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We used high-resolution two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) to identify hormonally regulated proteins in cultured human fetal lung. Proteins labeled with [35S]methionine were separated by 2-D PAGE, and fluorograms were analyzed by computer-assisted analysis of densitometric scans. Dexamethasone (10 nM) and gamma-interferon (10 ng/ml) induced (2- to 22-fold vs. control) distinct sets of proteins (comprising approximately 2% of approximately 1,000 resolved proteins). Treatment with forskolin (10 microM) plus 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX, 100 microM), which increases intracellular adenosine 3',53'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), induced both unique proteins and several proteins induced by dexamethasone. One protein (Mr 40,000, pI 4.4) was induced only with combined dexamethasone and cAMP treatment. Dexamethasone repressed four proteins, but inhibition was not observed with other hormones. Some of the regulated proteins were enriched in either fibroblasts or type II cells isolated from lung explants. We found no proteins that were consistently regulated by triiodothyronine (T3) (2 nM) or transforming growth factor-beta (10 ng/ml). Additionally, none of the hormonal treatments substantially altered the rate of methionine incorporation into total protein. Thus we have identified separate subsets of proteins that are regulated by glucocorticoids, gamma-interferon, and cAMP; these proteins may be important mediators of hormonal effects in the developing fetal lung.

We examined the effects of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on development of the surfactant system in alveolar epithelial cells of fetal lung. Explants of second-trimester human fetal lung were cultured for 1 to 6 days in serum-free medium containing recombinant human IFN-gamma (0.03 to 30 ng/ml) and/or dexamethasone (10 or 100 nM). Treatment for 3 days with IFN-gamma alone, dexamethasone alone, and IFN plus dexamethasone increased the content of surfactant protein A (SP-A, 28 to 36 kD) by approximately 3-, 2.5-, and 10-fold, respectively. The biphasic response pattern of SP-A to dexamethasone (stimulation initially and inhibition with continued culture) was not altered by the presence of IFN-gamma. IFN-gamma also stimulated accumulation of SP-A mRNA (2.7-fold at 24 h) but did not affect the levels of mRNAs for surfactant protein B (18 kD) and surfactant protein C (5 kD). To assess the effect of IFN-gamma on synthesis of surfactant lipids, we determined the content of phosphatidylcholine, the rate of labeled choline incorporation into phosphatidylcholine, saturation of newly synthesized phosphatidylcholine, and the activity of fatty acid synthetase, a glucocorticoid-inducible enzyme. Treatment of explants for 5 days with IFN-gamma had no effect on these parameters. Studies by light and electron microscopy revealed little difference between control and IFN-treated explants with regard to cell viability and epithelial cell differentiation. We conclude that IFN-gamma has a selective stimulatory effect on SP-A among surfactant components.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Factors IX and X are plasma glycoproteins important in the middle phase of the coagulation cascade, and a bleeding disorder of variable severity results from abnormalities in the expression of either gene encoding these proteins. Nearly 380 unique molecular mechanisms cause factor IX deficiency, or haemophilia B, but only a limited number of mutations causing congenital factor X deficiency have been characterized to date. In this study enzymatic amplification has been used to examine the molecular basis for factor IX deficiency in two patients and factor X deficiency in two patients. Genomic DNA was isolated from each patient and synthetic oligonucleotide primers were used in the polymerase chain reaction to amplify each axon, splice junction and polyadenylation site. Amplified DNA was then cloned into pUC18 and sequenced. Five novel point mutations were identified, two occurring in the eight exon of the factor IX gene and three in the eight exon of the factor X gene. One of the haemophilia B mutations and one of the factor X mutations altered homologous histidine residues near the serine of the catalytic triad.

Lamellar bodies were isolated from dexamethasone and T 3 -treated explant cultures of human fetal lung, using sucrose density-gradient centrifugation. We examined their content of surfactant apoprotein A (SP-A), and their ability to form surface films and to undergo structural transformation in vitro. SP-A measured by ELISA composed less than 2% of total protein within lamellar bodies; this represented, as a minimum estimate, a 2–12-food enrichment over homogenate. One- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis also suggested that SP-A was a minor protein component of lamellar bodies. Adsorption of lamellar bodies to an air/water interface was moderately rapid, but accelerated dramatically upon addition of exogenous SP-A in ratios of 1:2–16 (SP-A: phospholipid, w/w). Similar adsorption patterns were seen for lamellar bodies from fresh adult rat and rabbit lung. Lamellar bodies incubated under conditions that promote formation of tubular myelin underwent structural rearrangement only in the presence of exogenous SP-A, with extensive formation of multiamellate whorls of lipid bilayers (but no classical tubular myelin lattices). We conclude that lamellar bodies are enriched in SP-A, but have insufficient content of SP-A for structural transformation to tubular myelin and rapid surface film formation in vitro.

We examined the effect of monolayer culture on surfactant phospholipids and proteins of type II cells isolated from human adult and fetal lung. Type II cells were prepared from cultured explants of fetal lung (16–24 weeks gestation) and from adult surgical specimens. Cells were maintained for up to 6 days on plastic tissue culture dishes. Although incorporation of [ methyl - 3 H]choline into phosphatidylcholine (PC) by fetal cells was similar on day 1 and day 5 of culture, saturation of PC fell from 35 to 26%. In addition, there was decreased distribution of labeled acetate into PC, whereas distribution into other phospholipids increased or did not change. The decrease in saturation of newly synthesized PC was not altered by triiodothyronine (T 3 ) and dexamethasone treatment or by culture as mixed type II cell/fibroblast monolayers. The content of surfactant protein SP-A (28–36 kDa) in fetal cells, as measured by ELISA and immunofluorescence microscopy, rose during the first day and then fell to undetectable levels by the fifth. Synthesis of SP-A, as measured by [ 35 S]methionine labeling and immunoprecipitation, was detectable on day 1 but not thereafter. Levels of mRNAs for SP-A and for the two lipophilic surfactant proteins SP-B (18 kDa) and SP-C (5 kDa) fell with half-times of maximally 24 h. In contrast, total protein synthesis measured by [ 35 S]methionine incorporation increased and then plateaued. In adult cells, the content of SP-A and its mRNA decreased during culture, with time-courses similar to those for fetal cells. We conclude that in monolayer culture on plastic culture dishes, human type II cells lose their ability to synthesize both phospholipids and proteins of surfactant. The control of type II cell differentiation under these conditions appears to be at a pretranslational level.