Pradhan MA1, Blackford JA Jr1, Devaiah BN2, Thompson PS2, Chow CC3, Singer DS2, Simons SS Jr4. Kinetically Defined Mechanisms and Positions of Action of Two New Modulators of Glucocorticoid Receptor-regulated Gene Induction. J Biol Chem. 2016 Jan 1;291(1):342-54. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M115.683722. Epub 2015 Oct 26.
Abstract: Most of the steps in, and many of the factors contributing to, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-regulated gene induction are currently unknown. A competition assay, based on a validated chemical kinetic model of steroid hormone action, is now used to identify two new factors (BRD4 and negative elongation factor (NELF)-E) and to define their sites and mechanisms of action. BRD4 is a kinase involved in numerous initial steps of gene induction. Consistent with its complicated biochemistry, BRD4 is shown to alter both the maximal activity (Amax) and the steroid concentration required for half-maximal induction (EC50) of GR-mediated gene expression by acting at a minimum of three different kinetically defined steps. The action at two of these steps is dependent on BRD4 concentration, whereas the third step requires the association of BRD4 with P-TEFb. BRD4 is also found to bind to NELF-E, a component of the NELF complex. Unexpectedly, NELF-E modifies GR induction in a manner that is independent of the NELF complex. Several of the kinetically defined steps of BRD4 in this study are proposed to be related to its known biochemical actions. However, novel actions of BRD4 and of NELF-E in GR-controlled gene induction have been uncovered. The model-based competition assay is also unique in being able to order, for the first time, the sites of action of the various reaction components: GR < Cdk9 < BRD4 ≤ induced gene < NELF-E. This ability to order factor actions will assist efforts to reduce the side effects of steroid treatments.
Li Y, Chow CC, Courville AB, Sumner AE, Periwal V. Modeling glucose and free fatty acid kinetics in glucose and meal tolerance test. Theor Biol Med Model. 2016 Mar 2;13:8. doi: 10.1186/s12976-016-0036-3.
Absstract: Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Quantitative evaluation of insulin regulation on plasma glucose and free fatty acid (FFA) in response to external glucose challenge is clinically important to assess the development of insulin resistance (World J Diabetes 1:36-47, 2010). Mathematical minimal models (MMs) based on insulin modified frequently-sampled intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IM-FSIGT) are widely applied to ascertain an insulin sensitivity index (IEEE Rev Biomed Eng 2:54-96, 2009). Furthermore, it is important to investigate insulin regulation on glucose and FFA in postprandial state as a normal physiological condition. A simple way to calculate the appearance rate (Ra) of glucose and FFA would be especially helpful to evaluate glucose and FFA kinetics for clinical applications.
METHODS:
A new MM is developed to simulate the insulin modulation of plasma glucose and FFA, combining IM-FSIGT with a mixed meal tolerance test (MT). A novel simple functional form for the appearance rate (Ra) of glucose or FFA in the MT is developed. Model results are compared with two other models for data obtained from 28 non-diabetic women (13 African American, 15 white).
RESULTS:
The new functional form for Ra of glucose is an acceptable empirical approximation to the experimental Ra for a subset of individuals. When both glucose and FFA are included in FSIGT and MT, the new model is preferred using the Bayes Information Criterion (BIC).
CONCLUSIONS:
Model simulations show that the new MM allows consistent application to both IM-FSIGT and MT data, balancing model complexity and data fitting. While the appearance of glucose in the circulation has an important effect on FFA kinetics in MT, the rate of appearance of FFA can be neglected for the time-period modeled.
