0000000000055737
AUTHOR
M. Odenthal
Proteinase-3 mRNA expressed by glomerular epithelial cells correlates with crescent formation in Wegener's granulomatosis
Proteinase-3 mRNA expressed by glomerular epithelial cells correlates with crescent formation in Wegener's granulomatosis. Background Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is characterized by systemic vasculitis with crescentic glomerulonephritis (CGN) and circulating autoantibodies directed against neutrophil cytoplasmic antigens (ANCA). Proteinase 3 (PR-3), a neutral serine proteinase in neutrophils implicated in the growth control of myeloid cells, has been identified as the target antigen for ANCA in WG. Since the kidneys are frequently involved in WG, we studied the in situ expression of PR-3 by renal parenchymal cells. Methods We assessed the expression of PR-3 in kidney biopsies of 15 patien…
The role of insulin-like growth factor II in the malignant transformation of rat liver oval cells
Oval cells are small nonparenchymal epithelial cells that first appear in the periportal areas of the liver and thereafter invade the whole parenchyma when mice or rats are exposed to a variety of chemical carcinogens. In the present study we have analyzed the expression of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF II) in the recently established oval cell line OC/CDE 22 and its malignantly transformed counterpart (the M22 cells) and the biological consequences of the constitutive expression of IGF II in oval cells. OC/CDE 22 cells do not express the above-mentioned growth factor, whereas the M22 cells do and addition of a neutralizing anti-IGF II antibody to M22 cells resulted in an almost comple…
Rat hepatocytes in primary culture synthesize and secrete cellular fibronectin
Fibronectins, involved in cell-matrix interactions and cell attachment, are glycoproteins which show a remarkable heterogeneity, due to alternative splicing. The type III-related domains, ED-A and ED-B, are present in cellular fibronectin in a variety of ratios whereas they are absent in circulating plasma fibronectin. Fibronectin synthesis by hepatocytes which are accepted as suppliers of plasma fibronectin was studied in primary cultures during a 6-day culture period. Using site-specific antibodies we demonstrate that rat hepatocytes are also able to synthesize and secrete fibronectin bearing the ED-A domain from Day 3 on after inoculation. By immunocytological characterization of the hep…
Alternative splicing products of the tenascin gene distinguish rat liver fat storing cells from arterial smooth muscle cells and skin fibroblasts
Abstract Fat storing-(Ito-)cells (FSC) transform into a myofibroblast-like cell type during liver fibrogenesis. A similar development can be observed in cell culture. At the moment, a definite marker to differentiate transformed FSC from smooth muscle cells (SMC) is not available. We recently found that FSC, SMC and skin fibroblasts (SF) synthesize tenascin, a novel matrix protein. As it is reported that various tissues express different tenascin forms by the mechanism of alternative pre-mRNA splicing, we analyzed the tenascin transcripts in these cell types. Total RNA extracted from cultured FSC, SMC and SF, analyzed by Northern blot hybridization, showed a 7.2 kb transcript in FSC, a 8.7 …