A novel biomarker ARMc8 promotes the malignant progression of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy worldwide, and the survival rates have remained low in spite of medical advancements. More research is dedicated to the identification of novel biomarkers for this deadly disease. The association between ARMc8 and ovarian cancer remained unraveled. In this study, immunohistochemical staining was used to examine ARMc8 expression in 247 cases of ovarian cancer, 19 cases of borderline ovarian tumors, 41 cases of benign ovarian tumors, and 9 cases of normal ovarian tissues. It was shown that ARMc8 was predominantly located in the cytoplasm of tumor cells, and its expression was up-regulated in the ovarian cancer (61.9%) and the borderline ovarian tumor tissues (57.9%), in comparison with the benign ovarian tumors (12.2%; P < .05) and the normal ovarian tissues (11.1%; P < .05). In ovarian cancer, ARMc8 expression was closely related to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages (P = .002), histology grade (P < .001), lymph node metastasis (P = .008), and poor prognosis (P < .001). Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses revealed that ARMc8 expression was an independent prognostic factor for ovarian cancer (P = .039 and P = .005). In addition, ARMc8 could promote the invasion and migration of ovarian cancer cells. Overexpressing ARMc8 enhanced the invasion and metastasis capacity of ARMc8-low Cavo-3 cells (P < .001), whereas interfering ARMc8 significantly reduced cell invasion and metastasis in ARMc8-high SK-OV-3 cells (P < .001). Furthermore, ARMc8 could up-regulate matrix metalloproteinase-7 and snail and down-regulate α-catenin, p120ctn, and E-cadherin. Collectively, ARMc8 may enhance the invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer cells and likely to become a potential therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.

dSarm/Sarm1 is required for activation of an injury-induced axon death pathway.

Axonal and synaptic degeneration is a hallmark of peripheral neuropathy, brain injury, and neurodegenerative disease. Axonal degeneration has been proposed to be mediated by an active autodestruction program, akin to apoptotic cell death; however, loss-of-function mutations capable of potently blocking axon self-destruction have not been described. Here, we show that loss of the Drosophila Toll receptor adaptor dSarm (sterile α/Armadillo/Toll-Interleukin receptor homology domain protein) cell-autonomously suppresses Wallerian degeneration for weeks after axotomy. Severed mouse Sarm1 null axons exhibit remarkable long-term survival both in vivo and in vitro, indicating that Sarm1 prodegenerative signaling is conserved in mammals. Our results provide direct evidence that axons actively promote their own destruction after injury and identify dSarm/Sarm1 as a member of an ancient axon death signaling pathway.

A novel kind of tumor type-characteristic junction: plakophilin-2 as a major protein of adherens junctions in cardiac myxomata.

Using novel antibodies of high avidity to--and specificity for--the constitutive desmosomal plaque protein, plakophilin-2 (Pkp2), in a systematic study of the molecular composition of junctions connecting the cells of soft tissue tumors, we have discovered with immunocytochemical, biochemical and electron microscopical methods, a novel type of adherens junctions in all 32 cardiac myxomata examined. These junctions contain cadherin-11 as their major transmembrane glycoprotein, which we could repeatedly show in colocalization with N-cadherin, anchored in a cytoplasmic plaque formed by α- and ß-catenin, together with the further armadillo-type proteins plakoglobin, p120, p0071 and ARVCF. Surprisingly, all adherens junctions of these tumors contained, in addition, another major armadillo protein Pkp2, hitherto known as an obligatory and characteristic constituent of desmosomes in epithelium-derived tumors. We have not detected Pkp2 in a series of noncardiac myxomata studied in parallel. Therefore, we conclude that this acquisition of Pkp2, which we have recently also observed in some mesenchymally derived cells growing in culture, can also occur in tumorigenic transformations in situ. We propose to examine the marker value of Pkp2 in clinical diagnoses of cardiac myxomata and to develop Pkp2-targeted therapeutic reagents.

Rational conversion of affinity reagents into label-free sensors for Peptide motifs by designed allostery.

Optical biosensors for short peptide motifs, an important class of biomarkers, have been developed based on "affinity clamps", a new class of recombinant affinity reagents. Affinity clamps are engineered by linking a peptide-binding domain and an antibody mimic domain based on the fibronectin type III scaffold, followed by optimization of the interface between the two. This two-domain architecture allows for the design of allosteric coupling of peptide binding to fluorescence energy transfer between two fluorescent proteins attached to the affinity clamp. Coupled with high affinity and specificity of the underlying affinity clamps and rationally designed mutants with different sensitivity, peptide concentrations in crude cell lysate were determined with a low nanomolar detection limit and over 3 orders of magnitude. Because diverse affinity clamps can be engineered, our strategy provides a general platform to generate a repertoire of genetically encoded, label-free sensors for peptide motifs.

The immune adaptor molecule SARM modulates tumor necrosis factor alpha production and microglia activation in the brainstem and restricts West Nile Virus pathogenesis.

Sterile alpha and HEAT/Armadillo motif (SARM) is a highly conserved Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR)-containing adaptor protein that is believed to negatively regulate signaling of the pathogen recognition receptors Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and TLR4. To test its physiological function in the context of a microbial infection, we generated SARM(-/-) mice and evaluated the impact of this deficiency on the pathogenesis of West Nile virus (WNV), a neurotropic flavivirus that requires TLR signaling to restrict infection. Although SARM was preferentially expressed in cells of the central nervous system (CNS), studies with primary macrophages, neurons, or astrocytes showed no difference in viral growth kinetics. In contrast, viral replication was increased specifically in the brainstem of SARM(-/-) mice, and this was associated with enhanced mortality after inoculation with a virulent WNV strain. A deficiency of SARM was also linked to reduced levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), decreased microglia activation, and increased neuronal death in the brainstem after WNV infection. Thus, SARM appears to be unique among the TIR adaptor molecules, since it functions to restrict viral infection and neuronal injury in a brain region-specific manner, possibly by modulating the activation of resident CNS inflammatory cells.

Synaptic anchorage of AMPA receptors by cadherins through neural plakophilin-related arm protein AMPA receptor-binding protein complexes.

Cadherins function in the adhesion of presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes at excitatory synapses. Here we show that the cadherin-associated protein neural plakophilin-related arm protein (NPRAP; also called delta-catenin) binds via a postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95)/discs large/zona occludens-1 (PDZ) interaction to AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-binding protein (ABP) and the related glutamate receptor (GluR)-interacting protein (GRIP), two multi-PDZ proteins that bind the GluR2 and GluR3 AMPAR subunits. The resulting cadherin-NPRAP-ABP/GRIP complexes serve as anchorages for AMPARs. Exogenous NPRAP that was bound to cadherins at adherens junctions of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells recruited ABP from the cytosol to form cadherin-NPRAP-ABP complexes, dependent on NPRAP interaction with the ABP PDZ domain 2. The cadherin-NPRAP-ABP complexes also bound GluR2. In cultured hippocampal neurons, dominant-negative mutants of NPRAP designed to disrupt tethering of ABP to NPRAP-cadherin complexes reduced surface levels of endogenous GluR2, indicating that interaction with cadherin-NPRAP-ABP complexes stabilized GluR2 at the neuronal plasma membrane. Cadherins, NPRAP, GRIP, and GluR2 copurified in the fractionation of synaptosomes and the postsynaptic density, two fractions enriched in synaptic proteins. Furthermore, synaptosomes contain NPRAP-GRIP complexes, and NPRAP localizes with the postsynaptic marker PSD-95 and with AMPARs and GRIP at spines of hippocampal neurons. Thus, tethering is likely to take place at synaptic or perisynaptic sites. NPRAP also binds PSD-95, which is a scaffold for NMDA receptors, for AMPARs in complexes with auxiliary subunits, the TARPs (transmembrane AMPA receptor regulator proteins), and for adhesion molecules. Thus, the interaction of scaffolding proteins with cadherin-NPRAP complexes may anchor diverse signaling and adhesion molecules at cadherins.

DE-cadherin, a core component of the adherens junction complex modifies subcellular localization of the Drosophila gap junction protein innexin2.

The Drosophila innexin multigene family of gap junction encoding proteins consists of eight family members whose function in epithelial morphogenesis is mostly unknown. We have recently shown that innexin2 plays a crucial role in the organization of embryonic epithelia. Innexin2 protein accumulates in the epidermis in the apico-lateral membrane domain and colocalizes with core proteins of adherens junctions, such as DE-cadherin and Armadillo, the ss -catenin homolog. Innexin2 localization is altered in both armadillo and DE-cadherin mutants Biochemical interaction studies point to a direct interaction of DE-cadherin and Armadillo with innexin2 suggesting a close link between gap junction and adherens junction biogenesis. We have used the Drosophila Schneider cell tissue culture system to further study the interaction of innexin2 with DE-cadherin. Our results provide evidence that DE-cadherin may be a key component to control trafficking, and localization of Innexin2 to the plasma membrane.