Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.10.3.1 (tyrosinase)
 9,065 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The proto-oncogene c-MET encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor for hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF). HGF/SF stimulates the proliferation and motility of various cell types. Because HGF/SF is also a melanocyte mitogen, we investigated the biological role of HGF/SF, including c-Met expression, activation and signal transduction, in normal and malignant human melanocytes. We show that HGF/SF is mitogenic in the presence of synergistic factors, such as basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and mast cell growth factor (MGF) and that, by itself, it stimulates the motility of normal human melanocytes. The ligand also maintained high levels of tyrosinase activity and melanin content in theses cells. Signal transduction by HGF/SF included phosphorylation of tyrosyl residues on c-Met, a cascade of tyrosine phosphorylations on several other proteins and activation of microtubule-associated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Met expression and activity are normal in human melanomas, and constitutive activity of HGF/SF in retrovirally infected autonomously proliferative mouse melanocytes is insufficient to confer the malignant phenotype. Our findings suggest that activation of Met in response to HGF/SF may contribute to malignant progression synergistically with the aberrant expression of bFGF in malignant melanocytes and that, in addition, the peptide may promote dispersion of factor-dependent melanocytes from early stages of primary melanomas to ectopic sites.
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PMID:Met and hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor signal transduction in normal melanocytes and melanoma cells. 133 34

Reiterated selection in vivo of B16 murine melanoma cells for enhanced liver metastatic ability yielded a cel line (B16-LS9) dramatically overexpressing a constitutively active hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) receptor, the product of the c-met proto-oncogene. Most likely because of their overexpressing c-met, B16-LS9 cells appear to be more responsive than parental B16-F1 cells to HGF stimulation, in terms of motility, invasion, and growth. They are also more pigmented, and express higher levels of tyrosinase as compared to parental B1 6-F1 cells. Therefore, we set out to explore whether HGF/SF and the liver might influence the differentiation state of B1 6 cells. We found that HGF/SF and MSH, two factors which reportedly have a strong influence on the phenotype and the malignant behavior of melanoma cells, may act at different levels, and with opposite results, on the regulation of gene expression. In fact, while MSH induces, at the transcriptional level, an increase in the production of both c-met and tyrosinase, HGF/SF, in contrast, promotes a decrease in the expression of both c-met and tyrosinase, however at a posttranscriptional level. These two opposite effects can counter-balance each other, when the cells are treated with both factors at the same time, apparently through a mechanism involving MAP kinase activation. The effects were, however, additive when morphological changes were considered. Most intriguingly, we also describe a very strong downregulatory activity, limited to tyrosinase expression, by hepatocytes in coculture with B16 cells. This activity, also at the posttranscriptional level, is much stronger than that exerted by HGF/SF, and appears to be due to a labile soluble factor produced by the hepatocytes.
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PMID:Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor and hepatocytes are potent downregulators of tyrosinase expression in B16 melanoma cells. 977 24

The mechanisms governing development of neural crest-derived melanocytes, and how alterations in these pathways lead to hypopigmentation disorders, are not completely understood. Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) signaling through the tyrosine-kinase receptor, MET, is capable of promoting the proliferation, increasing the motility, and maintaining high tyrosinase activity and melanin synthesis of melanocytes in vitro. In addition, transgenic mice that ubiquitously overexpress HGF/SF demonstrate hyperpigmentation in the skin and leptomenigenes and develop melanomas. To investigate whether HGF/ SF-MET signaling is involved in the development of neural crest-derived melanocytes, transgenic embryos, ubiquitously overexpressing HGF/SF, were analyzed. In HGF/SF transgenic embryos, the distribution of melanoblasts along the characteristic migratory pathway was not affected. However, additional ectopically localized melanoblasts were also observed in the dorsal root ganglia and neural tube, as early as 11.5 days post coitus (p.c.). We utilized an in vitro neural crest culture assay to further explore the role of HGF/SF-MET signaling in neural crest development. HGF/SF added to neural crest cultures increased melanoblast number, permitted differentiation into pigmented melanocytes, promoted melanoblast survival, and could replace mast-cell growth factor/Steel factor (MGF) in explant cultures. To examine whether HGF/SF-MET signaling is required for the proper development of melanocytes, embryos with a targeted Met null mutation (Met-/-) were analysed. In Met-/- embryos, melanoblast number and location were not overtly affected up to 14 days p.c. These results demonstrate that HGF/SF-MET signaling influences, but is not required for, the initial development of neural crest-derived melanocytes in vivo and in vitro.
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PMID:Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor-MET signaling in neural crest-derived melanocyte development. 1019 78