Tissue-specific regulatory elements in the human alcohol dehydrogenase 6 gene

Analysis of mammalian alcohol dehydrogenase 5 (ADH5): characterisation of rat ADH5 with comparisons to the corresponding human variant

Alcohol dehydrogenase 5 (ADH5) is a member of the mammalian alcohol dehydrogenase family of yet undefined functions. ADH5 was first identified at the DNA level in human and deer mouse. A rat alcohol dehydrogenase structure of similar type has been isolated at the cDNA level using human ADH5 as a screening probe, where the rat cDNA structure displayed several atypical properties. mRNA for rat ADH5 was found in multiple tissues, especially in the kidney. In vitro translation experiments indicated that rat ADH5 is expressed as efficiently as ADH1 and furthermore, rat ADH5 was readily expressed in COS cells fused to Green Fluorescent Protein. However, no soluble ADH5 protein could be heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli cells with expression systems successfully used for other mammalian ADHs, including fused to glutathione-S-transferase. Molecular modelling of the enzyme indicated that the protein does not fold in a productive way, which can be the explanation why no stable and active ADH5 has been isolated. These results indicate that ADH5, while readily expressed at the mRNA level, does not behave similarly to other mammalian ADHs investigated. The results, in vitro and in silico, suggest an unstable ADH5 structure, which can explain for why no active and stable protein can be isolated. Further possibilities are conceivable: the ADH5 protein may have to interact with a stabiliser, or the gene is actually a pseudogene.

Novel tumour-specific promoters for transcriptional targeting of hepatocellular carcinoma by herpes simplex virus vectors

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a cancer of poor prognosis, with limited success in patient treatment, which it makes an excellent target for gene therapy and viral oncolysis. Accordingly, herpes virus simplex type-1 (HSV-1) is one of the most promising viral platforms for transferring therapeutic genes and the development of oncolytic vectors that can target, multiply in, and eradicate hepatoma cells via their lytic cycle. Enhanced efficacy and specificity of HSV-1-based vectors towards HCC may be achieved by using HCC-specific gene promoters to drive selective viral gene expression and accomplish conditional replication and/or to control the expression of therapeutic genes. However, careful verification of promoter function in the context of the replication-competent HSV-1 vectors is required. The present study aimed to identify novel HCC-specific promoters that could efficiently direct transgene expression to HCC cells and maintain their activity during active viral replication.

METHODS

Publicly available microarray data from human HCC biopsies were analysed in order to detect novel candidate genes induced primarily in HCC compared to normal liver. HCC specificity and promoter activity were evaluated by RT-PCR and chromatin immunoprecipitation. Additionally, transcriptional activity of promoters was further evaluated in the context of HSV-1 genome, using luciferase assays in cultured cells and animal models.

RESULTS

Eight HCC-specific genes were characterised in this study: Angiopoietin-like-3, Cytochrome P450, family 2, subfamily C, polypeptide 8, Vitronectin, Alcohol dehydrogenase 6-class V, Apolipoprotein B, Fibrinogen beta chain, Inter-alpha-globulin-inhibitor H3 and Inter-alpha-globulin-inhibitor H1. Specific HCC expression and active gene transcription were confirmed in human liver and non-liver cell lines and further evaluated in primary neoplastic cells from hepatitis C and B virus (HCV- and HBV)-associated HCC patients. High promoter activity and specificity in the presence of HSV-1 infection and from within the viral genome, was validated, both in vitro and in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified and experimentally characterized novel hepatoma-specific promoters, which were valuable for cancer-specific gene therapy, using HSV-1 vectors.

Association of ADH and ALDH genes with alcohol dependence in the Irish Affected Sib Pair Study of alcohol dependence (IASPSAD) sample

BACKGROUND

The genes coding for ethanol metabolism enzymes [alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)] have been widely studied for their influence on the risk to develop alcohol dependence (AD). However, the relation between polymorphisms of these metabolism genes and AD in Caucasian subjects has not been clearly established. The present study examined evidence for the association of alcohol metabolism genes with AD in the Irish Affected Sib Pair Study of alcohol dependence.

METHODS

We conducted a case-control association study with 575 independent subjects who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, AD diagnosis and 530 controls. A total of 77 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the seven ADH (ADH1-7) and two ALDH genes (ALDH1A1 and ALDH2) were genotyped using the Illumina GoldenGate protocols. Several statistical procedures were implemented to control for false discoveries.

RESULTS

All markers with minor allele frequency greater than 0.01 were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Numerous SNPs in ADH genes showed association with AD, including one marker in the coding region of ADH1C (rs1693482 in exon6, Ile271Gln). Haplotypic association was observed in the ADH5 and ADH1C genes, and in a long haplotype block formed by the ADH1A and ADH1B loci. We detected two significant interactions between pairs of markers in intron 6 of ADH6 and intron 12 of ALDH2 (p = 5 x 10(-5)), and 5' of both ADH4 and ADH1A (p = 2 x 10(-4)).

CONCLUSION

We found evidence for the association of several ADH genes with AD in a sample of Western European origin. The significant interaction effects between markers in ADH and ALDH genes suggest possible epistatic roles between alcohol metabolic enzymes in the risk for AD.

Tissue-specific mRNA expression profiles of human phase I metabolizing enzymes except for cytochrome P450 and phase II metabolizing enzymes

Pairs of forward and reverse primers and TaqMan probes specific to each of 52 human phase I metabolizing enzymes (alcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, aldehyde oxidase, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, epoxide hydrolase, esterase, flavin-containing monooxygenase, monoamine oxidase, prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase, quinone oxidoreductase, and xanthene dehydrogenase) and 48 human phase II metabolizing enzymes (acetyltransferase, acyl-CoA:amino acid N-acyltransferase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, glutathione S-transferase, methyltransferase, and sulfotransferase) were prepared. The mRNA expression level of each target enzyme was analyzed in total RNA from single and pooled specimens of various human tissues (adrenal gland, bone marrow, brain, colon, heart, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, peripheral leukocytes, placenta, prostate, salivary gland, skeletal muscle, small intestine, spinal cord, spleen, stomach, testis, thymus, thyroid gland, trachea, and uterus) by real-time reverse transcription PCR using an ABI PRISM 7700 Sequence Detection System. Further, individual differences in the mRNA expression of representative human phase I and II metabolizing enzymes in the liver were also evaluated. The mRNA expression profiles of the above phase I and phase II metabolizing enzymes in 23 different human tissues were used to identify the tissues exhibiting high transcriptional activity for these enzymes. These results are expected to be valuable in establishing drug metabolism-mediated screening systems for new chemical entities in new drug development and in research concerning the clinical diagnosis of disease.

Chimeric transcriptional control units for improved liver-specific transgene expression

Hepatocyte-directed delivery of therapeutic genes is a major field of gene therapy. An important issue in this context is the availability of promoters units providing for maximum transcriptional activity and specificity. Although a number of liver-specific promoters and transcriptional control elements have been identified and used for gene delivery, no systematic study has been performed to identify the best suitable combination of known liver-specific promoter and enhancer elements. We now report the results of a comparative investigation addressing this issue. We tested a total of 25 synthetic transcriptional control units consisting of either of the four core promoters from liver-specific genes linked in various combinations and configurations to hepatocyte-specific enhancer elements. These constructs were analyzed for transcriptional activity in different cell types in cell culture and in mouse liver in vivo. The data lead to the clear conclusion that a combination of the alcohol dehydrogenase 6 (ADH6) basal promoter linked to two tandem copies of an apoplipoprotein E enhancer element is the transcriptional control unit of choice for the liver-specific expression of transgenes.

Human class V alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH5): A complex transcription unit generates C-terminal multiplicity

The human ADH5 gene was reported to lack the last exon compared to other mammalian ADHs and consequently should be expressed as a truncated protein. Here we show with PCR amplification of 3'-cDNA ends that the ADH5 gene harbors the "missing" exon. Besides a cDNA identical to the published sequence, we found full-length transcripts that contained additional codons for eight amino acid residues. Northern blot analysis established the full-length variant as the major transcript with the strongest signal from adult liver. Sequence analysis of genomic DNA confirmed that the ADH5 gene displays composite internal/terminal exons, which can be differentially processed; i.e., 3'-end generation is a result of competition between polyadenylation and splicing.