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1. Arylamidase activity was isolated from Enterolobium contortisiliquum seeds (2 U/g) using L-Leu-2-naphthylamide as substrate to monitor the purification. 2. The enzyme preparation was purified 733-fold by ammonium sulfate precipitation, and by ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography, in 6.6% yield. 3. SDS-Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis after fast protein liquid chromatography on a Mono Q column, showed only one protein band with a molecular weight of 35 kDa. 4. The optimum pH for arylamidase activity was 6.5. Taking the hydrolysis rate of Lys-2-naphthylamide as one, the relative rates at which the other substrates were hydrolyzed were: Leu-2-naphthylamide, 30, Met-2-naphthylamide, 18, Arg-2-naphthylamide, 2, Ala-2-naphthylamide, 1.5, and L-Leu-p-nitroanilide, 26. 5. The arylamidase activity was inhibited 50% by 0.1 mM HgCl2, 0.1 mM MnCl2, 0.1 mM ZnCl2, 0.13 mM NiCl2, 0.2 mM o-phenanthroline and 1 microM sodium p-hydroxymercuribenzoate, and activated 35% by 5.0 microM EDTA. Iodoacetate (0.67 mM), dithioerythritol and 2-mercaptoethanol (3.3 mM), and chloride ions (0.2 M) had no effect on the enzyme activity.

Transthyretin (TTR) is a thyroid hormone transport protein that is secreted by hepatocytes into the serum and by the choroid plexus epithelium into the cerebral spinal fluid. The protein is not made elsewhere in adult animals in significant amounts. We find that the start site for mRNA synthesis is the same in both cell types. The sequences required for mouse TTR expression in cultured hepatocytes include an enhancer at -1.86 to -1.96 kbp and a promoter-proximal region at -70 to -200 bp relative to the mRNA cap site. We demonstrate that in transgenic mice these regulatory regions (approximately 300 bp) are sufficient for quantitatively normal expression of a TTR minigene in hepatocytes, but not for restricted expression in the choroid plexus cells of the brain. Instead, they direct aberrant widespread expression in regions of the brain outside the choroid plexus. With 3 kbp of upstream sequence the TTR minigene is expressed specifically in the choroid plexus as well as in the liver, demonstrating the normal cell type specificity for TTR. These results suggest that 3 kbp of upstream sequence contains positive element(s) required for choroid plexus expression which are distinct from those utilized in the hepatocyte, and may also contain negative element(s) that function to suppress transcription in other brain cell types.

Tamoxifen is one of the most effective anti-estrogens for breast carcinoma therapy and has been used since 1971. Side effects are not frequent, but some ophthalmologic complications have already been described such as retinopathy, keratopathy and optic neuritis. The authors report a case of retinopathy occurring after a period of 7 years (205 g total doses). They give a review of the literature, with the ophthalmological and functional aspects of the retinopathy.

We used herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) DNA and restriction fragments of HSV-1 DNA covalently coupled to cellulose as a reagent to isolate for further characterization the major and minor HSV-1 immediate-early mRNA species in HeLa cells infected and maintained in the absence of de novo protein synthesis. Five major and several minor immediate-early mRNA species were characterized. One major species was a 4.2-kilobase mRNA mapping in the TR(S)/IR(S) region with its 3' end distal to the U(S) region; this mRNA encoded a 170,000-dalton polypeptide in vitro. A 2.8-kilobase mRNA, encoding a 120,000-dalton polypeptide, was mapped in the TR(L)/IR(L) region with its 3' end directed toward the U(L) region. Three 1.8-kilobase mRNA species were mapped. One, mapping in the IR(S) region with its 3' end in the U(S), encoded a 68,000-dalton polypeptide. One mapped in the TR(S) region and had its 3' end in the U(S) region; the third one encoded a 64,000-dalton polypeptide and mapped in the U(L) region near the IR(L) region. One minor species 5.2 kilobases in size was clearly detectable mapping in the U(L) region. Furthermore, there were indications that one or more immediate-early mRNA species approximately 3 kilobases in size hybridized to regions near the TR(L) and in or near the TR(S)/IR(S) regions. Nuclear immediate-early RNA mapped only in those regions where polyribosomal immediate-early mRNA mapped, although minor differences were seen. Finally, we demonstrated that at least three major immediate-early mRNA's-4.2 kilobases, 2.8 kilobases, and the 1.8-kilobase one mapping in the IR(S)/U(S) region-continued to appear on polyribosomes as functional mRNA late after infection.

Four different regulatory sites required for transcriptional stimulation by the enhancers of two unrelated liver-specific genes alpha 1-antitrypsin and transthyretin appear to bind the same nuclear protein that is found mainly in the liver. Such proteins may provide a basis for a coordinated, hepatocyte-specific control of gene transcription.