βA3/A1-Crystallin controls anoikis-mediated cell death in astrocytes by modulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK survival pathways through the PKD/Bit1-signaling axis

During eye development, apoptosis is vital to the maturation of highly specialized structures such as the lens and retina. Several forms of apoptosis have been described, including anoikis, a form of apoptosis triggered by inadequate or inappropriate cell–matrix contacts. The anoikis regulators, Bit1 (Bcl-2 inhibitor of transcription-1) and protein kinase-D (PKD), are expressed in developing lens when the organelles are present in lens fibers, but are downregulated as active denucleation is initiated. We have previously shown that in rats with a spontaneous mutation in the Cryba1 gene, coding for βA3/A1-crystallin, normal denucleation of lens fibers is inhibited. In rats with this mutation (Nuc1), both Bit1 and PKD remain abnormally high in lens fiber cells. To determine whether βA3/A1-crystallin has a role in anoikis, we induced anoikis in vitro and conducted mechanistic studies on astrocytes, cells known to express βA3/A1-crystallin. The expression pattern of Bit1 in retina correlates temporally with the development of astrocytes. Our data also indicate that loss of βA3/A1-crystallin in astrocytes results in a failure of Bit1 to be trafficked to the Golgi, thereby suppressing anoikis. This loss of βA3/A1-crystallin also induces insulin-like growth factor-II, which increases cell survival and growth by modulating the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mTOR and extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathways. We propose that βA3/A1-crystallin is a novel regulator of both life and death decisions in ocular astrocytes

Cyclin D2 Protein Stability Is Regulated in Pancreatic β-Cells

The molecular determinants of β-cell mass expansion remain poorly understood. Cyclin D2 is the major D-type cyclin expressed in β-cells, essential for adult β-cell growth. We hypothesized that cyclin D2 could be actively regulated in β-cells, which could allow mitogenic stimuli to influence β-cell expansion. Cyclin D2 protein was sharply increased after partial pancreatectomy, but cyclin D2 mRNA was unchanged, suggesting posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms influence cyclin D2 expression in β-cells. Consistent with this hypothesis, cyclin D2 protein stability is powerfully regulated in fibroblasts. Threonine 280 of cyclin D2 is phosphorylated, and this residue critically limits D2 stability. We derived transgenic (tg) mice with threonine 280 of cyclin D2 mutated to alanine (T280A) or wild-type cyclin D2 under the control of the insulin promoter. Cyclin D2 T280A protein was expressed at much higher levels than wild-type cyclin D2 protein in β-cells, despite equivalent expression of tg mRNAs. Cyclin D2 T280A tg mice exhibited a constitutively nuclear cyclin D2 localization in β-cells, and increased cyclin D2 stability in islets. Interestingly, threonine 280-mutant cyclin D2 tg mice had greatly reduced β-cell apoptosis, with suppressed expression of proapoptotic genes. Suppressed β-cell apoptosis in threonine 280-mutant cyclin D2 tg mice resulted in greatly increased β-cell area in aged mice. Taken together, these data indicate that cyclin D2 is regulated by protein stability in pancreatic β-cells, that signals that act upon threonine 280 limit cyclin D2 stability in β-cells, and that threonine 280-mutant cyclin D2 overexpression prolongs β-cell survival and augments β-cell mass expansion