Disruption of C-Terminal Cytoplasmic Domain of βPS Integrin Subunit Has Dominant Negative Properties in Developing Drosophila

We have analyzed a set of new and existing strong mutations in the myospheroid gene, which encodes the βPS integrin subunit of Drosophila. In addition to missense and other null mutations, three mutants behave as antimorphic alleles, indicative of dominant negative properties. Unlike null alleles, the three antimorphic mutants are synthetically lethal in double heterozygotes with an inflated (αPS2) null allele, and they fail to complement very weak, otherwise viable alleles of myospheroid. Two of the antimorphs result from identical splice site lesions, which create a frameshift in the C-terminal half of the cytoplasmic domain of βPS. The third antimorphic mutation is caused by a stop codon just before the cytoplasmic splice site. These mutant βPS proteins can support cell spreading in culture, especially under conditions that appear to promote integrin activation. Analyses of developing animals indicate that the dominant negative properties are not a result of inefficient surface expression, or simple competition between functional and nonfunctional proteins. These data indicate that mutations disrupting the C-terminal cytoplasmic domain of integrin β subunits can have dominant negative effects in situ, at normal levels of expression, and that this property does not necessarily depend on a specific new protein sequence or structure. The results are discussed with respect to similar vertebrate β subunit cytoplasmic mutations

Early changes in biochemical markers of bone turnover and their relationship with bone mineral density changes after 24 months of treatment with teriparatide

Summary: We report the changes in biochemical markers of bone formation during the first 6 months of teriparatide therapy in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis according to previous antiresorptive treatment. Prior therapy does not adversely affect the response to teriparatide treatment. Similar bone markers levels are reached after 6 months of treatment. Introduction: The response of biochemical markers of bone turnover with teriparatide therapy in subjects who have previously received osteoporosis drugs is not fully elucidated. We examined biochemical markers of bone formation in women with osteoporosis treated with teriparatide and determined: (1) whether the response is associated with prior osteoporosis therapy, (2) which marker shows the best performance for detecting a response to therapy, and (3) the correlations between early changes in bone markers and subsequent bone mineral density (BMD) changes after 24 months of teriparatide. Methods: We conducted a prospective, open-label, 24-month study at 95 centers in 10 countries in 758 postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis (n?=?181 treatment-naïve) who had at least one post-baseline bone marker determination. Teriparatide (20 ?g/day) was administered for up to 24 months. We measured procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (PINP), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (b-ALP), and total alkaline phosphatase (t-ALP) at baseline, 1 and 6 months, and change in BMD at the lumbar spine, total hip and femoral neck from baseline to 24 months. Results: Significant increases in formation markers occurred after 1 month of teriparatide regardless of prior osteoporosis therapy. The absolute increase at 1 month was lower in previously treated versus treatment-naïve patients, but after 6 months all groups reached similar levels. PINP showed the best signal-to-noise ratio. Baseline PINP correlated positively and significantly with BMD response at 24 months. Conclusions: This study suggests that the long-term responsiveness of bone formation markers to teriparatide is not affected in subjects previously treated with antiresorptive drugs. <br/