The role of interleukin-6 in intracellular signal transduction after chronic β-adrenergic stimulation in mouse myocardium.

Introduction: Inflammatory mediators play an important role in development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Both adrenergic stimulation and high levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) indicate an unfavorable outcome in patients with myocardial infarction or heart failure. Understanding the interaction between β-adrenergic stimulation and IL-6 in the myocardium may contribute to developing more effective treatments.

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of CCN genes in failing heart.

Background: CCN family of proteins has been implicated in various processes in cardiovascular physiology and pathology, including angiogenesis, regeneration and fibrosis. In this study we assessed long term changes of CCN1 and CCN2 gene products abundance in the failing ventricular myocardium.

Methods: Male, 12-14-weeks-old C57BL6/J and C57BL6/J (IL-6-/-) mice were used.

CCN1 expression in interleukin-6 deficient mouse kidney in experimental model of heart failure.

Chronic heart failure often leads to worsening of the renal function. Mediators of this process include inflammatory and neuroendocrine factors. CCN1 (Cyr 61), a member of growth factor-inducible immediate early genes, which modulates inflammation and fibrogenesis, is excreted with urine in the early phase of acute renal injury and may be involved in the pathogenesis of the cardiorenal syndrome.

Atrial expression of the CCN1 and CCN2 proteins in chronic heart failure.

Previous studies have reported the upregulation of CCN proteins early after acute heart injury. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the expression of the CCN1 and CCN2 proteins and their regulation by angiotensin II in the atrial myocardium of a chronically failing heart. Male adult mice were subjected to ligation of the left coronary artery to produce myocardial infarction (the MI group), and 16 of them were treated for 12 weeks with the AT1 receptor antagonist telmisartan (the MI-Tel group).

Interleukin 6 is not necessary for STAT3 phosphorylation and myocardial hypertrophy following short term beta-adrenergic stimulation.

Purpose: In recent years several reports have suggested involvement of interleukin 6 (IL-6) in beta-adrenergic effects on myocardium, particularly in enhancement of STAT3 phosphorylation (downstream signal transducer of IL-6). Here we present a study of isoproterenol effects on hearts of IL-6 deficient mice.

Methods: Male 12 week old C57Bl6/J mice and age and sex matched mice from IL-6 knockout strain (C57Bl6/J(IL6-/-)) received a single intraperitoneal bolus of either isoproterenol (15 mg/kg) or placebo (0.

[Study on secondary structure and properties of alpha- and gamma-forms of human thrombin].

Secondary structure and enzymatic properties of human a-thrombin and its gamma-form (obtaining during autolysis of the native enzyme) have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and circular dichroism (CD). According to DSC-data both alpha-thrombin and gamma-thrombin contained only one thermal transition peak at 58.5 and 53.

Crystal structure of the central region of bovine fibrinogen (E5 fragment) at 1.4-A resolution.

The high-resolution crystal structure of the N-terminal central region of bovine fibrinogen (a 35-kDa E(5) fragment) reveals a remarkable dimeric design. The two halves of the molecule bond together at the center in an extensive molecular "handshake" by using both disulfide linkages and noncovalent contacts. On one face of the fragment, the Aalpha and Bbeta chains from the two monomers form a funnel-shaped domain with an unusual hydrophobic cavity; here, on each of the two outer sides there appears to be a binding site for thrombin.

Role of the beta-strand insert in the central domain of the fibrinogen gamma-module.

The crystal structure of the fibrinogen gamma-module (residues gamma143-411) [Yee, V. C., et al.

Formation of amyloid-like fibrils by self-association of a partially unfolded fibronectin type III module.

The ninth type III module of murine fibronectin was expressed in E. coli and folded into a compact homogeneous monomer whose unfolding and refolding were then investigated by fluorescence, circular dichroism, calorimetry and electron microscopy. The isolated module is unusually labile under physiological conditions.

Domain structure and functional activity of the recombinant human fibrinogen gamma-module (gamma148-411).

Human fibrinogen gamma-module comprising residues gamma148-411 was expressed in Escherichia coli and refolded in vitro. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed that in addition to the two previously identified independently folded thermolabile domains, one in each half of the module, the gamma-module also contains one or two thermostable domains that melt above 65 degrees C. To localize the latter, an NH2-terminal 6-kDa fragment was prepared by limited proteolysis of the recombinant gamma-module.

Cryptic self-association sites in type III modules of fibronectin.

The first type III module of fibronectin (Fn) contains a cryptic site that binds Fn and its N-terminal 29 kDa fragment and is thought to be important for fibril formation (Morla, A., Zhang, Z., and Ruoslahti, E.

The interaction of fibulin-1 with fibrinogen. A potential role in hemostasis and thrombosis.

The fibulins are an emerging family of extracellular matrix and blood proteins presently having two members designated fibulin-1 and -2. Fibulin-1 is the predominant fibulin in blood, present at a concentration of 30-40 micrograms/ml (approximately 1000-fold higher than fibulin-2). During the course of isolating fibulin-1 from plasma by immunoaffinity chromatography, a 340-kDa polypeptide was consistently found to co-purify.

Interactions between type III domains in the 110 kDa cell-binding fragment of fibronectin.

Interactions between type III domains within the cell-binding region of fibronectin have been deduced through a study of the thermal stability of the 110 kDa cell-binding fragment and a variety of its subfragments by scanning calorimetry and fluorescence spectroscopy. Comparison of the melting profiles of different fragments demonstrated that all type III modules comprise independently folded domains and revealed that in the parent 110 kDa fragment, domains 2, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 11 are relatively labile (tm near 60 degrees C) while 3, 6, 7 and 10 are thermostable (tm above 110 degrees C). Three types of interactions were found: (1) stabilizing interactions, manifested by a decrease in the tm of one of the interacting domains when they are separated; (2) destabilizing interactions for which tm is elevated upon separation; and (3) cooperative interactions in which two adjacent domains tend to melt together in a single two-state transition.

Structural and functional characterization of proteolytic fragments derived from the C-terminal regions of bovine fibrinogen.

A number of new as well as previously described fragments derived from the D region of bovine fibrinogen by limited proteolysis have been characterized by sequence analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism. Determination of the extremities of the polypeptide chains forming individual fragments allowed the scheme of proteolysis and the borders between domains in the D region of fibrinogen to be established. It was also found that the most thermostable region of the D fragment (TSD) can be substantially reduced in size without loss of its compact structure.

Localization of a fibrin polymerization site complementary to Gly-His-Arg sequence.

Dansyl-labeled tetrapeptide Gly-His-Arg-Pro which mimics the central fibrin polymerization site was used to investigate its binding to a number of fibrinogen fragments containing different numbers of domains. The tetrapeptide was found to bind to fragments DH(95 kDa), DL(82 kDa) and DY(63 kDa) but not to the TSD(28 kDa) fragment. The DY fragment differs from the TSD by the presence of beta and beta C domains.

Reversible unfolding of an isolated heparin and DNA binding fragment, the first type III module from fibronectin.

Several fragments containing all or part of the first type III homology unit of fibronectin were isolated and their folding properties examined by fluorescence spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Each fragment exhibits a reversible unfolding transition when heated or titrated with guanidinium chloride. This indicates that an isolated type III module can fold independently in the absence of neighboring modules.

Domain structure and interactions of the type I and type II modules in the gelatin-binding region of fibronectin. All six modules are independently folded.

The gelatin-binding region of fibronectin is isolated easily as a stable and functional 42 kDa fragment containing four type I "finger" modules and two type II "kringle-like" modules arranged in the order I6-II1-II2-I7-I8-I9. This fragment exhibits a single reversible melting transition near 64 degrees C in TBS buffer (0.02 M-Tris buffer containing 0.

[A model of proteolysis of the fragment DH (95 kD) of the fibrinogen molecule].

A detailed analysis of further proteolytic degradation of fibrinogen fragment DH (Mr 95 kDa) was performed. Two new proteolytic fragments DLA and DL derived from DH-fragment have been purified and analyzed. The results obtained allow to propose a general scheme of DH-fragment proteolysis by stepwise splitting of their individual domains.

The cleavage of beta-chain in bovine fibrinogen DH fragment (95 kDa) leads to a significant increase in its anticlotting activity.

It is shown that in the presence of Ca2+ plasmin converts bovine fibrinogen fragment DH (95 kDa) into DLA fragment by the cleavage of its beta-chain Arg372-Thr373 bond. DLA fragment consists of two components (82 and 12 kDa) held together by non-covalent bonds and has 3.5-fold higher anticlotting activity than DH fragment.

Domain organization of the terminal parts in the fibrinogen molecule.

Using limited proteolysis and scanning microcalorimetry it was shown that each terminal part of the fibrinogen molecule is constituted by four co-operative domains. Among these domains two strongly interacting domains are formed by the C-terminal part of the beta-chain, while the two other domains are formed by the C-terminal part of the gamma-chain.