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Heart disease remains a major complication of diabetes, and the identification of new therapeutic targets is essential. This study investigates the role of the protein kinase MK2, a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase downstream target, in the development of diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy. Diabetes was induced in control (MK2(+/+)) and MK2-null (MK2(-/-)) mice using repeated injections of a low dose of streptozotocin (STZ). This protocol generated in MK2(+/+) mice a model of diabetes characterized by a 50% decrease in plasma insulin, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance (IR), as well as major contractile dysfunction, which was associated with alterations in proteins involved in calcium handling. While MK2(-/-)-STZ mice remained hyperglycemic, they showed improved IR and none of the cardiac functional or molecular alterations. Further analyses highlighted marked lipid perturbations in MK2(+/+)-STZ mice, which encompass increased 1) circulating levels of free fatty acid, ketone bodies, and long-chain acylcarnitines and 2) cardiac triglyceride accumulation and ex vivo palmitate β-oxidation. MK2(-/-)-STZ mice were also protected against all these diabetes-induced lipid alterations. Our results demonstrate the benefits of MK2 deletion on diabetes-induced cardiac molecular and lipid metabolic changes, as well as contractile dysfunction. As a result, MK2 represents a new potential therapeutic target to prevent diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liver is one of the richest organs in terms of number and density of mitochondria. Most chronic liver diseases are associated with the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. Hepatic mitochondria have unique features compared to other organs' mitochondria, since they are the hub that integrates hepatic metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Mitochondria are also essential in hepatocyte survival as mediator of apoptosis and necrosis. Hepatocytes have developed different mechanisms to keep mitochondrial integrity or to prevent the effects of mitochondrial lesions, in particular regulating organelle biogenesis and degradation. In this paper, we will focus on the role of mitochondria in liver physiology, such as hepatic metabolism, reactive oxygen species homeostasis and cell survival. We will also focus on chronic liver pathologies, especially those linked to alcohol, virus, drugs or metabolic syndrome and we will discuss how mitochondria could provide a promising therapeutic target in these contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic granulomatous disease is an inherited disorder in which phagocytes lack a functional NADPH oxidase and so cannot generate superoxide anions (O). The most common form is caused by mutations inCYBBencoding gp91phox, the heavy chain of flavocytochromeb558 (XCGD). We investigated 11 male patients and their families suspected of suffering from X-linked CGD. These XCGD patients were classified as having different variants (X910, X91- or X91+) according to their cytochromeb558 expression and NADPH oxidase activity. Nine patients had X910 CGD, one had X91- CGD and one had X91+ CGD. Six mutations inCYBBwere novel. Of the four new X910 CGD cases, three were point mutations: G65A in exon 2, G387T in exon 5 and G970T in exon 9, leading to premature stop codons at positions Try18, Try125 and Glu320, respectively, in gp91phox. One case of X910 CGD originated from a new 1005G deletion detected in exon 9. Surprisingly, four nonsense mutations in exon 5 led to the generation of two mRNAs, one with a normal size containing the mutation and the other in which exon 5 had been spliced. A novel X91- CGD case with low gp91phoxexpression was diagnosed. It was caused by an 11-bp deletion in the linking region between exon 12 and intron 12, activating a new cryptic site. Finally, a new X91+ CGD case was detected, characterized by a missense mutation Leu505Arg in the potential NADPH-binding site of gp91phox. No clear correlation between the severity of the clinical symptoms and the sub-type of XCGD could be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare congenital disorder in which phagocytes cannot generate superoxide (O2–) and other microbicidal oxidants because of mutations in one of the four components of the O2–-generating NADPH oxidase complex. A subgroup (approximately 5% of identified CGD patients) has been reported to have mutations in the gene encoding the small p22phox subunit of the flavocytochrome b558, the redox element of phagocyte NADPH oxidase. Here, we report the case of an autosomal recessive CGD patient with a defect in the p22phox subunit. Neutrophils failed to produce O2– in response to soluble and particulate stimuli, and cytochrome b558 was absent as measured by immunoblotting and difference absorption spectra. Mutations in the p22phox mRNA of the patient were detected by reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing. The defect in the mRNA was a 179-bp insertion associated with a 21-bp deletion of the beginning of exon 5 at position 315 from the translation start codon of the p22phox cDNA. This defect was also detected in the patient's parents. In the genomic DNA of the patient, the molecular defect was a homozygous 36-bp deletion in the linking sequence between intron 4 and exon 5. This genomic deletion corresponded to 15 bp of the 3' extremity of intron 4 and 21 bp of the beginning of exon 5 (the same deletion of exon 5 seen in the corresponding mRNA). The splicing mRNA error is attributable to the loss of the ag acceptor site of intron 4 and the utilization of a cryptic splice site with an ag sequence at position 355–356 of intron 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report here two atypical cases of X-linked CGD patients (first cousins) in which cytochrome b558 is present at a normal level but is not functional (X91+). The mutations were localized by single-strand conformational polymorphism of reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction amplified fragments and then identified by sequence analysis. They consisted in two base substitutions (C919 to A and C923 to G), changing His303 to Asn and Pro304 to Arg in the cytosolic gp91phox C-terminal tail. Mismatched polymerase chain reaction and genomic DNA sequencing showed that mothers had both wild-type and mutated alleles, confirming that this case was transmitted in an X-linked fashion. A normal amount of FAD was found in neutrophil membranes, both in the X91+ patients and their parents. Epstein–Barr virus-transformed B lymphocytes from the X91+ patients acidified normally upon stimulation with arachidonic acid, indicating that the mutated gp91phox still functioned as a proton channel. A cell-free translocation assay demonstrated that the association of the cytosolic factors p47phox and p67phox with the membrane fraction was strongly disrupted. We concluded that residues 303 and 304 are crucial for the stable assembly of the NADPH oxidase complex and for electron transfer, but not for its proton channel activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]