Electrophoretic characteristics of metalloproteinase’s activity of serum of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia – preliminary data

Metalloproteinases play an important role in the development and metastasis of many cancers. Their activity is also an important component of tumorgenesis associated processes such as angiogenesis, decreased apoptosis, or unlimited proliferation of pathological cells. In this study we tried to estimate a differences of metalloproteinase activity digesting the gelatin in the sera of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and healthy people, by the zymographic technique. To confirm that the gelatinolytic activity originated from the metalloproteinases their specific inhibitors: phenanthroline and ethylene– diaminetetraacetic acid were used. In patient’s sera a zymographic analysis revealed the presence of additional activity. The first of them are located in a region corresponding to a molecular weight of approximately 240 kDa, probably corresponds to the dimer of proMMP–9. Another two active fractions present in the sera of patients suffering from leukemia corresponded to a molecular weight of about 110 and 130 kDa probably represents a complex of proMMP–9 with lipocain. In a control sera, only one activity could be observed exhibiting a molecular weight of about 110 kDa, which is stronger than corresponding fraction in patient’s sera. The biggest difference between the two investigated sera was gelatynolytic activity located in the region of a molecular weight of about 94 kDa, which probably corresponded to proMMP–9. In some leukemic sera this activity was several times higher compared to the control samples, in which there was a constant and relatively low level of it. Despite significant activity of proMMP–9 in sera of patients with CLL no biologically active equivalent band of molecular weight 84 kDa were detected. The fractions which corresponded to different forms of MMP–2 (72, 64 kDa) were present in the sera of tumor and control, although proMMP–2 was more strongly expressed in the control samples

Does the expression of the ACVR2A gene affect the development of colorectal cancer?

Abstract Colorectal cancer has become a serious problem, especially in highly developed countries. As reported by the World Health Organization, the number of colon cancer cases in the world in 2012 amounted to 1.36 million. It is the second most common cancer in females (614,000 cases, 9.2% of the total) and the third in males (746,000 cases, 10.0% of the total) worldwide. It is believed that TGFβ pathway elements are involved in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. This study assessed one of these elements, the ACVR2A gene. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the ACVR2A gene in 84 patients with colorectal cancer was performed. There was no statistically significant association between ACVR2A gene expression and age, gender, histological type, grading of tumor, vascular invasion, and presence of lymphocytes in tumor tissue. No association was observed between the ACVR2A gene expression level and the presence of metastases in regional lymph nodes and distant metastases. In this study, larger tumors (T3 and T4) were characterized by higher ACVR2A expression compared to smaller tumors (T1 and T2). This may indicate an association between ACVR2A expression and the severity of pathological changes in the tumor growth process

Electrophoretic method of cysteine proteinase identification in the sera of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) based on biotinylated iodoacetamide

Wstęp: Proteinazy cysteinowe są enzymami regulującymi liczne procesy fizjologiczne oraz patologiczne w organizmie człowieka. Zaburzenie ich aktywności może przyczyniać się do wystąpienia wielu chorób. Pełnią one ważną rolę w procesie kancerogenezy, uczestnicząc w inwazji, transformacji nowotworowej, angiogenezie, apoptozie oraz powstawaniu przerzutów. Celem pracy było opracowanie elektroforetycznej metody identyfikacji proteinaz cysteinowych w surowicach pacjentów z przewlekłą białaczką w oparciu o jodoacetamid biotynylowany. Materiał i metody: Badania wstępne przeprowadzono na handlowym preparacie papainy (EC 3.4.22.2), dobrze poznanej i szeroko stosowanej roślinnej proteinazy cysteinowej o masie cząsteczkowej 23,4 kDa. Badania wykonano na próbach surowicy uzyskanych z pełnej krwi pobranej od pacjentów chorych na przewlekłą białaczkę limfocytową (PBL) oraz surowicach kontrolnych uzyskanych od dawców. Surowice po wstępnej inkubacji z jodoacetamidem mieszano z buforem do prób i poddawano rozdziałowi elektroforetycznemu w żelu poliakrylamidowym zawierającym dodecylosiarczan sodu (SDS–PAGE). Rozdzielone elektroforetycznie białka po transferze na nitrocelulozową membranę, poddawano dalszej analizie za pomocą streptawidyny skoniugowanej z peroksydazą chrzanową (HRP). Użycie substratu dla HRP, czterochlorowodorku 3,3’–diaminobenzydynyny (DAB), umożliwiało identyfikację biotynylowanego jodoacetamidu, a przez to związanych z nim w sposób nieodwracalny proteinaz cysteinowych obecnych w badanych surowicach. Wyniki: Analiza porównawcza surowic pobranych od pacjentów chorych na przewlekłą białaczkę limfocytową w odniesieniu do surowic kontrolnych pozwoliła na identyfikację dodatkowego białka o charakterze proteinazy cysteinowej o masie cząsteczkowej wynoszącej około 37 kDa, które nie występowało lub było obecne w niewielkiej ilości w surowicach kontrolnych. Wnioski: Opracowana metoda umożliwia wykrywanie proteinaz cysteinowych w surowicach kontrolnych, jak i u pacjentów chorych na przewlekłą białaczkę limfocytową.Introduction: Cysteine proteases are enzymes that regulate numerous physiological and pathological processes in the human body. Disorders of their activity can lead to a number of diseases. They play an important role in the process of carcinogenesis, participating in the invasion, transformation, angiogenesis, apoptosis and metastasis. The aim of this study was to elaborate the electrophoretic method of cysteine proteinases identification in the sera of patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia based on biotinylated iodoacetamide. Material and methods: Preliminary studies were carried out on the commercially available papain (EC 3.4.22.2) well known and widely used plant cysteine protease with a molecular weight 23,4 kDa. The study was conducted on the blood samples taken from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and control sera from healthy donors. The sera after the preincubation with iodoacetamide were mixed with the sample buffer followed by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS–PAGE). The separated proteins were electrophoretically transferred to the nitrocellulose membranes and subjected to the further analysis using streptavidin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The use of substrate for HRP 3,3’- diaminobenzidine tetrachloride (DAB) allows the biotinylated iodoacetamide and thereby cysteine proteinase identification. Results: The comparative analysis of the sera from the patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and the control sera led to the identification of additional protein with a cysteine protease characteristic having a molecular weight of about 37 kDa, which did not occur or was present in a smaller amount of the control sera. Conclusions: The developed method allows the detection of cysteine proteases which are present in the control sera and the sera of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Importance of Altered Gene Expression of Metalloproteinases 2, 9, and 16 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Preliminary Study

Acute myeloid leukemia is a group of hematological neoplasms characterized by a heterogeneous course and high mortality. The important factor in the neoplastic process is metalloproteinases, proteolytic enzymes capable of degrading various components of the extracellular matrix, which take an active part in modifying the functioning of the cell, including transformation to cancer cell. They interact with numerous signaling pathways responsible for the process of cell growth, proliferation, or apoptosis. In the present study, changes in the expression of MMP2, MMP9, and MMP16 genes between patients with AML and people without cancer were examined. The impact of cytogenetic changes in neoplastic cells on the expression level of MMP2, MMP9, and MMP16 was also assessed, as well as the impact of the altered expression on the effectiveness of the first cycle of remission-inducing therapy. To evaluate the expression of all studied genes MMP2, MMP9, and MMP16, SYBR Green-based real-time PCR method was used; the reference gene was GAPDH. For two investigated genes MMP2 and MMP16, the lower expression level was observed in patients with AML when compared to healthy people. The MMP9 gene expression level did not differ between patients with AML and healthy individuals which may indicate a different regulation of gene expression in acute myeloid leukemia. However, no correlation was observed between the genes’ expression of all tested metalloproteinases and the result of cytoreductive treatment or the presence of cytogenetic changes. The obtained results show that the expression of MMP2 and MMP16 genes is reduced while the expression of MMP9 is unchanged in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. This may indicate a different regulation of the expression of these genes, and possible disruptions in gene transcription or posttranscriptional mechanisms in the MMP2 and MMP16 genes, however, do not affect the level of MMP9 expression. Obtained results in AML patients are in contrary to various types of solid tumors where increased expression is usually observed