The mevalonate pathway produces isoprenoids that are vital for diverse cellular functions, ranging from cholesterol synthesis to growth control. Several mechanisms for feedback regulation of low-density-lipoprotein receptors and of two enzymes involved in mevalonate biosynthesis ensure the production of sufficient mevalonate for several end-products. Manipulation of this regulatory system could be useful in treating certain forms of cancer as well as heart disease.

Regulation of the mevalonate pathway.

Background. Infection with Helicobacter pylori has been linked with chronic atrophic gastritis, an inflammatory precursor of gastric adenocarcinoma. In a nested case–control study, we explored whether H. pylori infection increases the risk of gastric carcinoma. Methods. From a cohort of 128,992 persons followed since the mid-1960s at a health maintenance organization, 186 patients with gastric carcinoma were selected as case patients and were matched according to age, sex, and race with 186 control subjects without gastric carcinoma. Stored serum samples collected during the 1960s were tested for IgG antibodies to H. pylori by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data on cigarette use, blood group, ulcer disease, and gastric surgery were obtained from questionnaires administered at enrollment. Tissue sections and pathology reports were reviewed to confirm the histologic results. Results. The mean time between serum collection and the diagnosis of gastric carcinoma was 14.2 years. Of the 109 patient...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199110173251603

Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of gastric carcinoma.

Methods for assessment, e.g., anthropometric indicators and imaging techniques, of several phenotypes of human obesity, with special reference to abdominal fat content, have been evaluated. The correlation of fat distribution with age, gender, total body fat, energy balance, adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase and lipolytic activity, adipose tissue receptors, and genetic characteristics are discussed. Several secreted or expressed factors in the adipocyte are evaluated in the context of fat tissue localization. The body fat distribution and the metabolic profile in nonobese and obese individuals is discussed relative to lipolysis, antilypolysis and lipogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and glucose, lipid, and protein metabolism. Finally, the endocrine regulation of abdominal visceral fat in comparison with the adipose tissue localized in other areas is presented.

/pdf/subcutaneous-and-visceral-adipose-tissue-their-relation-to-5crse4rslq.pdf

Subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue : Their relation to the metabolic syndrome

Plasma-high-density-lipoprotein concentration and development of ischæmic heart-disease

The hepatic stellate cell has surprised and engaged physiologists, pathologists, and hepatologists for over 130 years, yet clear evidence of its role in hepatic injury and fibrosis only emerged following the refinement of methods for its isolation and characterization. The paradigm in liver injury of activation of quiescent vitamin A-rich stellate cells into proliferative, contractile, and fibrogenic myofibroblasts has launched an era of astonishing progress in understanding the mechanistic basis of hepatic fibrosis progression and regression. But this simple paradigm has now yielded to a remarkably broad appreciation of the cell's functions not only in liver injury, but also in hepatic development, regeneration, xenobiotic responses, intermediary metabolism, and immunoregulation. Among the most exciting prospects is that stellate cells are essential for hepatic progenitor cell amplification and differentiation. Equally intriguing is the remarkable plasticity of stellate cells, not only in their variable intermediate filament phenotype, but also in their functions. Stellate cells can be viewed as the nexus in a complex sinusoidal milieu that requires tightly regulated autocrine and paracrine cross-talk, rapid responses to evolving extracellular matrix content, and exquisite responsiveness to the metabolic needs imposed by liver growth and repair. Moreover, roles vital to systemic homeostasis include their storage and mobilization of retinoids, their emerging capacity for antigen presentation and induction of tolerance, as well as their emerging relationship to bone marrow-derived cells. As interest in this cell type intensifies, more surprises and mysteries are sure to unfold that will ultimately benefit our understanding of liver physiology and the diagnosis and treatment of liver disease.

/pdf/hepatic-stellate-cells-protean-multifunctional-and-enigmatic-1ctrvjmfhn.pdf

Hepatic Stellate Cells: Protean, Multifunctional, and Enigmatic Cells of the Liver

Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates the vitamin A transport and retinol-binding protein (RBP) metabolism. Vitamin A is a compound that exerts a number of important biological effects. In general, the vitamin is necessary for the support of growth and life of higher animals, since in the absence of vitamin A higher animals cease to grow, and in time die. Vitamin A is obtained in the diet either as the preformed vitamin or as a provitamin A compound such as β-carotene. In either case, retinyl esters are formed in the intestine and are absorbed into the body through the lymphatic pathway in association with lymph chylomicrons. The transport system for vitamin A in human plasma comprises two proteins, RBP and prealbumin. The techniques of circular dichroism and optical rotatory dispersion have been used to examine the effects of the interactions involved in retinol transport on the secondary structures of both RBP and prealbumin.

Vitamin A transport and retinol-binding protein metabolism.

P19 embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells can be induced to differentiate in vitro into a variety of cell types by treatment with different concentrations of retinoic acid (RA). A study was conducted to explore the regulation of expression of the genes for cellular retinoic acid-binding protein (CRABP) and cellular retinol-binding protein (CRBP) in P19 cells induced to differentiate by RA. For each retinoid-binding protein, both the level of specific mRNA and of immunoreactive protein were measured, respectively, by RNase protection assay and by a specific RIA. Dramatic increases in CRABP and CRBP were seen, at both the mRNA and protein levels, during the RA-induced differentiation. CRBP induction differed from that of CRABP in several major ways. 1) Induction of CRBP occurred at lower concentrations of RA (10−9 m) than did that of CRABP (10−8–10−7 m). 2) CRBP induction was an early response (within 3 h) to RA treatment, whereas CRABP induction occurred at a later time (12–24 h). 3) Induction of CRABP mRNA by RA...

Regulation of the cellular retinoid-binding proteins and their messenger ribonucleic acids during P19 embryonal carcinoma cell differentiation induced by retinoic acid.

Studies on the Metabolism of 3,3-Dimethyl Phenylmyristic Acid, a Nonoxidizable Fatty Acid Analogue

Differentiation-dependent expression of retinoid-binding proteins in BFC-1 beta adipocytes.

Platelet α-granules contain a factor that stimulates the proliferation of arterial smooth muscle cells and may play a role in atherogenesis. We have studied the role of arachidonic acid in mediating the release of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) from human platelets. PDGF was assayed by stimulating of [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA of mouse 3T3 cells. Platelet aggregation and the release of platelet factor 4,β-thromboglobulin, and serotonin were also studied. A biphasic response pattern was observed when gel-filtered platelets were incubated with arachidonate over the concentration range 0.01-0.4 mM. At low arachidonate levels (approximately 0.025-0.1 mM), specific concentration-dependent aggregation and release of PDGF and of the other components were observed. This effect was not seen with any of five other fatty acids tested and was suppressed by indomethacin (25 μM). At higher arachidonate concentrations (approximately 0.15-0.35 mM), a concentration-dependent turn-off of both aggregation and release occurred. At these concentrations the platelets remained functional, and no release of lactate dehydrogenase was observed. A similar biphasic pattern of arachidonate-induced aggregation and release was observed with platelet-rich plasma, over a similar range of arachidonate to albumin mole ratios. These studies demonstrate that PDGF and other α-granule constituents can be released from platelets specifically by arachidonate via an indomethacin-sensitive pathway, most probably involving the platelet cyclooxygenase and conversion of arachidonate to prostaglandin metabolities. The mechanisms responsible for the turn-off of the specific arachidonate-mediated responses at higher arachidonate concentrations remain to be defined.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/76/8/4107.full.pdf

DeWitt S. Goodman

Papers

Vitamin A transport and retinol-binding protein metabolism.

Regulation of the cellular retinoid-binding proteins and their messenger ribonucleic acids during P19 embryonal carcinoma cell differentiation induced by retinoic acid.

Studies on the Metabolism of 3,3-Dimethyl Phenylmyristic Acid, a Nonoxidizable Fatty Acid Analogue

Differentiation-dependent expression of retinoid-binding proteins in BFC-1 beta adipocytes.

Release of platelet-derived growth factor from human platelets by arachidonic acid.