The preservation of "stemness" in mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells is maintained through a signal transduction pathway that requires the gp130 receptor, the interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of cytokines, and the Janus Kinasesignal transducer and activator (JAK/STAT) pathway. The factors and signaling pathways that regulate "stemness" in human embryonic stem (hES) cells remain to be elucidated. Here we report that STAT3 activation is not sufficient to block hES cell differentiation when the cells are grown on mouse feeder cells or when they are treated with conditioned media from feeder cells. Human ES cells differentiate in the presence of members of the IL-6 family of cytokines including leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and IL-6 or in the presence of the designer cytokine hyper-IL-6, which is a complex of soluble interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) and IL-6 with greatly enhanced bioactivity. Human ES cells express LIF, IL-6, and gp130 receptors, as well as the downstream signaling molecules. Stimulation of human and mouse ES cells with gp130 cytokines resulted in a robust phosphorylation of downstream ERK1, ERK2, and Akt kinases, as well as the STAT3 transcription factor. Loss of the pluripotency markers Nanog, Oct-4, and TRA-1-60 was observed in hES cells during gp130-dependent signaling, indicating that signaling through this pathway is insufficient to prevent the onset of differentiation. These data underscore a fundamental difference in requirements of murine versus hES cells. Furthermore, the data demonstrate the existence of an as-yet-unidentified factor in the conditioned media of mouse feeder layer cells that acts to maintain hES cell renewal in a STAT3-independent manner. Stem

An alternative approach to the treatment of type I diabetes is the use of genetically altered neoplastic liver cells to synthesize, store and secrete insulin. To try and achieve this goal we modified a human liver cell line, HUH7, by transfecting it with human insulin cDNA under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter. The HUH7-ins cells created were able to synthesize insulin in a similar manner to that which occurs in pancreatic b cells. They secreted insulin in a regulated manner in response to glucose, calcium and theophylline, the dose-response curve for glucose being near-physiological. Perifusion studies showed that secretion was rapid and tightly controlled. Removal of calcium resulted in loss of glucose stimulation while addition of brefeldin A resulted in a 30% diminution of effect, indicating that constitutive release of insulin occurred to a small extent. Insulin was stored in granules within the cytoplasm. When transplanted into diabetic immunoincompetent mice, the cells synthesized, processed, stored and secreted diarginyl insulin in a rapid regulated manner in response to glucose.Constitutive release of insulin also occurred and was greater than regulated secretion. Blood glucose levels of the mice were normalized but ultimately became subnormal due to continued proliferation of cells. Examination of the HUH7-ins cells as well as the parent cell line for b cell transcription factors showed the presence of NeuroD but not PDX-1. PC1 and PC2 were also present in both cell types. Thus, the parent HUH7 cell line possessed a number of endocrine pancreatic features that reflect the common endodermal ancestry of liver and pancreas, perhaps as a result of ontogenetic regression of the neoplastic liver cell from which the line was derived. Introduction of the insulin gene under the control of the CMV promoter induced changes in these cells to make them function to some extent like pancreatic b cells. Our results support the view that neoplastic liver cells can be induced to become substitute pancreatic b cells and become a therapy for the treatment of type I diabetes.

The pancreatic beta cell is sensitive to even small changes in PDX1 protein levels; consequently, Pdx1 haploinsufficiency can inhibit beta cell growth and decrease insulin biosynthesis and gene expression, leading to compromised glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Using metabolic labeling of primary islets and a cultured ␤ cell line, we show that glucose levels modulate PDX1 protein phosphorylation at a novel C-terminal GSK3 consensus that maps to serines 268 and 272. A decrease in glucose levels triggers increased turnover of the PDX1 protein in a GSK3-dependent manner, such that PDX1 phosphomutants are refractory to the destabilizing effect of low glucose. Glucose-stimulated activation of AKT and inhibition of GSK3 decrease PDX1 phosphorylation and delay degradation. Furthermore, direct pharmacologic inhibition of AKT destabilizes, and inhibition of GSK3 increases PDX1 protein stability. These studies define a novel functional role for the PDX1 C terminus in mediating the effects of glucose and demonstrate that glucose modulates PDX1 stability via the AKT-GSK3 axis.The homeodomain protein PDX1 has been shown to be a critical regulator of pancreatic development, in both humans and in mice (1, 2). Whereas genetic ablation or the total functional inhibition of PDX1 results in pancreatic agenesis, haploinsufficiency of PDX1 in humans leads to diabetes (3) and is associated with diminished glycemic control in mice (4, 5). Loss of a single allele of Pdx1 results in increased beta cell death (6) and a diminished capacity to mount a compensatory response in some models of insulin resistance (7). Thus, the beta cell is highly sensitive to total cellular levels of PDX1 protein.The mechanisms by which PDX1 may regulate glucose homeostasis have been widely examined. In addition to regulating the insulin gene (8, 9), PDX1 has been shown to activate Glut2 and glucokinase genes, two key players required for glucose sensing (10, 11). PDX1 can also impact glucose sensing by influencing expression of mitochondrial metabolic pathways (12, 13). Accordingly, proteins important in glucose sensing are down-regulated in Pdx1 ϩ/Ϫ mice (5, 7). In the beta cell, PDX1 is thought to be a direct mediator of glucose. Several studies have suggested that glucose-stimulated phosphorylation of PDX1 impacts DNA binding (14, 15) and the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of PDX1 (16). Glucose-dependent phosphorylation has also been suggested to increase the transactivation potential of PDX1 by increasing recruitment of chromatin-modifying proteins such as p300 (17,18) or by decreasing binding with histone deacetylases (19). Other studies suggest direct, glucose-dependent phosphorylation of PDX1 by specific kinases, including ERK 2 1 and 2 (20), and perhaps p38 MAPK (14, 16). However, to date, the specific amino acid residues at which glucose-induces PDX1 phosphorylation, within the context of the cell, are not known.The N terminus of PDX1 harbors a strong transactivation domain, flanked by the DNA-binding homeodomain (8,21,22). The C terminus of PDX1 ...

Mixed lineage kinases (MLKs) have been implicated in cytokine signaling as well as in cell death pathways. Our studies show that MLK3 is activated in leukocyte-infiltrated islets of nonobese diabetic mice and that MLK3 activation compromises mitochondrial integrity and induces apoptosis of beta cells. Using an ex vivo model of islet-splenocyte co-culture, we show that MLK3 mediates its effects via the pseudokinase TRB3, a mammalian homolog of Drosophila Tribbles. TRB3 expression strongly coincided with conformational change and mitochondrial translocation of BAX. Mechanistically, MLK3 directly interacted with and stabilized TRB3, resulting in inhibition of Akt, a strong suppressor of BAX translocation and mitochondrial membrane permeabilization. Accordingly, attenuation of MLK3 or TRB3 expression each prevented cytokine-induced BAX conformational change and attenuated the progression to apoptosis. We conclude that MLKs compromise mitochondrial integrity and suppress cellular survival mechanisms via TRB3-dependent inhibition of Akt.In type 1 diabetes, the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells is driven by leukocyte infiltration and the damaging effects of locally secreted cytokines. Cytokines activate MAPKs 3 JNK and p38, via signaling modules that involve the sequential activation of a MAP3K, MAP2K, and MAPK, all scaffolded by a single protein (1). The existence of several families of MAP3Ks raises the possibility that each MAP3K may be activated by specific classes of stimuli. The serine-threonine MAP3K mixed lineage kinase-3 (MLK3) is activated by cytokines (2, 3) and assembles a signaling module consisting of MKK7, JNK, and the scaffold protein JIP1 (4, 5). Fibroblasts with a targeted deletion of either MKK7 or MLK3 are attenuated in their response to cytokines (6, 7). Elevation of MLK3 has been linked to induction of apoptosis in neurons (8 -10), and inhibition of MLKs can delay progression of neurodegenerative diseases (reviewed in Ref. 11 and studies quoted therein). The striking parallels between the beta cell and neuronal phenotypes, coupled with the ability of cytokines to activate MLK3, prompted us to examine whether MLKs participate in cytokine-induced beta cell death.Here we show that MLK3 is markedly elevated in leukocyteinfiltrated islets of the non-obese type 1 diabetic (NOD) mouse. To investigate the potential role of MLK3 in beta cell death, we devised an ex vivo system for co-culture of primary islets with immune-activated splenocytes. Compared with static culture with purified cytokines, this system is likely to be more representative of the milieu encountered by islets in autoimmune diabetes. We observed rapid activation of MLK3, and MLK3 was required for cytokine-mediated apoptosis via BAX, a proapoptotic member of the BCL-2 protein family. MLK3 mediated its effects via the pseudokinase TRB3 (TRIBBLES homolog 3), originally identified as an inducible factor in neuronal cell death (12) and subsequently shown to be a potent negative regulator of the prosurvival kinase Akt (13). We fo...