Changes in macrophage morphology in a Gaucher disease model are dependent on CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase alpha

Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2007 Jul-Aug;39(1):124-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bcmd.2007.03.005. Epub 2007 May 7.

Abstract

We have recently shown that phosphatidylcholine (PC) metabolism is altered in a macrophage model of Gaucher disease. We now demonstrate that treatment of macrophages with conduritol-B-epoxide (CBE), a glucocerebrosidase inhibitor, results in elevated activity of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT), the rate-limiting enzyme in the pathway of PC biosynthesis. Furthermore, we provide evidence for a role for CCT in Gaucher macrophage growth by using macrophages derived from a genetically modified mouse which lacks a specific CCT isoform, CCTalpha, in macrophages. Upon CBE-treatment, macrophage size, analyzed by microscopy and by FACS, was significantly increased in macrophages from control mice, but did not increase, or increased to a much lower extent, in CCTalpha-/- macrophages. Together, these results suggest that the increase in PC biosynthesis is mediated via CCTalpha, and suggests a possible role for macrophage CCTalpha in Gaucher disease pathology.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Size / drug effects
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Choline-Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase / biosynthesis*
  • Choline-Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase / deficiency
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Gaucher Disease / enzymology*
  • Gaucher Disease / genetics
  • Gaucher Disease / pathology
  • Glucosylceramidase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Humans
  • Inositol / analogs & derivatives
  • Inositol / pharmacology
  • Macrophages / enzymology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Phosphatidylcholines / biosynthesis

Substances

  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Phosphatidylcholines
  • Inositol
  • Choline-Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase
  • Pcyt1a protein, mouse
  • Glucosylceramidase
  • conduritol epoxide