During relapse, we found various positive correlations between BAFF, CXCL13 and the cytokines IL-6 and IL-10. These findings show that molecules that are essential for B-cell recruitment, survival, maturation and function may be working in concert to affect B-cell homeostasis in MS and contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease.

No abstract

A central problem in our understanding of mitochondrial (mt) function remains the question of how coordinate transcriptional control is accomplished between nucleus and mitochondria. Here, we report the initial characterization of a protein of previously unknown function, the product of the YMR030 W gene, that appears to mediate such coordinate gene expression. Expression of YMR030 W is glucose-repressible; a deletion mutant for this gene shows a severe growth defect on glycerol-, but not glucose- or ethanol-based medium. In that mutant, transcript levels from GUT1 and GUT2 are highly attenuated compared with those of the wild-type parent when both are grown on glycerol-based medium. Under the same growth conditions, transcripts from the mt OLI1 gene, which has one copy of a mt upstream activating sequence (UAS) in its 5'-flanking region, are attenuated in the DeltaYMR030 W mutant, but mRNA from the mt COX3 ( OXI2) gene, which lacks the mt UAS, are not. Some nuclear genes encoding mt-related proteins also show low transcript levels in the DeltaYMR030 W mutant in comparison with those of the wild-type parent strain during glycerol-based growth. Localization of the protein, via its expression fused to green fluorescent protein, indicates that it is present in both nucleus and mitochondria, supporting a respiration-related transcriptional role for this gene product in both cellular genetic compartments. Because of its role in both respiratory growth and mt function, we designate the YMR030 W coding sequence RSF1 (respiration factor 1).

Sphingolipid metabolites are generated throughout the intestinal tract after hydrolysis of orally administered complex sphingolipids and significantly suppress colon cancer in carcinogen-treated CF1 mice. In the present study, the mechanisms of tumor suppression by dietary sphingolipids were investigated. Changes in select genes that are critical in early stages of colon cancer were analyzed in the colonic mucosa of dimethylhydrazine-treated CF1 mice fed AIN76A diet with or without 0.05% sphingomyelin. Supplementation with sphingomyelin did not significantly alter mRNA levels of most of the selected genes. However, a downregulation of ß-catenin (p=0.007) and increased protein levels of connexin-43 (p=0.017) and Bcl-2 (p=0.033) were observed in sphingomyelin-fed animals. This suggests that sphingolipids may be regulating specific post-transcriptional events to reverse aberrant expression of individual proteins. Since the dysregulation of ß-catenin metabolism and its transcriptional activity in addition to a decreased inter-cellular communication has been causally linked to the development of colon cancer while a low Bcl-2 expression is associated with a worse prognosis in colon cancer, the reversal of these early changes may be important events in the prevention of colon cancer by orally administered sphingolipids, and may provide specific molecular biomarkers for sphingolipid efficacy in vivo.

Sphingolipids are lipid messengers involved in the regulation of many different cellular processes. Sphingolipid enzymes and bioactive metabolites have been targets of in vitro and in vivo efforts to suppress cancer growth, progression and metastasis of various cancer types. Dietary sphingomyelin effectively suppressed colon cancer in several rodent models without causing toxic side effects. In the present study, we determined if the effect of sphingolipid metabolites derived from the hydrolysis of dietary sphingomyelin is restricted to the intestinal tract or if their systemic concentrations are sufficient to suppress cancers of distant sites. For these studies, we used MCF10AT1 cells, a model for progressive breast cancer, injected into the mammary fatpad of nude mice as a single cell suspension. The mice were fed 0.1% sphingomyelin supplements in a semi-purified AIN76A control diet when the lesions were palpable. The study was terminated when the first lesions had grown to 5 mm. In the sphingomyelin-fed group, there was a trend to smaller lesion size and, importantly, a delayed progression to more malignant stages without apparent side effects. This may be the result of significantly reduced rates of proliferation and angiogenesis, while no increase of apoptosis was detected. Changes in aberrantly expressed proteins in the sphingomyelin-fed group, such as E-cadherin, VEGF and sphingosine kinase-1, may be associated with the suppression of tumor growth. These results demonstrate that diet-derived sphingolipids can efficiently suppress the growth and progression of MCF10AT1 xenografts, suggesting that dietary sphingomyelin may also be effective against cancers of other sites.