Volume 53 (7): 895-903, 2005 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Expression of PDE11A in Normal and Malignant Human Tissues
Drug Discovery, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC, Spring House, Pennsylvania (MRDA), and Drug Discovery, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC, Raritan, New Jersey (YQ,DH-J,SB,PK,SL) Correspondence to: Yuhong Qiu, Drug Discovery, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC, 1000 Route 202, Raritan, NJ 08869. E-mail: yqiu{at}prdus.jnj.com
Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 11A (PDE11A) is the newest member in the PDE family. Although the tissue distribution of PDE11A mRNA has been shown, its protein expression pattern has not been well studied. The goal of this report is to investigate the distribution of PDE11A proteins in a wide range of normal and malignant human tissues. We utilized a polyclonal antibody that recognized all four PDE11A isoforms. Its specificity was demonstrated by Western blot analysis on a recombinant human PDE11A protein and native PDE11A proteins in various human tissues. Immunohistochemistry showed that PDE11A is widely expressed. Various degrees of immunoreactivity were observed in the epithelial cells, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells of all tissues examined. The highest expression was in the epithelial, endothelial, and smooth muscle cells of the prostate, Leydig, and spermatogenic cells of the testis, the tubule epithelial cells in the kidney, the epithelial and endothelial cells in the adrenal, the epithelial cells and macrophages in the colon, and the epidermis in the skin. Furthermore, PDE11A expression was also detected in several human carcinomas. Our results suggest that PDE11A might be involved in multiple physiological processes in various organs via its ability to modulate intracellular cAMP and cGMP levels. (J Histochem Cytochem 53:895903, 2005)
Key Words: PDE11A immunohistochemistry tissue distribution normal and cancer human tissues
CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDES, namely, cAMP and cGMP, are important second messengers that mediate diverse ranges of physiological processes in response to various extracellular stimuli. Upon stimulation, intracellular cyclic nucleotide levels change rapidly. Their duration of action is modulated by phosphodiesterases (PDEs), enzymes that degrade cyclic nucleotides. PDE genes constitute a large family, with 21 related genes cloned in mammals to date (Francis et al. 2001
PDE11A is the most recent PDE to be cloned. It is most similar to PDE5, based on sequence similarity, but unlike PDE5 it is a dual-substrate enzyme, hydrolyzing both cAMP and cGMP (Fawcett et al. 2000
PDE11A4 Recombinant Protein Generation Human PDE11A4 open reading frame was isolated from human prostate poly A+ RNA obtained from BD Biosciences (Palo Alto, CA). The forward primer used to amplify the sequence was 5'-TGAGCCAGAGAAGGAAGGGG-3' and the reverse primer was 5'-TGACCTGGAGGTTTAGTTCCTGTC-3' according to the publicly available sequence (Genebank accession number AB 036,704). The reverse transcription reaction was carried out using Advantage RT for PCR kit (BD Biosciences), and the PCR reaction was carried out using Advantage HF PCR kit (BD Biosciences) according to manufacturer's instructions. A single product of 3.0 kb was amplified and cloned into pGEM-EASY vector (Promega; Madison, WI). The cDNA was sequence verified and cloned into pBlueBacHis2B (Invitrogen; Carlsbad, CA) for protein expression in Hi5 insect cells (Invitrogen) using baculovirus. The expressed protein was partially purified by batch binding to Ni-NTA resin. The eluted recombinant protein was aliquoted and stored at 80C.
PDE Assay
Western Blot Analysis
Immunohistochemistry
PDE11A4 Characterization PDE11A4 cDNA was cloned from human prostate RNA using RT-PCR. The protein was His-tagged, expressed in insect cells using baculovirus, and affinity purified on nickel columns. The recombinant PDE11A4 was characterized using a range of selective and non-selective well-known PDE inhibitors. As shown in Table 1, PDE11A4 was insensitive to vinpocetine, EHNA, milrinone, and rolipram, selective inhibitors for PDE1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. It was moderately sensitive to sildenafil and zaprinast, inhibitors for PDE5 and PDE5/6, respectively. The non-selective PDE inhibitor IBMX displayed little inhibitory effect. Of the inhibitors examined, dipyridamole (an inhibitor for PDE1/5/6) was most potent in inhibiting PDE11A4. These observations were in good agreement with data in the literature (Fawcett et al. 2000
Western Analysis The specificity of antibody PD11A-112AP was studied using Hi5 cell lysates infected with pBlueBacHis2B vector containing PDE11A4 cDNA or an unrelated cDNA. The proteins in Hi5 cell lysates, supernatant solutions, and affinity-purified PDE11A4 were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred onto membranes, and blotted with PD11A-112AP antibody. An immunoreactive band of 100 kDa was observed in cell lysate and supernatant of PDE11A4 cDNA infected Hi5 cells (Figure 1A, Lanes 2 and 3) but not in cell lysate of Hi5 cells infected with an unrelated cDNA (Figure 1A, Lane 1). As expected, the affinity-purified PDE11A4 was also immunoreactive (Figure 1A, Lane 4). These observations demonstrated that PD11A-112AP was specific for PDE11A. There was a faint immunoreactive band of 30 kDa visible in all cell lysates and supernatant. This protein may be specific to Hi5 cells, as a corresponding band was not observed in any human samples (see below). Western analysis of several human tissue homogenates including prostate, bladder, skeletal muscle, corpus cavernosum, and testis showed that a band migrated close to the size of recombinant PDE11A4 was observed in all the tissue examined (Figure 1B). A second band, migrated around 70 kDa, was visible in all tissues except the bladder. This band was most prominent in prostate (Figure 1B, Lane 1). The intensity ratio of the two bands was different in each tissue. Immediately below the second band there were one or two very faint bands in most of the tissues.
Immunohistochemistry PDE11A was detected in a wide range of normal human tissues (Table 2). Brown labeling represented the presence of PDE11A. The relative intensity was scored as weak, light brown labeling (+), moderate, brown labeling (++), strong, intense, dark brown labeling (+++) and no labeling (). No detectable labeling was observed in the skin when the antiserum was preabsorbed with the specific antigen (Figure 2A) or in the absence of primary antibody (data not shown). In contrast, when the primary antibody was included, prominent PDE11A labeling was evident in the epidermal cells (larger arrowheads) of the skin (Figure 2B), but not in the stromal fibroblasts (small arrowheads). Generally, PDE11A was detected in the epithelial, smooth muscle, and endothelial cells in such tissues as the prostate, kidney, and small and large intestines. Representative photomicrographs are presented in Figure 2 of normal human tissues. Figure 2C shows the presence of PDE11A in many cell types of the normal human colon. Epithelial cells (large arrowheads) and surrounding submucosal macrophages (small arrows) express strong PDE11A immunoreactivity, which is also present in the vascular endothelial cells (not present) and in the smooth muscle cells (large arrow). PDE11A was also detected in the apical areas of some proximal and distal tubule epithelial cells (large arrowheads) and in the endothelial cells (small arrowheads) of the kidney (Figure 2D). A representative image of the normal human lung (Figure 2E) showed prominent PDE11A immunolabeling in the dust macrophage cells (small arrows) and vascular endothelial cells (small arrowheads). Although not presented in the figure, prominent bronchial epithelial cells also expressed PDE11A immunoreactivity. The male reproductive tissues also expressed prominent PDE11A immunoreactivity in the prostate (Figure 2F) basal areas of the epithelial (large arrowheads) and endothelial cells (small arrowheads) with some diffuse smooth muscle cell staining, in the corpus cavernosal smooth muscle cells (large arrows) and endothelium (small arrowheads) of the penis (Figure 2G) and in the Leydig cells (small arrows), spermatogenic cells (large arrows) and endothelial cells (arrowheads) of the testis (Figure 2H).
We also detected prominent PDE11A immunolabeling in several malignant human tissues (Table 3). Representative photomicrographs are presented in Figure 3. Serial sections of renal carcinoma show the lack of detectable PDE11A immunolabeling in the preabsorption control (Figure 3A) and the signal that was detected using the PDE11A primary antibody in the carcinoma cells (large arrowheads) of the kidney (Figure 3B). PDE11A immunolabeling was also detected in the carcinoma cells (large arrowheads) of the prostate (Figure 3C), in the colon (Figure 3D), lung (Figure 3E), and in the breast (Figure 3F) carcinoma cells.
PDE11A is the most recent PDE to be cloned (Fawcett et al. 2000
The antibody used here was raised against a peptide located at the C terminus. Thus, it should recognize all four splice variants. The identity of the recombinant protein was confirmed by enzyme activity in PDE assays and by its sensitivity to known PDE inhibitors. PDE11A4 has 943 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 105 kDa. The recombinant protein migrated at the expected location. The specificity of the antibody was confirmed using Western blot analysis on Hi5 cell lysates infected with expression vectors containing PDE11A4 cDNA or an unrelated cDNA. All human tissues on the Western blot displayed a band that migrated similarly as the recombinant PDE11A4, with different intensity in different tissues. This suggested that PDE11A4 was present in the tissues examined. The second band on the Western blot migrated at
There are some discrepancies between our observation and the data in the literature. Disagreements also exist among the published reports regarding the distribution of the PDE11A splice variants. Yuasa et al. (2000)
The IHC study reported here showed that the distribution of PDE11A protein is ubiquitous. Positive signals were found in smooth muscle cells, epithelial cells, and endothelial cells from many tissues. It is well known that alterations of cyclic nucleotide levels in smooth muscle cells modulate multiple physiological processes. A rapid increase of cAMP or cGMP levels decreases the contractile tone of smooth muscle cells (Hofmann et al. 2000
PDEs also modulate a wide range of cellular functions in various epithelial cells. It has been shown that increasing cAMP concentrations via PDE4 inhibition decreases TNF-
Although relatively few studies have investigated the expression and function of PDEs in endothelial cells, PDE15 have been identified in various types of endothelial cells and PDE3 and PDE4 inhibitors have been shown to decrease endothelial cell proliferation and the expression of adhesion molecules (reviewed in Maurice et al. 2003
It is well recognized that high levels of cAMP can destroy various types of cancer cells in culture. However, most of the agents that can mimic cAMP action or produce the dramatic increase on cAMP concentrations are highly cytotoxic, precluding their use clinically. In comparison, PDE inhibitors that induce moderate cAMP accumulation also inhibit cancer cell proliferation. For example, elevation of cAMP by nonspecific PDE inhibitors hampers growth in several human prostatic cancer cell lines and induces terminal differentiation in some of the lines (Bang et al. 1994 In summary, we have studied the tissue distribution of PDE11A using IHC and found that it is expressed in smooth muscle cells, epithelial cells, endothelial cells, and several other types of cells in most of the tissues surveyed. Our results suggest that PDE11A could be involved in multiple physiological processes in various tissues through their ability to modulate cAMP and cGMP levels. A PDE11A-specific inhibitor could greatly facilitate the elucidation of its functional roles.
The authors would like to thank Brenda Hertzog and Danielle Lawrence for expert technical assistance.
1 These authors contributed equally to this work. Received for publication January 18, 2005; accepted January 24, 2005
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