Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.10.1 (ERK)
95,504 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The ERK MAP (mitogen-activated protein) kinase cascade modulates many cellular processes including transcription, adhesion, growth, survival, and proliferation. One target substrate of ERK involved in regulating transcription is the p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK) isozyme, RSK2. Here we demonstrate that a small death effector domain-containing protein called PEA-15 binds RSK2. RSK2 and PEA-15 (phosphoprotein enriched in astrocytes, 15 kDa) co-precipitated from cells and were colocalized in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, purified PEA-15 bound in vitro translated RSK2, suggesting that these proteins interact directly. PEA-15 does not bind to RSK1 and therefore exhibits some binding specificity. RSK2 binds the COOH terminus of PEA-15 and does not interact with its NH2-terminal death effector domain. We show that this interaction has functional consequences including the inhibition of RSK2-dependent CREB transcription. PEA-15 expression also blocks histone H3 phosphorylation, an RSK2-dependent event that may contribute to effects on gene expression. These results can be attributed to two effects of PEA-15 on RSK2. First, PEA-15 blocks nuclear accumulation of RSK2 after epidermal growth factor stimulation. Second, PEA-15 inhibits RSK2 kinase activity by 50%. A mutant of PEA-15 that binds RSK2 but is localized to the nucleus had no effect on RSK2-dependent transcription. Interestingly, this mutant also did not affect RSK2 kinase activity. This may indicate that cytoplasmic retention of RSK2 is also required for PEA-15 to impair kinase activity. PEA-15 does not alter ERK phosphorylation of RSK2 and is not itself a substrate of RSK2. Hence the effects of PEA-15 on RSK2 represent a novel mechanism for the regulation of RSK2-mediated signaling.
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PMID:RSK2 activity is regulated by its interaction with PEA-15. 1279 92

Steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) regulates the first committed step in the biosynthesis of steroids, and thus aberrant expression of StAR in endometriotic implants plays a critical role in the etiology of endometriosis. However, the mechanism responsible for abnormal expression of StAR in ectopic endometriotic tissues remains unknown. In the present study, we demonstrate that prostaglandin (PG) E(2) stimulates StAR protein expression at the cellular and molecular levels. PGE(2) caused a rapid increase in StAR expression that involves activation of the EP2 receptor-coupled protein kinase A pathway. Activation of EP2 receptor-induced phosphorylation of ERK and cAMP response element binding protein (CREB). However, activation of ERK did not involve in CREB phosphorylation or concomitantly StAR expression. Phosphorylation of CREB induced by PGE(2) increased the recruitment of CREB binding protein and thus histone H3 acetylation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed that acetylated histone H3 bound to the proximal region of the StAR promoter was increased after 30 min treatment with PGE(2), and this was mirrored by an increase in nascent StAR RNA transcription. Treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor, tricostatin A, enhanced PGE(2)-induced nascent StAR RNA transcription. We conclude that increased histone H3 acetylation involving the EP2 receptor, protein kinase A, CREB, and CREB binding protein is responsible for PGE(2)-induced StAR gene activation in endometriotic stromal cells. Our current report may provide new insights in understanding mechanism of abnormally local production of estrogen and the etiology of endometriosis.
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PMID:Transactivation of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein in human endometriotic stromalcells is mediated by the prostaglandin EP2 receptor. 1293 67

The c-FMS gene encodes the macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (M-CSFR or CSF1-R), which is a tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor essential for macrophage development. We have previously characterized the chromatin features of the mouse gene; however, very little is known about chromatin structure and function of the human c-FMS locus. Here we present a side-by-side comparison of the chromatin structure, histone modification, transcription factor occupancy and cofactor recruitment of the human and the mouse c-FMS loci. We show that, similar to the mouse gene, the human c-FMS gene possesses a promoter and an intronic enhancer element (c-fms intronic regulatory element or FIRE). Both elements are evolutionarily conserved and specifically active in macrophages. However, we demonstrate by in vivo footprinting that both murine and human c-FMS cis-regulatory elements are recognised by an overlapping, but non-identical, set of transcription factors. Despite these differences, chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments show highly similar patterns of histone H3 modification and a similar distribution of chromatin modifying and remodelling activities at individual cis-regulatory elements and across the c-FMS locus. Our experiments support the hypothesis that the same regulatory principles operate at both genes via conserved cores of transcription factor binding sites.
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PMID:Differential transcription factor occupancy but evolutionarily conserved chromatin features at the human and mouse M-CSF (CSF-1) receptor loci. 1453 Apr 29

Formation of long term memory begins with the activation of many disparate signaling pathways that ultimately impinge on the cellular mechanisms regulating gene expression. We investigated whether mechanisms regulating chromatin structure were activated during the early stages of long term memory formation in the hippocampus. Specifically, we investigated hippocampal histone acetylation during the initial stages of consolidation of long term association memories in a contextual fear conditioning paradigm. Acetylation of histone H3 in area CA1 of the hippocampus was regulated in contextual fear conditioning, an effect dependent on activation of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors and ERK, and blocked using a behavioral latent inhibition paradigm. Activation of NMDA receptors in area CA1 in vitro increased acetylation of histone H3, and this effect was blocked by inhibition of ERK signaling. Moreover, activation of ERK in area CA1 in vitro through either the protein kinase C or protein kinase A pathways, biochemical events known to be involved in long term memory formation, also increased histone H3 acetylation. Furthermore, we observed that elevating levels of histone acetylation through the use of the histone deacetylase inhibitors trichostatin A or sodium butyrate enhanced induction of long term potentiation at Schaffer-collateral synapses in area CA1 of the hippocampus, a candidate mechanism contributing to long term memory formation in vivo. In concert with our findings in vitro, injection of animals with sodium butyrate prior to contextual fear conditioning enhanced formation of long term memory. These results indicate that histone-associated heterochromatin undergoes changes in structure during the formation of long term memory. Mimicking memory-associated changes in heterochromatin enhances a cellular process thought to underlie long term memory formation, hippocampal long term potentiation, and memory formation itself.
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PMID:Regulation of histone acetylation during memory formation in the hippocampus. 1527 46

Double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) induce post-transcriptional gene silencing in several species of animal and plant. In plants, dsRNAs targeted to CpG islands within a promoter can also induce RNA-directed DNA methylation; however, it remains unclear whether gene silencing mediated by DNA methylation can be induced by dsRNAs in mammalian cells. Here, we demonstrate that short interfering RNAs (siRNAs; 21-25-nucleotide RNA molecules) induce DNA methylation and histone H3 methylation in human cells. Synthetic siRNAs targeted to CpG islands of an E-cadherin promoter induced significant DNA methylation and histone H3 lysine 9 methylation in both MCF-7 and normal mammary epithelial cells. As a result, these siRNAs repressed expression of the E-cadherin gene at the transcriptional level. In addition, disrupting the expression of either one of two DNA methyltransferases (DNMT1 or DNMT3B) by specific siRNAs abolished the siRNA-mediated methylation of DNA. Moreover, vector-based siRNAs targeted to the erbB2 (also known as HER2) promoter also induced DNA methylation in MCF-7 cells. Thus, siRNAs targeted to CpG islands within the promoter of a specific gene can induce transcriptional gene silencing by means of DNA-methyltransferase-dependent methylation of DNA in human cells, and might have potential as a new type of gene therapeutic agent.
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PMID:Induction of DNA methylation and gene silencing by short interfering RNAs in human cells. 1681 Feb 59

ERK and p38 MAP kinases, acting through the downstream mitogen- and stress-activated kinase 1/2 (MSK1/2), elicit histone H3 phosphorylation on a subfraction of nucleosomes--including those at Fos and Jun--concomitant with gene induction. S10 and S28 on the H3 tail have both been shown to be phospho-acceptors in vivo. Both phospho-epitopes appear with similar time-courses and both occur on H3 tails that are highly sensitive to TSA-induced hyperacetylation, similarities which might suggest that MSK1/2 phosphorylates both sites on the same H3 tails. Indeed, on recombinant histone octamers in vitro, MSK1 efficiently phosphorylates both sites on the same H3 tail. However, sequential immunoprecipitation studies show that antibodies against phosphorylated S10-H3 recover virtually all this epitope without depletion of phosphorylated S28-H3, and vice versa, indicating that the two phospho-epitopes are not located on the same H3 tail in vivo. Confocal immunocytochemistry confirms the clear physical separation of the two phospho-epitopes in the intact mouse nucleus. Finally, we used transfection-based experiments to test models that might explain such differential targeting. Overexpression and delocalisation of MSK1 does not result in the breakdown of targeting in vivo despite the fact that the ectopic kinase is fully activated by external stimuli. These studies reveal a remarkable level of targeting of S10 and S28 phosphorylation to distinct H3 tails within chromatin in the interphase mouse nucleus. Possible models for such exquisite targeting are discussed.
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PMID:MAP kinase-mediated phosphorylation of distinct pools of histone H3 at S10 or S28 via mitogen- and stress-activated kinase 1/2. 1587 Jan 5

MSK (mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase) 1 and MSK2 are kinases activated downstream of either the ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase) 1/2 or p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathways in vivo and are required for the phosphorylation of CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein) and histone H3. Here we show that the MSKs are involved in regulating the transcription of the immediate early gene Nur77. Stimulation of mouse embryonic fibroblasts with PMA, EGF (epidermal growth factor), TNF (tumour necrosis factor) or anisomycin resulted in induction of the Nur77 mRNA. The induction of Nur77 by TNF and anisomycin was abolished in MSK1/2 double-knockout cells, whereas induction was significantly reduced in response to PMA or EGF. The MSK responsive elements were mapped to two AP (activator protein)-1-like elements in the Nur77 promoter. The induction of Nur77 was also blocked by A-CREB, suggesting that MSKs control Nur77 transcription by phosphorylating CREB bound to the two AP-1-like elements. Consistent with the decrease in Nur77 mRNA levels in the MSK1/2-knockout cells, it was also found that MSKs were required for the induction of Nur77 protein by PMA and TNF. MSKs were also found to be required for the transcription of two genes related to Nur77, Nurr1 and Nor1, which were also transcribed in a CREB- or ATF1 (activating transcription factor-1)-dependent manner. Downstream of anisomycin signalling, a second ERK-dependent pathway, independent of MSK and CREB, was also required for the transcription of Nurr1 and Nor1.
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PMID:MSKs are required for the transcription of the nuclear orphan receptors Nur77, Nurr1 and Nor1 downstream of MAPK signalling. 1591 Feb 81

We have previously demonstrated that macrophages stimulated in the presence of immune complexes produce high levels of IL-10. We now examine the mechanism of IL-10 superinduction. We report that the enhanced production of IL-10 correlates with a rapid and enhanced activation of two MAPKs, ERK and p38. The inhibition of either ERK or p38 prevented IL-10 induction, indicating that both MAPKs were required for IL-10 synthesis. By chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we demonstrate that activation of ERK leads to the phosphorylation of serine 10 on histone H3 at the il-10 gene, making the promoter more accessible to transcription factors generated in response to p38 activation. Inhibition of ERK activation prevented histone modifications, and decreased the binding of Sp1 and STAT3 to the IL-10 promoter. We conclude that the activation of ERK following FcgammaR ligation leads to a remodeling of the chromatin at the il-10 locus, making it more accessible to transcription factors. The rapid and transient regulation of transcription factor accessibility to the IL-10 promoter by MAPK activation represents a novel way that the production of this cytokine is regulated.
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PMID:ERK activation following macrophage FcgammaR ligation leads to chromatin modifications at the IL-10 locus. 1597 81

Ethanol treatment increases gene expression in the liver through mechanisms that are not clearly understood. Histone acetylation has been shown to induce transcriptional activation. We have investigated the characteristics and mechanisms of ethanol-induced histone H3 acetylation in rat hepatocytes. Immunocytochemical and immunoblot analysis revealed that ethanol treatment significantly increased H3 acetylation at Lys9 with negligible effects at Lys14, -18, and -23. Acute in vivo administration of alcohol in rats produced the same results as in vitro observations. Nuclear extracts from ethanol-treated hepatocytes increased acetylation in H3 peptide to a greater extent than extracts from untreated cells, suggesting that ethanol either increased the expression level or the specific activity of histone acetyltransferases (HAT). Use of different H3 peptides indicated that ethanol selectively modulated HAT(s) targeting H3-Lys9. Treatment with acetate, an ethanol metabolite, also increased acetylation of H3-Lys9 and modulated HAT(s) in the same manner as ethanol, suggesting that acetate mediates the ethanol-induced effect on HAT. Inhibitors of MEK (U0126) and JNK (SP600125), but not p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB203580), suppressed ethanol-induced H3 acetylation. However, U0126 and SP600125 did not significantly affect ethanol-induced effect on HAT, suggesting that ERK and JNK regulate histone acetylation through a separate pathway(s) that does not involve modulation of HAT. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay demonstrated that ethanol treatment increased the association of the class I alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH I) gene with acetylated H3-Lys9. These data provide first evidence that ethanol increases acetylation of H3-Lys9 through modulation of HAT(s) and that histone acetylation may underlie the mechanism for ethanol-induced ADH I gene expression.
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PMID:Involvement of histone acetyltransferase (HAT) in ethanol-induced acetylation of histone H3 in hepatocytes: potential mechanism for gene expression. 1608 63

Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are potentially important cancer chemopreventive compounds found in cruciferous vegetables. In this study, three ITCs: allyl ITC, benzyl ITC and phenylethyl ITC, induced DNA cell-cycle changes and cell death in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells and their roles in PI3K/Akt and MEK/ERK signaling pathways have been investigated. Flow cytometric analysis was used to measure cell-cycle distribution, expression of mitotic marker (phosphorylated H3 histone), mitochondrial transmembrane potential for the determination of ITC-induced apoptosis measured by Annexin V-FITC staining and metabolic conversion of fluorescein diacetate, and quantification of sub-G1 population. Cellular MAPK and phosphorylated MAPK were measured using western blot analysis. All ITCs tested induced G2/M cell-cycle arrest after 24-h treatment, a time- and concentration-dependent activation of ERK1/2, dissipation of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and apoptosis. Both PI3K/Akt and MEK/ERK inhibitors, LY294002 and PD98059, attenuated the extent of BITC-induced cell death. Pretreatment of cells with either the PD98059 or LY294002 inhibitor, caused a dose-dependent inhibition of histone H3 (p-H3) phosphorylation. Despite the LY294002 inhibitor having no effect on the proportion of ITC-induced G2/M arrested cells, a significant decrease of p-H3/(G2/M) ratio in both PD98059- and LY294002-treated cells was observed. We suggest that the decrease of mitotic cells was compensated for by an increase of cells in G2 phase. LY294002 and PD98059 affect cell transition from G2 to M phase and from S to G2 phase respectively. These results indicate that isothiocyanates can induce cell cycle-change through multiple signaling pathways and more detailed study is merited to further unravel the chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic mechanisms of ITCs.
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PMID:Effects of MEK1 and PI3K inhibitors on allyl-, benzyl- and phenylethyl-isothiocyanate-induced G2/M arrest and cell death in Caco-2 cells. 1621 Dec 42


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