Infantile hemangioma is a proliferation of beta 4-negative endothelial cells adjacent to HLA-DR-positive cells with dendritic cell morphology

Although hemangioma is referred as to the most common tumor in infancy, the underlying pathogenetic events and the biologic origin of this benign vascular neoplasm have remained obscure. By using immunohistochemistry on frozen sections of infantile hemangiomas, we show here that proliferating endothelial cells abundantly expressed alpha(v)beta(3) but lacked beta(4) integrins. Instead, regressing and involuting infantile hemangiomas due to treatment with IFN-alpha showed positive staining of beta(4) integrin, which might point to the angiogenic significance of beta(4) integrin in infantile hemangiomas. Moreover, immunofluorescence analysis revealed the existence of HLA-DR(+), mostly CD68(+) and partly DC-SIGN/CD209(+) cells with dendritic cell morphology in the intimate vicinity of hemangiomatous vessels. Such cells were also detected in the dermal microvascular unit in normal skin. The coupled occurrence of vascular structures and perivascular cells that were stained positive with markers of monocyte or macrophage or dendritic cells might suggest that the development of infantile hemangioma is a result of vasculogenesis, that is, the formation of primitive blood vessels from angioblasts, rather than of angiogenesis, that is, the sprouting of capillaries from preexisting vessels.     

Characterization of a monoclonal antibody panel shows that the myotonic dystrophy protein kinase, DMPK, is expressed almost exclusively in muscle and heart

Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is a multisystemic disorder caused by an inherited CTG repeat expansion which affects three genes encoding the DM protein kinase (DMPK), a homeobox protein Six5 and a protein containing WD repeats. Using a panel of 16 monoclonal antibodies against several different DMPK epitopes we detected DMPK, as a single protein of approximately 80 kDa, only in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle and, to a lesser extent, smooth muscle. Many earlier reports of DMPK with different sizes and tissue distributions appear to be due to antibody cross-reactions with more abundant proteins. One such antibody, MANDM1, was used to isolate two related protein kinases, MRCK alpha and beta, from a human brain cDNA library and the shared epitope was located at the catalytic site of DMPK using a phage-displayed random peptide library. The peptide library also identified an epitope shared between DMPK and a 55 kDa muscle-specific protein. The results suggest that effects of the repeat expansion on the DMPK gene may be responsible for muscle and heart features of DM, whereas clinical changes in other tissues may be due to effects on the other two genes.     

Comparative study on deletions of the dystrophin gene in three Asian populations

The frequency and distribution of deletions of 19 deletion-prone exons clustered in two hot spots in the proximal and central regions of the dystrophin gene were compared in three populations from Singaporean, Japan, and Vietnam. DNA samples obtained from 105 Singaporean, 86 Japanese, and 34 Vietnamese Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients were examined by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Deletions of the examined exons were found in 51.2% of Japanese patients but in 40.0% or less of the Singaporeans and Vietnamese. About two thirds of the deletions were localized in the central region and the remaining deletions were clustered at the proximal region. The most commonly deleted exons at the central deletion hot spot were exon 50 in the Singaporean, exons 49 and 50 in the Japanese, and exon 51 in the Vietnamese population. At the proximal deletion hot spot, the most commonly deleted exons were exons 6 and 8 in the Singaporeans, exons 12 and 17 in the Japanese, and exons 8 and 12 in the Vietnamese. Two cases each from Singapore and Japan had large-scale gross mutations spanning both deletion hot spots. Our results suggest that, although the presence and frequency of the two deletion hot spots may be similar in the three Asian populations analyzed, the distribution and frequency of deletions among the different exons can vary as a result of population-specific intronic sequences that predispose individuals to preferential deletion breakpoints. Received: May 20, 2002 / Accepted: July 1, 2002     

Expression and characterization of recombinant soluble human CD3 molecules: presentation of antigenic epitopes defined on the native TCR-CD3 complex

The TCR-CD3 complex consists of the clonotypic disulfide-linked TCRalphabeta or TCRdeltagamma heterodimers, and the invariant CD3delta, epsilon, gamma and zeta chains. We generated plasmid constructs expressing the extracellular domains of the CD3delta, epsilon or gamma subunits fused to human IgG1 Fc. Recombinant fusion proteins consisting of individual CD3delta, epsilon or gamma subunits reacted poorly with anti-CD3 mAb including G19-4, BC3, OKT3 and 64.1. Co-expression of the CD3epsilon-Ig with either the CD3delta-Ig (CD3epsilondelta-Ig) or the CD3gamma-Ig (CD3epsilongamma-Ig) resulted in fusion proteins with much increased binding to G19-4. A brief acid treatment of the purified CD3epsilondelta-Ig fusion protein substantially improved its binding to BC3, OKT3 and 64.1. Surface plasmon resonance analysis revealed that the dissociation constants for CD3epsilondelta-Ig and anti-CD3 mAb ranged from 10(-8) to 10(-9) M. Based on these results, a single-chain (sc) construct encoding the CD3delta chain linked to the CD3epsilon chain with a flexible linker followed by human IgG1 Fc was expressed. The sc CD3deltaepsilon-scIg reacted with anti-CD3 mAb without requiring acid treatment. Moreover, anti-CD3 mAb bound CD3epsilondelta-Ig at a higher affinity than CD3epsilongamma-Ig, suggesting potential structural differences between the CD3epsilondelta and CD3epsilongamma subunits. In summary, we report the expression of soluble recombinant CD3 proteins that demonstrate structural characteristics of the native CD3 complex expressed on the T cell surface. These CD3 fusion proteins can be used to further analyze the structure of the TCR-CD3 complex, and to identify molecules that can interfere with TCR-CD3-mediated signal transduction by disrupting the interaction between CD3 and TCR subunits.     

Transgenic rat model of Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a late manifesting neurodegenerative disorder in humans caused by an expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat of more than 39 units in a gene of unknown function. Several mouse models have been reported which show rapid progression of a phenotype leading to death within 3-5 months (transgenic models) resembling the rare juvenile course of HD (Westphal variant) or which do not present with any symptoms (knock-in mice). Owing to the small size of the brain, mice are not suitable for repetitive in vivo imaging studies. Also, rapid progression of the disease in the transgenic models limits their usefulness for neurotransplantation. We therefore generated a rat model transgenic of HD, which carries a truncated huntingtin cDNA fragment with 51 CAG repeats under control of the native rat huntingtin promoter. This is the first transgenic rat model of a neurodegenerative disorder of the brain. These rats exhibit adult-onset neurological phenotypes with reduced anxiety, cognitive impairments, and slowly progressive motor dysfunction as well as typical histopathological alterations in the form of neuronal nuclear inclusions in the brain. As in HD patients, in vivo imaging demonstrates striatal shrinkage in magnetic resonance images and a reduced brain glucose metabolism in high-resolution fluor-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography studies. This model allows longitudinal in vivo imaging studies and is therefore ideally suited for the evaluation of novel therapeutic approaches such as neurotransplantation.     

Phenylethylidenehydrazine, a novel GABA-transaminase inhibitor, reduces epileptiform activity in rat hippocampal slices

Phenylethylidenehydrazine (PEH), an analog of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, beta-phenylethylhydrazine (phenelzine), inhibits the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) catabolic enzyme GABA-transaminase and increases brain levels of GABA. GABA is the predominant fast inhibitory transmitter counteracting glutamatergic excitation, and increased neural GABA could influence a wide range of synaptic and circuit properties under both physiologic and pathophysiologic conditions. To examine the scope of these effects, we applied PEH (or vehicle) to rat hippocampal slices and measured basal glutamatergic transmission, synaptic plasticity, and epileptiform activity using extracellular field and whole cell patch clamp recordings. In vitro pre-treatment with PEH (100 microM) increased the GABA content of hippocampal slices by approximately 60% over vehicle-treated controls, but it had no effect on basal field excitatory postsynaptic potentials, tonic GABA currents, paired-pulse facilitation, or long-term potentiation. In contrast, pre-incubation with PEH caused a dose- and time-dependent reduction in epileptiform burst frequency induced by superfusion with Mg2+-free or high-K+ artificial cerebrospinal fluid. Thus, the inhibitory effects of PEH are state-dependent: hyper-excitation during epileptiform bursting was reduced, whereas synaptic transmission and plasticity were unaffected.