Here we report the molecular identification of membrane-bound glutathione (GSH)-dependent prostaglandin (PG) E 2 synthase (mPGES), a terminal enzyme of the cyclooxygenase (COX)-2-mediated PGE 2 biosynthetic pathway. The activity of mPGES was increased markedly in macrophages and osteoblasts following proinflammatory stimuli. cDNA for mouse and rat mPGESs encoded functional proteins that showed high homology with the human ortholog (microsomal glutathione S-transferase-like 1). mPGES expression was markedly induced by proinflammatory stimuli in various tissues and cells and was down-regulated by dexamethasone, accompanied by changes in COX-2 expression and delayed PGE 2 generation. Arg 110 , a residue well conserved in the microsomal GSH S-transferase family, was essential for catalytic function. mPGES was functionally coupled with COX-2 in marked preference to COX-1, particularly when the supply of arachidonic acid was limited. Increased supply of arachidonic acid by explosive activation of cytosolic phospholipase A 2 allowed mPGES to be coupled with COX-1. mPGES colocalized with both COX isozymes in the perinuclear envelope. Moreover, cells stably cotransfected with COX-2 and mPGES grew faster, were highly aggregated, and exhibited aberrant morphology. Thus, COX-2 and mPGES are essential components for delayed PGE 2 biosynthesis, which may be linked to inflammation, fever, osteogenesis, and even cancer.
Prostanoids are a group of bioactive lipids working as local mediators and include D, E, F and I types of prostaglandins (PGs) and thromboxanes. Prostacyclin (PGI2) acts on platelets and blood vessels to inhibit platelet aggregation and to cause vasodilatation, and is thought to be important for vascular homeostasis. Aspirin-like drugs, including indomethacin, which inhibit prostanoid biosynthesis, suppress fever, inflammatory swelling and pain, and interfere with female reproduction, suggesting that prostanoids are involved in these processes, although it is not clear which prostanoid is the endogenous mediator of a particular process. Prostanoids act on seven-transmembrane-domain receptors which are selective for each type. Here we disrupt the gene for the prostacyclin receptor in mice by using homologous recombination. The receptor-deficient mice are viable, reproductive and normotensive. However, their susceptibility to thrombosis is increased, and their inflammatory and pain responses are reduced to the levels observed in indomethacin-treated wild-type mice. Our results establish that prostacyclin is an antithrombotic agent in vivo and provide evidence for its role as a mediator of inflammation and pain.
To find reliable biomarkers for high-grade malignancy, the relationship between immunohistochemical L-type amino-acid transporter 1 (LAT1) expression of biopsy samples, determined with the newly developed monoclonal antibody against human LAT1, and prognosis of patients with prostate cancer, was investigated. The intensity and score of immunohistochemical LAT1 expression of first biopsy samples were assessed using the modified Sinicrope et al. method and were found to be correlated with poor survival for the study group of 114 surgically treated patients as a whole (P = 0.0002 and 0.0270, respectively). LAT1 intensity further had a significant relationship (P = 0.0057) with prognosis in pathological T3 + T4 groups. Multivariate analysis indicated that the LAT1 intensity and score were more reliable prognostic markers, compared with the Gleason score and the Ki-67 labeling index. A relationship of the LAT1 intensity and score with prognosis could also be confirmed in 63 patients with inoperable cancer (P = 0.0070 and <0.0001, respectively). Similarly, significant differences in prognosis were confirmed in clinical T3 + T4 groups (P = 0.0091 and 0.0244, respectively). Moreover, the combination of LAT1 expression and Gleason score was found to have a more reliable correlation with prognosis. Thus, elevated LAT1 expression in prostate cancers is a novel independent biomarker of high-grade malignancy, which can be utilized together with the Gleason score, which is mainly dependent on cellular and structural atypia, to assess prognosis.
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