Showing papers by "Nikos C. Kyrpides published in 1993"

Investigation of intracellular signals generated by γ-interferon and IL-4 leading to the induction of class II antigen expression

Abstract: Signal transduction plays a vital role in cellular behaviour as cells respond to various stimuli in different ways and utilize diverse pathways for accomplishing their task. Determination of the pathway followed by various cytokines can be achieved using specific inhibitors which include theophylline (TPH), TMB-8 and W7 that hinder calmodulin binding to Ca2+; sphingosine (SPH), H7 and staurosporine that inhibit protein kinase C (PKC) activation; and mevalonate (MEV) or the anti-p21ras antibody which block G-proteins. This study shows that the immunologically important class II antigens in human cells are up-regulated predominately via the same pathway after gamma-interferon (γ-IFN) treatment, whereas murine cells are activated by other signalling routes. Thus, the calcium/calmodulin (Ca2+/Cam) pathway is preferentially selected for human cells whereas the PKC pathway is more often chosen for murine cells. These findings are firmly supported by other reports and show, in addition, a unique action exerted by γ-IFN, since IL-4, another inducer of class II antigen expression, uses different pathways. This diversity of activation reveals the existence of a previously unknown complicated network of intracellular interactions able to regulate the same phenotype or cellular event. As major histocompatibility complex antigens (MHC) or human leukocyte antigens (HLA), are important in immune recognition and response, the results show that for human cells a more coherent method of HLA-DR antigen induction is followed after γ-IFN administration, as calcium participation seems to be the first step in signal transduction. The same T-cell derived lymphokine, however, follows a totally different route when applied to murine cells.

One and two-level regulation patterns affecting NF-kappa B mRNA and nuclear NF-kappa B activity after treatment with TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-4.

Abstract: The transactivating nuclear factor NF-kappa B is believed to be important in the pathophysiology of many cellular systems and mainly during HIV infection. kappa B activation has also been implicated in the process of differentiation as a cell progresses to a more mature and functional stage. As induction of differentiation equals growth retardation we undertook this study in order to establish the role of NF-kappa B in cell growth and maturity. Thus we employed the well described HL-60 cellular system that expresses constitutively basal amounts of NF-kappa B and is susceptible to NF-kappa B induction by various biological or chemical agents. We also used known inducers of differentiation like TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-4 that interact via their corresponding surface receptors found on HL-60 cells. We first studied by Northern analysis the possible correlation between c-myc and NF-kappa B precursor (p105) mRNA. We witnessed that all three cytokines were able to confer proliferative senescence and down-regulate concomitantly c-myc and NF-kappa B mRNA levels, events chronologically in accord with induction of differentiation as assessed by the induction of HLA-DR surface antigens. It is known that TNF-alpha is capable of inducing nuclear kappa B activity in HL-60 as the cells progress to a more mature stage. Therefore we examined whether the other two cytokines could do the same during the time they lead the cells to a differentiated phenotype. If this was the case, nuclear activation of NF-kappa B should be obtained by the same factors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)