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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 49, 40624-40631, December 9, 2005
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1
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3
3
From the
Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, du CNRS, UMR6097, Sophia-Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne, France and the
Institute of Biochemistry, University of Mainz, D-55128 Mainz, Germany
Received for publication, June 3, 2005 , and in revised form, September 20, 2005.
| ABSTRACT |
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112 peptidyl bond, yielding an N-terminal fragment referred to as N1. We recently demonstrated that two disintegrins, namely ADAM10 and ADAM17 (TACE, tumor necrosis factor alpha converting enzyme) participated in both constitutive and protein kinase C-regulated generation of N1, respectively. These proteolytic events were strikingly reminiscent of those involved in the so-called "
-secretase pathway" that leads to the production of secreted sAPP
from
APP. We show here, by transient and stable transfection analyses, that ADAM9 also participates in the constitutive secretion of N1 in HEK293 cells, TSM1 neurons, and mouse fibroblasts. Decreasing endogenous ADAM9 expression by an antisense approach drastically reduces both N1 and sAPP
recoveries. However, we establish that ADAM9 was unable to increase N1 and sAPP
productions after transient transfection in fibroblasts depleted of ADAM10. Accordingly, ADAM9 is unable to cleave a fluorimetric substrate of membrane-bound
-secretase activity in ADAM10-/- fibroblasts. However, we establish that co-expression of ADAM9 and ADAM10 in ADAM10-deficient fibroblasts leads to enhanced membrane-bound and released fluorimetric substrate hydrolyzing activity when compared with that observed after ADAM10 cDNA transfection alone in ADAM10-/- cells. Interestingly, we demonstrate that shedded ADAM10 displays the ability to cleave endogenous PrPc in fibroblasts. Altogether, these data provide evidence that ADAM9 is an important regulator of the physiological processing of PrPc and
APP but that this enzyme acts indirectly, likely by contributing to the shedding of ADAM10. ADAM9 could therefore represent, besides ADAM10, another potential therapeutic target to enhance the breakdown of the 106126 and A
toxic domains of the prion and
APP proteins. | INTRODUCTION |
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Classical means to regulate endogenous concentrations of proteins are either clearance/uptake or proteolytic catabolism. PrPc apparently undergoes distinct proteolytic events in normal and Creutzfeldt-Jakob-affected brains. In normal conditions, PrPc is endoproteolyzed mainly at the 110/111
112 peptide bond (13), leading to a secreted product referred to as N1. This cleavage is likely of importance because it occurs within the 106126 domain of PrPc that is thought to convey intrinsic toxicity (1416). Therefore, this cleavage could be seen as a physiological means to deplete cells of endogenous PrPc and its 106126 associated toxicity. Interestingly, in the pathology, an additional major breakdown occurs upstream, at the 90
91 peptidyl bond (13). Such "pathological" cleavage preserves the toxic potential of 106126 that remains intact.
We recently established that N1, the physiological cleavage product of PrPc, could be generated in cells upon constitutive and protein kinase C-mediated pathways (17). We identified ADAM10 and ADAM17, two members of the disintegrin and metalloprotease family (18), as the main enzymes responsible for constitutive and regulated production of N1, respectively (19). The nature of the disintegrins involved in N1 formation together with the PKC regulation of this cleavage were strikingly reminiscent of those taking place on
APP that ultimately leads to sAPP
secretion (20).
Among the wide family of ADAM proteases, ADAM9 appeared as a likely candidate, particularly because this protease was suggested to contribute to sAPP
formation (21, 22). Therefore, the close parallel between the
-secretases-generating sAPP
and N1 led us to postulate that ADAM9 could also contribute to N1 formation. Here we show that overexpression of ADAM9 in various cell systems including HEK293 cells, TSM neurons, and fibroblasts, all led to increased N1 production. Conversely, down-regulation of ADAM9 by an antisense approach drastically reduces N1 recovery. We also show that ADAM9-associated increase of N1 was abolished by ADAM10 deficiency and that ADAM9 contributed to the shedding of a catalytically active form of ADAM10. Altogether, our study indicates that ADAM9 indirectly contributes to the N1 production by acting upstream to ADAM10, likely by enhancing its shedding.
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| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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that is present at the C terminus of the secreted sAPP
fragment.
Cell Cultures and Transient Transfections
APP and 3F4-MoPrPc-expressing HEK293 cells were obtained and cultured as described previously (17, 24). Transient transfections of pcDNA3 vector, empty or encoding mouse ADAM9, wild-type ADAM10, mutated ADAM10 (A10-160), or truncated (A10-125) ADAM10 (2 µg) (25) were carried out using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen) as described previously (24). The 160 construct corresponds to an ADAM10 species rendered resistant to PC7 proteolysis by introduction of a NAQA sequence replacing the RKKR targeted by PC7 (25). Control ADAM10 construct (125) corresponds to the enzyme deleted of its prodomain (25). ADAM10-/- fibroblasts have been obtained and cultured as described previously (26). TSM1 neurons have been described previously (17).
ADAM9-antisense Construct3.2-kb BamHI-NotI fragment coding full-length mouse ADAM9 was isolated and purified from the pcDNA3 host vector (provided by Dr. C. Blobel) and subcloned into a pcDNA3 expression vector containing a polylinker with an antisense orientation. This yielded ADAM9-antisense sequence downstream of the cytomegalovirus promoter. The construct was confirmed by sequence analysis.
Stable TransfectionsHEK293 cells overexpressing mouse ADAM9 or mouse ADAM9-antisense were obtained after transfection of 2 µgof the corresponding cDNAs with DAC30 reagent (Eurogentec). Positive clones were identified by Western blot analysis with anti-mouse ADAM9-specific polyclonal antibody. Cells were maintained at 37 °C in 5% CO2 in DMEM (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum containing penicillin (100 units/ml-1), streptomycin (50 mg/ml-1), and Geneticin (0.5 mg/ml-1).
Western Blot Analysis of ADAM9 and ADAM10 Expressions HEK293 cells grown in 35-mm dishes were washed once with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and resuspended in 500 µl of lysis buffer (10 mM Tris/HCl, pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl, 0.5% Triton X-100, 0.5% deoxycholate, 5 mM EDTA) supplemented with a protease inhibitor mixture (Sigma). 25 µg of proteins were separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on an 8% Tris/glycine gel. Proteins were transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes (2 h, 100 V) and incubated overnight at 4 °C with anti-ADAM9 or ADAM10 antibodies (1/1000 dilution in PBS/Tween 0.05%/milk 5%). Bound antibodies were detected using a goat anti-rabbit peroxidase-conjugated antibody (1/5000 dilution) (Beckman Coulter), and immunological complexes were revealed with enhanced chemiluminescence as described (17).
Western Blot Analysis of PrPcCell lysates were obtained as described above. Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford method (27), and 25 µg of protein were subjected to SDS-PAGE on a 12% Tris/glycine gel. Proteins were transferred onto nitrocellulose membrane (1.5 h, 100 V) and incubated with SAF32 (1/2000 dilution in PBS/Tween 0.05%, milk 5%) overnight at 4 °C. PrPc was revealed by electrochemiluminescence as described previously (17).
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Immunoprecipitation and Western Blot Analysis of Endogenous sAPP
in HEK293-antisense-ADAM9Cells were allowed to secrete for 2 h in 1 ml of serum-depleted DMEM, then media were collected as above. The medium was supplemented with RIPA and incubated overnight with a 1000-fold dilution of polyclonal antibody 207 and protein A-Sepharose beads (Amersham Biosciences). After centrifugation, pellets were washed once with 500 µl of RIPA buffer, once with 500 µl PBS and subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on a 8% Tris/glycine gel. Proteins were transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes (2 h, 100 V) and incubated overnight at 4 °C with the monoclonal antibody WO2. Immunological complexes were detected as above.
APP immunoreactivity was monitored in cell lysates with 22C11 (1/2000) and SAF32 (1/2000) antibodies, respectively.
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Western Blot Analysis of
APP and sAPP
in ADAM10-/- Fibroblasts and in
APP-expressing HEK293 CellsCells cultured in 35-mm dishes were washed once with PBS and incubated for 2 h at 37 °C in the absence (control) or in the presence of various pharmacological agents in 1 ml of serum-depleted DMEM. Media were collected, and cells were resuspended in 500 µl of lysis buffer. Both medium and lysates were complemented with a protease inhibitor mixture (Sigma). Twenty µl of media (sAPP
) or 25 µg of proteins from cell lysates (
APP) were subjected to SDS-PAGE on a 8% Tris/glycine gel, transferred on nitrocellulose (2 h, 100 V), and incubated overnight at 4 °C with monoclonal antibody 22C11 (1/2000). Immunological complexes were detected with the ECL method using the goat anti-mouse peroxidase-conjugated antibody (1/5000 dilution).
Disintegrin Fluorimetric Assay on Intact CellsWild-type and ADAM10-deficient fibroblasts were cultured in 6-well plates and transiently transfected with empty vector or pcDNA3 encoding mouse ADAM9 or/and ADAM10 as described above. Forty-eight hours after transfection, the medium was replaced by 1.5 ml of phosphate-bufferred saline containing the
-secretase fluorimetric substrate (7-methoxycoumarin-4-yl)acetyl-P-L-A-Q-A-V-N-3-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-L-2,3-diaminopropionyl-R-S-S-S-R-NH2 (10 µM) (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) and incubated for various time periods at 37 °C. At each kinetic point, 100 µl of medium were taken out and fluorimetrically recorded (320 and 420 nm as excitation and emission wavelengths, respectively).
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Statistical AnalysisStatistical analysis was performed with the Prism software (Graphpad software, San Diego, CA) using the unpaired t test for pairwise comparisons.
| RESULTS |
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Recoveries in HEK293 CellsWe previously established that ADAM10 and ADAM17 contributed to the production of a 11/12-Da PrPc-related fragment referred to as N1 in HEK293 cells (19). We examined whether transient transfection of murine ADAM9 cDNA could influence the recovery of N1. Western blot analysis of ADAM9 expression revealed two immunoreactive bands at 110 and 84 kDa (Fig. 1A) in agreement with a previous study (28) indicating that ADAM9 is first synthesized as a precursor, which is later processed (removal of inhibitory prodomain) by a proprotein convertase in the secretory pathway to yield the 84-kDa active form. Transfection of murine ADAM9 cDNA increases N1 recovery (Fig. 1, A and C) without significantly affecting PrPc-like immunoreactivity (Fig. 1A). Interestingly, ADAM9 transient transfection also drastically increases sAPP
recovery in
APP-expressing HEK293 cells (Fig. 1, B and D), thereby confirming that in HEK293 cells, ADAM9 could participate to the
-secretase-mediated cleavage of
APP as it did in COS cells and human glioblastoma A172 cells (21, 29). To confirm this finding, we stably transfected ADAM9 cDNA in HEK293 cells. A series of positive clones exhibited the expected expression pattern, i.e. the high molecular weight precursor of ADAM9 and mature ADAM9 (Fig. 2A). Clone #8 was selected for further experiments. Stably transfected cells secrete drastically higher amounts of N1 than mock-transfected HEK293 cells (Fig. 2, B and C), while PrPc-like immunoreactivity was not affected (Fig. 2, B and D).
N1 production in stably transfected ADAM9-expressing cells was significantly inhibited by the zinc-metalloprotease inhibitor o-phenanthroline, while AEBSF (a serine-protease inhibitor) and pepstatin (acidic protease inhibitor) were unable to affect N1 recovery (Fig. 3). Further analysis of the effect of disintegrin inhibitors indicated that BB3103 and, to a lesser extent, TAPI both reduced significantly ADAM9-induced increase in N1 production (Fig. 3, A and B). Thus, in the presence of BB3103, ADAM9-associated increase of N1 production was fully abolished and N1 recovery returned to control secretion obtained with mock-transfected cells (Fig. 3, A and B). The rather selective pharmacological inhibitory spectrum of BB3103 toward disintegrins together with the extent of inhibition of N1 production triggered by this inhibitor suggest that PrPc undergoes little if any proteolysis at the 110111
112 site by proteases other than disintegrins.
N1 and sAPP
Secretion Are Reduced by ADAM9 Antisense Strategy To establish the contribution of endogenous ADAM9 to N1 formation, we have established HEK293 cells stably overexpressing ADAM9 antisense cDNA. Among the various clones displaying reduced ADAM9 expression, the one selected shows a 54% reduction in mature ADAM9-like immunoreactivity (Fig. 4A). Lowering ADAM9 expression led to a statistically significant reduction of N1 (Fig. 4, B and C) and sAPP
(Fig. 4, D and E) recoveries without altering endogenous PrPc (B)- and
APP (D)-like immunoreactivities. Altogether, these data indicate that, as documented above for overexpressed ADAM9, endogenous ADAM9 contributed to N1 formation and to the
-secretase pathway yielding sAPP
in HEK293 cells.
Transient Transfection of ADAM9 cDNA Increases N1 and sAPP
Recoveries in TSM1 Neurons and FibroblastsWe examined whether the control of N1 production by ADAM9 was cell-specific. TSM1 is a neuronal cell line of neocortical origin (30) in which N1 production had been documented (17). As expected, N1 was readily detectable in mock-transfected TSM1 neurons, the production of which was enhanced by ADAM9 transient expression (Fig. 5A). Similar experiments carried out with immortalized fibroblasts led to similar N1 increased recovery (Fig. 5B) indicating that ADAM9-associated increase of N1 was not cell-specific. It should be noted that in both cell types, ADAM9 transfection led to increased expressions of both pro-ADAM9 and ADAM9, indicating that in neurons and fibroblasts, ADAM9 was properly processed and, according to increased N1 production, fully catalytically functional.
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Productions in Wild-type but Not in ADAM10-/- FibroblastsPrevious works demonstrated that the disintegrin metalloprotease ADAM10 had an
-secretase activity responsible for processing the amyloid precursor protein (31) and PrPc (19). Our study now clearly shows that ADAM9 contributes to the proteolytic processing of PrPc besides that of
APP suggested previously (21). However, our data did not establish whether catalysis triggered by ADAM9 was direct or indirect and one could not preclude a possible functional cross talk between disintegrins for PrPc and
APP proteolysis. Thus, ADAM9 and ADAM10 could independently participate in both PrPc or
APP processing or, alternatively, one of these enzymes could be rate-limiting for full functionality of the other. To answer this question, we took advantage of recently established ADAM10-/- fibroblasts cell line (26) to assess whether the deletion of this enzyme could impair ADAM9-associated N1 and sAPP
productions. In wild-type fibroblasts, transient transfection of ADAM9 cDNA led to increased recoveries of released (but not intracellular) N1 (Fig. 6, A and B) and sAPP
(Fig. 7A) and full expression and maturation of ADAM9 (Fig. 6, C and D). In ADAM10-deficient fibroblasts, N1 (Fig. 6, A and B) and sAPP
(Fig. 7A) recoveries were drastically reduced in control conditions and were not enhanced by ADAM9 cDNA transient transfection, although ADAM9 remained fully expressed and maturated (Figs. 6, C and E, and 7B). Therefore, our data indicate that ADAM9 likely indirectly contributed, in an ADAM10-dependent manner, to N1 and sAPP
production. ADAM9 Does Not Affect ADAM10 ExpressionWe designed several experiments to delineate the cross-talk between ADAM9 and ADAM10. First, we examined whether exogenous ADAM9 could affect endogenous ADAM10 expression. Co-expression of ADAM9 and ADAM10 in ADAM10-deficient fibroblasts did not change ADAM10-like immunoreactivity observed after ADAM10 cDNA transfection, only (Fig. 8, A and B). Thus both mature and immature forms of ADAM10 remained unchanged. ADAM9 cDNA transfection did not modify the mRNA levels of endogenous ADAM10 in wild-type fibroblasts (data not shown). Interestingly, the use of the disintegrin inhibitor TAPI confirmed that the expression and ratio of mature and immature forms of ADAM10 remained unchanged in single and double transfection experiments (Fig. 8, A and B).
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ADAM9 Expression Increases the Levels of ADAM10-dependent Membrane-bound and Released
-Secretase-like ActivityWe therefore examined whether ADAM9 could influence ADAM10 activity downstream to its membrane-bound localization. We took advantage of the availability of an
-secretase fluorimetric substrate to measure
-secretase activity in its accurate membrane-bound configuration. Thus, since the fluorimetric substrate is non-permeant, any activity detected on intact fibroblasts would be due to protease(s) with catalytic sites facing the extracellular space or present in the culture medium. This configuration is the one expected for genuine ectopeptidasic enzymes such as disintegrins. Clearly, overexpression of ADAM9 in ADAM10-deficient fibroblasts did not modify the
-secretase activity present at the membrane (Fig. 10A). This observation fits perfectly with the inability of ADAM9 to process
APP and PrPc in ADAM10-/- fibroblasts (see Figs. 6 and 7). Conversely, ADAM10 cDNA transfection led to increased detection of
-secretase activity at the membrane (Fig. 10A). Interestingly, ADAM9/ADAM10 co-transfection further increased
-secretase activity, indicating that while inactive in absence of ADAM10, ADAM9 functionally interacts with ADAM10.
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-secretase activity released from ADAM10-/- fibroblasts. Independent transfection of ADAM9 or ADAM10 cDNA did not modify basal activity detectable in control conditions (Fig. 10B). However, the co-expression of ADAM9 and ADAM10 significantly enhanced the level of
-secretase-like activity released from ADAM10-/- cells (Fig. 10B). As ADAM9 is unable to cleave the substrate (see Fig. 10A), it could be concluded that the observable activity likely corresponded to shedded ADAM10.
Shedded ADAM10 Generates N1 from ADAM10-/- FibroblastsTo examine directly whether ADAM10 could cleave endogenous PrPc and generate N1, we conditioned medium from wild-type fibroblasts, which we then depleted of its endogenous N1 (Fig. 11, A and B). This source of enzyme displays high batimastat-sensitive flurometric substrate-hydrolyzing
-secretase-like activity (data not shown). This activity was able to generate N1 from ADAM10-/- fibroblasts, the formation of which was fully prevented by ADAM inhibitor (Fig. 11, C and D). Therefore, shedded ADAM10 displays the ability to directly cleave PrPc and, thereby, contributes to N1 formation.
| DISCUSSION |
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Very few studies have documented the fate of PrPc in vivo. Chen et al. (13) first described a "normal" cleavage taking place at the 110111/112 peptide bond (leading to the formation of a fragment referred to as N1) and reported on an additional breakdown specifically occuring upstream at the 90/91 peptide bond in pathological cases. However, the nature of the proteases involved in these cleavages remained unknown.
We previously demonstrated that PrPc undergoes cleavages by two proteases belonging to the ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) family. Indeed, we showed that ADAM10 and ADAM17 participated to the constitutive and protein-kinase C-regulated production of N1 (17, 19). Interestingly, there exists a close parallel between PrPc and
APP metabolism, and ADAM10 and ADAM17 are some of the common denominators that can be clearly identified between prion and Alzheimer disease (34). However, one group previously documented the fact that
APP could also undergo proteolysis by ADAM9 (21, 22). We therefore examined whether ADAM9 could also participate to PrPc physiological proteolysis. Indeed, overexpression of ADAM9 in several cell systems including HEK293 cells, TSM neurons, and fibroblasts drastically increases N1 recovery, while conversely, the down-regulation of endogenous ADAM9 reduces N1 formation. Therefore, ADAM9 contributes to both PrPc and
APP proteolysis.
Is ADAM9 acting directly on PrPc and
APP or upstream of another protease? Our study clearly suggests that ADAM9 acts upstream of ADAM10 that would be the end point of a catalytic cascade ultimately leading to N1 formation. Thus, ADAM9 expression increases N1 in wild-type fibroblasts but not in fibroblasts devoid of ADAM10. However, ADAM10 deficiency does not affect ADAM9 maturation, and therefore, the inability of ADAM9 to increase N1 in ADAM10-/- fibroblasts was not due to the impairement of ADAM10-mediated ADAM9 maturation process. On the other hand, ADAM9 does not affect ADAM10 mRNA levels or maturation. Furthermore, we established that in ADAM10-/- fibroblasts, ADAM9 did not hydrolyze a fluorimetric substrate used as a reporter of
-secretase activity, in agreement with the inability to modulate N1 production. However, co-expression of both ADAM9 and ADAM10 clearly potentiated the cleavage of the fluorimetric substrate observed after the expression of ADAM10 only. This potentiation was illustrated by increases of membrane-bound and released ADAM10-dependent
-secretase activity. Therefore, it seems reasonable to postulate that ADAM9 would act upstream of ADAM10, which would likely be the genuine PrPc and
APP-cleaving enzyme, by increasing its shedding. Interestingly, a recent abstract (35) suggested that ADAM9 could shed ADAM10, thereby releasing a soluble ectodomain that remained catalytically active and could serve as a source of circulating protease.
As stated above, depletion of endogenous PrPc could be a means to prevent scrapie-associated pathologies. Therefore, ADAM9 could be seen as a therapeutic target and its activation or overexpression as a potential strategy. The feasibility of such strategy has been nicely documented in transgenic mice. Thus, overexpression of ADAM10 in an Alzheimer disease mouse model prevents amyloid plaques and reduced cognitive deficits (36). This is likely due to the ADAM10-mediated cleavage of
APP that occurs inside the A
sequence, thereby precluding A
formation. Similarly, it should be noted that the ADAM9/10-mediated PrPc cleavage takes place inside the 106126 domain that is thought to bear toxicity (1416). Therefore, ADAM-mediated cleavage of PrPc not only abolishes the key substratum needed by PrPsc to seed the pathological stigmata but also abolishes the potential 106126-associated toxicity of PrPc. Further study is needed to examine whether ADAM9 or ADAM10 transgenic mice innoculated with the infectious agent could resist infection.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported by the "Groupement d'Intérêt Scientifique: Infections à Prions 2001." ![]()
2 Supported by Aventis Pharma. ![]()
3 To whom correspondence may be addressed. Tel.: 33-4-93-95-77-60; Fax: 33-4-93-95-77-08; E-mail: checler{at}ipmc.cnrs.fr (for F. C.) or vincentb{at}ipmc.cnrs.fr (for B. V.).
4 The abbreviations used are: PrPSc, scrapie prion protein; PrPc, cellular prion protein; AEBSF, 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzenesulfonyl fluoride; TACE, tumor necrosis factor alpha converting enzyme; TAPI, TACE inhibitor; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; Tricine, N-[2-hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl]glycine. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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