A. Rimessi | University of Ferrara (original) (raw)
Papers by A. Rimessi
European Psychiatry
Antipsychotic drugs are currently used in clinical practice for a variety of mental disorders. Cl... more Antipsychotic drugs are currently used in clinical practice for a variety of mental disorders. Clozapine is the most effective medication for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, in controlling aggression and suicidal behavior in psychosis. Although clozapine is associated with a low likelihood of extrapyramidal symptoms and other neurological side effects, weight gain and metabolic side effects are well known in clinical practice exposing the patient to a greater risk of cardiovascular disorders, premature death, as well as psychosocial issues leading to non-adherence. The mechanisms underlying this pharmacologically activated disorders are still controversial. Based on our in vitro results, we have characterized in vivo the effects of the selective PKCβ inhibitor, Ruboxistaurin (LY-333531) on a preclinical model of long-term clozapine-induced weight gain. Cell biology, biochemistry and psychomotor tests have been performed on wild type and PKCβ (-/-) mutant mice to investigate the c...
Drugs that target human thymidylate synthase (hTS) are widely used in anti-cancer therapy. Howeve... more Drugs that target human thymidylate synthase (hTS) are widely used in anti-cancer therapy. However, treatment with classical substrate-site-directed TS inhibitors induces its over-expression and the development of drug resistance. We thus pursued an alternative strategy that led to the discovery of TS-dimer disrupters that bind at the monomer-monomer interface and shift the dimerization equilibrium of both the recombinant and the intracellular protein toward the inactive monomers. We performed a structural, spectroscopic and kinetic investigation of the effects of these small molecules andthe best one, E7, accelerates the proteasomal degradation of hTS in cancer cells. E7 showed a superior anticancer profile to fluorouracil in a mouse model of human pancreatic and ovarian cancer. Thus, over sixty years after the discovery of the first TS prodrug inhibitor, fluorouracil, E7 breaks the link between TS inhibition and enhanced expression in response, providing a strategy to fight drug-r...
Chirurgia italiana
The preservation of livers to be transplanted is currently obtained by static cold storage at 4 C... more The preservation of livers to be transplanted is currently obtained by static cold storage at 4 C degrees and flushing with UW solution. New methods of preservation are being studied that take advantage of machines for continuous hypothermic perfusion of the organ. Such machines have permitted a lengthening of preservation times and the use of livers from non-beating-heart donors. In an attempt to eliminate the damage due to hypothermia, to lengthen preservation times, and to extend the availability of livers to be transplanted, also using those subjected to short periods of warm ischaemia, we have constructed a transportable machine that produces a hyperbaric atmosphere and allows continuous perfusion of the liver. Ten pig livers from beating-heart donors were perfused with Ringer solution in hyperbaric conditions with oxygen at temperatures ranging from 10 to 25 degrees C for periods of up to 24 hours and studied by means of histopathological analysis and tests of mitochondrial ac...
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2007
EMBO molecular medicine, Jan 28, 2015
Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a major cerebrovascular disease affecting approximately ... more Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a major cerebrovascular disease affecting approximately 0.3-0.5% of the population and is characterized by enlarged and leaky capillaries that predispose to seizures, focal neurological deficits, and fatal intracerebral hemorrhages. Cerebral cavernous malformation is a genetic disease that may arise sporadically or be inherited as an autosomal dominant condition with incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. Causative loss-of-function mutations have been identified in three genes, KRIT1 (CCM1), CCM2 (MGC4607), and PDCD10 (CCM3), which occur in both sporadic and familial forms. Autophagy is a bulk degradation process that maintains intracellular homeostasis and that plays essential quality control functions within the cell. Indeed, several studies have identified the association between dysregulated autophagy and different human diseases. Here, we show that the ablation of the KRIT1 gene strongly suppresses autophagy, leading to the abe...
Cell death & disease, 2012
Ca²⁺ transfer from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria can trigger apoptotic pathways by i... more Ca²⁺ transfer from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria can trigger apoptotic pathways by inducing release of mitochondrial pro-apoptotic factors. Three different types of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP₃R) serve to discharge Ca²⁺ from ER, but possess some peculiarities, especially in apoptosis induction. The anti-apoptotic protein Akt can phosphorylate all IP₃R isoforms and protect cells from apoptosis, reducing ER Ca²⁺ release. However, it has not been elucidated which IP₃R subtypes mediate these effects. Here, we show that Akt activation in COS7 cells, which lack of IP₃R I, strongly suppresses IP₃-mediated Ca²⁺ release and apoptosis. Conversely, in SH-SY 5Y cells, which are type III-deficient, Akt is unable to modulate ER Ca²⁺ flux, losing its anti-apoptotic activity. In SH-SY 5Y-expressing subtype III, Akt recovers its protective function on cell death, by reduction of Ca²⁺ release. Moreover, regulating Ca²⁺ flux to mitochondria, Akt maintains the mitochondrial i...
Frontiers in Oncology, 2013
Novartis Foundation Symposia, 2007
Methods in Cell Biology, 2007
Purinergic Signalling, 2012
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009
Despite the growing interest in the Fhit tumor suppressor protein, frequently deleted in human ca... more Despite the growing interest in the Fhit tumor suppressor protein, frequently deleted in human cancers, the mechanism of its powerful proapoptotic activity has remained elusive. We here demonstrate that Fhit sensitizes the low-affinity Ca(2+) transporters of mitochondria, enhancing Ca(2+) uptake into the organelle both in intact and in permabilized cells, and potentiating the effect of apoptotic agents. This effect can be attributed to the fraction of Fhit sorted to mitochondria, as a fully mitochondrial Fhit (a chimeric protein including a mitochondrial targeting sequence) retains the Ca(2+) signaling properties of Fhit and the proapoptotic activity of the native protein (whereas the effects on the cell cycle are lost). Thus, the partial sorting of Fhit to mitochondria allows to finely tune the sensitivity of the organelle to the highly pleiomorphic Ca(2+) signals, synergizing with apoptotic challenges. This concept, and the identification of the molecular machinery, may provide ways to act on apoptotic cell death and its derangement in cancer.
The Pharmacogenomics Journal, 2010
European Psychiatry
Antipsychotic drugs are currently used in clinical practice for a variety of mental disorders. Cl... more Antipsychotic drugs are currently used in clinical practice for a variety of mental disorders. Clozapine is the most effective medication for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, in controlling aggression and suicidal behavior in psychosis. Although clozapine is associated with a low likelihood of extrapyramidal symptoms and other neurological side effects, weight gain and metabolic side effects are well known in clinical practice exposing the patient to a greater risk of cardiovascular disorders, premature death, as well as psychosocial issues leading to non-adherence. The mechanisms underlying this pharmacologically activated disorders are still controversial. Based on our in vitro results, we have characterized in vivo the effects of the selective PKCβ inhibitor, Ruboxistaurin (LY-333531) on a preclinical model of long-term clozapine-induced weight gain. Cell biology, biochemistry and psychomotor tests have been performed on wild type and PKCβ (-/-) mutant mice to investigate the c...
Drugs that target human thymidylate synthase (hTS) are widely used in anti-cancer therapy. Howeve... more Drugs that target human thymidylate synthase (hTS) are widely used in anti-cancer therapy. However, treatment with classical substrate-site-directed TS inhibitors induces its over-expression and the development of drug resistance. We thus pursued an alternative strategy that led to the discovery of TS-dimer disrupters that bind at the monomer-monomer interface and shift the dimerization equilibrium of both the recombinant and the intracellular protein toward the inactive monomers. We performed a structural, spectroscopic and kinetic investigation of the effects of these small molecules andthe best one, E7, accelerates the proteasomal degradation of hTS in cancer cells. E7 showed a superior anticancer profile to fluorouracil in a mouse model of human pancreatic and ovarian cancer. Thus, over sixty years after the discovery of the first TS prodrug inhibitor, fluorouracil, E7 breaks the link between TS inhibition and enhanced expression in response, providing a strategy to fight drug-r...
Chirurgia italiana
The preservation of livers to be transplanted is currently obtained by static cold storage at 4 C... more The preservation of livers to be transplanted is currently obtained by static cold storage at 4 C degrees and flushing with UW solution. New methods of preservation are being studied that take advantage of machines for continuous hypothermic perfusion of the organ. Such machines have permitted a lengthening of preservation times and the use of livers from non-beating-heart donors. In an attempt to eliminate the damage due to hypothermia, to lengthen preservation times, and to extend the availability of livers to be transplanted, also using those subjected to short periods of warm ischaemia, we have constructed a transportable machine that produces a hyperbaric atmosphere and allows continuous perfusion of the liver. Ten pig livers from beating-heart donors were perfused with Ringer solution in hyperbaric conditions with oxygen at temperatures ranging from 10 to 25 degrees C for periods of up to 24 hours and studied by means of histopathological analysis and tests of mitochondrial ac...
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2007
EMBO molecular medicine, Jan 28, 2015
Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a major cerebrovascular disease affecting approximately ... more Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a major cerebrovascular disease affecting approximately 0.3-0.5% of the population and is characterized by enlarged and leaky capillaries that predispose to seizures, focal neurological deficits, and fatal intracerebral hemorrhages. Cerebral cavernous malformation is a genetic disease that may arise sporadically or be inherited as an autosomal dominant condition with incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. Causative loss-of-function mutations have been identified in three genes, KRIT1 (CCM1), CCM2 (MGC4607), and PDCD10 (CCM3), which occur in both sporadic and familial forms. Autophagy is a bulk degradation process that maintains intracellular homeostasis and that plays essential quality control functions within the cell. Indeed, several studies have identified the association between dysregulated autophagy and different human diseases. Here, we show that the ablation of the KRIT1 gene strongly suppresses autophagy, leading to the abe...
Cell death & disease, 2012
Ca²⁺ transfer from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria can trigger apoptotic pathways by i... more Ca²⁺ transfer from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria can trigger apoptotic pathways by inducing release of mitochondrial pro-apoptotic factors. Three different types of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP₃R) serve to discharge Ca²⁺ from ER, but possess some peculiarities, especially in apoptosis induction. The anti-apoptotic protein Akt can phosphorylate all IP₃R isoforms and protect cells from apoptosis, reducing ER Ca²⁺ release. However, it has not been elucidated which IP₃R subtypes mediate these effects. Here, we show that Akt activation in COS7 cells, which lack of IP₃R I, strongly suppresses IP₃-mediated Ca²⁺ release and apoptosis. Conversely, in SH-SY 5Y cells, which are type III-deficient, Akt is unable to modulate ER Ca²⁺ flux, losing its anti-apoptotic activity. In SH-SY 5Y-expressing subtype III, Akt recovers its protective function on cell death, by reduction of Ca²⁺ release. Moreover, regulating Ca²⁺ flux to mitochondria, Akt maintains the mitochondrial i...
Frontiers in Oncology, 2013
Novartis Foundation Symposia, 2007
Methods in Cell Biology, 2007
Purinergic Signalling, 2012
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009
Despite the growing interest in the Fhit tumor suppressor protein, frequently deleted in human ca... more Despite the growing interest in the Fhit tumor suppressor protein, frequently deleted in human cancers, the mechanism of its powerful proapoptotic activity has remained elusive. We here demonstrate that Fhit sensitizes the low-affinity Ca(2+) transporters of mitochondria, enhancing Ca(2+) uptake into the organelle both in intact and in permabilized cells, and potentiating the effect of apoptotic agents. This effect can be attributed to the fraction of Fhit sorted to mitochondria, as a fully mitochondrial Fhit (a chimeric protein including a mitochondrial targeting sequence) retains the Ca(2+) signaling properties of Fhit and the proapoptotic activity of the native protein (whereas the effects on the cell cycle are lost). Thus, the partial sorting of Fhit to mitochondria allows to finely tune the sensitivity of the organelle to the highly pleiomorphic Ca(2+) signals, synergizing with apoptotic challenges. This concept, and the identification of the molecular machinery, may provide ways to act on apoptotic cell death and its derangement in cancer.
The Pharmacogenomics Journal, 2010