Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.3.1.28 (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase)
 5,100 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Aberrant activation of the androgen receptor (AR) may be one of the mechanisms which contribute to progression of prostatic carcinoma to an androgen-independent stage. We investigated effects of growth factors on stimulation of the AR-mediated gene transcription in human prostatic tumor cell lines. DU-145 cells, which do not contain endogenous AR, were cotransfected with an androgen-inducible chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene and an AR expression vector. The reporter gene (CAT) was driven either by artificial promoters consisting of one or two androgen-responsive elements in front of a TATA box or by the promoter of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) gene, a naturally occurring androgen-inducible promoter. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), at a concentration of 50 ng/ml, stimulated AR-mediated reporter gene transcription to the same extent as the synthetic androgen methyltrienolone. This growth factor was effective irrespective of the nature of the androgen-inducible promoter. Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF), at concentrations of 50 ng/ml, activated CAT reporter gene transcription only in experiments in which the artificial promoter with two androgen-responsive elements was used. Insulin-like growth factor-II and basic fibroblast growth factor displayed no effect on AR-mediated gene transcription. None of the growth factors stimulated reporter gene activity in control experiments when added to cells cotransfected with the CAT gene and an empty expression vector. AR activation by IGF-I, KGF, and EGF was completely inhibited by the pure AR antagonist casodex, showing that these effects are AR mediated. Activation of endogenous AR by growth factors was studied in the LNCaP cell line by determination of PSA secretion. IGF-I, at a concentration of 50 ng/ml, increased the PSA level in the supernatant of this cell line 5-fold. Again, the IGF-I effect on PSA secretion was blocked by casodex. Our results provide evidence that IGF-I, KGF, and EGF directly activate the AR in the absence of androgens, which means that the androgen-signaling chain may be activated by growth factors in an androgen-depleted environment. These findings may have implications for endocrine therapy for metastatic prostatic carcinoma.
Cancer Res 1994 Oct 15
PMID:Androgen receptor activation in prostatic tumor cell lines by insulin-like growth factor-I, keratinocyte growth factor, and epidermal growth factor. 752 59

By means of transgenic rats, we have recently shown that the GPEI enhancer of the glutathione transferase P (GST-P) gene, which has two one-base-missmatched AP-1 sites locating palindromically with three-base spacing in between, is sufficient for conferring tumor-specific activation of the gene in vivo. It is noted that there is another consensus AP-1 site near the promoter of this gene. By using seven independent transgenic rats, bearing distinct areas of the GST-P gene that are connected to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) coding sequence, we analyzed CAT expression in various tissues (brain, lung, liver, kidney, spleen) in these transgenic rats. We found that the ECAT gene, which has sufficient of the upstream regulatory region (approx. 2.9 kb) of the gene containing GPEI, is trans-activated in the kidney and lung of transgenic rats in a similar manner to endogenous GST-P. When either the GPEI core sequence or the AP-1 site near the promoter is deleted, CAT expression decreases to almost background level. Substitution of the GPEI core or the AP-1 site near the promoter to this silent construct (5CATGPEIcore) reconstituted CAT expression in the transgenic rats. In these rats, CAT was expressed in the brain and lung rather than in the kidney, showing a somewhat different pattern from the endogenous GST-P. In the brain tissue of the 5CATGPEIcore transgenic rat, CAT was demonstrated in the glia cells, which is consistent with endogenous GST-P expression. These results suggest that a relatively long upstream region (approx. 2.9 kb) is required for tissue-specific expression of the GST-P gene and that GST-P expression in the brain may be regulated differently from its expression in other organs.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 1995
PMID:Tissue-specific activation of tumor marker glutathione transferase P transgenes in transgenic rats. 755 45

We report the first evidence that differential transcriptional regulation of human chromogranin A (CHGA) gene expression occurs during in vitro treatment of tumorigenic neuroblastoma (NB) cells with retinoic acid (5 microM) and/or dibutyryl-cAMP (1 mM). The CHGA gene encodes a tissue specific protein restricted to cells of the diffuse neuroendocrine system, but also widely expressed among NB tumours. We previously reported that CHGA as well as other neuroendocrine markers are modulated during NB differentiation in vitro. To investigate, at the molecular level, the mechanisms leading to NB tumour cell differentiation during the treatment with biologically active compounds, we sequenced and functionally characterised 2169 bp of a genomic DNA clone encompassing the 5' flanking region of the human CHGA gene. Computer-assisted analysis of the sequence revealed the presence of a cAMP responsive element at positions -56 to -49, and Sp1 binding sites at positions -181 to -176 and -216 to -210. Two novel 9 bp motifs, located at position -462 to -454 and -91 to -83 of the CHGA promoter were identified in the regulatory regions of two other neuroendocrine genes encoding for tyrosine hydroxylase and neuropeptide Y. In addition, in the first 1000 bp of the untranslated 5' region, we found the presence of several putative DNA binding sites of bHLH molecules, a protein family regulating tissue specific differentiation. Transient transfection experiments of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) deletion constructs, showed the presence of an active promoter within the first 455 bp upstream from the start site. This region conferred tissue specific expression to a CAT reporter gene. In addition, the transcriptional activity of this fragment was modulated during the induction of differentiation of NB cells treated by retinoic acid and/or dibutyryl-cAMP. These observations provide preliminary data regarding CHGA transcriptional regulation in NB cells, and indicate that retinoic acid and cAMP activate distinct, apparently competitive, transcriptional pathways during NB cell differentiation. The molecular characterisation of the mechanisms regulating CHGA expression in tumour and normal neuroendocrine tissue could lead to the identification of novel molecules potentially relevant for future gene therapy of NB tumours.
Eur J Cancer 1995
PMID:Retinoic acid and cAMP differentially regulate human chromogranin A promoter activity during differentiation of neuroblastoma cells. 757 43

Non-small cell lung cancer (N-SCLC) is generally unresponsive to chemotherapy even without previous drug treatment, as opposed to small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which is initially responsive to chemotherapy. The mechanisms of this intrinsic resistance are unknown. This study was designed to investigate the role of DNA repair in intrinsic resistance of N-SCLC to cisplatin. A panel of primary N-SCLC cell cultures and established cell lines were examined and compared to SCLC cell lines established previously from untreated patients. The overall DNA repair capacity was estimated by the ability of cells to reactivate the pRSV-CAT plasmid damaged by cisplatin ("host cell reactivation" assay). Cytotoxicity was determined for cisplatin in vitro. N-SCLC cells were found to be significantly more resistant to cisplatin than SCLC cell lines isolated from untreated patients (P < 0.01). The capacity of N-SCLC cells to reactivate pRSV-CAT plasmid damaged with cisplatin and transfected into cells was higher in N-SCLC cells than in SCLC cells originating from patients who were untreated previously (P < 0.05). Correlation was also observed between chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity and intrinsic resistance to cisplatin. However, no significant difference was observed between primary N-SCLC cultures and established cell lines. This study indicates that elevated DNA repair capacity is associated with drug resistance in lung cancer and suggests that modulation of DNA repair mechanism(s), such as the incorporation of specific DNA repair inhibitor(s) in therapeutic regimens, may help to improve therapeutic strategies of N-SCLC.
Cancer Res 1995 Nov 01
PMID:Elevated DNA repair capacity is associated with intrinsic resistance of lung cancer to chemotherapy. 758

Mutations caused by ultraviolet (UV)-induced DNA damage represent the initial genetic changes in the tumorigenesis of UV-induced skin cancer. Different wavelengths of UV radiation cause different kinds of DNA damage and mutations. UVB (290-320 nm) generates pyrimidine dimers by direct excitation of the DNA molecule. UVA (320-400 nm) can damage the DNA only indirectly through a photosensitized reaction. This indirect action is mediated mainly by singlet oxygen, which generates purine base modifications, and has been implicated in the carcinogenic effects of UVA. In order to study the processing of directly and indirectly UV-induced DNA damage in human cells, we first treated the replicating plasmid pRSVcat with up to 10 kJ/m2 UVB or with the photosensitizer methylene blue plus visible light (which generates singlet oxygen) in vitro. Then, the damaged plasmid was transfected into normal or repair deficient xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group A (XP-A) cells. DNA repair was assessed by measuring activity of reactivated chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) enzyme, encoded by the plasmid's cat gene, in cell extracts after 3 days. While XP-A cells exhibited a significantly reduced repair of UVB-induced DNA damage, they showed a normal repair of singlet oxygen-induced DNA damage. This indicates a differential DNA repair pathway for directly and indirectly UV-induced DNA damage in human cells. Irradiation of the plasmid with UVA alone did not result in a genotoxic effect. Only in conjunction with a cell extract, which provides all candidate cellular photosensitizers, did we find a reduced CAT activity after transfection. This indicates that the genotoxicity of UVA is mediated by a cellular photosensitizer.
Recent Results Cancer Res 1995
PMID:Processing of directly and indirectly ultraviolet-induced DNA damage in human cells. 759 99

We previously isolated etoposide/teniposide-resistant cell lines from human cancer KB cells, designated KB/VP-2 and KB/VM-4, respectively, and we found that decreased expression of topoisomerase II alpha was associated with the acquisition of etoposide/teniposide resistance in both resistant cell lines. In this study, we studied how the expression of the DNA topoisomerase II alpha gene is regulated in drug-resistant cell lines at the transcriptional level. We first examined whether the decreased topoisomerase II alpha mRNA level was due to a shorter lifetime of mRNA molecules in drug-resistant cell lines. A comparison of the degradation kinetics of topoisomerase II alpha mRNA demonstrated that there was no difference in mRNA stability between both resistant cell lines and their parental counterpart. A run-on experiment with isolated nuclei showed that the transcriptional activity of topoisomerase II alpha gene of both resistant cell lines constituted less than 20% of the parental KB cells. The activity of DNA topoisomerase II alpha promoter in resistant cells was also less than 20% of that in KB cells when transient transfection assays were performed with the promoter-driven bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. Among the several transcription factors that might be involved in DNA topoisomerase II alpha gene expression, expression of Sp3, an inhibitory member of the Sp1 family, was elevated to about 3-fold higher in both resistant cell lines than their parental counterpart. These results indicated that the expression of DNA topoisomerase II alpha gene decreased at the transcriptional level through the enhanced expression of Sp3 in our two etoposide/teniposide-resistant cell lines.
Cancer Res 1995 Sep 01
PMID:DNA topoisomerase II alpha gene expression under transcriptional control in etoposide/teniposide-resistant human cancer cells. 764 Dec 5

Buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) is a synthetic amino acid that irreversibly inhibits an enzyme, gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (gamma-GCS), which is a critical step in glutathione biosynthesis. We isolated three BSO-resistant sublines, KB/BSO1, KB/BSO2, and KB/BSO3, from human epidermoid cancer KB cells. These cell lines showed 10-to 13-fold higher resistance to BSO, respectively, and had collateral sensitivity to cisplatin, ethacrynic acid, and alkylating agents such as melphalan and nitrosourea. Cellular levels of glutathione S-transferase pi (GST-pi) and its mRNA in BSO-resistant cell lines were less than 10% of the parental cells. Nuclear run-on assay showed that the transcriptional activity of GST-pi was decreased in BSO-resistant cells, and transient transfection of GST-pi promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs revealed that the sequences between -130 and -80 base pairs of the 5'-flanking region wer at least partially responsible for the decreased expression of the GST-pi gene. By contrast, gamma-GCS mRNA levels were 3-to 5-fold higher in resistant cell lines than in KB cells, and the gamma-GCS gene was found to be amplified in the BSO-resistant cells lines. GST-pi mRNA levels appeared to be inversely correlated with gamma-GCS mRNA levels in BSO-resistant cells. We further established the transfectants, KB/BSO3-pi1 and KB/ BSO2-pi2, that overexpressed GST-pi, from KB/BSO3, after introducing a GST-pi expression plasmid. These two transfectants had similar levels in gamma-GCS mRNA, drug sensitivity to alkylating agents, and glutathione content at those of KB cells. These findings suggest that the cellular levels of GST-pi and gamma-GCS might be co-regulated in these novel BSO-resistant cells.
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PMID:Markedly decreased expression of glutathione S-transferase pi gene in human cancer cell lines resistant to buthionine sulfoximine, an inhibitor of cellular glutathione synthesis. 764 28

A major metabolite of the vitamin D analogue 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D2 in human liver cells in culture has been identified as 1 alpha,24(S)-dihydroxyvitamin D2 [1 alpha,24(S)-(OH)2D2]. 1 alpha-Hydroxyvitamin D3 incubated with the same cells gives rise to predominantly 25- and 27-hydroxylated products. Our identification of 1 alpha,24(S)-dihydroxyvitamin D2 is based on comparisons of the liver cell metabolite with chemically synthesized 1 alpha,24(S)-(OH)2D2 and 1 alpha,24(R)-(OH)2D2 by using HPLC, GC and GC-MS techniques. The stereochemical orientation of the 24-hydroxyl group was inferred after X-ray-crystallographic analysis of the 24(R)-OH epimer. 1 alpha,24(S)-Dihydroxyvitamin D2 binds strongly to the vitamin D receptor and is biologically active in growth hormone and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene expression systems in vitro, but binds poorly to rat vitamin D-binding globulin, DBP. We suggest that this metabolite, 1 alpha,24(S)-(OH)2D2, possesses the spectrum of biological properties to be useful as a drug in the treatment of psoriasis, metabolic bone disease and cancer.
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PMID:1 alpha,24(S)-dihydroxyvitamin D2: a biologically active product of 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D2 made in the human hepatoma, Hep3B. 764 51

Ferritin, the major intracellular iron storage protein of eucaryotic cells, is regulated during inflammation and malignancy. We previously reported that transcription of the H subunit of ferritin (ferritin H) is negatively regulated by the adenovirus E1A oncogene in mouse NIH 3T3 fibroblasts (Y. Tsuji, E. Kwak, T. Saika, S. V. Torti, and F. M. Torti, J. Biol. Chem. 268:7270-7275, 1993). To elucidate the mechanism of transcriptional repression of the ferritin H gene by E1A, a series of deletions in the 5' flanking region of the mouse ferritin H gene were constructed, fused to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene, and transiently cotransfected into NIH 3T3 cells with an E1A expression plasmid. The results indicate that the E1A-responsive region is located approximately 4.1 kb 5' to the transcription initiation site of the ferritin H gene. Further analyses revealed that a 37-bp region, termed FER-1, is the target of E1A-mediated repression. This region also serves as an enhancer, augmenting ferritin H transcription independently of position and orientation. FER-1 was dissected into two component elements, i.e., a 22-bp dyad symmetry element and a 7-bp AP1-like sequence. Insertion of these DNA sequences into a ferritin H-CAT chimeric gene lacking an E1A-responsive region indicated that (i) the 22-bp dyad symmetry sequence by itself has no enhancer activity, (ii) the AP1-like sequence has moderate enhancer activity which is repressed by E1A, and (iii) the combination of the dyad symmetry element and the AP1-like sequence is required for maximal enhancer activity and repression by E1A. Gel retardation assays and cotransfection experiments with c-fos and c-jun expression vectors suggested that members of the Fos and Jun families bind to the AP1-like element of FER-1 and contribute to its regulation. In addition, gel retardation assays showed that E1A reduces the ability of nuclear proteins to bind to the AP1-like sequence without affecting the levels of nuclear factors that recognize the 22-bp dyad symmetry element. Taken together, these results demonstrate that FER-1 serves as both an enhancer of ferritin H transcription and a target for E1A-mediated repression.
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PMID:FER-1, an enhancer of the ferritin H gene and a target of E1A-mediated transcriptional repression. 765 32

Human c-myb is normally involved in the regulation of proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. Until now, only a few reports have described elevated c-myb gene expression in epithelial tissue, suggesting that under certain circumstances, c-Myb protein might play a role during the process of malignant transformation of epithelial cells. To investigate a possible role of c-myb during papillomavirus-associated carcinogenesis, we investigated the c-myb mRNA expression in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated tumors and tumor cell lines. Seven of nine cervical carcinomas and two of three carcinoma cell lines exhibited elevated c-myb transcriptional activity. In contrast to malignant cervical neoplasias, only 3 of 15 condylomata acuminata expressed a sparse signal for c-myb mRNA. Since the c-Myb protein has been described as a potent transcriptional regulator, we investigated the transactivating properties of c-Myb on the HPV-16 promoter/enhancer. Cotransfection of a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase-reporter plasmid containing the HPV-16 enhancer/promoter element with a full-length c-Myb-expressing plasmid resulted in a significant induction (4.3-fold) of the HPV-16 promoter, whereas expression of a carboxy-terminally deleted c-Myb protein led to no effects. Gel shift experiments showed a specific binding of recombinant c-Myb protein on the HPV-16 P97 enhancer. These data indicate that elevated c-myb expression occurs with HPV-associated cell transformation. Since c-Myb has been shown to stimulate the HPV-derived oncoprotein expression via transcriptional activation, it may play a role in the process of HPV-associated cervical carcinogenesis.
Cancer Res 1995 Oct 01
PMID:Human c-myb is expressed in cervical carcinomas and transactivates the HPV-16 promoter. 767 Dec 56


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