Nuclear and extranuclear effects of vitamin A

2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (12) ◽  
pp. 1065-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madina Iskakova ◽  
Mikhail Karbyshev ◽  
Aleksandr Piskunov ◽  
Cécile Rochette-Egly

Vitamin A or retinol is a multifunctional vitamin that is essential at all stages of life from embryogenesis to adulthood. Up to now, it has been accepted that the effects of vitamin A are exerted by active metabolites, the major ones being 11-cis retinal for vision, and all trans-retinoic acid (RA) for cell growth and differentiation. Basically RA binds nuclear receptors, RARs, which regulate the expression of a battery of target genes in a ligand dependent manner. During the last decade, new scenarios have been discovered, providing a rationale for the understanding of other long-noted but not explained functions of retinol. These novel scenarios involve: (i) other nuclear receptors such as PPAR β/δ, which regulate the expression of other target genes with other functions; (ii) extranuclear and nontranscriptional effects, such as the activation of kinases, which phosphorylate RARs and other transcription factors, thus expanding the list of the RA-activated genes; (iii) finally, vitamin A is active per se and can work as a cytokine that regulates gene transcription by activating STRA6. New effects of vitamin A and RA are continuously being discovered in new fields, revealing new targets and new mechanisms thus improving the understanding the pleiotropicity of their effects.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongwu Xie ◽  
Shuyu Huang ◽  
Ting Liu ◽  
Huiyan Sun ◽  
Haoyan Ren ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: Mucosal Healing, relied on the coordinated activity of IECs for improvement of intestinal barrier function, is the critical goal in treatment of IBD. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is known to regulates cell proliferation and differentiation. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of ATRA on the intestinal differentiation. Methods: We collected the clinical sample from the patients to analyze the vitamin A, TEER, western blotting and real-time PCR were performed to detect the effect of vitamin A on PFKP expression and intestinal epithelial cell differentiation. Results: In this study, we showed that increased TEER and decrease paracellular permeability of IECs were induced by ATRA in dose-dependent manner, which is attributed to enhanced MUC2 expression, a marker of goblet cell by western blotting, real-time PCR and TEER assay, while no significant difference of villin was found to alter. The further results show that ATRA suppressed PFKP expression in IECs, while overexpression of PFKP could reverse the promotion of ATRA on MUC2 expression, implying ATRA-induced MUC2 expression in PFKP-dependent manner and in dose-dependent way. The clinical sample analysis suggested vitamin A is not significant associated with gender, and replenishment of vitamin A is critical for intestinal differentiation. Conclusion: ATRA improved intestinal epithelial differentiation via PFKP-mediated Muc2 expression. The findings suggest that ATRA could serve as a novel therapeutic agent to ameliorate development of inflammatory bowel disease. Keywords : All-trans Retinoic Acid; Muc2; Differentiation; PFKP; Intestinal Barrier Function


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hien Thi Vu ◽  
Thi Xoan Hoang ◽  
Jae Young Kim

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is an effective drug for the induction therapy of acute promyelocytic leukemia. However, the treatment is associated with adverse events such as retinoic acid syndrome (RAS) in some patients, whose histologic characteristics included organ infiltration by leukemic cells. Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) is often upregulated in tumor cells and plays a role in tumor cell migration and invasion by degrading the extracellular matrix. In this study, we examined the possible modulatory effects of ATRA on MMP-2 expression and secretion in human myeloid leukemia cell line THP-1. The cells were treated with various concentrations of ATRA, and MMP-2 expression and secretion were examined. MMP-2 expression and secretion started to increase with ATRA concentration as low as 0.1 nM and gradually increased thereafter. Agonists of retinoic acid receptor (RAR) or retinoid X receptor (RXR) alone could enhance MMP-2 secretion, and RAR or RXR antagonists alone could reverse ATRA-induced MMP-2 secretion. ATRA increased intracellular calcium ion levels, and a calcium-channel blocker inhibited ATRA-induced MMP-2 secretion. Dexamethasone suppressed ATRA-induced MMP-2 secretion. Our results suggest that ATRA enhances MMP-2 expression and secretion in human myeloid leukemia THP-1 cells in a calcium ion dependent manner through RAR/RXR signaling pathways, and this enhanced expression and secretion may be associated with the possible mechanisms of RAS.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Lenz ◽  
Pia Kruse ◽  
Amelie Eichler ◽  
Julia Muellerleile ◽  
Jakob Straehle ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA defining feature of the brain is its ability to adapt structural and functional properties of synaptic contacts in an experience-dependent manner. In the human cortex direct experimental evidence for synaptic plasticity is currently missing. Here, we probed plasticity in human cortical slices using the vitamin A derivative all-trans retinoic acid, which has been suggested as medication for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease. Our experiments demonstrate coordinated structural and functional changes of excitatory synapses of superficial (layer 2/3) pyramidal neurons in the presence of all-trans retinoic acid. This synaptic adaptation is accompanied by ultrastructural remodeling of the calcium-storing spine apparatus organelle and requires mRNA-translation. We conclude that all-trans retinoic acid is a potent mediator of synaptic plasticity in the adult human cortex.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Hwan Kim ◽  
Joonbum Lee ◽  
Sanggu Kim ◽  
Hyun S. Lillehoj ◽  
Kichoon Lee

Excessive adipose accretion causes health issues in humans and decreases feed efficiency in poultry. Although vitamin A has been known to be involved in adipogenesis, effects of all-trans retinoic acid (atRA), as a metabolite of vitamin A, on embryonic adipose development have not been studied yet. Avian embryos are developing in confined egg environments, which can be directly modified to study effects of nutrients on embryonic adipogenesis. With the use of quail embryos, different concentrations of atRA (0 M to 10 μM) were injected in ovo at embryonic day (E) 9, and adipose tissues were sampled at E14. Percentages of fat pad weights in embryo weights were significantly increased in the group injected with 300 nM of atRA. Also, among three injection time points, E5, E7, or E9, E7 showed the most significant increase in weight and percentage of inguinal fat at E14. Injection of atRA at E7 increased fat cell size in E14 embryos with up-regulation of pro-adipogenic marker genes (Pparγ and Fabp4) and down-regulation of a preadipocyte marker gene (Dlk1) in adipose tissues. These data demonstrate that atRA promotes hypertrophic fat accretion in quail embryos, implying important roles of atRA in embryonic development of adipose tissues.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle H. Theus ◽  
Joshua B. Sparks ◽  
Xiaofeng Liao ◽  
Jingjing Ren ◽  
Xin M. Luo

Recently, we demonstrated that treatment with all- trans-retinoic acid (tRA) induced a paradoxical effect on immune activation during the development of autoimmune lupus. Here, we further describe its negative effects on mediating neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Female MRL/lpr mice were orally administered tRA or VARA (retinol mixed with 10% tRA) from 6 to 14 weeks of age. Both treatments had a significant effect on brain weight, which correlated with histopathological evidence of focal astrogliosis, meningitis, and ventriculitis. Infiltration of CD138- and Iba1-positve immune cells was observed in the third ventricle and meninges of treated mice that co-labeled with ICAM-1, indicating their inflammatory nature. Increased numbers of circulating plasma cells, autoantibodies, and total IgG were also apparent. IgG and C3 complement deposition in these brain regions were also prominent as was focal astrogliosis surrounding the ventricular lining and meninges. Using Fluoro-Jade staining, we further demonstrate that neuroinflammation was accompanied by neurodegeneration in the cortex of treated mice compared with vehicle controls. These findings indicate that vitamin A exposure exacerbates the immunogenic environment of the brain during the onset of systemic autoimmune disease. Vitamin A may therefore compromise the immuno-privileged nature of the central nervous system under a predisposed immunogenic environment.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Károly Jambrovics ◽  
Iván P. Uray ◽  
Jeffrey W. Keillor ◽  
László Fésüs ◽  
Zoltán Balajthy

Randomized trials in acute promyelocytic leukemia patients have shown that treatment with a combination of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) is superior in efficacy to monotherapy, with significantly decreased mortality. So far, there are little data available to explain the success of the ATRA and ATO combination treatment in molecular terms. We showed that ATRA- and ATO-treated cells had the same capacity for superoxide production, which was reduced by two-thirds in the combined treatment. Secreted inflammatory biomarkers (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 [MCP-1], interleukin-1 beta [IL-1β] and tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α]) were significantly decreased and were further reduced in a transglutaminase 2 (TG2) expression-dependent manner. The amount of secreted TNF-α in the supernatant of NB4 TG2 knockout cells was close to 50 times lower than in ATRA-treated differentiated wild-type NB4 cells. The irreversible inhibitor of TG2 NC9 not only decreased reactive oxygen species production 28-fold, but decreased the concentration of MCP-1, IL-1β and TNF-α 8-, 15- and 61-fold, respectively in the combined ATRA + ATO-treated wild-type NB4 cell culture. We propose that atypical expression of TG2 leads to the generation of inflammation, which thereby serves as a potential target for the prevention of differentiation syndrome.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 2048
Author(s):  
Armin Sebastian Guntner ◽  
Christian Doppler ◽  
Christian Wechselberger ◽  
David Bernhard ◽  
Wolfgang Buchberger

All-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) is the essential derivative of vitamin A and is of interest due to its various biological key functions. As shown in the recent literature, atRA also plays a role in the failing heart during myocardial infarction, the leading cause of death globally. To date insufficient mechanistic information has been available on related hypoxia-induced cell damage and reperfusion injuries. However, it has been demonstrated that a reduction in cellular atRA uptake abrogates hypoxia-mediated cell and tissue damage, which may offer a new route for intervention. Consequently, in this study, the effect of the novel cardio-protective compound 5-methoxyleoligin (5ML) on cellular atRA uptake was tested in human umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). For this purpose, a high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to assess intra-cellular levels of the active substance and corresponding levels of vitamin A and its derivatives, including potential cis/trans isomers. This work also focused on light-induced isomerization and the stability of biological sample material to ensure sample integrity and avoid biased conclusions. This study provides evidence of the inhibitory effect of 5ML on cellular atRA uptake, a promising step toward a novel therapy for myocardial infarction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Huu Nguyen ◽  
Katharina Bauer ◽  
Hubert Hackl ◽  
Angela Schlerka ◽  
Elisabeth Koller ◽  
...  

AbstractEcotropic virus integration site 1 (EVI1), whose overexpression characterizes a particularly aggressive subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), enhanced anti-leukemic activities of all-trans retinoic acid (atRA) in cell lines and patient samples. However, the drivers of leukemia formation, therapy resistance, and relapse are leukemic stem cells (LSCs), whose properties were hardly reflected in these experimental setups. The present study was designed to address the effects of, and interactions between, EVI1 and retinoids in AML LSCs. We report that Evi1 reduced the maturation of leukemic cells and promoted the abundance, quiescence, and activity of LSCs in an MLL-AF9-driven mouse model of AML. atRA further augmented these effects in an Evi1 dependent manner. EVI1 also strongly enhanced atRA regulated gene transcription in LSC enriched cells. One of their jointly regulated targets, Notch4, was an important mediator of their effects on leukemic stemness. In vitro exposure of leukemic cells to a pan-RAR antagonist caused effects opposite to those of atRA. In vivo antagonist treatment delayed leukemogenesis and reduced LSC abundance, quiescence, and activity in Evi1high AML. Key results were confirmed in human myeloid cell lines retaining some stem cell characteristics as well as in primary human AML samples. In summary, our study is the first to report the importance of EVI1 for key properties of AML LSCs. Furthermore, it shows that atRA enhances, and a pan-RAR antagonist counteracts, the effects of EVI1 on AML stemness, thus raising the possibility of using RAR antagonists in the therapy of EVI1high AML.


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