scholarly journals Loss of BOK Has a Minor Impact on Acetaminophen Overdose-Induced Liver Damage in Mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 3281
Author(s):  
Samara Naim ◽  
Yuniel Fernandez-Marrero ◽  
Simone de Brot ◽  
Daniel Bachmann ◽  
Thomas Kaufmann

Acetaminophen (APAP) is one of the most commonly used analgesic and anti-pyretic drugs, and APAP intoxication is one of the main reasons for liver transplantation following liver failure in the Western world. While APAP poisoning ultimately leads to liver necrosis, various programmed cell death modalities have been implicated, including ER stress-triggered apoptosis. The BCL-2 family member BOK (BCL-2-related ovarian killer) has been described to modulate the unfolded protein response and to promote chemical-induced liver injury. We therefore investigated the impact of the loss of BOK following APAP overdosing in mice. Surprisingly, we observed sex-dependent differences in the activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) in both wildtype (WT) and Bok-/- mice, with increased activation of JNK in females compared with males. Loss of BOK led to a decrease in JNK activation and a reduced percentage of centrilobular necrosis in both sexes after APAP treatment; however, this protection was more pronounced in Bok-/- females. Nevertheless, serum ALT and AST levels of Bok-/- and WT mice were comparable, indicating that there was no major difference in the overall outcome of liver injury. We conclude that after APAP overdosing, loss of BOK affects initiating signaling steps linked to ER stress, but has a more minor impact on the outcome of liver necrosis. Furthermore, we observed sex-dependent differences that might be worthwhile to investigate.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 705
Author(s):  
Manal H. Alshareef ◽  
Elizabeth L. Hartland ◽  
Kathleen McCaffrey

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a homeostatic response to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress within eukaryotic cells. The UPR initiates transcriptional and post-transcriptional programs to resolve ER stress; or, if ER stress is severe or prolonged, initiates apoptosis. ER stress is a common feature of bacterial infection although the role of the UPR in host defense is only beginning to be understood. While the UPR is important for host defense against pore-forming toxins produced by some bacteria, other bacterial effector proteins hijack the UPR through the activity of translocated effector proteins that facilitate intracellular survival and proliferation. UPR-mediated apoptosis can limit bacterial replication but also often contributes to tissue damage and disease. Here, we discuss the dual nature of the UPR during infection and the implications of UPR activation or inhibition for inflammation and immunity as illustrated by different bacterial pathogens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2567
Author(s):  
Yann S. Gallot ◽  
Kyle R. Bohnert

Skeletal muscle is an essential organ, responsible for many physiological functions such as breathing, locomotion, postural maintenance, thermoregulation, and metabolism. Interestingly, skeletal muscle is a highly plastic tissue, capable of adapting to anabolic and catabolic stimuli. Skeletal muscle contains a specialized smooth endoplasmic reticulum (ER), known as the sarcoplasmic reticulum, composed of an extensive network of tubules. In addition to the role of folding and trafficking proteins within the cell, this specialized organelle is responsible for the regulated release of calcium ions (Ca2+) into the cytoplasm to trigger a muscle contraction. Under various stimuli, such as exercise, hypoxia, imbalances in calcium levels, ER homeostasis is disturbed and the amount of misfolded and/or unfolded proteins accumulates in the ER. This accumulation of misfolded/unfolded protein causes ER stress and leads to the activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Interestingly, the role of the UPR in skeletal muscle has only just begun to be elucidated. Accumulating evidence suggests that ER stress and UPR markers are drastically induced in various catabolic stimuli including cachexia, denervation, nutrient deprivation, aging, and disease. Evidence indicates some of these molecules appear to be aiding the skeletal muscle in regaining homeostasis whereas others demonstrate the ability to drive the atrophy. Continued investigations into the individual molecules of this complex pathway are necessary to fully understand the mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J Fields ◽  
Lu Li ◽  
Nicholas M Hiers ◽  
Tianqi Li ◽  
Peike Sheng ◽  
...  

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are short non-coding RNAs widely implicated in gene regulation. Most metazoan miRNAs utilize the RNase III enzymes Drosha and Dicer for biogenesis. One notable exception is the RNA polymerase II transcription start sites (TSS) miRNAs whose biogenesis does not require Drosha. The functional importance of the TSS-miRNA biogenesis is uncertain. To better understand the function of TSS-miRNAs, we applied a modified Crosslinking, Ligation, and Sequencing of Hybrids on Argonaute (AGO-qCLASH) to identify the targets for TSS-miRNAs in HCT116 colorectal cancer cells with or without DROSHA knockout. We observed that miR-320a hybrids dominate in TSS-miRNA hybrids identified by AGO-qCLASH. Targets for miR-320a are enriched in the eIF2 signaling pathway, a downstream component of the unfolded protein response. Consistently, in miR-320a mimic- and antagomir- transfected cells, differentially expressed genes are enriched in eIF2 signaling. Within the AGO-qCLASH data, we identified the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone Calnexin as a direct miR-320a target, thus connecting miR-320a to the unfolded protein response. During ER stress, but not amino acid deprivation, miR-320a up-regulates ATF4, a critical transcription factor for resolving ER stress. Our study investigates the targetome of the TSS-miRNAs in colorectal cancer cells and establishes miR-320a as a regulator of unfolded protein response.


2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (21) ◽  
pp. 7448-7459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Hwee Lee ◽  
Neal N. Iwakoshi ◽  
Laurie H. Glimcher

ABSTRACT The mammalian unfolded protein response (UPR) protects the cell against the stress of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We have investigated here the contribution of the UPR transcription factors XBP-1, ATF6α, and ATF6β to UPR target gene expression. Gene profiling of cell lines lacking these factors yielded several XBP-1-dependent UPR target genes, all of which appear to act in the ER. These included the DnaJ/Hsp40-like genes, p58IPK, ERdj4, and HEDJ, as well as EDEM, protein disulfide isomerase-P5, and ribosome-associated membrane protein 4 (RAMP4), whereas expression of BiP was only modestly dependent on XBP-1. Surprisingly, given previous reports that enforced expression of ATF6α induced a subset of UPR target genes, cells deficient in ATF6α, ATF6β, or both had minimal defects in upregulating UPR target genes by gene profiling analysis, suggesting the presence of compensatory mechanism(s) for ATF6 in the UPR. Since cells lacking both XBP-1 and ATF6α had significantly impaired induction of select UPR target genes and ERSE reporter activation, XBP-1 and ATF6α may serve partially redundant functions. No UPR target genes that required ATF6β were identified, nor, in contrast to XBP-1 and ATF6α, did the activity of the UPRE or ERSE promoters require ATF6β, suggesting a minor role for it during the UPR. Collectively, these results suggest that the IRE1/XBP-1 pathway is required for efficient protein folding, maturation, and degradation in the ER and imply the existence of subsets of UPR target genes as defined by their dependence on XBP-1. Further, our observations suggest the existence of additional, as-yet-unknown, key regulators of the UPR.


eLife ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Kimmig ◽  
Marcy Diaz ◽  
Jiashun Zheng ◽  
Christopher C Williams ◽  
Alexander Lang ◽  
...  

The unfolded protein response (UPR) monitors the protein folding capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In all organisms analyzed to date, the UPR drives transcriptional programs that allow cells to cope with ER stress. The non-conventional splicing of Hac1 (yeasts) and XBP1 (metazoans) mRNA, encoding orthologous UPR transcription activators, is conserved and dependent on Ire1, an ER membrane-resident kinase/endoribonuclease. We found that the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe lacks both a Hac1/XBP1 ortholog and a UPR-dependent-transcriptional-program. Instead, Ire1 initiates the selective decay of a subset of ER-localized-mRNAs that is required to survive ER stress. We identified Bip1 mRNA, encoding a major ER-chaperone, as the sole mRNA cleaved upon Ire1 activation that escapes decay. Instead, truncation of its 3′ UTR, including loss of its polyA tail, stabilized Bip1 mRNA, resulting in increased Bip1 translation. Thus, S. pombe uses a universally conserved stress-sensing machinery in novel ways to maintain homeostasis in the ER.


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