No abstract

Patients with GNE myopathy, a progressive and debilitating disease caused by a genetic defect in sialic acid biosynthesis, rely on supportive care and eventually become wheelchair-bound. To elucidate whether GNE myopathy is treatable at a progressive stage of the disease, we examined the efficacy of sialic acid supplementation on symptomatic old GNE myopathy mice that have ongoing, active muscle degeneration. We examined the therapeutic effect of a less metabolized sialic acid compound (6'-sialyllactose) or free sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid) by oral, continuous administration to 50-week-old GNE myopathy mice for 30 weeks. To evaluate effects on their motor performance in living mice, spontaneous locomotion activity on a running wheel was measured chronologically at 50, 65, 72 and 80 weeks of age. The size, force production, and pathology of isolated gastrocnemius muscle were analysed at the end point. Sialic acid level in skeletal muscle was also measured. Spontaneous locomotion activity was recovered in 6'-sialyllactose-treated mice, while NeuAc-treated mice slowed the disease progression. Treatment with 6'-sialyllactose led to marked restoration of hyposialylation in muscle and consequently to robust improvement in the muscle size, contractile parameters, and pathology as compared to NeuAc. This is due to the fact that 6'-sialyllactose is longer working as it is further metabolized to free sialic acid after initial absorption. 6'-sialyllactose ameliorated muscle atrophy and degeneration in symptomatic GNE myopathy mice. Our results provide evidence that GNE myopathy can be treated even at a progressive stage and 6'-sialyllactose has more remarkable advantage than free sialic acid, providing a conceptual proof for clinical use in patients.

A gene encoding a sialyltransferase produced by Photobacterium leiognathi JT-SHIZ-145 was cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli. The sialyltransferase gene contained an open reading frame of 1494 base pairs (bp) encoding a predicted protein of 497 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of the sialyltransferase had no significant similarity to mammalian sialyltransferases and did not contain sialyl motifs, but did show high homology to another marine bacterial sialyltransferase, a beta-galactoside alpha2,6-sialyltransferase produced by P. damselae JT0160. The acceptor substrate specificity of the new enzyme was similar to that of the alpha2,6-sialyltransferase from P. damselae JT0160, but its activity was maximal at pH 8. This property is quite different from the properties of all mammalian and bacterial sialyltransferases reported previously, which have maximal activity at acidic pH. In general, both sialosides and cytidine-5'-monophospho-N-acetylneuraminic acid, the common donor substrate of sialyltransferases, are more stable under basic conditions. Therefore, a sialyltransferase with an optimum pH in the basic range should be useful for the preparation of sialosides and the modification of glycoconjugates, such as asialo-glycoproteins and asialo-glycolipids. Thus, the sialyltransferase obtained from P. leiognathi JT-SHIZ-145 is a promising tool for the efficient production of sialosides.

A novel bacterium, Photobacterium sp. JT-ISH-224, that produces alpha-/beta-galactoside alpha2,3-sialyltransferase and beta-galactoside alpha2,6-sialyltransferase, was isolated from the gut of a Japanese barracuda. The genes that encode the enzymes were cloned from the genomic library of the bacterium using the genes encoding alpha-/beta-galactoside alpha2,3-sialyltransferase from P. phosphoreum and beta-galactoside alpha2,6-sialyltransferase from P. damselae as probes. The nucleotide sequences were determined, and open reading frames of 1,230 and 1,545 bp for encoding an alpha2,3-sialyltransferase and an alpha2,6-sialyltransferase of 409- and 514-amino acid residues, respectively, were identified. The alpha2,3-sialyltransferase had 92% amino acid sequence identity with the P. phosphoreum alpha2,3-sialyltransferase, whereas the alpha2,6-sialyltransferase had 54% amino acid sequence identity with the P. damselae alpha2,6-sialyltransferase. For both enzymes, the DNA fragments that encoded the full-length protein and its truncated form lacking the putative signal peptide sequence were amplified by a polymerase chain reaction and cloned into an expression vector. Each gene was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the lysate from each strain had enzymatic activity. The alpha2,3-sialyltransferase catalysed the transfer of N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuAc) from CMP-NeuAc to lactose, alpha-methyl-galactopyranoside and beta-methyl-galactopyranoside with low apparent K(m) and the alpha2,6-sialyltransferase catalysed the transfer of NeuAc from CMP-NeuAc to lactose with low apparent K(m).

This study aimed to identify the most sensitive transcription factor activated by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) and to explore cigarette smoke components that have high biological activities in a cell-base assay. Previously, we found evidence that implicated 10 different transcription factors as having a high biological activity to CSE in vitro, based on the results of a comprehensive gene expression profile. For this study, luciferase reporter assays for each transcription factor were developed in two types of human bronchial epithelial cells: NCI-H292 and BEAS-2B cells. The results demonstrated that the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2)/anti-oxidant response element (ARE) pathway was the most sensitive in response to CSE. Consistently, hemo oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a downstream target gene of NRF2, was effectively up-regulated in BEAS-2B cells exposed to CSE. Moreover, among 1395 cigarette smoke components, naphthoquinones including 9,10-phenaotrenquinone, quinones, benzenediols and α, β-unsaturated carbonyls, were identified as major smoke components that contribute to activating the NRF2/ARE pathway, as indicated by the ARE-reporter assay in BEAS-2B cells. Taken together, NRF2 appears to be a key molecule in the CSE-induced cellular response, and the employed methodology is helpful for the analysis of molecular and cellular effects by CSE.