GPR56, an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) from the family of adhesion GPCRs, plays an indispensable role in cortical development and lamination. Mutations in the GPR56 gene cause a malformed cerebral cortex in both humans and mice that resembles cobblestone lissencephaly, which is characterized by overmigration of neurons beyond the pial basement membrane. However, the molecular mechanisms through which GPR56 regulates cortical development remain elusive due to the unknown status of its ligand. Here we identify collagen, type III, alpha-1 (gene symbol Col3a1) as the ligand of GPR56 through an in vitro biotinylation/ proteomics approach. Further studies demonstrated that Col3a1 null mutant mice exhibit overmigration of neurons beyond the pial basement membrane and a cobblestone-like cortical malformation similar to the phenotype seen in Gpr56 null mutant mice. Functional studies suggest that the interaction of collagen III with its receptor GPR56 inhibits neural migration in vitro. As for intracellular signaling, GPR56 couples to the Gα 12/13 family of G proteins and activates RhoA pathway upon ligand binding. Thus, collagen III regulates the proper lamination of the cerebral cortex by acting as the major ligand of GPR56 in the developing brain.brain malformation | meningeal fibroblasts D uring cerebral cortical development, most cortical neurons are born deep in specialized proliferative regions near the lining of the lateral ventricles and migrate out to take up residence in the surface layer of the brain, eventually forming a highly folded sheet of six neuronal layers (1-5). Disruptions in normal neuronal migration and positioning lead to cortical disorders, one of which is cobblestone lissencephaly (6). Cobblestone lissencephaly is typically seen in three distinct human congenital muscular dystrophy syndromes: muscle-eye-brain disease, Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy, and Walker-Warburg syndrome (6). Mutant mice with deletions in some members of the integrin pathway molecules and the extracellular matrix (ECM) constituents also exhibit cortical migration defects with deficiencies in basal lamina integrity and cortical ectopias, features that resemble the human cobblestone malformation (7-12). The suggested mechanism leading to cobblestone lissencephaly has been a defective pial basement membrane (BM) (6). However, recent literature demonstrates that abnormal neuronal migration may account partially for the improper formation of the cobblestone-like cortex (13-16).GPR56 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) from the family of adhesion GPCRs. Mutations in GPR56 cause a specific human brain malformation called bilateral frontoparietal polymicrogyria (BFPP), an autosomal recessively inherited developmental disorder of the brain (17)(18)(19)(20). Magnetic resonance imaging of BFPP brains shows numerous (poly) small (micro) gyri, which extend diffusely across the frontal and parietal lobes with a decreasing anterior-to-posterior gradient of severity (17)(18)(19)(20). Further studies in...

GPR56 is a member of the family of adhesion G-protein-coupled receptors that have a large extracellular region containing a GPS (G-protein proteolytic site) domain. Loss-of-function mutations in the GPR56 gene cause a specific human brain malformation called bilateral frontoparietal polymicrogyria (BFPP). BFPP is a radiological diagnosis and its histopathology remains unclear. This study demonstrates that loss of the mouse Gpr56 gene leads to neuronal ectopia in the cerebral cortex, a cobblestone-like cortical malformation. There are four crucial events in the development of cobblestone cortex, namely defective pial basement membrane (BM), abnormal anchorage of radial glial endfeet, mislocalized Cajal-Retzius cells, and neuronal overmigration. By detailed time course analysis, we reveal that the leading causal events are likely the breaches in the pial BM. We show further that GPR56 is present in abundance in radial glial endfeet. Furthermore, a putative ligand of GPR56 is localized in the marginal zone or overlying extracellular matrix. These observations provide compelling evidence that GPR56 functions in regulating pial BM integrity during cortical development.

Oxidation is one of the major chemical degradation pathways for protein pharmaceuticals. Methionine, cysteine, histidine, tryptophan, and tyrosine are the amino acid residues most susceptible to oxidation due to their high reactivity with various reactive oxygen species. Oxidation during protein processing and storage can be induced by contaminating oxidants, catalyzed by the presence of transition metal ions and induced by light. Oxidative modification depends on the structural features of the proteins as well as the particular oxidation mechanisms inherent in various oxidative species, and may also be influenced by pH, temperature, and buffer composition. Protein oxidation may result in loss of biological activity and other undesirable pharmaceutical consequences. Strategies to stabilize proteins against oxidation can be classified into intrinsic methods (site-directed mutagenesis and chemical modification), physical methods (solid vs. liquid formulations) and use of chemical additives. The optimum choice of chemical additives needs to be evaluated on the basis of the specific oxidation mechanism. Oxidation induced by the presence of oxidants in the system is referred to as a non-site-specific mechanism. Under such conditions, oxidation can be effectively inhibited by the appropriate addition of antioxidants or free radical scavengers. metal-catalyzed oxidation is a site-specific process, in which the addition of antioxidants may accelerate the oxidation reaction. Careful screening of chelating agents has been shown to be an alternative method for preventing metal-catalyzed oxidation. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Macrophages, a key cell in the inflammatory cascade, have been associated with poor prognosis in cancers, including breast cancer. In this study, we investigated the relationship of a subset of macrophages—proliferating macrophages (promacs)—with clinicopathologic characteristics of breast cancer, including tumor size, grade, stage, lymph node metastases, hormone receptor status, subtype, as well as early recurrence, and survival. This study included a discovery and validation set that was conducted at two institutions and laboratories (University of California, San Francisco and University of Chicago) using two independent cohorts of patients with breast cancer. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections and/or tissue microarrays were double-stained with anti-CD68 (a macrophage marker) and anti-PCNA (a proliferation marker) antibodies. The presence of intratumoral promacs was significantly correlated with high grade, hormone receptor negative tumors, and a basal-like subtype. In contrast, there was no correlation between promacs and tumor size, stage, or the number of the involved lymph nodes. These findings were consistent between the two study cohorts. Finally, promac numbers were a significant predictor of recurrence and survival. In the pooled analysis, elevated promac levels were associated with a 77% increased risk of dying (P = 0.015). The presence of promacs in human breast cancer may serve as a prognostic indicator for poor outcomes and early recurrence and serve as a potential cellular target for novel therapeutic interventions.

Haploinsufficiency because of a null mutation in the gene encoding peripherin/rds has been thought to be the primary defect associated with the photoreceptor degeneration seen in the retinal degeneration slow (rds) mouse. We have compared the effects of this haploinsufficiency on rod and cone photoreceptors by measuring the levels of rod- and cone-specific gene expression, by determining the relative rates of rod and cone degeneration, and by electroretinography. These analyses were performed at ages before and after the onset of degeneration of the photoreceptor cells. The data were consistent in demonstrating that measures for cone photoreceptors are relatively spared in comparison to comparable measures for rod photoreceptors. Blue cones were retained in higher number than red/green cones for the first 3 months of the degeneration. Our results indicate that the haploinsufficiency present in rds/+ mice has a greater impact on the rod than on the cone photoreceptor, a finding that likely reflects the tight regulation of peripherin/rds and the need for two functional alleles to assemble the structure of the rod outer segment and/or differences between the ultrastructure of the rod and cone outer segments.

A series of fluorine-containing benzamide analogs was synthesized and evaluated as candidate ligands for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the sigma-2 (sigma2) receptor status of solid tumors. Four compounds having a moderate to high affinity for sigma2 receptors and a moderate to low affinity for sigma-1 (sigma1) receptors were radiolabeled with fluorine-18 via displacement of the corresponding mesylate precursor with [18F]fluoride. Biodistribution studies in female Balb/c mice bearing EMT-6 tumor allografts demonstrated that all four F-18-labeled compounds had a high tumor uptake (2.5-3.7% ID/g) and acceptable tumor/normal tissue ratios at 1 and 2 h post-i.v. injection. An analysis of the chemistry and biodistribution data suggested that N-(4-(6,7-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-2(1H)-yl)butyl)-2-(2-[18F]-fluoroethoxy)-5-methylbenzamide ([18F]3c) and N-(4-(6,7-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-2(1H)-yl)butyl)-2-(2-[18F]-fluoroethoxy)-5-iodo-3-methoxybenzamide ([18F]3f) are acceptable compounds for imaging the sigma2 receptor status of solid tumors.

Glutaminolysis is a metabolic pathway adapted by many aggressive cancers, including triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC), to utilize glutamine for survival and growth. In this study, we examined the utility of [18F](2S,4R)4-fluoroglutamine ([18F]4F-Gln) PET to measure tumor cellular glutamine pool size, whose change might reveal the pharmacodynamic (PD) effect of drugs targeting this cancer-specific metabolic pathway. High glutaminase (GLS) activity in TNBC tumors resulted in low cellular glutamine pool size assayed via high-resolution 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). GLS inhibition significantly increased glutamine pool size in TNBC tumors. MCF-7 tumors, with inherently low GLS activity compared to TNBC, displayed a larger baseline glutamine pool size that did not change as much in response to GLS inhibition. The tumor-to-blood-activity-ratios (T/B) obtained from [18F]4F-Gln PET images matched the distinct glutamine pool sizes of both tumor models at baseline. After a short course of GLS inhibitor treatment, the T/B values increased significantly in TNBC, but did not change in MCF-7 tumors. Across both tumor types and after GLS inhibitor or vehicle treatment, we observed a strong positive correlation between T/B values and tumor glutamine pool size measured using MRS (R2=0.71). In conclusion, [18F]4F-Gln PET tracked cellular glutamine pool size in breast cancers with differential GLS activity and detected increases in cellular glutamine pool size induced by GLS inhibitors. This study accomplished the first necessary step towards validating [18F]4F-Gln PET as a PD marker for glutaminase-targeting drugs.

Human IQGAP1 is a widely expressed 190-kDa Cdc42-, Rac1-, and calmodulin-binding protein that interacts with F-actin in vivo and that can cross-link F-actin microfilaments in vitro. Recent results have implicated IQGAP1 as a component of pathways via which Cdc42 or Rac1 modulates cadherin-based cell adhesion (S. Kuroda et al., Science 281:832-835, 1998), whereas yeast IQGAP-related proteins have been found to play essential roles during cytokinesis. To identify critical in vivo functions of IQGAP1, we generated deficient mice by gene targeting. We demonstrate that IQGAP1 null mutants arise at normal frequency and show no obvious defects during development or for most of their adult life. Loss of IQGAP1 also does not affect tumor development or tumor progression, but mutant mice exhibit a significant (P < 0.0001) increase in late-onset gastric hyperplasia relative to wild-type animals of the same genetic background. While we cannot exclude that functional redundancy with IQGAP2 contributes to the lack of developmental phenotypes, the restricted expression pattern of IQGAP2 is not obviously altered in adult IQGAP1 mutant mice. Thus, IQGAP1 does not serve any essential nonredundant functions during murine development but may serve to maintain the integrity of the gastric mucosa in older animals.