No abstract

These findings indicate that pRb promotes the expression of late-stage muscle-differentiation markers by both inhibiting cell-cycle progression and cooperating with MyoD to promote the transcriptional activation activity of MEF2.

Despite relatively good results of current symptomatic treatments for rotator cuff disease, there has been an unmet need for fundamental treatments to halt or reverse the progress of disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of intratendinous injection of autologous adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD MSCs) in patients with rotator cuff disease. The first part of the study consists of three dose-escalation cohorts; the low- (1.0 × 10 cells), mid- (5.0 × 10 ), and high-dose (1.0 × 10 ) groups with three patients each for the evaluation of the safety and tolerability. The second part included nine patients receiving the high-dose for the evaluation of the exploratory efficacy. The primary outcomes were the safety and the shoulder pain and disability index (SPADI). Secondary outcomes included clinical, radiological, and arthroscopic evaluations. Twenty patients were enrolled in the study, and two patients were excluded. Intratendinous injection of AD MSCs was not associated with adverse events. It significantly decreased the SPADI scores by 80% and 77% in the mid- and high-dose groups, respectively. Shoulder pain was significantly alleviated by 71% in the high-dose group. Magnetic resonance imaging examination showed that volume of the bursal-side defect significantly decreased by 90% in the high-dose group. Arthroscopic examination demonstrated that volume of the articular- and bursal-side defects decreased by 83% and 90% in the mid- and high-dose groups, respectively. Intratendinous injection of autologous AD MSCs in patient with a partial-thickness rotator cuff tear did not cause adverse events, but improved shoulder function, and relieved pain through regeneration of rotator cuff tendon. Stem Cells 2018;36:1441-1450.

From the studies described in this review, it is clear that structural information dictates not only the functional properties of exportable proteins, but also their ability to be transported in the intracellular secretory pathway. In ERSDs, the precise nature of the defect determines both the severity of the phenotype and the mode of inheritance. To our knowledge, all genetically inherited ERSDs are attributable to mutations in the coding sequence of exportable proteins; thus far, with the exception of abetalipoproteinemia (see Section IV.D), no mutations in ER chaperones (other than those that scientists have genetically engineered) have been reported as the cause of spontaneous disease. The elevations of ER chaperones in ERSDs may differ between mutations, between tissues, between individual patients, and between different physiological states (i.e., such as before and after hormone replacement therapy) in the same patient. Thus, measurement of ER chaperone levels plays an important diagnostic role, but probably should not be used as the sole basis to classify these illnesses. Moreover, because mutant secretory proteins have been reported to occur in virtually every organ system, ERSDs are more readily classified at the cell biological level, by the responses of the cells that actually synthesize the secretory protein, rather than the hormone deficiency associated with the illness at the end-organ level. With these ideas in mind, we present a schematic view in Fig. 4. According to this schema, all ERSDs begin with ER retention of the affected proteins or their subunits. Mutants may then be divided into two groups: type A, where the biological activity is preserved although the protein is transport-deficient; and type B, where the mutant has no potential for functional activity. Both categories include both recessive and dominant mutations. The primary clinical difference between these two classes is that type A ERSDs may be amenable to therapies designed to down-regulate the quality control of ER export so that potentially functional molecules can escape the ER and reach their intended intracellular destination. In both types of ERSDs, in most cases, the retained mutant protein is efficiently degraded in the ER (subtypes A-I and B-I). In these cases, the predominant, global phenotypes involve the symptoms and signs of hormone deficiency. However, careful biochemical and cell biological studies reveal various abnormalities in glandular function, typically including the elevation of the levels of one or more ER chaperones. As described in Section I.C, such elevations are a consequence of chronic adaptation to the presence of unfolded mutant secretory protein (the synthesis of which is stimulated all the more by endocrine feedback loops). As described in Section III, the elevated chaperones appear to be integrally related to the ER retention as well as perhaps the ERAD process that removes the misfolded proteins. In these cases, the ER compartment may expand, but the secretory cells are likely to survive. In the ...

Abstract. In humans, deficient thyroglobulin (Tg, the thyroid prohormone) is an important cause of congenital hypothyroid goiter; further, homozygous mice expressing two cog~cog alleles (linked to the Tg locus) exhibit the same phenotype. Tg mutations might affect multiple different steps in thyroid hormone synthesis; however, the microscopic and biochemical phenotype tends to involve enlargement of the thyroid ER and accumulation of protein bands of Mr < 100. To explore further the cell biology of this autosomal recessive illness, we have examined the folding and intracellular

It was recently demonstrated that ectopic expression of cyclin D1 inhibits skeletal muscle differentiation and, conversely, that expression of cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitors facilitates activation of this differentiation program (S. S. Rao, C. Chu, and D. S. Kohtz, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:5259-5267, 1994; S. S. Rao and D. S. Kohtz, J. Biol. Chem. 270:4093-4100, 1995; S. X. Skapek, J. Rhee, D. B. Spicer, and A. B. Lassar, Science 267:1022-1024, 1995). Here we demonstrate that cyclin D1 inhibits muscle gene expression without affecting MyoD DNA binding activity. Ectopic expression of cyclin D1 inhibits muscle gene activation by both MyoD and myogenin, including a mutated form of myogenin in which two potential inhibitory cdk phosphorylation sites are absent. Because the retinoblastoma gene product, pRB, is a known target for cyclin D1-cdk phosphorylation, we determined whether cyclin D1-mediated inhibition of myogenesis was due to hyperphosphorylation of pRB. In pRB-deficient fibroblasts, the ability of MyoD to activate the expression of muscle-specific genes requires coexpression of ectopic pRB (B. G. Novitch, G. J. Mulligan, T. Jacks, and A. B. Lassar, J. Cell Biol., 135:441-456, 1996). In these cells, the expression of cyclins A and E can lead to pRB hyperphosphorylation and can inhibit muscle gene expression. The negative effects of cyclins A or E on muscle gene expression are, however, reversed by the presence of a mutated form of pRB which cannot be hyperphosphorylated. In contrast, cyclin D1 can inhibit muscle gene expression in the presence of the nonhyperphosphorylatable form of pRB. On the basis of these results we propose that G1 cyclin-cdk activity blocks the initiation of skeletal muscle differentiation by two distinct mechanisms: one that is dependent on pRB hyperphosphorylation and one that is independent of pRB hyperphosphorylation.

Newly synthesized thyroglobulin (Tg), the major secretory glycoprotein of the thyroid gland, folds and homodimerizes in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) before its export to the site of iodination, where it serves as the precursor for thyroid hormone synthesis. In families with defective Tg export, affected individuals suffer from a thyroidal ER storage disease characterized by a distended thyrocyte ER containing misfolded Tg, along with induced ER molecular chaperones. Inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, deficient Tg causes congenital hypothyroidism in newborns that, if untreated, results in goiter along with serious cognitive and growth defects. Recently, a similar phenotype has been observed in inbred cog͞cog mice, although the precise molecular defect has remained undefined. Here, we have isolated and cloned a full-length 8.5-kb Tg cDNA from cog͞cog mice and unaffected isogenic AKR͞J mice. Comparison of the complete sequences reveals that cog͞cog mice express a Leu-2263 3 Pro missense mutation in the acetylcholinesterase-homology domain of Tg. Heterologous expression studies in COS cells indicate that cog Tg exhibits a severe defect in exit from the ER. Site-directed mutagenesis of cog Tg to convert the single amino acid back to Leu-2263 restores normal Tg secretion. We conclude that the cog mutation in Tg is responsible for this ER storage disease that causes thyroid dyshormonogenesis.

Newly synthesized thyroglobulin (Tg), the secretory glycoprotein that serves as precursor in thyroid hormone synthesis, normally forms transient covalent protein complexes with oxidoreductases of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The Tg-G2320R mutation is responsible for congenital hypothyroidism in rdw/rdw rats, in which a lack of secondary thyroid enlargement (goiter) implicates death of thyrocytes as part of disease pathogenesis. We found that mutant Tg-G2320R was retained within the ER with no detectable synthesis of thyroxine, had persistent exposure of free cysteine thiols, and was associated with activated ER stress response but incomplete ER-associated degradation (ERAD). Tg-G2320R associated with multiple ER resident proteins, most notably ERp72, including covalent Tg-ERp72 interactions. In PC Cl3 thyrocytes, inducible overexpression of ERp72 increased the ability of cells to maintain Tg cysteines in a reduced state. Noncovalent interactions of several ER chaperones with newly synthesized Tg-G2320R diminished over time in parallel with ERAD of the mutant protein, yet a small ERAD-resistant Tg fraction remained engaged in covalent association with ERp72 even 2 days post-synthesis. Such covalent protein aggregates may set the stage for apoptotic thyrocyte cell death, preventing thyroid goiter formation in rdw/rdw rats.