Dichotomal effect of space flight-associated microgravity on stress-activated protein kinases in innate immunity

Space flight strongly moderates human immunity but is in general well tolerated. Elucidation of the mechanisms by which zero gravity interacts with human immunity may provide clues for developing rational avenues to deal with exaggerated immune responses, e.g. as in autoimmune disease. Using two sounding rockets and one manned Soyuz launch, the influence of space flight on immunological signal transduction provoked by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation was investigated in freshly isolated peripheral blood monocytes and was compared to samples obtained from on-board centrifuge-loaded 1a'...g controls. The effect of microgravity on immunological signal transduction is highly specific, since LPS dependent Jun-N-terminal kinase activation is impaired in the 0a'...g condition, while the corresponding LPS dependent activation of p38 MAP kinase remains unaffected. Thus our results identify Jun-N-terminal kinase as a relevant target in immunity for microgravity and support using Jun-N-terminal kinase specific inhibitors for combating autoimmune disease

Intestinal Tumorigenesis Is Not Affected by Progesterone Signaling in Rodent Models

Clinical data suggest that progestins have chemopreventive properties in the development of colorectal cancer. We set out to examine a potential protective effect of progestins and progesterone signaling on colon cancer development. In normal and neoplastic intestinal tissue, we found that the progesterone receptor (PR) is not expressed. Expression was confined to sporadic mesenchymal cells. To analyze the influence of systemic progesterone receptor signaling, we crossed mice that lacked the progesterone receptor (PRKO) to the ApcMin/+ mouse, a model for spontaneous intestinal polyposis. PRKO-ApcMin/+mice exhibited no change in polyp number, size or localization compared to ApcMin/+. To examine effects of progestins on the intestinal epithelium that are independent of the PR, we treated mice with MPA. We found no effects of either progesterone or MPA on gross intestinal morphology or epithelial proliferation. Also, in rats treated with MPA, injection with the carcinogen azoxymethane did not result in a difference in the number or size of aberrant crypt foci, a surrogate end-point for adenoma development. We conclude that expression of the progesterone receptor is limited to cells in the intestinal mesenchyme. We did not observe any effect of progesterone receptor signaling or of progestin treatment in rodent models of intestinal tumorigenesis

ER stress induces epithelial differentiation in the mouse oesophagus

Stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) leads to activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Xbp1, a key component of the UPR has recently been linked to the risk of developing oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, suggesting an important role for the UPR in the oesophageal epithelium. Here we examined the role of ER stress and the UPR in oesophageal epithelial homoeostasis. We examined the expression of components of the UPR in the oesophageal epithelium. We used a pharmacological approach and a genetic approach to examine the effects of ER stress in vivo in the mouse oesophagus. The oesophagus of these mice was examined using immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Components of the UPR were heterogeneously expressed in the basal layer of the epithelium. Induction of ER stress by 24-h treatment with thapsigargin resulted in depletion of proliferating cells in the basal layer of the oesophagus and induced differentiation. We next activated the UPR by inducible deletion of the major ER chaperone Grp78 in Ah1Cre-Rosa26-LacZ-Grp78(-/-) mice in which mutant cells could be traced by expression of LacZ. In these mice LacZ-positive mutant cells in the basal layer lost their proliferative capacity, migrated towards the oesophageal lumen and were replaced by LacZ-negative non-mutant cells. We observed no apoptosis in mutant cells. These results show that ER stress induces epithelial differentiation in precursor cells in the oesophageal epithelium. This UPR induced differentiation may serve as a quality control mechanism that protects against oesophageal cancer developmen

Epithelium-derived Indian Hedgehog restricts stromal expression of ErbB family members that drive colonic tumor cell proliferation

Indian Hedgehog (Ihh) is a morphogen expressed by epithelial cells in the small intestine and colon that signals in a paracrine manner to gp38+ stromal cells. The loss of Ihh signaling results in increased epithelial proliferation, lengthening and multiplication of intestinal crypts and the activation of a stromal cell immune response. How Ihh controls epithelial proliferation through the stroma and how it affects colorectal cancer development remains poorly defined. To study the influence of Ihh signaling on the earliest stage of colorectal carcinogenesis, we used a well characterized mouse model in which both alleles of the Adenoma Polyposis Coli (Apc) gene could be inducibly deleted, leading to instant transformation of the colonic epithelium to an adenomatous phenotype. Concurrent deletion of Ihh from the adenomatous colonic epithelium of Apc inducible double mutant mice resulted in a remarkable increase in the hyperproliferative epithelial phenotype and increased accumulation of Lgr5+ stem cells. Transcriptional profiling of sorted colonic gp38+ fibroblasts showed upregulation of three ErbB pathway ligands (EREG, BTC, and NRG1) in Apc−/−Ihh−/− double mutant mice. We found that recombinant EREG, BTC, and NRG1 but not Lgr5 ligand R-Spondin promoted growth and proliferation of Apc double mutant colonic organoids. Thus, the loss of Ihh enhances Apc-driven colonic adenomagenesis via upregulation of ErbB pathway family members in colonic stromal cells. Our findings highlight the critical role of epithelium-derived Indian Hedgehog as a stromal tumor suppressor in the intestine

Myc deletion rescues Apc deficiency in the small intestine

The APC gene encodes the adenomatous polyposis coli tumour suppressor protein, germline mutation of which characterizes familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), an autosomal intestinal cancer syndrome. Inactivation of APC is also recognized as the key early event in the development of sporadic colorectal cancers, and its loss results in constitutive activity of the beta-catenin-Tcf4 transcription complex. The proto-oncogene c-MYC has been identified as a target of the Wnt pathway in colorectal cancer cells in vitro, in normal crypts in vivo and in intestinal epithelial cells acutely transformed on in vivo deletion of the APC gene; however, the significance of this is unclear. Therefore, to elucidate the role Myc has in the intestine after Apc loss, we have simultaneously deleted both Apc and Myc in the adult murine small intestine. Here we show that loss of Myc rescued the phenotypes of perturbed differentiation, migration, proliferation and apoptosis, which occur on deletion of Apc. Remarkably, this rescue occurred in the presence of high levels of nuclear beta-catenin. Array analysis revealed that Myc is required for the majority of Wnt target gene activation following Apc loss. These data establish Myc as the critical mediator of the early stages of neoplasia following Apc loss.

Stromal Indian hedgehog signaling is required for intestinal adenoma formation in mice

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Indian hedgehog (IHH) is an epithelial-derived signal in the intestinal stroma, inducing factors that restrict epithelial proliferation and suppress activation of the immune system. In addition to these rapid effects of IHH signaling, IHH is required to maintain a stromal phenotype in which myofibroblasts and smooth muscle cells predominate. We investigated the role of IHH signaling during development of intestinal neoplasia in mice. METHODS: Glioma-associated oncogene (Gli1)-CreERT2 and Patched (Ptch)-lacZ reporter mice were crossed with ApcMin mice to generate Gli1CreERT2-Rosa26-ZSGreen-ApcMin and Ptch-lacZ-ApcMin mice, which were used to identify hedgehog-responsive cells. Cyp1a1Cre-Apc (ApcHET) mice, which develop adenomas after administration of β-naphthoflavone, were crossed with mice with conditional disruption of Ihh in the small intestine epithelium. ApcMin mice were crossed with mice in which sonic hedgehog (SHH) was overexpressed specifically in the intestinal epithelium. Intestinal tissues were collected and analyzed histologically and by immunohistochemistry and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. We also analyzed levels of IHH messenger RNA and expression of IHH gene targets in intestinal tissues from patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (n = 18) or sessile serrated adenomas (n = 15) and normal colonic tissue from control patients (n = 12). RESULTS: Expression of IHH messenger RNA and its targets were increased in intestinal adenomas from patients and mice compared with control colon tissues. In mice, IHH signaling was exclusively paracrine, from the epithelium to the stroma. Loss of IHH from ApcHET mice almost completely blocked adenoma development, and overexpression of SHH increased the number and size of adenomas that developed. Loss of IHH from ApcHET mice changed the composition of the adenoma stroma; cells that expressed α-smooth muscle actin or desmin were lost, along with expression of cyclooxygenase-2, and the number of vimentin-positive cells increased. CONCLUSIONS: Apc mutant epithelial cells secrete IHH to maintain an intestinal stromal phenotype that is required for adenoma development in mice