Expansion of immature, nucleated red blood cells by transient low-dose methotrexate immune tolerance induction in mice.

Biological treatments such as enzyme-replacement therapies (ERT) can generate anti-drug antibodies (ADA), which may reduce drug efficacy and impact patient safety and consequently led to research to mitigate ADA responses. Transient low-dose methotrexate (TLD-MTX) as a prophylactic ITI regimen, when administered concurrently with ERT, induces long-lived reduction of ADA to recombinant human alglucosidase alfa (rhGAA) in mice. In current clinical practice, a prophylactic ITI protocol that includes TLD-MTX, rituximab and intravenous immunoglobulin (optional), successfully induced lasting control of ADA to rhGAA in high-risk, cross-reactive immunological material (CRIM)-negative infantile-onset Pompe disease (IOPD) patients. More recently, evaluation of TLD-MTX demonstrated benefit in CRIM-positive IOPD patients. To more clearly understand the mechanism for the effectiveness of TLD-MTX, non-targeted transcriptional and proteomic screens were conducted and revealed up-regulation of erythropoiesis signatures. Confirmatory studies showed transiently larger spleens by weight, increased spleen cellularity and that following an initial reduction of mature red blood cells (RBCs) in the bone marrow and blood, a significant expansion of Ter-119+ CD71+ immature RBCs was observed in spleen and blood of mice. Histology sections revealed increased nucleated cells, including hematopoietic precursors, in the splenic red pulp of these mice. This study demonstrated that TLD-MTX induced a transient reduction of mature RBCs in the blood and immature RBCs in the bone marrow followed by significant enrichment of immature, nucleated RBCs in the spleen and blood during the time of immune tolerance induction, which suggested modulation of erythropoiesis may be associated with the induction of immune tolerance to rhGAA.

Biogenesis of polarized epithelial cells during kidney development in situ: roles of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion and membrane cytoskeleton organization.

Organization of proteins into structurally and functionally distinct plasma membrane domains is an essential characteristic of polarized epithelial cells. Based on studies with cultured kidney cells, we have hypothesized that a mechanism for restricting Na/K-ATPase to the basal-lateral membrane involves E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion and integration of Na/K-ATPase into the Triton X-100-insoluble ankyrin- and spectrin-based membrane cytoskeleton. In this study, we examined the relevance of these in vitro observations to the generation of epithelial cell polarity in vivo during mouse kidney development. Using differential detergent extraction, immunoblotting, and immunofluorescence histochemistry, we demonstrate the following. First, expression of the 220-kDa splice variant of ankyrin-3 correlates with the development of resistance to Triton X-100 extraction for Na/K-ATPase, E-cadherin, and catenins and precedes maximal accumulation of Na/K-ATPase. Second, expression of the 190-kDa slice variant of ankyrin-3 correlates with maximal accumulation of Na/K-ATPase. Third, Na/K-ATPase, ankyrin-3, and fodrin specifically colocalize at the basal-lateral plasma membrane of all epithelial cells in which they are expressed and during all stages of nephrogenesis. Fourth, the relative immunofluorescence staining intensities of Na/K-ATPase, ankyrin-3, and fodrin become more similar during development until they are essentially identical in adult kidney. Thus, renal epithelial cells in vivo regulate the accumulation of E-cadherin-mediated adherens junctions, the membrane cytoskeleton, and Na/K-ATPase through sequential protein expression and assembly on the basal-lateral membrane. These results are consistent with a mechanism in which generation and maintenance of polarized distributions of these proteins in vivo and in vitro involve cell-cell adhesion, assembly of the membrane cytoskeleton complex, and concomitant integration and retention of Na/K-ATPase in this complex.

Differential expression of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase, ankyrin, fodrin, and E-cadherin along the kidney nephron.

Ionic homeostasis in vertebrates is maintained by epithelial cells that line kidney nephrons. Transport of ions and solutes is coupled to Na+ reabsorption from the ultrafiltrate and requires specific subcellular distribution and activity of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase along the nephron. Studies using cell culture models of renal epithelia indicate that the subcellular distribution of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase is regulated by interactions with the submembrane cytoskeleton and E-cadherin-mediated adherens junctions. We have now examined the relevance of these in vitro observations to the subcellular organization of these proteins in different nephron segments of the adult mouse kidney using immunofluorescence microscopy. Our results demonstrate that segmental and subcellular distributions of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase and the membrane-cytoskeletal proteins, ankyrin and fodrin, vary in parallel along the nephron and do not parallel variations in expression of the tight junction protein ZO-1 or E-cadherin. These data indicate that a mechanism for restricting Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase subcellular distributions through interactions with the membrane cytoskeleton is likely to be relevant in vivo.

Differential expression of cell-cell and cell-substratum adhesion proteins along the kidney nephron.

Structural and functional differences among epithelial cells of kidney nephrons may be regulated by variations in cell-to-cell (cell-cell) and cell-to-substratum (cell-substratum) junctions. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, we demonstrate that the cadherin-associated proteins alpha- and beta-catenin are localized to basolateral membranes of cells in all nephron segments, whereas plakoglobin, a protein associated with both classical and desmosomal cadherins, is localized to noninterdigitated lateral membranes in the distal half of the nephron where it colocalizes with desmoplakin and cytokeratin K8. Plakoglobin is also present in capillary endothelial cells where staining for the other catenins and desmosomal proteins is not observed. Immunofluorescence for laminin A and alpha 6-integrin, proteins that mediate cell-substratum contacts, reveal no correlations with the other staining patterns observed. These data indicate that plakoglobin and beta-catenin subserve distinct functions in cell-cell adhesion and suggest that E-cadherin-mediated contacts generate a basal level of cell-cell adhesion, whereas desmosomal junctions provide additional strength to cell-cell contacts in the distal nephron.

Modulation of epithelial morphogenesis and cell fate by cell-to-cell signals and regulated cell adhesion.

Cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions control many developmental decisions of epithelial cell fate and morphogenesis. Protein tyrosine kinases are one class of regulatory molecules that have been implicated in the modulation of these processes. Several protein tyrosine kinases co-localize with cell-cell (cadherin) and cell-ECM (integrin) adhesion molecules at specific adhesion domains of epithelial cells. Protein tyrosine kinases may regulate epithelial development by modulating cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions and by relaying signals initiated by these interactions to other cellular components that determine cell structure and function.

Defining E-cadherin-associated protein complexes in epithelial cells: plakoglobin, beta- and gamma-catenin are distinct components.

Ca(2+)-dependent cell adhesion is mediated by a family of proteins termed cadherins, and is modulated by cytosolic proteins that include alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin and other cytoskeletal proteins that bind to the cytoplasmic domain of cadherins. Recent studies have suggested that either beta- or gamma-catenin may be identical to plakoglobin, a protein associated with adherens junctions. However, the relationship between these proteins, and their interaction with cadherins, are not well understood. In this study, we have further defined the relationship between plakoglobin and the catenins in complexes with E-cadherin in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. Specific immunoprecipitations revealed that plakoglobin (86 kDa) and beta-catenin (92 kDa) have different detergent extractabilities and apparent molecular weights in these cells; however, plakoglobin has an apparent molecular weight similar to that of gamma-catenin (86 kDa). Immunoblotting of E-cadherin immunoprecipitates demonstrated that both plakoglobin and beta-catenin co-immunoprecipitate with E-cadherin. Laser-scanning confocal microscopy demonstrated temporally and spatially co-ordinate redistribution of plakoglobin and E-cadherin following induction of cell-cell contact in MDCK cells. Although plakoglobin comigrated with gamma-catenin on SDS-PAGE, quantitative analysis of E-cadherin and plakoglobin immunoprecipitates revealed that plakoglobin accounted for < 50% of the gamma-catenin signal. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis resolved the gamma-catenin protein band into two proteins. One protein was identified as plakoglobin, based upon apparent molecular weight, immunoreactivity and isoelectric point (pI approximately 6.1). The other protein comigrated with gamma-catenin on SDS-PAGE, did not react with plakoglobin antibodies and had a pI of approximately 4.25; we refer to this protein as gamma-catenin to distinguish it from plakoglobin. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis further revealed that plakoglobin comprised multiple isoelectric variants, but that, within the newly synthesized pool of plakoglobin, only the most basic of these variants co-immunoprecipitated with E-cadherin; phosphorylation did not account for the plakoglobin isoelectric variants seen by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. These results demonstrate directly that plakoglobin associates and co-localizes with the E-cadherin in MDCK epithelial cells in a complex that contains alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin. Although plakoglobin shares sequence similarity with beta-catenin, and comigrates with gamma-catenin in SDS-PAGE, plakoglobin is distinct from the catenins. The association of plakoglobin with E-cadherin may be regulated by post-translational modifications of plakoglobin.