CUHK electronic theses & dissertations collection

Protein kinase A (PKA) is an important enzyme inside the body; it is responsible for phosphorylation of gene regulatory elements and thus regulation of gene expression inside the nucleus. Malfunction of PKA affects transcriptional and translational levels of cell signaling ligands, leading to abnormal activity of various signaling pathways. PKA holoenzyme is composed of two regulatory and two catalytic subunits; four main regulatory subunit isoforms (R1α, R1β, R2α and R2β) and four main catalytic subunit isoforms (Cα, Cβ, Cγ and Prkx) of PKA have been identified. Mutations in these subunits lead to altered total PKA activities and PKAT-I to PKAT-II ratios, leading to diseases both in human and mice. These diseases include Carney Complex (CNC), fibrous dysplasia (FD) and Cushing syndrome. We studied the effect of PKA subunit mutations on intracellular PKA activities, PKAT-I to PKAT-II ratios, and bone and adrenal gland phenotypes in transgenic mouse models. Firstly, we generated whole-body transgenic mice single or double heterozygous for PKA regulatory subunits. Tail vertebral bone lesions including osteosarcomas, osteochondromas and osteochondrosarcomas were found in these mice and we found that mutations in different PKA subunits affect bone lesion formation, new bone generation, and bone organization and mineralization in mouse tail vertebrae. Elevated Cβ subunit expression in Parkar1a+/-Prkar2a+/- and Prkar1a+/-Prkar2b+/-double heterozygous mice leads to a less severe vertebral bone lesion phenotype, an increased osteogenic activity and a better bone regeneration activity. We then studied mice with tissue specific knock out of Prkar1a, the gene coding for type I regulatory subunit, specifically in adrenal cortex (AdKO). AdKO mice developed pituitary-independent Cushing syndrome with increased PKA activity. They also demonstrated increased plasma corticosterone levels resistant to dexamethasone suppression. Dietary treatment of both mice with bone lesions and mice with adrenal lesions with COX2 inhibitor Celecoxib led to partial rescue of phenotypes; this is due to inhibition of the positive feedback loop between PKA signaling and inflamasome pathway at COX2 induction level by Celecoxib.蛋白激酶A（PKA）是人體中重要的蛋白酶， 它通過燐酸化基因調控元件來實現對細胞核內基因表達的調節。PKA異常影響細胞內信號傳遞因子的基因轉錄和蛋白翻譯水平，從而導致各細胞信號通路的異常活動。PKA全酶由兩個調節亞基和兩個催化亞基組成，目前已經發現的有四個調節亞基 (R1α, R1β, R2α 和R2β) 以及四個催化亞基(Cα, Cβ, Cγ和Prkx)。發生在這些亞基中的基因突變會改變總的PKA活動水平，PKA-I 和PKA-II的比例，在人類和實驗鼠中引起疾病。這些疾病包括卡尼綜合症 （CNC），骨纖維性發育不良（FD）和庫欣綜合症。我們在轉基因鼠模型中研究PKA亞基突變對細胞中PKA總活性， PKA-I和PKA-II比例的影響，以及由此帶來的骨和腎上腺表型的改變和病變。我們首先製造了有一個或兩個PKA亞基雜合性缺失的全身轉基因鼠。在這些轉基因鼠中，我們發現了包括骨肉瘤，骨軟骨瘤和骨軟骨肉瘤在內的尾椎骨病變。研究發現在不同PKA亞基中的基因變異對實驗鼠尾椎骨病變的發生，新骨的形成和骨的結構和纖維化均有影響。在Prkar1a+/-Prkar2a+/-和Prkar1a+/-Prkar2b+/-實驗鼠中我們發現了較高的Cβ催化亞基表達，這兩個基因型因此具有更輕度的骨病變和更強的骨再生能力。我們繼續研究了在腎上腺中敲除了標記PKA 第一調節亞基的Prkar1a基因的實驗鼠 （AdKO）。AdKO實驗鼠中產生了與垂體無關的庫欣綜合症，並伴隨PKA活性的增加。它們還表現出耐地塞米松抑制的血漿皮質酮水平增加。對骨病變或腎上腺病變的實驗鼠通過飲食進行COX2抑制劑塞來昔布的治療可以部分緩解病變表型。這是由對PKA和炎性體的正反饋機制在COX2誘導步驟的抑制造成的。Liu, Sisi.Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2015.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-130).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 09, September, 2016).Detailed summary in vernacular field only