SignificancePhotoreceptor cell death resulting from retinal detachment (RD) causes significant visual loss. While the immune system is activated during RD, its role is still unclear. Microglia are resident immune cells in the retina and are thought to be either protective or deleterious in response to neuronal injury, suggesting context-dependent effects. Here, we demonstrate that microglia limit retinal damage during acute injury, since microglial ablation led to increased photoreceptor death. Microglial morphological–activation changes triggered their migration into injured tissue where they formed intimate connections with infiltrating immune cells and phagocytized injured photoreceptors. These findings provide insight into the microglial response and function during RD, indicating microglia promote photoreceptor survival during acute phase injury by removing potentially damaging cell debris.
Calcium/calmodulin-stimulated protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a multi-functional kinase that controls a range of cellular functions, including proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. The biological properties of CaMKII are regulated by multi-site phosphorylation. However, the role that CaMKII phosphorylation plays in cancer cell metastasis has not been examined. We demonstrate herein that CaMKII expression and phosphorylation at T286 is increased in breast cancer when compared to normal breast tissue, and that increased CAMK2 mRNA is associated with poor breast cancer patient prognosis (worse overall and distant metastasis free survival). Additionally, we show that overexpression of WT, T286D and T286V forms of CaMKII in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells increases invasion, migration and anchorage independent growth, and that overexpression of the T286D phosphomimic leads to a further increase in the invasive, migratory and anchorage independent growth capacity of these cells. Pharmacological inhibition of CaMKII decreases MDA-MB-231 migration and invasion. Furthermore, we demonstrate that overexpression of T286D, but not WT or T286V-CaMKII, leads to phosphorylation of FAK, STAT5a, and Akt. These results demonstrate a novel function for phosphorylation of CaMKII at T286 in the control of breast cancer metastasis, offering a promising target for the development of therapeutics to prevent breast cancer metastasis.
BackgroundPeroxisome proliferator activated receptor-alpha (PPARα) is a ubiquitously expressed nuclear receptor. The role of endogenous PPARα in retinal neuronal homeostasis is unknown. Retinal photoreceptors are the highest energy-consuming cells in the body, requiring abundant energy substrates. PPARα is a known regulator of lipid metabolism, and we hypothesized that it may regulate lipid use for oxidative phosphorylation in energetically demanding retinal neurons.ResultsWe found that endogenous PPARα is essential for the maintenance and survival of retinal neurons, with Pparα -/- mice developing retinal degeneration first detected at 8 weeks of age. Using extracellular flux analysis, we identified that PPARα mediates retinal utilization of lipids as an energy substrate, and that ablation of PPARα ultimately results in retinal bioenergetic deficiency and neurodegeneration. This may be due to PPARα regulation of lipid transporters, which facilitate the internalization of fatty acids into cell membranes and mitochondria for oxidation and ATP production.ConclusionWe identify an endogenous role for PPARα in retinal neuronal survival and lipid metabolism, and furthermore underscore the importance of fatty acid oxidation in photoreceptor survival. We also suggest PPARα as a putative therapeutic target for age-related macular degeneration, which may be due in part to decreased mitochondrial efficiency and subsequent energetic deficits.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-017-0451-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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