Myeloproliferative disease in mice with reduced presenilin gene dosage: effect of gamma-secretase blockage.
Mammalian presenilins (PS) consist of two highly homologous proteins, PS1 and PS2. Because of their indispensable activity in the gamma-secretase cleavage of amyloid precursor protein to generate Abeta peptides, inhibition of PS gamma-secretase activity is considered a potential therapy for Abeta blockage and Alzheimer's disease intervention. However, a variety of other substrates are also subject to PS-dependent processing, and it is thus imperative to understand the consequences of PS inactivation in vivo. Here we report a pivotal role of PS in hematopoiesis. Mice heterozygous for PS1 and homozygous for PS2 (PS1(+/)(-)PS2(-)(/)(-)) developed splenomegaly with severe granulocyte infiltration. This was preceded by an overrepresentation of granulocytic cells in the bone marrow and a greatly increased multipotent granulocyte-monocyte progenitor in the spleen. In contrast, hematopoietic stem cells and T- and B-lymphocytes were not affected. Importantly, treatment of wild-type splenocytes with a gamma-secretase inhibitor directly promoted the granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming unit (GM-CFU). These results establish a critical role of PS in myelopoiesis. Our finding that this activity can be directly modulated by its gamma-secretase activity has important safety implications concerning these inhibitors.[1]References
- Myeloproliferative disease in mice with reduced presenilin gene dosage: effect of gamma-secretase blockage. Qyang, Y., Chambers, S.M., Wang, P., Xia, X., Chen, X., Goodell, M.A., Zheng, H. Biochemistry (2004) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
