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)

CD95 is a major apoptosis receptor that induces caspase activation and programmed cell death in susceptible cells. CD95-induced apoptosis can be blocked by peptidic caspase inhibitors such as benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone or Ile-Glu-Thr-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone. Here we show that stimulation of CD95 in the presence of these inhibitors induces necrosis and expression of various proinflammatory cytokines in primary T lymphocytes, such as TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor. In the absence of caspase inhibition CD95 stimulation did not result in cytokine expression, indicating that this proinflammatory signaling pathway is suppressed by active caspases. Further analysis with A3.01 T cells revealed that the proinflammatory signaling activity of CD95 was mediated by MEK/ERK, p38 and NF-kappaB signaling pathways. These findings point to a pivotal role of caspases not only as mediators of apoptosis but also as enzymes that prevent proinflammatory signaling during CD95-induced apoptosis. Moreover, our findings may be useful for the development of novel pharmacological strategies.
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PMID:Caspase inhibitors induce a switch from apoptotic to proinflammatory signaling in CD95-stimulated T lymphocytes. 1220 31

Because Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a major cause of gastroduodenal diseases in humans, the eradication of H. pylori using antibiotics is very effective for the treatment of gastroduodenal diseases. However, it has recently been reported that resistance to these antibiotics is developing. In the present study, the antibacterial effect of a Kampo (traditional Japanese medicine) herbal formulation, Hochu-ekki-to (RET; Formula repletionis animalis et supletionis medii), against H. pylori was examined in vitro and in vivo. HET inhibited the growth of antibiotic-resistant strains of H. pylori as well as antibiotic-sensitive strains at a dose of 2.5 mg/ml in vitro. When 1,000 mg/kg of HET was administered orally to C57BL/6 mice for 7 days before or after inoculation with H. pylori, H. pylori in the stomach was significantly reduced in the HET-pre-treatment group compared with the control group. Furthermore, HET in combination with antibiotics completely eradicated the bacteria in mice. The expression of interferon (IFN)-gamma was induced in the gastric mucosa of the mice pre-treated with HET. There were no significant differences between the colonization of H. pylori in the control and HET treatment groups in IFN-gamma gene-deficient mice. These results suggest that the antibacterial effect of HET may be partly due to IFN-gamma induction, and that HET may be clinically useful for treatment of H. pylori infection.
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PMID:Antibacterial effect of Kampo herbal formulation Hochu-ekki-to (Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang) on Helicobacter pylori infection in mice. 1222 33

Granuloma modulation induced by antigen is an attractive model for vaccination studies of experimental schistosomiasis to test the effect of anti-pathology vaccine. We describe here an immunization procedure with culture derived macrophages-pulsed PIII, a known anionic antigen purified from S. mansoni adult worm, involved in the inhibition of granulomatous response to eggs. For our studies, peritoneal or spleen macrophages cultured over 15 days were loaded with PIII. Both macrophage sub-populations were capable to efficiently take up and subsequently present PIII to lymphocytes as evidenced by immunofluorescence assay. The vaccination of mice with intravenous injection of PIII-loaded macrophages potently induced antigen-specific immune response to S. mansoni antigens as determined by cell proliferation assay. This immunization procedure of mice caused significant decrease in hepatic granuloma formation and in vitro granuloma reaction to S. mansoni antigens coupled to polyacrylamide beads (PB-SEA, PB-SWAP or PB-PIII). Assessment of in vitro granuloma supernatant of spleen cells from PIII-loaded macrophages vaccinated mice revealed significant amounts of Th1-cytokines IFN-gamma and IL-2 compared to control cells. Collectively, our results indicate that culture derived-macrophages provided a valuable research tool to investigate aspects of immune response that promote modulation of granulomatous hypersensitivity to S. mansoni eggs in mice.
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PMID:Modulation of granulomatous hypersensitivity against Schistosoma mansoni eggs in mice vaccinated with culture-derived macrophages loaded with PIII. 1224 80

Reduction of neutrophil apoptosis represents a major cause for granulocytosis and increases the destructive potential of theses cells during systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and sepsis. In this light, the role of protein kinases for the regulation of altered neutrophil apoptosis under infectious conditions was investigated. Neutrophils, obtained from patients with severe sepsis (n = 18), were incubated ex vivowith either LPS (1 microg/mL) or interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma; 10 ng/mL) for 16 h. Apoptosis was determined by propidium iodine (PI) staining of DNA fragments and was compared with the rate of spontaneous apoptosis. Tyrosine kinases were inhibited by herbimycin (1 microM), the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase ERK was inhibited with PD98059 (50 microM), and p38 MAP kinase was inhibited with SB203580 (5 microM). Herbimycin reconstituted LPS-reduced apoptosis in neutrophils from controls (39.9 +/- 3.8%) and patients (20.8 +/- 2.8%) to levels seen in spontaneous apoptosis (70.9 +/- 2.8% and 40.7 +/- 3.7%, respectively). Inhibition of the ERK kinase yielded similar results, whereas SB203580 had no effect on LPS-reduced apoptosis. However, inhibition of p38 partially reconstituted IFN-gamma-reduced apoptosis (51.3 +/- 7.7% and 25.6 +/- 5.8%) and increased spontaneous apoptosis (82.4 +/- 3.3% and 42.0 +/- 5.8%) in controls and patients, respectively. Western blot analysis revealed phosphorylation of both MAP kinases by LPS, but not by IFN-gamma. Inhibition of MAP kinases did not augment neutrophil apoptosis in patients to the level seen in controls, indicating that other mechanisms must be involved in the regulation of neutrophil apoptosis. Although the ERK kinase regulates LPS-induced reduction of apoptosis, the p38 MAP kinase might be involved in IFN-gamma signaling and the feedback regulation of neutrophil apoptosis.
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PMID:Activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases during granulocyte apoptosis in patients with severe sepsis. 1241 17

Secreted proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are major targets of the specific immunity in tuberculosis and constitute promising candidates for the development of more efficient vaccines and diagnostic tests. We show here that M. tuberculosis-specific antigen 10 (MTSA-10, originally designated CFP-10) can bind to the surface of mouse J774 macrophage-like cells and stimulate the secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). MTSA-10 also synergized with gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) for the induction of the microbicidal free radical nitric oxide (NO) in J774 cells, as well as in bone marrow-derived and peritoneal macrophages. On the other hand, pretreatment of J774 cells with MTSA-10 markedly reduced NO but not TNF-alpha or interleukin 10 (IL-10) release upon subsequent stimulation with lipopolysaccharide or the cell lysate of M. tuberculosis. The presence of IFN-gamma during stimulation with M. tuberculosis lysate antagonized the desensitizing effect of MTSA-10 pretreatment on macrophage NO production. The activation of protein tyrosine kinases (PTK) and the serine/threonine kinases p38 MAPK and ERK was apparently required for MTSA-10 induction of TNF-alpha and NO release, as revealed by specific kinase inhibitors. However, only p38 MAPK activity, not PTK or ERK activity, was partly responsible for MTSA-10-mediated macrophage desensitization. The modulation of macrophage function by MTSA-10 suggests a novel mechanism for its involvement in immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis and might have implications for the prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of this disease.
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PMID:Effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific 10-kilodalton antigen on macrophage release of tumor necrosis factor alpha and nitric oxide. 1243 25

Previously protein vaccines consisting of the extracellular domain of HER2/neu (ECD(HER2)) were shown to elicit an immune response that does not provide protection against transplantable tumors expressing HER2/neu. Here, we showed that when mice were vaccinated with a mixture of human ECD(HER2) and anti-human HER2/neu IL-12, IL-2 or GM-CSF fusion proteins, significant retardation of the growth of a syngeneic carcinoma expressing rat HER2/neu, and long-term survivors were observed. Immune sera inhibited the in vitro growth of SK-BR-3, a human breast cancer overexpressing HER2/neu. Transfer of immune sera into mice challenged with TUBO also led to partial inhibition of tumor growth. Splenocytes from mice vaccinated with ECD(HER2) plus IgG3-(GM-CSF) incubated with ECD(HER2) demonstrated significant proliferation and IFN-gamma secretion. Taken together these results suggest that vaccines including ECD(HER2) and Ab-cytokine fusion proteins may be used to elicit both humoral and cell-mediated responses against HER2/neu.
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PMID:Protein vaccination with the HER2/neu extracellular domain plus anti-HER2/neu antibody-cytokine fusion proteins induces a protective anti-HER2/neu immune response in mice. 1261 26

DS-Nh mice raised under conventional conditions spontaneously develop dermatitis similar to human atopic dermatitis (AD), which is associated with staphylococcal infection. In the present study, we show that Staphylococcus aureus producing staphylococcus exotoxin C (SEC) was recovered from the culture of the skin lesions of DS-Nh mice with AD-like dermatitis and that the serum levels of anti-SEC antibodies from these mice were elevated. We describe here how to promote experimental AD by epicutaneous injection with SEC-producing S. aureus to DS-Nh mice. In order to assess the role of SEC in the pathogenesis of AD, the mitogenic activity, TCRBV repertoire analysis and the production of IL-4 and IFN-gamma from spleen mononuclear cells (MNC) from DS-Nh stimulated by SEC were compared with those due to SEA, SEB and TSST. The weakest was the mitogenic activity of SEC, and higher IL-4 responses and lower IFN-gamma responses to SEC showed correlation with TCRBV8S2-positive T cells, which were selectively stimulated by SEC. We also demonstrate that SEC-producing S. aureus was able to survive in DS-Nh after intradermal injection. These results suggest a possible role for SEC in the pathogenesis of AD through host-S. aureus relationships.
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PMID:DS-Nh as an experimental model of atopic dermatitis induced by Staphylococcus aureus producing staphylococcal enterotoxin C. 1266 19

We have demonstrated that CD34(+) IFN-gamma-treated human mast cells (HuMC) express functional Fc gamma RI and that aggregation of these receptors leads to mediator release. As the signaling pathways linking Fc gamma RI aggregation to mediator release are unknown, we examined Fc gamma RI-dependent activation of specific signal transduction molecules and determined the relative involvement of these events in HuMC degranulation and TNF-alpha production following both Fc gamma RI and Fc epsilon RI aggregation. Fc gamma RI aggregation resulted in the phosphorylation/activation of src kinases and p72(syk) and subsequent tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple substrates. Inhibitor studies revealed that these responses were required for degranulation and TNF-alpha synthesis. Both Fc gamma RI and Fc epsilon RI aggregation also activated the MAP kinases ERK 1/2, JNK and p38 and this was necessary for TNF-alpha synthesis, but not degranulation for both receptors. Thus, signaling events in HuMC following aggregation of Fc gamma RI were generally similar to those observed following Fc epsilon RI aggregation. The one exception was that, although phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase was activated after both Fc epsilon RI and Fc gamma RI aggregation, only the Fc gamma RI appeared to require this molecule for degranulation.
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PMID:Comparison of Fc epsilon RI- and Fc gamma RI-mediated degranulation and TNF-alpha synthesis in human mast cells: selective utilization of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase for Fc gamma RI-induced degranulation. 1273 Oct 72

To mimic the two-signal requirements for T cell activation mediated by ligands, we exposed the superantigens SEA or SEE (signal 1) to T cells incubated with HLA-DR/LFA-3 or HLA-DR/B7-1-CHO transfected cells (signal 2). LFA-3 costimulation was able to induce T cell proliferation as well as IFN-gamma and IL-4 production at similar levels as in cells induced by B7-1. Analysis of the CD28RE of the IL-2 promoter showed specific transcription factor recruitment at the CD28RE element upon induction by B7-1/SEE. Further functional studies with an IL-2 enhancer-promoter carrying either wild type or mutated versions of the CD28RE site revealed that this element is necessary for full activation upon B7-1 costimulation. While both CD28/B7-1 and CD2/LFA-3 costimulation resulted in the up-regulation of IL-4 and IFN-gamma promoters, IL-2 promoter activity and production of IL-2 were only seen after B7-1 costimulation. However, contrary to what has been previously proposed, we show that costimulation with either B7-1 or LFA-3 further enhanced the ERK-2 activity and strongly activated the p38 MAPK pathway, but only B7-1 costimulation induced high levels of JNK-1 activity. These data suggest that the differential effect of CD28 vs. CD2 can be related to the difference in the ability of the two pathways to induce JNK-1 activity.
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PMID:The MAP kinases are differently utilized by CD28 and CD2 adhesion pathways in superantigen-activated Jurkat T cells. 1451 21

Analysis of early activation events in two SEA responsive T-cell families demonstrated that low doses of SEA induced CD4+Vbeta22 T-cells to down-regulate their TCR and express CD69, considerably earlier than CD4+Vbeta5 T-cells. The rapid down-regulation of Vbeta22 TCR led to its proliferation, whereas even a 10-fold higher dose of toxin induced only a partial down-regulation of Vbeta5 TCR. Stimulation with SEA induced a significantly higher percentage of Vbeta22 T-cells to produce IFN-gamma compared to Vbeta5 T-cells. SEAF47A, a mutant of SEA, known to have a lower binding affinity for the MHC class II molecule, failed to activate Vbeta5 T-cells whereas Vbeta22 T-cell activation was slightly decreased. Hence, early activation events highlighted the differential requirements of T-cell families to respond to SEA.
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PMID:Early activation events differentiate the reactivity of two T-cell families to Staphylococcus enterotoxin A. 1452 9


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