Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:2.7.1.21 (thymidine kinase)
7,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In bovine aortic or capillary endothelial cells (ECs) incubated under hypoxic conditions, cell growth was slowed in a dose-dependent manner at lower oxygen concentrations, as progression into S phase from G1 was inhibited, concomitant with decreased thymidine kinase activity. Monolayers grown to confluence in ambient air, wounded, and then transferred to hypoxia showed decreased ability to repair the wound, as a result of both decreased motility and cell division. Hypoxic ECs demonstrated a approximately 3-fold increase in the total number of high-affinity fibroblast growth factor receptors, and levels of endogenous FGF were suppressed. Consistent with the presence of functional FGF receptors, addition of basic FGF overcame, at least in part, hypoxia-mediated suppression of EC growth, and enhanced wound repair in hypoxia, stimulating both motility and cell division. Despite slower growth in hypoxia, ECs could achieve confluence, and the monolayers consisted of larger cells with altered assembly of the actin-based cytoskeleton and small gaps between contiguous cells. The permeability of these hypoxic EC monolayers to macromolecules and lower molecular weight solutes was increased. Cell surface coagulant properties were also perturbed: the anticoagulant cofactor thrombomodulin was suppressed, and a novel Factor X activator appeared on the EC surface. These data indicate that micro- and macrovascular ECs can grow and be maintained at low oxygen tensions, but hypoxic endothelium exhibits a range of altered functional properties which can potentially contribute to the pathogenesis of vascular lesions.
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PMID:Macrovascular and microvascular endothelium during long-term hypoxia: alterations in cell growth, monolayer permeability, and cell surface coagulant properties. 199 21

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) was found to inhibit (IC50 = 0.1 ng/ml) alpha-thrombin or FGF-induced mitogenicity in G0-arrested Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts. Growth factor-stimulated cells became rapidly insensitive to TGF-beta addition during their progression through G0/G1 suggesting that an early step of the mitogenic response was the target of TGF-beta action. Surprisingly, none of the well characterized early mitogenic events commonly triggered by growth factors was found to be affected by TGF-beta addition. These responses included: phosphoinositide breakdown, activation of protein kinase C as determined by EGF receptor down-modulation, subsequent rises in pHi, c-fos, and c-myc mRNA levels, ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation, the increase in RNA and protein synthesis, induction of ornithine decarboxylase. Only the induction of thymidine kinase, a marker of entry in the S phase, was found to be repressed by TGF-beta, with maximal inhibition when TGF-beta was added early in G1. These results indicate that the inhibitory action of TGF-beta does not affect the growth factors signalling pathways but touches an early event different from those so far analyzed.
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PMID:TGF-beta inhibits growth factor-induced DNA synthesis in hamster fibroblasts without affecting the early mitogenic events. 316 35

This report demonstrates that the plasmids, pBLCAT2 and pBLCAT3, which are used widely for the preparation of promoter reporter gene constructs, exhibit cryptic promoter activity when expressed in embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells and their differentiated cells. The promoterless plasmid pBLCAT3 is used widely because it has two multiple cloning sites. We demonstrate that the activity of the cryptic promoter present in pBLCAT3 is increased dramatically by an enhancerlike region of the murine k-FGF gene. However, the basal cryptic promoter activity and the enhanced cryptic promoter activity can be silenced effectively by the insertion of three tandemly arranged polyadenylation sequences. To characterize the influence of the cryptic promoter in pBLCAT3, we tested its effects on two promoters. Our findings suggest that the cryptic promoter increases by several fold the expression of the reporter gene in pBLCAT2, which contains the thymidine kinase promoter. In contrast, the cryptic promoter present in pBLCAT3 does not seem to influence the expression of the k-FGF promoter. Last, we observed cryptic promoter activity when pBLCAT3 was expressed transiently in EC-differentiated cells. Together, our findings argue that transcription silencing sequences should be used when examining weak promoters in these plasmids, especially in combination with enhancers.
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PMID:Cryptic promoter activity within the backbone of a plasmid commonly used to prepare promoter/reporter gene constructs. 795 17

Four different transcripts encoding fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF-1, also known as aFGF) have been previously identified in our laboratory. Among them, FGF-1.B is the major transcript expressed specifically in the neuronal cells in brain tissue. Using the transient transfection experiment in a glioblastoma cell line, U1240MG, that expresses 1.B, we previously identified two regulatory regions (RR1 and RR2) in the brain-specific promoter, FGF-1.B. In the present study, we showed that the minimal region required for the DNA-protein interaction in RR2 resides in an 18-base pair (-484 to -467) sequence, by using DNase I footprinting and methylation interference studies and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. This minimal cis-acting element was found to be sufficient in enhancing the reporter activity driven by the heterologous herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter in the 1.B-positive U1240MG cell line. This enhancing effect, however, was not detected in a glioblastoma cell line, U1242MG, which is negative for 1.B expression. By electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we also identified a specific DNA-protein complex, namely complex I, which is specific for 1.B-positive cell lines and human brain tissue. By in situ UV cross-linking experiment, we further showed that complex I contains two major DNA-binding proteins of apparent molecular masses of 37 and 98 kDa. Our results suggest that the formation of complex I, resulting from the heterodimerization of a 37-kDa protein (1.B-specific) and a 98-kDa protein (ubiquitous) may likely be a prerequisite for the enhanced expression of 1.B transcript in neuronal cells.
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PMID:Transcriptional activation of fibroblast growth factor 1.B promoter is mediated through an 18-base pair cis-acting element. 905 60

Nonviral DNA delivery strategies for gene therapy have generally been limited by a lack of specificity and efficacy. However, ligand-mediated endocytosis can specifically deliver DNA in vitro to cells bearing the appropriate cognate receptors. Similarly, in order to circumvent problems related to efficacy, DNA must encode proteins with high intrinsic activities. We show here that the ligand basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) can target FGF receptor-bearing cells with DNA encoding therapeutic proteins. Delivery of genes encoding saporin, a highly potent ribosomal inactivating protein, or the conditionally cytotoxic herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase, a protein that can kill cells by activating the prodrug ganciclovir, is demonstrated. The saporin gene was codon optimized for mammalian expression and demonstrated to express functional protein in a cell-free assay. FGF2-mediated delivery of saporin DNA or thymidine kinase DNA followed by ganciclovir treatment resulted in a 60 and 75% decrease in cell number, respectively. Specificity of gene delivery was demonstrated in competition assays with free FGF2 or with recombinant soluble FGF receptor. Alternatively, when histone H1, a ligand that binds to cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans ("low-affinity" FGF receptors), was used to deliver DNA encoding thymidine kinase, no ganciclovir sensitivity was observed. These findings establish the feasibility of using ligands such as FGF2 to specifically deliver genes encoding molecular chemotherapeutic agents to cells.
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PMID:Targeted delivery of DNA encoding cytotoxic proteins through high-affinity fibroblast growth factor receptors. 985 23

Msx2 is a homeodomain transcriptional repressor that exerts tissue-specific actions during craniofacial skeletal and neural development. To identify coregulatory molecules that participate in transcriptional repression by Msx2, we applied a Farwestern expression cloning strategy to identify transcripts encoding proteins that bind Msx2. A lambdagt11 expression library from mouse brain was screened with radiolabeled GST-Msx2 fusion protein encompassing the core suppressor domain of Msx2. A cDNA was isolated that encodes a novel protein fragment that binds radiolabeled Msx2. Homeoprotein binding activity was confirmed by Farwestern analysis of the T7-epitope-tagged recombinant protein fragment, and interactions in vitro require Msx2 residues necessary for transcriptional suppression in vivo. On the basis of biochemical analyses, this novel protein was named MINT, an acronym for Msx2-interacting nuclear target protein. The original clone is part of a 12.6 kb transcript expressed at high levels in testis and at lower levels in calvarial osteoblasts and brain. Multiple clones isolated from a mouse testis library were sequenced to construct a MINT cDNA contig of 11 kb. Starting from an initiator Met in good Kozak context, a large nascent polypeptide of 3576 amino acids is predicted, in contiguous open reading frame with the Msx2 interaction domain residues 2070-2394. Protein sequence analysis reveals that MINT has three N-terminal RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and four nuclear localization signals. Western blot analysis of fractionated cell extracts reveals that mature approximately 110 kDa (N-terminal) and approximately 250 kDa (C-terminal) MINT protein fragments accumulate in chromatin and nuclear matrix fractions, cosegregating with Msx2 and topoisomerase II. In gel shift assays, the MINT RRM domain selectively binds T- and G-rich DNA sequences; this includes a large G/T-rich inverted repeat element present in the proximal rat osteocalcin (OC) promoter, overlapping three cognates that support OC expression in osteoblasts. MINT and OC mRNAs are reciprocally regulated during differentiation of MC3T3E1 calvarial osteoblasts. Consistent with its proposed role as a nuclear transcriptional factor, transient expression of MINT(1-812) suppresses the FGF/forskolin-activated OC promoter, does not significantly regulate CMV promoter activity, but markedly upregulates the HSV thymidine kinase promoter in MC3T3E1 cells. In toto, these data indicate that the novel nuclear protein MINT binds the homeoprotein Msx2 and coregulates OC during craniofacial development. Msx2 and MINT both target an information-dense, osteoblast-specific regulatory region of the OC proximal promoter, nucleotides -141 to -111. The N-terminal MINT RRM domain represents an authentic dsDNA binding module for this novel vertebrate nuclear matrix protein. Acting as a scaffold protein, MINT potentially exerts both positive and negative regulatory actions by organizing transcriptional complexes in the nuclear matrix.
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PMID:The RRM domain of MINT, a novel Msx2 binding protein, recognizes and regulates the rat osteocalcin promoter. 1045 62

The mitogen-regulated protein/proliferin (mrp/plf) genes encode closely related proteins that stimulate cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) increases mrp/plf mRNA and protein production by 3T3 cells. Although the three cloned mrp/plf gene promoters are over 97% identical, only mrp3 is transcriptionally activated by bFGF. A series of truncated mrp3 promoter sequences were tested to determine the minimal promoter sequence necessary for bFGF-responsive transcription. Within the minimal bFGF-responsive mrp3 promoter fragment, a putative FGF-regulatory element (FRE) was identified. Nuclear factors that bind the FRE are present in 3T3 cells. When present upstream of a thymidine kinase basal promoter, the FRE exhibits high transcriptional activity and responds to bFGF. Thus, the FRE is a strong transcriptional element that is regulated by bFGF and that may participate in regulating the mrp3 gene and perhaps other FGF-regulated genes.
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PMID:A unique bFGF-responsive transcriptional element. 1052 39

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