Neuroglioma Cell Research Articles

The membrane skeleton of Tetrahymena contains immunoanalogs of GFAP, the intermediate filament protein expressed in astrocytes and cells of glial origin

Summary The membrane skeleton of ciliated protozoa, called the epiplasm, is well developed and serves to anchor kinetosomes and other structures to the cell surface. Like intermediate filaments (IFs) in metazoa, epiplasmic proteins characterized so far in ciliates exhibit strong heterogeneity in number and apparent molecular weight. Only a few studies have examined the relationship between the epiplasm and IFs. We used a monoclonal antibody raised against “band C”, a major epiplasmic component in Tetrahymena pyriformis , to identify antigenically related proteins among members of the main classes of IFs in mammalian cell lines and tissues. The antibody cross-reacts with a 51 kDa protein occurring in brain, cerebellar, spinal cord and in C6 rat neuroglioma cell line. Using western blot and immunolocalization experiments, we demonstrate that the 51 kDa antigen is GFAP, the IF protein expressed in astrocytes and cells of glial origin. Immunolabelling of recombinantly-expressed, truncated GFAP constructs suggests that the cognate epitope may be localized to the central rod domain, which is highly conserved between different classes of IF proteins.

Neurotropism of human coronavirus 229E.

The 299E prototype strain of human coronavirus (HCV-229E) has so far been mainly associated with infections of the respiratory tract. In the present study, we show evidence for infection of the central nervous system (CNS) by HCV-229E, both in vitro and in vivo. Various human cell lines of CNS origin were tested for their susceptibility to infection by HCV-229E. Production of viral antigens was monitored by indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies and infectious progeny virions by plaque assay on the L132 human embryonic lung cell line. The SK-N-SH neuroblastoma and H4 neuroglioma cell lines were highly susceptible to infection. The U-87 MG and U-373 MG astrocytoma cell lines were also infectable by HCV-229E. We could also demonstrate infection of the MO3.13 cell line, which was established by fusion of human oligodendrocytes with a thioguanine-resistant mutant of the TE671 (RD) human rhabdomyosarcoma cell line. An apparently more extensive infection of the MO3.13 cells, when compared to the parental cells, supports the notion that human oligodendrocytes are differentially susceptible to infection by this virus. We also tested for HCV-229E gene expression in pathological brain specimens. For that purpose, we developed a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to amplify a portion of the mRNA encoding the viral nucleocapsid protein. Using stringent laboratory conditions, viral RNA was detectable in brain tissue of 4 of 11 multiple sclerosis patients and none of 6 neurological and 5 normal controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The monocyte differentiation antigen, CD14, is anchored to the cell membrane by a phosphatidylinositol linkage.

CD14 is a myeloid differentiation Ag expressed primarily on peripheral blood monocytes and macrophages. Although its function is unknown, the CD14 gene maps to a region encoding several myeloid growth factors and receptors. Analysis of the CD14 protein sequence deduced from the cDNA shows that although the CD14 protein contains a characteristic leader peptide, it lacks a characteristic transmembrane region, suggesting that CD14 may be anchored to the membrane via glycosylphosphatidylinositol (PI). Treatment of monocytes as well as a CD14-expressing neuroglioma cell line with PI-phospholipase C removed CD14 from the cell surface. Furthermore, monocytes from a patient with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a disease characterized by lack of expression of other PI-linked proteins, failed to express CD14. Interestingly, the CD14-expressing neuroglioma cell line, which had been transfected with a single CD14 cDNA, released a soluble form of CD14 into the supernatant. Soluble forms of CD14 have previously been observed in serum of normal individuals and in culture supernatants of CD14+ cells. Biosynthetic experiments reveal that this soluble form of CD14 (48 kDa), which is smaller than the form released from the membrane by PI-phospholipase C (53 kDa), does not contain ethanolamine, the first constitutent of the PI-anchoring system. These studies demonstrate that CD14 is a member of the family of PI-anchored proteins and suggest that soluble forms of CD14 represent molecules that completely lack the PI-anchoring system.