1
|
Al-Raawi D, Kanhere A. Site-Directed Mutagenesis Protocol to Determine the Role of Amino Acid Residues in Polycomb Group (PcG) Protein Function. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2655:79-89. [PMID: 37212990 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3143-0_7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Site-directed mutagenesis (SDM) is a technique in molecular biology and protein engineering that is widely used to determine the significance of specific residues involved in post-translational modifications (PTMs), protein structure, function, and stability. Here, we describe a simple and cost-effective polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based SDM method. This method can be used to introduce point mutation, short addition, or deletions in protein sequences. Using polycomb repressive complex-2 (PRC2)-associated protein JARID2 as an example, we demonstrate how SDM can be used to study structural and consequently functional changes in a protein.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Aditi Kanhere
- Institute of System, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Badawy MA, Yasseen BA, El-Messiery RM, Abdel-Rahman EA, Elkhodiry AA, Kamel AG, El-Sayed H, Shedra AM, Hamdy R, Zidan M, Al-Raawi D, Hammad M, Elsharkawy N, El Ansary M, Al-Halfawy A, Elhadad A, Hatem A, Abouelnaga S, Dugan LL, Ali SS. Neutrophil-mediated oxidative stress and albumin structural damage predict COVID-19-associated mortality. eLife 2021; 10:69417. [PMID: 34821549 PMCID: PMC8641949 DOI: 10.7554/elife.69417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Human serum albumin (HSA) is the frontline antioxidant protein in blood with established anti-inflammatory and anticoagulation functions. Here, we report that COVID-19-induced oxidative stress inflicts structural damages to HSA and is linked with mortality outcome in critically ill patients. We recruited 39 patients who were followed up for a median of 12.5 days (1–35 days), among them 23 had died. Analyzing blood samples from patients and healthy individuals (n=11), we provide evidence that neutrophils are major sources of oxidative stress in blood and that hydrogen peroxide is highly accumulated in plasmas of non-survivors. We then analyzed electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of spin-labeled fatty acids (SLFAs) bound with HSA in whole blood of control, survivor, and non-survivor subjects (n=10–11). Non-survivors’ HSA showed dramatically reduced protein packing order parameter, faster SLFA correlational rotational time, and smaller S/W ratio (strong-binding/weak-binding sites within HSA), all reflecting remarkably fluid protein microenvironments. Following loading/unloading of 16-DSA, we show that the transport function of HSA may be impaired in severe patients. Stratified at the means, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis indicated that lower values of S/W ratio and accumulated H2O2 in plasma significantly predicted in-hospital mortality (S/W≤0.15, 81.8% (18/22) vs. S/W>0.15, 18.2% (4/22), p=0.023; plasma [H2O2]>8.6 μM, 65.2% (15/23) vs. 34.8% (8/23), p=0.043). When we combined these two parameters as the ratio ((S/W)/[H2O2]) to derive a risk score, the resultant risk score lower than the mean (<0.019) predicted mortality with high fidelity (95.5% (21/22) vs. 4.5% (1/22), log-rank χ2=12.1, p=4.9×10−4). The derived parameters may provide a surrogate marker to assess new candidates for COVID-19 treatments targeting HSA replacements and/or oxidative stress.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Basma A Yasseen
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Riem M El-Messiery
- Infectious Disease Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Engy A Abdel-Rahman
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.,Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assuit University, Assuit, Egypt
| | - Aya A Elkhodiry
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Azza G Kamel
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Hajar El-Sayed
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Asmaa M Shedra
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Rehab Hamdy
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Mona Zidan
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Diaa Al-Raawi
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Mahmoud Hammad
- Pediatric Oncology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University and Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Nahla Elsharkawy
- Clinical pathology department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University and Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Mohamed El Ansary
- Department of Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Ahmed Al-Halfawy
- Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Alaa Elhadad
- Pediatric Oncology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University and Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Ashraf Hatem
- Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Sherif Abouelnaga
- Pediatric Oncology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University and Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Laura L Dugan
- Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and VATennessee Valley Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), Nashville, United States
| | - Sameh Saad Ali
- Research Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Al-Raawi D, Kanhere A. Autoregulation of JARID2 through PRC2 interaction with its antisense ncRNA. BMC Res Notes 2020; 13:501. [PMID: 33126912 PMCID: PMC7602346 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-020-05348-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective JARID2 is a member of chromatin-modifying Polycomb Repressive Complex-2 or PRC2. It plays a role in recruiting PRC2 to developmental genes and regulating its activity. JARID2 along with PRC2 is indispensable for normal development. However, it remains unclear how JARID2 expression itself is regulated. Recently a number of non-protein-coding RNAs or ncRNAs are shown to regulate transcription. An antisense ncRNA, JARID2-AS1, is expressed from the first intron of JARID2 isoform-1 but its role in regulation of JARID2 expression has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to explore the role of JARID2-AS1 in regulating JARID2 and consequently PRC2. Results We found that JARID2-AS1 is localised in the nucleus and shows anti-correlated expression pattern to that of JARID2 isoform-1 mRNA. More interestingly, data mining approach strongly indicates that JARID2-AS1 binds to PRC2. These are important observations that provide insights into transcriptional regulation of JARID2, especially because they indicate that JARID2-AS1 by interacting and probably recruiting PRC2 participates in an auto-regulatory loop that controls levels of JARID2. This holds importance in regulation of developmental and differentiation processes. However, to support this hypothesis, further in-depth studies are needed which can verify JARID2-AS1-PRC2 interactions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Diaa Al-Raawi
- Tumour Biology Research Program, 57357 Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.,School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom
| | - Aditi Kanhere
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom. .,Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GE, United Kingdom.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Al-Raawi D, Jones R, Wijesinghe S, Halsall J, Petric M, Roberts S, Hotchin NA, Kanhere A. A novel form of JARID2 is required for differentiation in lineage-committed cells. EMBO J 2018; 38:embj.201798449. [PMID: 30573669 PMCID: PMC6356158 DOI: 10.15252/embj.201798449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2017] [Revised: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Polycomb repressive complex‐2 (PRC2) is a group of proteins that play an important role during development and in cell differentiation. PRC2 is a histone‐modifying complex that catalyses methylation of lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3) at differentiation genes leading to their transcriptional repression. JARID2 is a co‐factor of PRC2 and is important for targeting PRC2 to chromatin. Here, we show that, unlike in embryonic stem cells, in lineage‐committed human cells, including human epidermal keratinocytes, JARID2 predominantly exists as a novel low molecular weight form, which lacks the N‐terminal PRC2‐interacting domain (ΔN‐JARID2). We show that ΔN‐JARID2 is a cleaved product of full‐length JARID2 spanning the C‐terminal conserved jumonji domains. JARID2 knockout in keratinocytes results in up‐regulation of cell cycle genes and repression of many epidermal differentiation genes. Surprisingly, repression of epidermal differentiation genes in JARID2‐null keratinocytes can be rescued by expression of ΔN‐JARID2 suggesting that, in contrast to PRC2, ΔN‐JARID2 promotes activation of differentiation genes. We propose that a switch from expression of full‐length JARID2 to ΔN‐JARID2 is important for the up‐regulation differentiation genes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Diaa Al-Raawi
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Rhian Jones
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | | | - John Halsall
- Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Marija Petric
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Sally Roberts
- Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Neil A Hotchin
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Aditi Kanhere
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Mohamed MM, Al-Raawi D, Sabet SF, El-Shinawi M. Inflammatory breast cancer: New factors contribute to disease etiology: A review. J Adv Res 2013; 5:525-36. [PMID: 25685520 PMCID: PMC4294279 DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2013.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2013] [Revised: 05/16/2013] [Accepted: 06/07/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a highly metastatic and fatal form of breast cancer. In fact, IBC is characterized by specific morphological, phenotypic, and biological properties that distinguish it from non-IBC. The aggressive behavior of IBC being more common among young women and the low survival rate alarmed researchers to explore the disease biology. Despite the basic and translational studies needed to understand IBC disease biology and identify specific biomarkers, studies are limited by few available IBC cell lines, experimental models, and paucity of patient samples. Above all, in the last decade, researchers were able to identify new factors that may play a crucial role in IBC progression. Among identified factors are cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and proteases. In addition, viral infection was also suggested to participate in the etiology of IBC disease. In this review, we present novel factors suggested by different studies to contribute to the etiology of IBC and the proposed new therapeutic insights.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mona M Mohamed
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
| | - Diaa Al-Raawi
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Sana'a University, Yemen
| | - Salwa F Sabet
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
| | - Mohamed El-Shinawi
- Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Al-Raawi D, Abu-El-Zahab H, El-Shinawi M, Mohamed MM. Membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) correlates with the expression and activation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in inflammatory breast cancer. Int J Clin Exp Med 2011; 4:265-275. [PMID: 22140598 PMCID: PMC3228582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2011] [Accepted: 09/18/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) represents the most aggressive form of breast cancer, characterized by rapid progression, involvement of dermal lymphatic emboli and extensive metastatic lymph nodes. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes that play an important role in cancer invasion and metastasis. Although the role of MMPs in non-IBC is well studied, little is known about its role in IBC. Thus the goal of the present study was to 1) investigate the expression and activity levels of membrane type matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MT1-MMP) and matrix metalloproteinase-2 and-9 (MMP-2 and MMP-9) in IBC versus non-IBC tissue samples and; 2) test correlation between expression of MT1-MMP and pro- and active forms of MMP-2 and MMP-9. We enrolled 51 breast cancer patients, 21 were diagnosed as IBC and 30 as non-IBC. Level of expression of MT1-MMP in carcinoma tissue was assessed by immunoblot and immunohistochemistry techniques. The expression and activation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was measured by gelatin zymography. Our results revealed that MT1-MMP, pro-MMP-2, pro-MMP-9 and active MMP-2 were more expressed in IBC tissue versus non-IBC. Furthermore, we found that MT1-MMP expression correlates with expression of pro-MMP-2, pro-MMP-9 and active MMP-2 in IBC tissue samples and with MMP-9 in non-IBC tissue sample. In conclusion, our study suggests a role of MT1-MMP in inflammatory breast cancer disease progression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Diaa Al-Raawi
- Department ofZoology, Faculty of Science- Sana'a UniversityYemen
| | - Helal Abu-El-Zahab
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science-Cairo UniversityGiza, 12613, Egypt
| | - Mohamed El-Shinawi
- Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine- Ain Shams UniversityCairo, 11566, Egypt
| | | |
Collapse
|