Variation in the latency of acid phosphatase and ribonuclease throughout the growth cycle of Tetrahymena pyriformis

Interplay between orphan nuclear receptors and androgen receptor-dependent or-independent growth signalings in prostate cancer

It is well-established that both the initial and advanced growth of prostate cancer depends critically on androgens and thus on the activated androgen receptor (AR) -mediated signaling pathway. The unique hormone-dependent feature of prostate cancer forms the biological basis of hormone or androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) that aims to suppress the AR signaling by androgen depletion or AR antagonists. ADT still remains the mainstay treatment option for locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer. However, most patients upon ADT will inevitably develop therapy-resistance and progress to relapse in the form of castration-resistant disease (castration-resistant prostate cancer or CRPC) or even a more aggressive androgen-independent subtype (therapy-related neuroendocrine prostate cancer or NEPC). Recent advances show that besides AR, some ligand-independent members of nuclear receptor superfamily-designated as orphan nuclear receptors (ONRs), as their endogenous physiological ligands are either absent or not yet identified to date, also play significant roles in the growth regulation of prostate cancer via multiple AR-dependent or -independent (AR-bypass) pathways or mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in the newly elucidated roles of ONRs in prostate cancer, with a focus on their interplay in the AR-dependent pathways (intratumoral androgen biosynthesis and suppression of AR signaling) and AR-independent pathways or cellular processes (hypoxia, oncogene- or tumor suppressor-induced senescence, apoptosis and regulation of prostate cancer stem cells). These ONRs with their newly characterized roles not only can serve as novel biomarkers but also as potential therapeutic targets for management of advanced prostate cancer.

Acid hydrolase activity during growth and encystment in Acanthamoeba castellanii

The activity and sedimentation of acid phosphatase (APase), acid deoxyribonuclease (DNase), and acid ribonuclease (RNase) were investigated throughout growth and encystment in Acanthamoeba castellanii. The activities/mg protein of all 3 hydrolases are high in young cultures and decrease to constant levels in postlog cells. The RNase activity/ameba decreases 50% during growth, whereas the activity/cell of both APase and DNase remains constant. The percent sedimentation at 20,000 g of all 3 enzymes gradually increases from about 40% in midlog to a plateau of 80% in postlog cells. During encystment, the sedimentation behavior of RNase differs from that of APase and DNase. Encystment is characterized by a differential decrease in the activity/cell of the 3 hydrolases, with RNase decreasing most rapidly and APase least rapidly. APase is unique in that a transient increase of its specific activity is noted during encystment, even though its activity/cell is decreasing.

Release and activation of a particulate bound acid phosphatase from Tetrahymena pyriformis

A sedimentable form of acid phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.2) from Tetrahymena pyriformis was found to be solubilized by Triton X-100. The total enzyme activity in the insoluble cell fraction increased almost 200% upon solubilization with Triton X-100 or Nonidet P-40. Removal of membrane lipids and Triton X-100 from the particulate wash solution with a chloroform extraction resulted in non-specific enzyme-protein aggregation which was reversible upon addition of Triton X-100. The results indicate that this acid phosphatase is an integral membrane protein. The pH optima for this particulate bound acid phosphatase was 3.5 with o-carboxyphenyl phosphate and 4.0 with p-nitrophenyl phosphate as substrates. The Km values of each substrate were 3.1 and 0.031 mM, respectively.

Studies on the conditions required for optimum recovery of Tetrahymena pyriformis strain S (Phenoset A) after freezing to and thawing from -196 C

The toxicity of several cryoprotective agents was tested at room temperature (23 C) against Tetrahymena pyriformis strain S (Phenoset A) at different stages of growth cycle. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-40) at 10 per cent (v/v) concentration was without effect at any stage in the growth cycle, while 1.2 M glycerol immobilized the cells which were disrupted very shortly afterwards. The toxicity of 0.25 M glucose was largely independent of the position of the cells in the growth cycle, but the toxicity of 0.25 M sucrose and 1.4 M dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was most marked in late log- and stATIONARY-PHASE CELLS. After log-phase cells had been equilibrated with 1.4 M DMSO for 1 hr, the number of cells surviving cooling at defined rates from 0.45 to 12 C/min decreased as the final temperature decreased from -30 to -60 C. A temperature of -53 C was found to be the optimum from which cells cooled at a given rate could be cooled rapidly to -196 C. Nevertheless, when cells were cooled at defined rates to -35, -45, or -53 C and then rapidly to -196 c the optimum rate of cooling to these temperatures was found to be 1 C/min. The optimum rate of cooling to -60 C prior to plunging into liquid nitrogen was found to be 2.7 C/min.