The progesterone receptor can be reconstituted into hsp90-containing complexes in vitro, and the resulting complexes are needed to maintain hormone binding activity. This process requires ATP/Mg 2؉ , K ؉ , and several axillary proteins. We have developed a defined system for the assembly of progesterone receptor complexes using purified proteins. Five proteins are needed to form complexes that are capable of maintaining hormone binding activity. These include hsp70 and its cochaperone, hsp40, the hsp70/hsp90-binding protein, Hop, hsp90, and the hsp90-binding protein, p23. The proteins Hip and FKBP52 were not required for this in vitro process even though they have been observed in receptor complexes. Each of the five proteins showed a characteristic concentration dependence. Similar concentrations of hsp70, hsp90, and p23 were needed for optimal assembly, but hsp40 and Hop were effective at about 1/10 the concentration of the other proteins, suggesting that these two proteins act catalytically or are needed at levels similar to the receptor concentration. ATP was required for the functioning of both hsp70 and hsp90. The binding of hsp70 to the receptor requires hsp40 and about 10 M ATP; however, hsp90 binding appears to occur subsequent to hsp70 binding and is optimal with 1 mM ATP. A three-step model is presented to describe the assembly process.When extracted from tissue cytosol, receptors for progesterone (PR), 1 glucocorticoid (GR), and other steroids exist in heteromeric complexes containing heat shock protein 90 (hsp90) and several additional proteins (1-3). Recent information on the assembly of these complexes has been gained mainly through the use of an in vitro system consisting of immuneisolated progesterone (4) or glucocorticoid (5) receptor incubated in rabbit reticulocyte lysate. The formation of receptor complexes in this system is dependent upon ATP hydrolysis, the ions Mg 2ϩ and K ϩ , and the participation of a number of proteins (6, 7). When assembled in vitro, the mature avian progesterone receptor complex closely resembles that obtained from oviduct cytosol and contains hsp90, any one of three immunophilins, and a 23-kDa phosphoprotein, p23. It also contains variable sub-stoichiometric amounts of hsp70. The immunophilins include the cyclosporin A-binding protein, CyP-40, and two FK506-binding proteins, FKBP51 and FKBP52. Antibody inhibitor studies or depletion and reconstitution experiments indicate that hsp70 (6, 8), Hop, an intermediate in complex assembly (9), and p23 (10, 11) are essential for the formation of hsp90 complexes, but the actual roles of these and other proteins are still unclear.An intermediate in PR complex formation has been identified that contains submaximal amounts of hsp90, substantially more hsp70 than in the mature complex, and two additional proteins, Hop (p60) and Hip (p48) (6, 12). This complex does not contain immunophilins or p23. Hop (hsp-organizing protein) is a 60-kDa stress-related protein that binds to both hsp70 and hsp90 (9, 13-15). Hip (hsp70-interacting ...

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Intravitreous concentrations of HGF (median [range]) were significantly higher in diabetic patients with PDR (6.00 ng/ml [0.75-22.21) than in control patients (2.86 ng/ml [0.75-5.801). Intravitreous concentrations of VEGF were also higher in diabetic patients with PDR (1.62 ng/ml [0.15-7.91) than in control patients (0.16 ng/ml [0.160.29]). Both VEGF and HGF concentrations were significantly higher in patients with active retinopathy than in those with quiescent retinopathy However, vitreous concentrations of HGF were unrelated to those of VEGE CONCLUSIONS: We found that levels of HGF in vitreous fluid of PDR patients are significantly higher than in nondiabetic patients and that the levels of HGF are elevated in the active PDR stage. This suggests that HGF stimulates or perpetuates neovascularization in PDR.

Background Insulin-derived amyloidosis is a skin-related complication of insulin therapy that interferes with insulin therapy. Although toxicities of in vitro-formed insulin amyloid fibrils have been well studied, the toxicity of insulin-derived amyloidosis remains to be clarified. Case presentation A 58-year-old man with type 2 diabetes mellitus underwent a lower limb amputation due to diabetic gangrene. Several antibiotics including minocycline were administered for infection and sepsis. A hard mass at the insulin injection sites in the lower abdomen was discovered by chance four months later. Although no abnormal findings in the surface skin of the mass were observed, necrotic tissue was seen around the mass when a biopsy was performed. Histological and toxicity studies were performed for this patient and four other patients with abdominal masses at insulin injection sites. Histological and immunohistochemical studies showed that the masses had typical characteristics of amyloid deposits in all cases, whereas necrotic findings were seen adjacent to the amyloid deposit only in the case presented. Toxicity studies indicated that the amyloid tissue from the present case had significant cell toxicity compared to the control skin tissue or the amyloid tissues from the other four cases. Conclusions This report showed that toxic insulin-derived amyloidosis can occur. In addition, this report suggested that toxic insulin-derived amyloidosis may cause necrosis in the surrounding tissue. Although the toxic amyloid deposit of insulin-derived amyloidosis was found in only one patient, no structural differences between toxic and non-toxic deposits were seen on histological and immunohistochemical studies. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12902-019-0385-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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We investigated changes in the amount of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and the percentage of free estradiol (% FE2) during normal menstrual cycles in the sera of 8 young Japanese controls, and also the relation between the lipid components of serum and the serum level of SHBG in 250 normal Japanese controls aged 18-77 years. The amount of SHBG measured by IRMA was significantly higher in the luteal phase than in the follicular phase, whereas the % FE2 values remained constant throughout the menstrual cycle in 8 healthy young controls. These results suggest that the estrogen status in serum is constantly controlled by SHBG. The amount of SHBG was significantly correlated with the serum level of triglycerides (TG) in 250 normal Japanese controls. From these results, we postulate that the decrease in serum SHBG, probably caused by increased level of serum TG, leads to elevation of % FE2 and later to a status with a high risk of breast cancer.

Objective To measure the amount and affinity of insulin antibodies, we performed a trial to establish a new method for quantitative and qualitative analysis of these antibodies by using surface plasmon resonance (BIAcore TM system). Methods Real-time detection of insulin antibody interaction and kinetic analysis were performed using the BIAcore TM system. Patients or Materials Eight diabetic patients with insulin antibodies and whose fasting total immunoreactive insulin levels were more than 100 U/ml were selected. The patients with and without recurrent hypoglycemia were classified into hypoglycemic episode-positive or hypoglycemic episode-negative groups, respectively. Seven diabetic patients without insulin antibodies were selected as controls.Results In the 8 patients, the concentration of insulin antibodies ranged from 2.91 to 16.3 g/ml and insulin antibodies were not detected in the control group. The apparent KD (dissociation constant) and kd (the dissociation rate constant) values of the patients were much larger than those seen for the anti-human insulin monoclonal antibody. The KD values were significantly higher in the hypoglycemic episode-positive group than in the hypoglycemic episode-negative group (p<0.05). No significant differences in the concentration, the ka (the association rate constant) and the kd values were noted between the groups.Conclusion The data suggests that insulin antibodies of the patients have an apparently lower affinity status in sera as compared with that for the anti-human insulin monoclonal antibody, and dissociate easily from the immune-complex in the sera, especially in cases where there is recurrent hypoglycemia in the patients. Therefore insulin antibody characteristics are one of the causative factors in hypoglycemic episodes. (Internal Medicine 44: 100-106, 2005)