Mutant polycystin-2 induces proliferation in primary rat tubular epithelial cells in a STAT-1/p21-independent fashion accompanied instead by alterations in expression of p57KIP2 and Cdk2

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) is characterized by the formation of multiple fluid-filled cysts that destroy the kidney architecture resulting in end-stage renal failure. Mutations in genes <it>PKD1 </it>and <it>PKD2 </it>account for nearly all cases of ADPKD. Increased cell proliferation is one of the key features of the disease. Several studies indicated that polycystin-1 regulates cellular proliferation through various signaling pathways, but little is known about the role played by polycystin-2, the product of <it>PKD2</it>. Recently, it was reported that as with polycystin-1, polycystin-2 can act as a negative regulator of cell growth by modulating the levels of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p21 and the activity of the cyclin-dependent kinase 2, Cdk2.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Here we utilized different kidney cell-lines expressing wild-type and mutant <it>PKD2 </it>as well as primary tubular epithelial cells isolated from a PKD transgenic rat to further explore the contribution of the p21/Cdk2 pathway in ADPKD proliferation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Surprisingly, over-expression of wild-type <it>PKD2 </it>in renal cell lines failed to inactivate Cdk2 and consequently had no effect on cell proliferation. On the other hand, expression of mutated <it>PKD2 </it>augmented proliferation only in the primary tubular epithelial cells of a rat model but this was independent of the STAT-1/p21 pathway. On the contrary, multiple approaches revealed unequivocally that expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p57^KIP2, is downregulated, while p21 remains unchanged. This p57 reduction is accompanied by an increase in Cdk2 levels.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate the probable involvement of p57^KIP2on epithelial cell proliferation in ADPKD implicating a new mechanism for mutant polycystin-2 induced proliferation. Most importantly, contrary to previous studies, abnormal proliferation in cells expressing mutant polycystin-2 appears to be independent of STAT-1/p21.</p

Activation of Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis by the Proto-Oncogene Pim-2

Potent survival effects have been ascribed to the serine/threonine kinase proto-oncogene PIM-2. Elevated levels of PIM-2 are associated with various malignancies. In human cells, a single Pim-2 transcript gives rise mainly to two protein isoforms (34, 41 kDa) that share an identical catalytic site but differ at their N-terminus, due to in-frame alternative translation initiation sites. In this study we observed that the 34 kDa PIM-2 isoform has differential nuclear and cytoplasmic forms in all tested cell lines, suggesting a possible role for the balance between these forms for PIM-2's function. To further study the cellular role of the 34 kDa isoform of PIM-2, an N-terminally HA-tagged form of this isoform was transiently expressed in HeLa cells. Surprisingly, this resulted in increased level of G1 arrested cells, as well as of apoptotic cells. These effects could not be obtained by a Flag-tagged form of the 41 kDa isoform. The G1 arrest and apoptotic effects were associated with an increase in T14/Y15 phosphorylation of CDK2 and proteasom-dependent down-regulation of CDC25A, as well as with up-regulation of p57, E2F-1, and p73. No such effects were obtained upon over-expression of a kinase-dead form of the HA-tagged 34 kDa PIM-2. By either using a dominant negative form of p73, or by over-expressing the 34 kDa PIM-2 in p73-silenced cells, we demonstrated that these effects were p73-dependent. These results demonstrate that while PIM-2 can function as a potent survival factor, it can, under certain circumstances, exhibit pro-apoptotic effects as well

A Kinetic Model for the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NOx with NH3 over an Fe-zeolite Catalyst

The selective catalytic reduction of NOx with ammonia over all Fe-zeolite catalyst was investigated experimentally and a transient kinetic model was developed. The model includes reactions that describe ammonia storage and oxidation, NO oxidation, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO and NO2, formation of N2O, ammonia inhibition and ammonium nitrate formation. The model call account for a broad range of experimental conditions in the presence of H2O, CO2 and O-2 at temperatures from 150 to 650 degrees C. The catalyst stores ammonia at temperatures up to 400 degrees C and shows ammonia oxidation activity from 350 degrees C. The catalyst is also active for the oxidation of NO to NO2 and the oxidation reaches equilibrium at 500 degrees C. The SCR of NO is already active at 150 degrees C and the introduction of equal amounts of NO and NO2 greatly enhances the conversion of NOx at temperatures up to 300 degrees C. The formation of N2O is negligible if small fractions of NO2 are fed to the reactor, but a significant amount of N2O is formed at high NO2 to NO ratios. An ammonia inhibition oil the SCR of NO is observed at 200 degrees C. This kinetic model contains 12 reactions and is able to describe the experimental results Well. The model was validated using short transient experiments and experimental conditions not used in the parameter estimation and predicted these new conditions adequately

A new type of wavefunction for BH

The wavefunctions of BH have been obtained using a generalization of the valence bond and Hartree-Fock methods known as the Spin-Coupling Optimized GI (SOGI) method. The shapes of the bonding and especially the nonbonding orbitals are discussed as are several properties of the molecules

A new type of wavefunction for BH

The wavefunctions of BH have been obtained using a generalization of the valence bond and Hartree-Fock methods known as the Spin-Coupling Optimized GI (SOGI) method. The shapes of the bonding and especially the nonbonding orbitals are discussed as are several properties of the molecules

On the Rate Constant for the Association Reaction H + CN + Ar → HCN + Ar

The importance of the chaperon mechanism (via ArCN or ArH complex formation) is investigated for the title reaction. All calculations employ the classical trajectory method to obtain the reactive cross sections while the equilibrium constants are estimated from statistical mechanics. A detailed analysis of the various approximations to the equilibrium constant is presented. Exploratory calculations based on the energy transfer mechanism are also reported. In addition, the decay rates of the HCN* and ArCN* species are examined in order to get insight on the detailed microscopic molecular dynamics. The chaperon mechanism is found to be important only at low temperatures, while the energy-transfer mechanism dominates for moderate and high ones

Accurate Double Many-Body Expansion Potential Energy Surface for the Lowest Singlet State of Methylene

A single-sheeted double many-body expansion potential energy surface is reported for ground-state CH2 by fitting accurate ab initio energies that have been semiempirically corrected by the double many-body-expansion scaled-external-correlation method. The energies of about 2500 geometries have been calculated using the multireference configuration interaction method, with the single diffusely corrected aug-cc-pVQZ basis set of Dunning and the full valence complete active space wave function as reference. The topographical features of the novel global potential energy surface are examined and compared with other potential energy surfaces