interestingly, other blockers of this transition, wortmannin (500 nM) and mimosine (100 mM), also decreased the ER response. Finally, the ER and ODC responses also seem to be linked after treatment with X-irradiation (3 Gy), suggesting that both are part of a general response to DNA damage, at least in human skin fibroblasts. Apart from the abnormal ER and ODC responses, fibroblasts from non-tumor-prone XP patients react in the same way to radiation as do fibroblasts from tumor-prone XP patients with respect to other parameters. Thus, the lack of ODC induction after radiation may help to protect XP patients against skin carcinogenesis.

The translation in vitro of rat ornithine decarboxylase mRNA is blocked by its 5' untranslated region in a polyamine-independent way.

The enzyme ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, EC 4.1.1.17) is believed to play an essential role in the growth and differentiation of cells by regulating the biosynthesis of polyamines. The 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of the ODC mRNA of different species is rather unusual in length and GC content, and may therefore be involved in translational control of ODC protein synthesis. We cloned the rat ODC cDNA downstream of the phage T7 promoter in order to perform transcription/translation studies in vitro. Our results show that the intact 5' UTR of rat ODC mRNA, which is 303 nt in length, is a potent inhibitor of translation. Efficient synthesis in vitro of ODC protein is obtained when either 172 nt from the 5'-end or 236 nt from the 3'-end of the 5' UTR are removed. A truncated 5' UTR with a calculated free energy of less than -272 kJ (-65 kcal/mol) is unable to support the synthesis in vitro of ODC protein. The short open reading frame (ORF) present in the 5' UTR of rat ODC mRNA does not contribute to the observed inhibitory effect on translation efficiency in vitro. At low polyamine concentration the efficiency of translation in vitro of intact ODC mRNA is not relatively increased compared with that of an ODC mRNA having a truncated 5' UTR or with that of control globin mRNA. From this we conclude that the well-documented negative feedback control of intracellular polyamines on ODC expression is not regulated by effects of polyamines on the secondary structure of the 5' UTR of ODC mRNA.

Cloning and functional analysis of the rat ornithine decarboxylase-encoding gene.

We have isolated a functional gene (ODC) encoding rat ornithine decarboxylase (ODC; EC 4.1.1.17) from a partial rat liver genomic DNA bank. The entire gene is located on a 7776-bp BamHI fragment and was shown to comprise twelve exons, of which ten encode the ODC protein (exons III-XII). Introduction of the BamHI fragment into an ODC-deficient hamster cell line restores ODC activity, indicating that the gene is functional. Comparison of the structure and nucleotide (nt) sequence of the rat ODC gene with recently reported mouse ODC genes, reveals that the gene is highly conserved. Primer extension analysis and RNA sequencing demonstrates that the transcription start point of rat ODC mRNA is located 303 nt upstream from the A residue in the start codon. Compared with our previously published sequence of the rat ODC cDNA, this indicates that a short sequence at the extreme 5' end of our cDNA clone represents a cloning artefact. The correct 5' leader of ODC mRNA, which is very G + C rich (62%), can be folded into a highly stable secondary structure, which may play a role in the translational control of ODC activity. Like in mouse, the promoter region of rat ODC is also extremely rich in G + C, and contains a TATA box and several putative SP1-binding sites. Possible binding sites for other transcription factors, like AP-1, AP-2 and CREB, can also be observed in the promoter region and, moreover, in the first intron.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)