Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia

Erwin Knecht-the intelligent and mad, funny and grumpy man of autophagy

Getting to know Erwin Knecht is not so simple. This view was summarized in a comment from Dr. Marta Martinez Vicente, who obtained her PhD degree working in a lab that shared space with Erwin's group: "Erwin Knecht is a complex character, who awakens contradictory feelings. To define him I would say that he is a mixture of intelligence and madness, he's witty, very funny but also grumpy and cranky, all mixed and all simultaneously. Without a doubt he is a person who will not leave anyone indifferent, his original personality marked all who crossed his path, doctoral students, collaborators, people who attended his talks, etc … I remember the weekly lab meetings with him; we, the students, had a lot of respect for him (not to mention fear), but his comments were always smart, helpful and constructive, he has always been prone to helping everyone. In the lab, he was extremely demanding, but got people under his supervision to do their best. And despite his usual moodiness, he managed to make everyone love him and have a special affection for him. Above all, I remember his screams throughout the laboratory that could be heard from all over the building, calling out to his laboratory technician: 'Asunción!' They were like an old couple, arguing all day but they couldn't be without each other, it was like watching a sitcom every day." If you are intrigued, please read on.

7,8-dihydroxyflavone-functionalized gold nanoparticles target the arginase enzyme of Leishmania donovani

Aim: To analyze the efficacy and possible mechanism of action of 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (DHF) and DHF synthesized gold nanoparticles (GNPs) against the parasite Leishmania donovani. Methods: GNPs were synthesized using DHF and characterized by dynamic light scattering, ζ potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The efficacy of DHF and DHF-GNP were tested against sensitive and drug-resistant parasites. GNP uptake was measured on macrophages by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Results: DHF and DHF-GNP (∼35 nm) were equally effective against sensitive and drug-resistant strains and inhibited the arginase activity of parasites. Increased IFN-γ and reduced IL-12 cytokine response showed a Th1/Th2-mediated cell death in macrophages. Conclusion: The low cytotoxicity and high biological activity of DHF-GNP may be useful for chemotherapy of leishmaniasis.

PTEN increases autophagy and inhibits the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in glioma cells independently of its lipid phosphatase activity

Two major mechanisms of intracellular protein degradation, autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, operate in mammalian cells. PTEN, which is frequently mutated in glioblastomas, is a tumor suppressor gene that encodes a dual specificity phosphatase that antagonizes the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase class I/AKT/mTOR pathway, which is a key regulator of autophagy. Here, we investigated in U87MG human glioma cells the role of PTEN in the regulation of autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, because both are functionally linked and are relevant in cancer progression. Since U87MG glioma cells lack a functional PTEN, we used stable clones that express, under the control of a tetracycline-inducible system (Tet-on), wild-type PTEN and two of its mutants, G129E-PTEN and C124S-PTEN, which, respectively, lack the lipid phosphatase activity only and both the lipid and the protein phosphatase activities of this protein. Expression of PTEN in U87MG glioma cells decreased proteasome activity and also reduced protein ubiquitination. On the contrary, expression of PTEN increased the autophagic flux and the lysosomal mass. Interestingly, and although PTEN negatively regulates the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase class I/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway by its lipid phosphatase activity, both effects in U87MG cells were independent of this activity. These results suggest a new mTOR-independent signaling pathway by which PTEN can regulate in opposite directions the main mechanisms of intracellular protein degradation.

Alterations in ROS activity and lysosomal pH account for distinct patterns of macroautophagy in LINCL and JNCL fibroblasts

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) are lysosomal storage disorders characterized by the accumulation of lipofuscin within lysosomes. Late infantile (LINCL) and juvenile (JNCL) are their most common forms and are caused by loss-of-function mutations in tripeptidyl peptidase 1 (TPP1), a lysosomal endopeptidase, and CLN3 protein (CLN3p), whose location and function is still controversial. LINCL patients suffer more severely from NCL consequences than JNCL patients, in spite of having in common an abnormal accumulation of material with a similar composition in the lysosomes. To identify distinctive characteristics that could explain the differences in the severity of LINCL and JNCL pathologies, we compared the protein degradation mechanisms in patientś fibroblasts. Pulse-chase experiments show a significant decrease in protein degradation by macroautophagy in fibroblasts bearing TPP1 (CLN2) and CLN3p (CLN3) mutations. In CLN2 fibroblasts, LC3-II levels and other procedures indicate an impaired formation of autophagosomes, which confirms the pulse-chase experiments. This defect is linked to an accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), an upregulation of the Akt-mTOR signalling pathway and increased activities of the p38α and ERK1/2 MAPKs. In CLN3 fibroblasts, LC3-II analysis indicates impairment in autophagosome maturation and there is also a defect in fluid phase endocytosis, two alterations that can be related to an observed increase of 0.5 units in lysosomal pH. CLN3 fibroblasts also accumulate ROS but to a lower extent than CLN2. TPP1 activity is completely abrogated in CLN2 and partially diminished in CLN3 fibroblasts. TPP1 cleaves small hydrophobic proteins like subunit c of mitochondrial ATP synthase and the lack or a lower activity of this enzyme can contribute to lipofuscin accumulation. These alterations in TPP1 activity lead to an increased ROS production, especially in CLN2 in which it is aggravated by a decrease in catalase activity. This could explain the earlier appearance of the symptoms in the LINCL form.

Size, concentration and incubation time dependence of gold nanoparticle uptake into pancreas cancer cells and its future application to X-Ray Drug Delivery System

One of the restrictions in the potential use of gold markers for medical imaging/tracking of harder tumors is its size. We propose to use gold nanoparticles which, due to its small size, can be administered conveniently via intravenous injection. One of the factors that determine the clinical utility of nanoparticles is the ability to enter cells. In this report, the stability of gold nanoparticles mixed with different media was determined by UV-vis spectroscopy. Gold nanoparticle size was confirmed by TEM. Intracellular uptake using different gold nanoparticle sizes, incubation times and concentrations were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). Temperature dependence uptake was also measured using AAS. The results showed that pancreas cancer cells uptake 20 nm gold nanoparticles preferentially compared to other gold nanoparticle sizes. Efficient accumulation of gold nanoparticles into pancreas cancer cells can be achieved at longer incubation time and higher concentration. The findings of this study will help in the design and optimization of the gold nanoparticle-based agents for therapeutic and diagnostic applications of X-ray Drug Delivery System.

Development of a Method for the Quantification of the Molar Gold Concentration in Tumour Cells Exposed to Gold-Containing Drugs

The knowledge of the cellular molar concentration of a drug is an extremely important parameter for the discussion and interpretation of its efficacy and bioavailability. Concerning metal complexes, electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy (ETAAS) offers a valuable analytical tool. However, matrix effects often hamper proper quantification of the metal concentration in biological tissues. This paper describes the development of an ETAAS method for the quantification of the molar gold concentration in HT-29 colon carcinoma cells. ETAAS analytical conditions were optimised and a factor was developed which allows the calculation of the molar cellular gold concentration from the measured gold per cellular biomass value. The method was used to quantify the gold content in HT-29 cells after exposure to the gold drug auranofin. Results indicated a strong cellular uptake of auranofin (compared to other metal anticancer drugs), which significantly correlated with the antiproliferative effects triggered by this agent.

A sensitive and quantitative element-tagged immunoassay with ICPMS detection

We report a set of novel immunoassays in which proteins of interest can be detected using specific element-tagged antibodies. These immunoassays are directly coupled with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS) to quantify the elemental (in this work, metal) component of the reacted tagged antibodies. It is demonstrated that these methods can detect levels of target proteins as low as 0.1-0.5 ng/mL and yield a linear response to protein concentration over 3 orders of magnitude.