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Experimental Medicine Section, Oral Infection and Immunity Branch (OIIB), National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
1 Laboratory of Bioengineering and Physical Science, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
2 Structure Biophysics Laboratory, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA
3 Department of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, USA
4 Therapeutics Branch of NIDCR, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
(Correspondence should be addressed to T Cai; Email: tcai{at}mail.nih.gov)
* (G Zhang and H Hirai contributed equally to this work)
| Abstract |
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, ß and
cells in the pancreatic islets. Electron microscopy revealed that RESP18 is present in the lumen of DCVs. The expression of RESP18 in ß cells is markedly increased following exposure to high glucose and also elevated in the islets of diabetic, but not non-diabetic, NOD mice. We conclude that RESP18 is a luminal protein of DCVs and its expression is regulated by exposure to glucose. | Introduction |
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Bioinformatics has revealed that the first 200 amino acids of the luminal domain of IA-2 share significant homology with RESP18 (Schiller et al. 1997) that is found in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of neuroendocrine cells (Schiller et al. 1995, Schiller & Darlington 1996, Darlington et al. 1997a,b, Farkas et al. 2004). In the brain, RESP18 is thought to be regulated by dopaminergic drugs (Bloomquist et al. 1994a) with a half-life of <20 min. Very little is known, however, about this gene or the protein that it encodes. The present experiments were initiated to: 1) define the genomic structure of RESP18 and its relationship to IA-2; 2) determine the cellular and subcellular localization of the RESP18 protein; and 3) evaluate its expression in ß cells in response to glucose.
| Materials and Methods |
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The mouse RESP18 sequence was used to search human dbEST databases (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), resulting in the identification of part of the human RESP18. Primers (forward, 5'-AGCCTGGGAG GATGCAGCAC-3'; reverse, 5'-ATCAGCCACAGGGTTGCGG-3') were designed to amplify full-length RESP18 from human pancreas cDNA libraries (BD Bioscience, Palo Alto, CA, USA). PCR products were cloned and sequenced as previously described (Cai et al. 2001b). Genomic structure of human RESP18 was determined by comparing the cDNA sequences of RESP18 isoforms and the genomic DNA sequence of RESP18 (GenBank accession no. AC114803 [GenBank] .5).
Northern blots
Two micrograms poly-mRNAs of human multiple tissues northern blot were probed with 32P-labeled human RESP18 cDNA in ExpressHyb Hybridization Solution (BD Bioscience). After washing under high stringency conditions according to manufacturers specifications, the blots were subjected to autoradiography at –70 °C.
Real-time PCR
Real-time PCR analysis was performed using RNA isolated from MIN6 cells (Qiagen RNeasy Mini kit). First-strand synthesis was carried out using the Brilliant Q-PCR RT-PCR kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA) with 10 µg isolated RNA that was treated with DNase I. Primers and probes of mouse RESP18 (Assay ID Details, Mm00485697_m1) and ß-actin (Assay ID Details, Mm00607939_s1) were purchased from Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA, USA). Real-time amplification of cDNAs was performed using the TaqMan Universal Master Mix and the primers in 9700HT real-time PCR Cycler (Applied Biosystems).
Antibodies and western blots
Peptide-specific polyclonal antibodies were raised in rabbits and purified as reported previously (Chen et al. 2001). Anti-rat RESP18 (JH1162) antibody was used as previously described (Bloomquist et al. 1994b). Anti-human RESP18 antibody (1/100 dilution), raised in rabbits and designated RESP18/SVL421, was made with amino acids 138-151 (CFTSEVVSKALKQE), which has no sequence commonality with IA-2, IA-2ß, or other human genes. Anti-insulin, anti-glucagon, and anti-somatostatin mouse monoclonal antibodies were obtained from Sigma. Western blots were performed using the Western-light Chemiluminescent Detection System (Tropix, Bedford, MA, USA). The software of NIH ImageJ was used to quantify the images (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/).
Immunofluorescence microscopy
Paraffin embedded slides of human and rat pancreata were prepared and immunostaining was performed by standard methods. Microscopic analysis was done with a Zeiss Axiophot (Columbus, OH, USA) microscope equipped for immunofluorescence and with a Leica TCS 4D confocal laser scanning microscope (Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany).
Pancreatic islet isolation
Mouse and rat pancreatic islets were isolated by Liberase enzyme digestion according to a protocol provided by Roche Applied Science and by Ficoll density gradient purification (Sigma). All procedures were approved by the NIDCR Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
Electron microscopy
Rat pancreatic islets were isolated, fixed, and embedded by standard methods (Goping et al. 2003). Ultrathin sections (~80 nm) were cut and placed on copper grids for viewing in a Philips CM120 transmission electron microscope (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA), operating at an accelerating voltage of 120 kV, and equipped with a GIF100 imaging filter (Gatan, Pleasanton, CA, USA). Zero energy-loss images were recorded digitally by means of a 1kx1k pixel cooled CCD camera using DigitalMicrograph software (Gatan). Immuno-labeling of antigens was performed using immunogold. Briefly, the sections were exposed to blocking solution containing 2% BSA, 2% normal goat serum, and 0.1% fish gelatin in PBS containing 0.05% Tween-20 (PBST) for 60 min and incubated with anti-RESP18/JH1162 polyclonal antibody (1/20 dilution) overnight at 4 °C, and then with an anti-insulin or anti-glucagon monoclonal antibody (1/200 dilution) for 2 h at room temperature or overnight at 4 °C for co-localization studies. The primary antibodies were detected with 5 nm diameter colloidal gold particles conjugated to goat-anti-rabbit IgG and 10 nm diameter colloidal gold particles conjugated to goat-anti-mouse IgG respectively (Ted Pella, Redding, CA, USA). The number of gold particles/ µm2 in DCVs and cytoplasm was counted as previously described (Murray & Jin 1995).
Glucose stimulation
MIN6 cells were maintained as previously described (Miyazaki et al. 1990). Briefly, 1x106 cells were plated and grown for 2 days in six-well plates. On the third day, cells were rinsed in buffer A without glucose (5 mM KCl, 120 mM NaCl, 24 mM NaHCO3, 1 mM MgCl2, 2 mM CaCl2, 1 mg/ml ovalbumin, 15 mM HEPES at pH 7.4), and then incubated in buffer A with 3.3 mM glucose for 1 h to stabilize basal insulin secretion. After washing twice, cells were incubated for different times (15–180 min) in buffer A containing low glucose (3.3 mM) or high glucose (8.3 mM, 11.1 mM or 25 mM glucose; Ort et al. 2001).
Intraperitoneal glucose stimulation
Twenty weeks old mice were fasted for 16 h, and then glucose was injected intraperitoneally with 2 g/kg body weight. Pancreases were isolated for protein extraction at 0, 30, 60, and 90 min after glucose injection as previously described (Saeki et al. 2002). The purified islets also were cultured overnight in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 5.5 mmol/l glucose, 100 units/ml benzylpenicillin, 100 µg/ml streptomycin, and 10% fetal bovine serum before glucose stimulation tests. Fifty islets then were incubated in media containing 3.3 mM or 25 mM glucose for 90 min. Cells were harvested for measuring RESP18 protein by western blots.
| Results |
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Using a human pancreas cDNA library, two isoforms of human RESP18 were isolated by PCR amplification. RESP18
encodes a protein 173 amino acids in length (Fig. 1A
) and consists of six exons (exon 1c, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7; Fig. 1B
). At the protein level, RESP18
shares 42 out of 46% identity/similarity with the luminal domain (aa 1–200) of IA-2, but only 28 out of 34% with that of IA-2ß. RESP18ß encodes a protein 228 amino acids in length, consists of seven exons (exon 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7; Fig. 1B
) and shares 41 out of 46% identity/similarity with IA-2. RESP18ß shares 90.0 out of 91.2% identity/ similarity to RESP18
, but the N-terminal 42 amino acids and the C-terminal 29 amino acids of RESP18ß are totally different from RESP18
and show no significant similarity to other known domains. The detailed intron–exon boundaries of RESP18 are summarized in the Table 1
.
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Northern blot analysis of several human tissues probed with RESP18 cDNA revealed a strong 0.8 kb band in the pancreas and two very weak bands at 0.8 kb and 1.2 kb in placenta respectively (Fig. 2A
). A 32P-labeled ß-actin probe used as a control showed equal mRNA levels in each lane (not shown). Western blot analysis using RESP18/JH1162 antibody (Fig. 2B
) showed a 24 kDa band in mouse pancreas, and a strong 18 out of 20 kDa doublet in the INS-1 islet cell line and an 18 kDa band in MIN6 and AtT-20 pituitary corticotropic cells. The higher molecular mass of RESP18 in pancreas (24 kDa) might represent the RESP18ß isoform or a post-translational modification of RESP18
. RESP18 expression was not found in non-neuroendocrine cells such as 3T3-L1, Hela, and HT29 cells. Similar amounts of total proteins loaded on each lane were confirmed by Coomassie blue staining (not shown).
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cells expressing glucagon (Fig. 2G–I
cells expressing somatostatin (Fig. 2J–LRESP18 is localized in dense core secretory vesicles
Earlier studies with extracts of anterior pituitary showed by sucrose gradient analysis that RESP18 co-sedimented with the secretory vesicle markers (Darlington et al. 1997a). In the present study, the subcellular distribution of RESP18 was evaluated by immunoelectron microscopy with thin sections of rat pancreatic islets. Immunolabeling of pancreatic islet cells with antibody (JH1162) to rat RESP18 shows RESP18 in vesicles with typical dense cores (Fig. 3A and B
). RESP18 also is present in ER and Golgi (Fig. 3C
), but not in other intracellular structures such as mitochondria (Fig. 3D
).
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cells was demonstrated with mouse antibody to glucagon (10 nm colloidal gold particles conjugated to goat anti-mouse antibody; Fig. 3G and HRESP18 expression is upregulated by high glucose
To evaluate the effect of high glucose on RESP18 transcription, mRNA levels were determined. Real-time PCR showed an approximately sixfold increase in RESP18 mRNA in MIN6 cells incubated with 25 mM glucose for 90 min, relative to cells incubated with 3.3 mM glucose (Fig. 4A
). Western blot analysis revealed nearly a ninefold increase in RESP18 protein in MIN6 cells exposed to high when compared with low glucose (Fig. 4B
). The increase was detected within 15 min with peak levels being reached at 90 min (Fig. 4C
).
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| Discussion |
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, RESP18ß) and a RESP18 pseudogene. These isoforms may explain some of the different molecular mass bands found in various tissues by western blots (Darlington et al. 1997a). RESP18
and RESP18ß are 173 and 228 amino acids in length respectively, and are encoded by alternative spliced exons. RESP18
is 42% and RESP18ß is 41% identical to a 200 amino acid stretch in the luminal domain of IA-2. Of particular interest, the genes that encode RESP18 and IA-2 are tandemly arranged within a small region of <45 kb on human chromosome 2q35 and share a highly related genomic structure and sequence. RESP18
/ß is 18 kb upstream of IA-2 and RESP18-pseudo is 15 kb upstream of RESP18
/ß. Taken together these findings suggest that RESP18 is evolutionarily related to IA-2 and is a recently evolved member of the IA-2 family.
Initially RESP18 was thought to be expressed primarily in cells of the central nervous system (Darlington et al. 1996), but subsequent in situ hybridization studies revealed the presence of RESP18 in peripheral neuroendocrine cells including the islets of Langerhans (Darlington et al. 1997a). Our double immunofluorescence studies confirm and extend these findings and show RESP18 in insulin-producing ß cells, glucagon-producing
cells, and somatostatin-producing
cells in the islets. In addition, by electron microscopy we show that RESP18 is located within the DCVs of these cells. However, the fact that IA-2 contains a transmembrane domain and a cysteine-rich region (aa 40–62), whereas RESP18 does not contain either, argues that the function of these two proteins may be quite different.
Recent studies showed by knockout, knockdown and overexpression experiments that IA-2 can regulate the secretion of insulin and other hormones, presumably by stabilizing DCVs (Harashima et al. 2005). The region encoded by RESP18 that is homologous to IA-2 is located in the luminal domain of IA-2 for which no function, thus far, has been found. Eipper et al. (Bloomquist et al. 1994a, Darlington et al. 1997a) showed that RESP18 could be regulated by dopamine agonists and antagonists and reported finding RESP18 in the blood of rats, raising the possibility that RESP18 is a hormone. On the other hand, under physiologic conditions, Darlington et al. (1997a) were not able to demonstrate that RESP18 is secreted into cell culture media following stimulation with secretagogue. In the present study, we showed that stimulation of MIN6 ß cells with high glucose resulted in a five- to ten fold increase in both RESP18 transcripts and RESP18 proteins and that the increase occurred within 15 to 30 min after exposure to glucose. However, we too have not been able to demonstrate that either RESP18 or the luminal domain of IA-2 is secreted into the culture media following stimulation (Cai et al. unpublished data). Whether RESP18 or the luminal domain of IA-2 are intracellular luminal autocrine hormones, play a role in regulated secretory pathways, act as intracellular signaling molecules (Schiller et al. 1997) or have still other functions remains unknown. Nonetheless, the fact that RESP18 is evolutionarily conserved, is found in the DCVs of ß cells and can be increased five- to ten fold by exposure to high glucose makes it an interesting protein for further analysis in insulin and other neuroendocrine signaling pathways.
| Acknowledgements |
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Received in final form 27 July 2007
Accepted 15 August 2007
Made available online as an Accepted Preprint 16 August 2007
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