Extrahepatic expression of NAD(P)H:menadione oxidoreductase, UDP glucuronosyltransferase-1A6, microsomal aldehyde dehydrogenase, and hepatic nuclear factor-1 alpha mRNAs in ch/ch and 14CoS/14CoS mice

Aging-associated changes in gene expression in the ACI rat prostate: Implications for carcinogenesis

BACKGROUND

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed neoplasm and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality in men. Although the incidence of prostate cancer increases with age, the link between aging and prostate cancer is poorly understood.

METHODS

Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays were used to analyze the mRNA expression levels in the dorsolateral prostates from 6- and 18-month-old ACI rats. Real-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry was performed to validate microarray data in a select set of genes.

RESULTS

Microarray analysis revealed changes in gene expression associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, tissue remodeling, and energy metabolism. Most of these changes have been related to increased proliferative status of the prostate, anti-apoptosis, activated stroma, and alteration of the energy metabolism.

CONCLUSIONS

Age-associated alterations in the gene expression profile may put the aging prostate in risk for the initiation, promotion, and progression of neoplastic transformation in both our animal model and humans.

Pharmacological rescue of the 14CoS/14CoS mouse: hepatocyte apoptosis is likely caused by endogenous oxidative stress

Whereas ch/ch wild-type mice and ch/14CoS heterozygotes are viable, 14CoS/14CoS mice homozygous for a 3800 kb deletion on chromosome 7 die during the first day postpartum. Death is caused by disruption of the fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (Fah) gene; absence of FAH, final enzyme in the tyrosine catabolism pathway, leads to accumulation of reactive electrophilic intermediates. In this study, we kept 14CoS/14CoS mice alive for 60 d with oral 2-(2-nitro-4-trifluoromethyl-benzyol)-1,3-cyclohexanedione (NTBC), an inhibitor of p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, second enzyme in the tyrosine catabolic pathway. The 70% of NTBC-treated 14CoS/14CoS mice that survived 60 d showed poor growth and developed corneal opacities, compared with ch/14CoS littermates; NTBC-rescued Fah(-/-) knockout mice did not show growth retardation or ocular toxicity. NTBC-rescued 14CoS/14CoS mice also exhibited a striking oxidative stress response in liver and kidney, as measured by lower GSH levels and mRNA induction of four genes: glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic (Gclc) and modifier (Gclm) subunits, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (Nqo1), and heme oxygenase-1 (Hmox1). Withdrawal of NTBC for 24-48 h from rescued adult 14CoS/14CoS mice resulted in severe apoptosis of the liver, detected histologically and by cytochrome c release from the mitochondria, increased caspase 3-like activity, and further decreases in GSH content. In kidney, proximal tubular epithelial cells were abnormal. Human hereditary tyrosinemia type I (HT1), caused by mutations in the FAH gene, is an autosomal recessive disorder in which the patient usually dies of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis during early childhood; NTBC treatment is known to prolong HT1 children's lives-although liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, hepatocarcinoma, and corneal opacities sometimes occur. The mouse data in the present study are consistent with the possibility that endogenous oxidative stress-induced apoptosis may be the underlying cause of liver pathology seen in NTBC-treated HT1 patients.

Hepatocyte nuclear factor-1alpha is a causal factor responsible for interindividual differences in the expression of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B7 mRNA in human livers

UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 2B7 is one of the most important UGT isozymes expressed in human livers. This enzyme is reported to show more than 10-fold interindividual differences in its enzyme activities. Thus, the amounts of UGT2B7 mRNA in 12 human livers were quantified by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The amounts of UGT2B7 mRNA in the subjects ranged from 0.22 to 2.63 copies/10(3) copies of beta-actin. A novel point mutation (-253G to A) found in this study did not affect the level of UGT2B7 mRNA in the subjects. To clarify a causal factor(s) determining the expression level of UGT2B7 mRNA, we examined the correlation between the amounts of mRNAs for UGT2B7 and hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-1alpha, which regulates the expression of UGT2B7 gene. HNF-1alpha mRNA was expressed at a level ranging from 2.99 to 24.76 copies/10(6) copies of beta-actin in the subjects. The amounts of mRNAs for UGT2B7 expressed in these individual liver samples were highly associated with the amount of mRNA for HNF-1alpha (r = 0.786, p = 0.002), suggesting that HNF-1alpha is a factor limiting the expression of UGT2B7 mRNA and a causal factor responsible for an interindividual difference in human livers.