Interactions of actin, myosin, and an actin-binding protein of chronic myelogenous leukemia leukocytes.

Actin, myosin, and a high molecular weight actin-binding protein were purified from chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) leukocytes. CML leukocyte actin resembled skeletal muscle and other cytoplasmic actins by its subunit molecular weight, by its ability to polymerize in the presence of salts, and to activate the Mg2+-ATPase activity of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin. CML leukocyte myosin was similar to other vertebrate cytoplasmic myosins in having heavy chains and two light subunits. However, its apparent heavy-chain molecular weight and Stokes radius suggested that it was variably degraded during purification. Purified CML leukocyte myosin had average specific EDTA- AND Ca2+-activated ATPase activities of 125 and 151 nmol Pi released/mg protein per min, respectively and low specific Mg2+-ATPase activity. The Mg2+-ATPase activity of CML myosin was increased 200-fold by rabbit skeletal muscle F-actin, but the specific activity relative to that of actin-activated rabbit skeletal muscle myosin was low. CML leukocyte myosin, like other vertebrate cytoplasmic myosins, formed filaments in 0.1 M KCl solutions. Reduced and denatured CML leukocyte-actin-binding protein had a single high molecular weight subunit like a recently described actin-binding protein of rabbit pulmonary macrophages which promotes the polymerization and gelation of actin. Cytoplasmic extracts of CML leukocytes prepared with ice-cold 0.34-M sucrose solutions containing Mg2+-ATP, dithiothreitol, and EDTA at pH 7.0 underwent rapid gelation when warmed to 25 degrees C. Initially, the gel could be liquified by cooling to ice-bath temperature. With time, warmed cytoplasmic extract gels shrunk ("contracted") into aggregates. The following findings indicated that CML leukocyte actin-binding protein promoted the temperature-dependent gelation of actin in the cytoplasmic extracts and that CML leukocyte myosin was involved in the contraction of the actin gels: (a) Cytoplasmic extract gels initially contained actin as their major polypeptide component and consistent of tangled thin filaments; (b) Contracted aggregates of cytoplasmic extract gels contained by large quantities of myosin as well as actin; (c) Purified actin-binding protein underwent a temperature-dependent, reversible aggregation and caused low concentrations of purified muscle or CML leukocyte actins to gel in sucrose solutions; (d) The gels formed from purified actin plus purified actin-binding protein slowly contracted in the presence but not in the absence of purified CML leukocyte myosin; (e) Rabbit antiserum against purified CML leukocyte actin-binding protein but not against purified CML leukocyte myosin inhibited the gelation of warmed CML leukocyte extracts. Antiserum against CML leukocyte myosin had no effect on the gelation of CML leukocyte extracts but partially curtailed the contraction of the CML leukocyte extract gels and of gels formed from purified CML leukocyte actin-binding protein plus rabbit skeletal muscle actin.     

SERUM-DEPENDENT PHAGOCYTOSIS OF PARAFFIN OIL EMULSIFIED WITH BACTERIAL LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE

Paraffin oil containing oil red O and emulsified with lipopolysaccharide obtained from Escherichia coli was ingested rapidly by guinea pig polymorphonuclear leukocytes or human peripheral blood granulocytes and monocytes after opsonization by fresh homologous serum. The initial rate of engulfment of the particles was spectrophotometrically assayed by determination of cell-associated oil red O and reflected the opsonic activity of the serum. This activity was resistant to dialysis but labile to heat, hydrazine, and zymosan, required divalent cations, and was maximal in the presence of Ca⁺⁺ and Mg⁺⁺. It was associated with the fixation of [¹²⁵I]C3 to the lipopolysaccharide particles. Genetically C3-deficient serum had no opsonic activity, and this activity was restored by the addition of purified C3. Normal and C4-deficient guinea pig serum and normal, C2-, and C4-deficient human sera were equally effective in opsonizing lipopolysaccharide particles and lipopolysaccharide particles sensitized with heat-inactivated lipopolysaccharide immune serum. Cord serum deficient in glycine-rich beta-glycoprotein (GBG) (properdin factor B) had diminished opsonic activity which was improved by addition of purified GBG. Thus, C3 fixation to lipopolysaccharide particles occurs by means of the properdin system, and the opsonization and ingestion of lipopolysaccharide particles constitutes a quantitative functional assay of this pathway.     

Role of plasma gelsolin and the vitamin D-binding protein in clearing actin from the circulation.

We determined the plasma kinetics of both actin and complexes of actin with the two high affinity actin-binding proteins of plasma, gelsolin, and vitamin D-binding protein (DBP). Actin is cleared rapidly from the plasma by the liver (half-disappearance time, 0.5 h). Using radiolabeled actin-binding proteins, we found that actin accelerated the clearance of both plasma gelsolin and the vitamin D-binding protein. In separate experiments we found that DBP-actin complexes were cleared more quickly than gelsolin-actin complexes, at a rate comparable to the clearance of actin from the blood. A low affinity interaction (dissociation constant, 2.9 X 10(-4) M) between actin and fibronectin was found, suggesting that little actin will bind to fibronectin in plasma. We conclude that while plasma gelsolin and DBP may both clear actin from the circulation, DBP appears to play a more important role. By so doing, DBP may conserve the filament-severing activity of plasma gelsolin.     

Effect of thrombopoietin alone and a combination of cytochalasin B and ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether) N,N'-tetraacetic acid-AM on the survival and function of autologous baboon platelets stored at 4 degrees C for as long as 5 days

BACKGROUND: PLTs stored at 22 degrees C have the potential for bacterial contamination, a problem that could be reduced by 4 degrees C storage. Nevertheless, PLTs stored at 4 degrees C exhibit a significantly reduced life span. This study was performed to determine whether treatment of PLTs with thrombopoietin or cytochalasin B plus ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether) N,N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA)-AM could prevent exponential loss of PLTs stored at 4 degrees C. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Autologous baboon PLTs were stored at 22 or 4 degrees C. The 4 degrees C stored PLTs were treated with 1.5 ng per mL thrombopoietin, with 1 micro mol per L cytochalasin B, and 80 micromol per L EGTA-AM (cyto-EGTA) or not treated and labeled with (111)In-oxine to study their in vivo recovery and life span. PLT function was assessed by correction of an aspirin-induced prolonged bleeding time. Aggregation responses and morphology were also assessed. RESULTS: PLTs stored at 22 degrees C had normal in vivo recovery and linear survival. PLTs stored at 4 degrees C, whether or not they were treated with thrombopoietin, had normal recovery and exponential survival. Aggregation of cyto-EGTA-treated PLTs was similar for PLTs stored at 4 degrees C and fresh PLTs, but decreased in PLTs stored at 22 degrees C for 5 days. The addition of cyto-EGTA to PLTs before 4 degrees C storage inhibited morphologic changes that occurred in PLTs stored at 22 degrees C and cold-induced PLT clumping, but did not prevent exponential disappearance of the PLTs. CONCLUSION: Addition of thrombopoietin or cyto-chalasin B and EGTA-AM to PLTs before 4 degrees C storage did not prevent exponential loss of PLTs.     

Brain Polymorphonuclear Leukocyte Quantitation by Peroxidase Assay

Rat brain polymorphonuclear infiltration was quantitated by spectrophotometric assay of myeloperoxidase activity. Peroxidase was assayed by following the oxidation of o-dianisidine in the presence of a hydrogen peroxide generating system (glucose-glucose oxidase). Enzyme activity was proportional to the number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes present at densities between 10(5) and 10(6) cells. Brain tissue did not have detectable peroxidase activity and polymorphonuclear leukocytes added to brain homogenates were quantitatively estimated. In infant rats with Haemophilus influenzae meningitis, the correlation between the number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes found in brain by peroxidase activity measurement and independent histological grading was not precise, but there was an exact correlation in predicting presence or absence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Myeloperoxidase activity appears to afford a rapid convenient tool for quantitative determination of tissue polymorphonuclear leukocyte content.     

Prognostic implications of declining plasma gelsolin levels after allogeneic stem cell transplantation

The idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) represents a common and often fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Gelsolin is a highly conserved actin-binding protein normally present in plasma that may serve a basic physiological role in limiting acute lung injury of diverse etiologies. We hypothesized that depletion of circulating gelsolin following HSCT might play a permissive role in the pathogenesis of IPS. Plasma gelsolin levels were measured by immunoblotting in frozen samples obtained weekly from 24 patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT. Patients with and without IPS were similar with respect to age, diagnosis, histocompatibility differences between donor and recipient, and conditioning regimen. Mean gelsolin levels in the 9 patients with rapidly fatal IPS were significantly lower than those in patients without this complication by week 3 after HSCT (101 +/- 61 mg/L versus 221 +/- 54 mg/L; P =.0002). Seven (88%) of the 8 patients with gelsolin levels of less than 100 mg/L in the first month after HSCT died from IPS within 3 months; conversely, gelsolin levels fell to less than 100 mg/L in 7 (78%) of the 9 patients who died from IPS within 3 months of HSCT (P =.0007). These findings suggest that gelsolin levels shortly after allogeneic HSCT can predict the later development of fatal IPS. Gelsolin replacement in selected transplant patients may offer a novel strategy to prevent or reverse IPS.