Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.1.21 (thymidine kinase)
 7,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute-phase protein synthesized and secreted mainly by the liver. In response to inflammation, its expression is increased by 1000-fold, primarily because of a 200-fold increase in the rates of SAA gene transcription. We have shown that when 304 bp of 5' flanking region of the rat SAA1 gene is fused to a reporter gene, the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene, CAT activity is induced in a cell-specific manner in response to conditioned media prepared from activated mixed lymphocyte cultures and recombinant interleukin-1. In this study, deletion of the SAA1 promoter to -120 bp with respect to the transcriptional start site did not diminish promoter activity; however, deletion to -94 bp renders the promoter completely inactive. Functional analysis have demonstrated that a 66-bp DNA fragment spanning -138 bp to -73 bp could confer cytokine responsiveness to a heterologous thymidine kinase promoter. Within this 66-bp responsive element resided an NF kappa B-like-binding site and a C/EBP-like-binding site. Although each binding site alone could confer responsiveness when stimulated with conditioned media and TPA, the response was much weaker than that observed when both sites were present. Moreover, site-specific mutations of either binding site completely abolished SAA1 promoter activity. Taken together, these results suggest a functional importance for and cooperative interaction of these two nuclear-factor binding sites in the cytokine-induced expression of the rat SAA1 gene.
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PMID:Cooperative effects of C/EBP-like and NF kappa B-like binding sites on rat serum amyloid A1 gene expression in liver cells. 140 89

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute-phase protein synthesized and secreted mainly by the liver. During inflammation, its expression is increased by 1000-fold as the result of greatly increased gene transcription. In this study, we analyzed the cis-acting regulatory elements and trans-acting factors important for the expression of the rat SAA1 gene. A DNA fragment containing 304 base pairs (bp) of 5'-flanking sequences of the SAA1 gene was fused to a reporter gene, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), and the resulting construct, pSAA1/CAT (-304), was used to assess the function of the 5'-flanking sequences by transient transfection assay. pSAA1/CAT (-304) was not expressed or expressed at very low levels in both the liver- and nonliver-derived cells. However, when stimulated with conditioned medium prepared from mixed lymphocyte cultures, recombinant interleukin 1, or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, expression of the pSAA1/CAT (-304) hybrid gene was induced 15-20-fold, but only in liver-derived cells. Further functional analysis demonstrated that a 66-bp DNA fragment conferred cytokine responsiveness onto a heterologous thymidine kinase promoter both in liver and nonliver cells. Footprint analysis with the Hep3B nuclear proteins revealed four protected regions in the 5'-flanking region of the SAA1 gene. The pattern of protection was identical with nuclear extracts prepared from either unstimulated or conditioned medium-treated Hep3B cells. Two of these footprint regions were identified as binding sites for C/EBP or C/EBP-related proteins, with the distal region having about 10-fold higher binding affinity than the proximal region. One additional cis-element formed a specific protein-DNA complex only with the nuclear proteins from TPA- or conditioned medium-treated Hep3B cells. This cis-element shares sequence identity with nuclear factor NF kappa B binding sites. The finding of a NF kappa B binding site within the 66-bp cytokine-responsive fragment further suggests its functional importance in the regulation of SAA1 gene expression. Our results suggest that C/EBP- and NF kappa B-related proteins may be important regulatory factors that contribute both to tissue specificity and to the high rate of SAA transcription in response to inflammatory mediators.
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PMID:Expression of rat serum amyloid A1 gene involves both C/EBP-like and NF kappa B-like transcription factors. 186 49