|
Originally published In Press as doi:10.1074/jbc.M509483200 on November 22, 2005
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 5, 2784-2794, February 3, 2006
The CLN9 Protein, a Regulator of Dihydroceramide Synthase*
Angela Schulz ,
Talal Mousallem ,
Maya Venkataramani ,
Dixie-Ann Persaud-Sawin ,
Adam Zucker ,
Chiara Luberto¶,
Alicja Bielawska¶,
Jacek Bielawski¶,
Joost C. M. Holthuis||,
S. Michal Jazwinski**,
Lina Kozhaya ,
Ghassan S. Dbaibo , and
Rose-Mary N. Boustany 1
From the
Duke University Medical Center, Departments of Pediatrics and Neurobiology, Durham, North Carolina 27710, University Medical Center Hamburg, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany, ¶Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Biochemistry, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, ||Utrecht University, Department of Membrane Enzymology, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands, **Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, and  American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, 1107-2020, Lebanon
A new variant of a group of pediatric neurodegenerative diseases known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) or Batten disease has been identified. It is termed CLN9-deficient. CLN9-deficient fibroblasts have a distinctive phenotype of rapid growth and increased apoptosis and diminished levels of ceramide, dihydroceramide, and sphingomyelin. Transfection with CLN8 but not other NCL genes corrected growth and apoptosis in CLN9-deficient cells, although the entire CLN8 sequence was normal. CLN8 is one of the TRAM-Lag1-CLN8 proteins containing a Lag1 motif. The latter imparts (dihydro)ceramide synthase activity to yeast cells. Transfection with the yeast gene Lag1 Sc and the human homolog LASS1 increased ceramide levels and partially corrected growth and apoptosis in CLN9-deficient cells. LASS2,-4,,-5, and -6 also corrected growth and apoptosis. Dihydroceramide levels and dihydroceramide synthase activity were markedly diminished in CLN9-deficient cells. Sequencing of LASS1, LASS2, LASS4, LASS5, and LASS6 genes was normal, and expression levels were increased or normal in CLN9-deficient cells by reverse transcription-PCR. N-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)retinamide (4-HPR), a dihydroceramide synthase activator, corrected growth and apoptosis and increased dihydroceramide synthase activity. Ceramide levels dropped further, and there was no increase in de novo ceramide synthesis, probably due to the effects of 4-HPR as activator of dihydroceramide synthase and inhibitor of dihydroceramide desaturase. Fumonisin B1, a dihydroceramide synthase inhibitor, exaggerated the CLN9-deficient phenotype of accelerated growth, decreased ceramide and increased apoptosis. This was neutralized by 4-HPR. We conclude that the CLN9 protein may be a regulator of dihydroceramide synthase and that 4-HPR could be developed as a treatment for CLN9-deficient patients.
Received for publication, August 29, 2005
, and in revised form, November 11, 2005.
* This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Grant SCHU1597/1-1 (to A. S.), by the Serbian Orthodox Church (to R.-M. B.), and also supported by grants from the NIA, National Institutes of Health (to S. M. J.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Depts. of Pediatrics and Neurobiology, MSRB Box 2604, Durham, NC 27710. Tel.: 919-681-6220; Fax: 919-681-8090; E-mail: boust001{at}mc.duke.edu.

CiteULike Complore Connotea Del.icio.us Digg Reddit Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. Schiffmann, J. Sandner, R. Schmidt, K. Birod, I. Wobst, H. Schmidt, C. Angioni, G. Geisslinger, and S. Grosch
The selective COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib modulates sphingolipid synthesis
J. Lipid Res.,
January 1, 2009;
50(1):
32 - 40.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
J. Jin, Q. Hou, T. D. Mullen, Y. H. Zeidan, J. Bielawski, J. M. Kraveka, A. Bielawska, L. M. Obeid, Y. A. Hannun, and Y.-T. Hsu
Ceramide Generated by Sphingomyelin Hydrolysis and the Salvage Pathway Is Involved in Hypoxia/Reoxygenation-induced Bax Redistribution to Mitochondria in NT-2 Cells
J. Biol. Chem.,
September 26, 2008;
283(39):
26509 - 26517.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
R.-M. Boustany, J. W. Britton, J. E. Parisi, and B. M. Keegan
A 23-year-old man with seizures and visual deficit
Neurology,
January 1, 2008;
70(1):
73 - 78.
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
J. M. Kraveka, L. Li, Z. M. Szulc, J. Bielawski, B. Ogretmen, Y. A. Hannun, L. M. Obeid, and A. Bielawska
Involvement of Dihydroceramide Desaturase in Cell Cycle Progression in Human Neuroblastoma Cells
J. Biol. Chem.,
June 8, 2007;
282(23):
16718 - 16728.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
Y. Baran, A. Salas, C. E. Senkal, U. Gunduz, J. Bielawski, L. M. Obeid, and B. Ogretmen
Alterations of Ceramide/Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Rheostat Involved in the Regulation of Resistance to Imatinib-induced Apoptosis in K562 Human Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells
J. Biol. Chem.,
April 13, 2007;
282(15):
10922 - 10934.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
C. E. Senkal, S. Ponnusamy, M. J. Rossi, J. Bialewski, D. Sinha, J. C. Jiang, S. M. Jazwinski, Y. A. Hannun, and B. Ogretmen
Role of human longevity assurance gene 1 and C18-ceramide in chemotherapy-induced cell death in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas
Mol. Cancer Ther.,
February 1, 2007;
6(2):
712 - 722.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
Y. Pewzner-Jung, S. Ben-Dor, and A. H. Futerman
When Do Lasses (Longevity Assurance Genes) Become CerS (Ceramide Synthases)?: INSIGHTS INTO THE REGULATION OF CERAMIDE SYNTHESIS
J. Biol. Chem.,
September 1, 2006;
281(35):
25001 - 25005.
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|
Copyright © 2006 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
|