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The liver has a unique ability to recover from injury unlike any other organ. A poorly understood aspect of liver regeneration is the role of hepatocellular polarization. Neighbor of Punc E11 (Nope) is an oncofetal stem/progenitor cell marker, which is expressed by depolarized adult hepatocytes after cholestatic liver injury and in hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver injury induced by a choline-deficient and ethionine-supplemented diet is reversible if followed by an additional dietary stop interval and enabled us to study the expression of Nope during the induction of chronic liver injury and during subsequent liver regeneration. We could show by quantitative RT-PCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry that the expression of Nope is induced in depolarized adult hepatocytes during injury. However, after another 2 weeks of a normal diet, the polarization of hepatocytes was almost completely restored and the expression of Nope remained limited to bile ducts and oval cells. Using an inducible CK19-lineage tracing model, we could demonstrate that oval cell–mediated hepatocyte regeneration is rare and was preceded by repolarization of hepatocytes. In conclusion, polarization of hepatocytes is an important part of liver regeneration and precedes oval cell–mediated regeneration of the liver. This process can be visualized by a characteristic expression pattern of Nope

There is a medical need of biomarkers for disease stratification in cholestatic liver diseases that come along with changes in hepatocyte polarity. Neighbor of Punc E11 (Nope) is an oncofetal marker that is lost after final differentiation and polarization of hepatocytes. We analyzed the expression pattern of Nope and connexin (Cx) 26 as markers of hepatocyte polarization during murine liver development as well as in adult liver with or without bile duct ligation (BDL) by quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting (WB), and immunohistochemistry. Nope is highly expressed in fetal and postnatal liver but barely detectable thereafter. Cx26, however, is much higher expressed in adult than in fetal liver. Postnatally, Nope is directed to the sinusoidal membrane of early hepatocytes while Cx26 remains distributed over the whole membrane indicating limited polarization. In the adult liver, only Cx26 is detectable and restricted to the bile canalicular domain indicating fully polarized hepatocytes. After BDL, Nope is again >300-fold upregulated while Cx26 is reduced rapidly. By immunohistochemistry, Nope identifies a subset of hepatocytes with randomly distributed Cx26. In summary, Nope identifies depolarized adult hepatocytes after cholestatic liver injury resembling early postnatal hepatocytes. Therefore, Nope might be a valuable histochemical biomarker allowing stage-specific stratifications in cholestatic liver diseases.

Bioreactive natural products represent versatile starting points for the development of structurally unique activity-based probes. In the present protocol, we describe the workflow for an activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) experiment with an alkyne-tagged natural product derivative. Our protocol includes experimental procedures for in vivo labeling, sample preparation and 2-step (click chemistry) visualization and sample preparation for mass spectrometry-based target identification.

Bioreactive natural products represent versatile starting points for the development of structurally unique activity-based probes. In the present protocol, we describe the workflow for an activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) experiment with an alkyne-tagged natural product derivative. Our protocol includes experimental procedures for in vivo labeling, sample preparation and 2-step (click chemistry) visualization and sample preparation for mass spectrometry-based target identification.

Polyacetylenes are a class of alkyne-containing natural products. Although potent bioactivities and thus possible applications as chemical probes have already been reported for some polyacetylenes, insights into the biological activities or molecular mode of action are still rather limited in most cases. To overcome this limitation, we describe the application of the polyacetylene callyspongynic acid in the development of an experimental roadmap for characterizing potential protein targets of alkyne-containing natural products. To this end, we undertook the first chemical synthesis of callyspongynic acid. We then used in situ chemical proteomics methods to demonstrate extensive callyspongynic acid-mediated chemical tagging of endoplasmic reticulum-associated lipid-metabolizing and modifying enzymes. We anticipate that an elucidation of protein targets of natural products may serve as an effective guide to the development of subsequent biological assays that aim to identify chemical phenotypes and bioactivities.

Taspase 1 is an N-terminal threonine protease implicated in leukemia and other cancers. Despite intensive efforts in recent years, only a limited number of Taspase 1 inhibitors are currently available, and they lack general applicability. Here we present a novel class of Taspase 1 inhibitors based on a peptidyl succinimidyl peptide motif. These inhibitors were obtained from the substrate cleavage sequence and mechanistic considerations involving the previously proposed asparaginase-type cleavage mechanism. We anticipate that this class of Taspase 1 inhibitor will find wide application in further biochemical and structural studies, for example for better investigating the molecular details of the unusual enzymatic cleavage mechanism of Taspase 1.