title: AlphaB-crystallin protects glial cells from hypertonic stress.
abstract: AlphaB-crystallin and the small stress protein, heat shock protein of 27 kDa (HSP27), share structural similarities and are coordinately induced by classical stress stimuli. We have recently observed that hypertonic stress produced by high NaCl concentrations selectively induces alphaB-crystallin in glial cells. To examine divergence of the functional properties of these two related proteins, we have constructed stable alphaB-crystallin-expressing glial cell lines from the U-251 MG glioma cells, which are normally deficient in alphaB-crystallin expression but constitutively express HSP27. These transfected cells lines are more resistant to acute hypertonic stress than the parental line from which they were derived. Moreover, the parental line acclimates to stepwise increases in hypertonicity and upregulates endogenous alphaB-crystallin in the process but not HSP27. The overexpression of HSP27 and alphaB-crystallin in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts, a cell line that normally expresses little alphaB-crystallin and no HSP27, does not result in increased survival. This suggests that alphaB-crystallin interacts with cell-type specific mechanisms to aid in protection from hypertonic stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Kegel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwaki
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D003459:Crystallins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D005910:Glioma; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006982:Hypertonic Solutions; D051379:Mice; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D003459:Crystallins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D006982:Hypertonic Solutions; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011994:Recombinant Proteins