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Weber P, Baltus D, Jatho A, Drews O, Zelarayan LC, Wieland T, Lutz S. RhoGEF17-An Essential Regulator of Endothelial Cell Death and Growth. Cells 2021; 10:cells10040741. [PMID: 33801779 PMCID: PMC8067313 DOI: 10.3390/cells10040741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor RhoGEF17 was described to reside in adherens junctions (AJ) in endothelial cells (EC) and to play a critical role in the regulation of cell adhesion and barrier function. The purpose of this study was to analyze signal cascades and processes occurring subsequent to AJ disruption induced by RhoGEF17 knockdown. Primary human and immortalized rat EC were used to demonstrate that an adenoviral-mediated knockdown of RhoGEF17 resulted in cell rounding and an impairment in spheroid formation due to an enhanced proteasomal degradation of AJ components. In contrast, β-catenin degradation was impaired, which resulted in an induction of the β-catenin-target genes cyclin D1 and survivin. RhoGEF17 depletion additionally inhibited cell adhesion and sheet migration. The RhoGEF17 knockdown prevented the cells with impeded cell–cell and cell–matrix contacts from apoptosis, which was in line with a reduction in pro-caspase 3 expression and an increase in Akt phosphorylation. Nevertheless, the cells were not able to proliferate as a cell cycle block occurred. In summary, we demonstrate that a loss of RhoGEF17 disturbs cell–cell and cell–substrate interaction in EC. Moreover, it prevents the EC from cell death and blocks cell proliferation. Non-canonical β-catenin signaling and Akt activation could be identified as a potential mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamina Weber
- Experimental Pharmacology Mannheim (EPM), European Center for Angioscience (ECAS), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Ludolf-Krehl-Str. 13-17, 68167 Mannheim, Germany; (P.W.); (D.B.)
| | - Doris Baltus
- Experimental Pharmacology Mannheim (EPM), European Center for Angioscience (ECAS), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Ludolf-Krehl-Str. 13-17, 68167 Mannheim, Germany; (P.W.); (D.B.)
| | - Aline Jatho
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; (A.J.); (L.C.Z.)
- DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research) Partner Site Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Oliver Drews
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany;
| | - Laura C. Zelarayan
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; (A.J.); (L.C.Z.)
- DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research) Partner Site Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Thomas Wieland
- Experimental Pharmacology Mannheim (EPM), European Center for Angioscience (ECAS), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Ludolf-Krehl-Str. 13-17, 68167 Mannheim, Germany; (P.W.); (D.B.)
- DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research) Partner Site Heidelberg/Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
- Correspondence: (T.W.); (S.L.)
| | - Susanne Lutz
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; (A.J.); (L.C.Z.)
- DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research) Partner Site Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Correspondence: (T.W.); (S.L.)
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Pongjantarasatian S, Kadegasem P, Sasanakul W, Sa-ngiamsuntorn K, Borwornpinyo S, Sirachainan N, Chuansumrit A, Tanratana P, Hongeng S. Coagulant activity of recombinant human factor VII produced by lentiviral human F7 gene transfer in immortalized hepatocyte-like cell line. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0220825. [PMID: 31381603 PMCID: PMC6681952 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 07/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have the potential to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells, indicating that these cells may be the new target cell of interest to produce biopharmaceuticals. Our group recently established a hMSC-derived immortalized hepatocyte-like cell line (imHC) that demonstrates several liver-specific phenotypes. However, the ability of imHC to produce coagulation factors has not been characterized. Here, we examined the potential for imHC as a source of coagulation protein production by investigating the ability of imHC to produce human factor VII (FVII) using a lentiviral transduction system. Our results showed that imHC secreted a low amount of FVII (~22 ng/mL) into culture supernatant. Moreover, FVII from the transduced imHC (0.11 ± 0.005 IU/mL) demonstrated a similar coagulant activity compared with FVII from transduced HEK293T cells (0.12 ± 0.004 IU/mL) as determined by chromogenic assay. We demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that imHC produced FVII, albeit at a low level, indicating the unique characteristic of hepatocytes. Our study suggests the possibility of using imHC for the production of coagulation proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Praguywan Kadegasem
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Werasak Sasanakul
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Suparerk Borwornpinyo
- Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Excellent Center for Drug Discovery, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Nongnuch Sirachainan
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Ampaiwan Chuansumrit
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Pansakorn Tanratana
- Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- * E-mail:
| | - Suradej Hongeng
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
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Juffermans LJM, Meijering BDM, Henning RH, Deelman LE. Ultrasound and microbubble-targeted delivery of small interfering RNA into primary endothelial cells is more effective than delivery of plasmid DNA. ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY 2014; 40:532-540. [PMID: 24361223 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.09.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2012] [Revised: 09/27/2013] [Accepted: 09/30/2013] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Ultrasound and microbubble-targeted delivery (UMTD) is a promising non-viral technique for genetic-based therapy. We found that UMTD of small interfering RNA (siRNA) is more effective than delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA). UMTD (1 MHz, 0.22 MPa) of fluorescently labeled siRNA resulted in 97.9 ± 1.5% transfected cells, with siRNA localized homogenously in the cytoplasm directly after ultrasound exposure. UMTD of fluorescently labeled pDNA resulted in only 43.0 ± 4.2% transfected cells, with localization mainly in vesicular structures, co-localizing with endocytosis markers clathrin and caveolin. Delivery of siRNA against GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) effectively decreased protein levels to 24.3 ± 7.9% of non-treated controls (p < 0.01). In contrast, 24 h after delivery of pDNA encoding GAPDH, no increase in protein levels was detected. Transfection efficiency, verified with red fluorescently labeled pDNA encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein, revealed that of the transfected cells, only 2.0 ± 0.7% expressed the transgene. In conclusion, the difference in localization between siRNA and pDNA after UMTD is an important determinant of the effectiveness of these genetic-based technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynda J M Juffermans
- Departments of Physiology and Cardiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Groningen Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Bernadet D M Meijering
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Groningen Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Robert H Henning
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Groningen Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Leo E Deelman
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Groningen Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Gao S, Seker E, Casali M, Wang F, Bale SS, Price GM, Yarmush ML. Ex vivo gene delivery to hepatocytes: techniques, challenges, and underlying mechanisms. Ann Biomed Eng 2012; 40:1851-61. [PMID: 22484829 PMCID: PMC3901163 DOI: 10.1007/s10439-012-0555-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2011] [Accepted: 03/19/2012] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Gene delivery to primary hepatocytes is an important tool for a number of applications including the study of liver cell biology and pathology, drug screening, and gene therapy. Robust transfection of primary hepatocytes, however, is significantly more difficult to achieve than in cell lines or readily dividing primary cells. In this report, we investigated in vitro gene delivery to both primary rat hepatocytes and Huh7.5.1 cells (a hepatoma cell line) using a number of viral and non-viral methods, including Lipofectamine 2000, FuGene HD, Nucleofection, Magnetofection, and lentiviruses. Our results showed that Lipofectamine 2000 is the most efficient reagent for green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene delivery to primary rat hepatocytes (33.3 ± 1.8% transfection efficiency) with minimal adverse effect on several hepatic functions, such as urea and albumin secretion. The lentiviral vectors used in this study exhibited undetectable gene delivery to primary rat hepatocytes but significant delivery to Huh7.5.1 cells (>80% transfection efficiency). In addition, we demonstrated lentiviral-based and spatially defined delivery of the GFP gene to Huh7.5.1 cells for use in biological microelectromechanical systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan Gao
- Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Erkin Seker
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Monica Casali
- Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Fangjing Wang
- Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Shyam Sundhar Bale
- Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Gavrielle M. Price
- Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Martin L. Yarmush
- Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
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Zhao J, Bolton EM, Bradley JA, Lever AML. Lentiviral-mediated overexpression of Bcl-xL protects primary endothelial cells from ischemia/reperfusion injury-induced apoptosis. J Heart Lung Transplant 2010; 28:936-43. [PMID: 19716047 DOI: 10.1016/j.healun.2009.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2009] [Revised: 04/14/2009] [Accepted: 05/08/2009] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Endothelial cells (EC) respond to mild injurious stimuli by upregulating anti-apoptotic gene expression to maintain endothelial integrity. EC dysfunction and apoptosis resulting from ischemia/reperfusion injury may contribute to chronic allograft rejection. We optimized conditions for lentiviral vector (LVV) transduction of rat aortic endothelial cells (RAEC) and investigated whether LVV delivery of the anti-apoptotic gene, Bcl-xL, protects RAEC from apoptotic death using in vitro models of hypoxia and ischemia/reperfusion injury. METHODS LVV containing Bcl-xL were generated from a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 construct. EC were prepared from rat aorta. Hypoxia/reperfusion (H/R) or ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury was induced in vitro and apoptosis was assessed using caspase-3 activity, Annexin V/PI and TUNEL staining. RESULTS After in vitro induction of H/R or I/R injury, RAEC showed duration-dependent apoptosis. We confirmed the damaging effect of the reperfusion phase. Endogenous Bax expression increased with I/R injury, whereas endogenous Bcl-xL remained constant. RAEC transduced with LVV expressing Bcl-xL were protected from early apoptosis caused by I/R injury, correlating with reduced cytochrome c release into the cytosol. CONCLUSIONS Overexpressing Bcl-xL protects RAEC from I/R injury. This protective effect may be attributed to altering the balance of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins, resulting in sequestration of the harmful Bax protein, and may open up new strategies for controlling chronic allograft rejection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Zhao
- Department of Medicine, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Martínez-Ferrandis JI, Soriano MA, Martínez-Romero A, Herrera G, Cervantes A, O'Connor JE, Knecht E, Armengod ME. Efficient selection of silenced primary cells by flow cytometry. Cytometry A 2007; 71:599-604. [PMID: 17458885 DOI: 10.1002/cyto.a.20413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND RNA interference has emerged as a new and potent tool to knockdown the expression of target genes and to investigate their functions. For short time experiments with mammalian cell lines, RNA interference is typically induced by transfecting small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Primary cells constitute important experimental systems in many studies because of their similarity to their in vivo counterparts; however, transfection of these cells has been found to be difficult. As a consequence, RNA interference of primary cells may result in mixed phenotypes because of the simultaneous presence in the same preparation of transfected and nontransfected cells. This may be particularly inconvenient when certain experiments (for example, biochemical analysis) should be performed. METHODS We use fluorescently labeled siRNAs to induce RNA interference in fibroblasts, and flow-cytometry associated cell sorting to separate subpopulations of transfected cells according to fluorescence intensity. RESULTS Flow cytometry allows one to discriminate between strongly- and weakly- or nonsilenced fibroblasts, since the fluorescence intensity of transfected cells is related to the number of internalized siRNA copies and to the mRNA knockdown efficiency. CONCLUSIONS The use of fluorescently labeled siRNAs may allow one to isolate by flow-cytometry associated cell sorting the most efficiently silenced primary cells for subsequent analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- José I Martínez-Ferrandis
- Laboratorio de Genética Molecular, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, Avda. Autopista del Saler 16-3, 46013-Valencia, Spain
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