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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)
Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is synthesized and secreted exclusively by mesenchymal cells, and acts through its receptor (
KGFR
) to stimulate epithelial proliferation. In vivo, KGF and
KGFR
comprise a mesenchymal-epithelial cell paracrine system that can mediate epithelial cell mitosis. In preliminary work, we noted that KGF was expressed in the rhesus monkey placenta, and we now report on the expression of placental KGF and
KGFR
mRNAs during the course of gestation in this species. In-situ hybridization revealed that during early gestation, KGF mRNA was strongly expressed in placental mesenchymal cells. These cells, which were also immunoreactive for vimentin, were mainly located on the periphery of the mesenchymal cores of both anchoring and floating villi.
KGFR
mRNA was expressed in the adjacent trophoblastic epithelium, which was immunoreactive for cytokeratin. In-situ hybridization revealed that KGF mRNA expression was very high in the youngest placentae (34-days gestation) and decreased gradually to minimal levels by late gestation (157 days). Northern blot analysis indicated also that the KGF MRNA signal was strongest in early gestation samples and weakest by late gestation. Analysis for
KGFR
mRNA by a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction technique showed that
KGFR
mRNA expression could be detected at all stages. However, in-situ hybridization indicated that
KGFR
mRNA expression was highest in early gestation placentae and least in the oldest placentae. Autoradiographs of frozen sections of placenta that had been incubated with [125I]KGF to detect receptor binding showed that grain density over the trophoblast was highest in the youngest and least in the oldest placentae. PCNA and Ki-67 expression followed this same temporal trend. We conclude that the KGF/
KGFR
system may be important in proliferation of the placental trophoblast during early- to mid-pregnancy in rhesus monkeys.
...
PMID:Keratinocyte growth factor and its receptor in the rhesus macaque placenta during the course of gestation. 873 Aug 82
Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are involved in the transmission of signals between the epithelia and connective tissue, and influence epidermal growth and differentiation. They are thought to be important in the restoration of normal tissues after injury and aberrant expression may also play a role in tumorigenesis. However, no information is available on the nature of cells within oral mucosa which synthesise and/or respond to FGFs. We have screened normal oral mucosa and oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) for expression of bFGF by immunohistology and northern analysis and used RT-PCR to look for transcripts for KGF and the high-affinity FGF receptors
FGFR1
and
FGFR2
. Transcripts for bFGF were detected in normal and malignant oral mucosa and KGF within connective tissue elements. The predominant
FGF receptor
detected in the epidermis and oral mucosa was
FGFR2
which binds KGF with greater affinity than bFGF. Production of KGF by connective tissue components and synthesis of the high-affinity KGF receptor,
FGFR2
, by oral keratinocytes provides circumstantial evidence for a paracrine growth control loop with KGF synthesised within the lamina propria or tumour stroma influencing the proliferation and maturation of both normal oral epithelium and SCC.
...
PMID:Expression of bFGF, KGF and FGF receptors on normal oral mucosa and SCC. 873 68
Neisseria gonorrhoeae WS1 is a spontaneous pyocin (a bacteriocin produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa)-resistant mutant of N. gonorrhoeae FA19 that produces a truncated lipooligosaccharide (LOS) and is non-transformable. The LOS-specific mutation in WS1 was moved into a transformable background by transforming FA19 with chromosomal DNA from WS1 (generating strain
JWS
-1). A clone (pJCL2) capable of restoring
JWS
-1 to wild-type LOS expression, as detected by its acquisition of reactivity with monoclonal antibodies and by its complemented sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profile, was isolated. Sequential unidirectional deletion and DNA sequence analysis of pJCL2 identified an open reading frame, designated lsi-7, that could complement the defect in
JWS
-1. Homology searches against various databases indicated that lsi-7 bad homology with several Escherichia coli genes involved in the phosphorylation of sugars. lsi-7 is adjacent to the lsi-6 gene, another gene involved in LOS biosynthesis. Complementation studies using Salmonella typhimurium lipopolysaccharide mutants showed lsi-6 and lsi-7 to be gonococcal homologs of S. typhimurium rfaD and rfaE, respectively. Reverse transcriptase PCR analysis demonstrated that lsi-6 and lsi-7 are part of the same transcriptional unit.
...
PMID:Cloning, complementation, and characterization of an rfaE homolog from Neisseria gonorrhoeae. 875 86
The fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) are a family of receptor protein tyrosine kinases that have been shown to mediate a variety of cellular processes including angiogenesis, wound healing, tumorigenesis, and embryonic development. Distinct FGFR mutations in individuals with autosomal dominant disorders of bone growth and development provide a unique opportunity to determine the function of FGFRs during embryonic development. To determine the consequences of these mutations on receptor function, we have made mutations in Xenopus
FGFR1
(XFGFR1) and
FGFR2
(XFGFR2) that correspond to several of the mutations identified in these dysmorphic syndromes. Analysis of mutant receptor proteins expressed in Xenopus oocytes indicates that all but one have elevated tyrosine kinase activity relative to their wild-type counterparts. Those mutations that give an unpaired cysteine residue in the extracellular domain result in intermolecular disulfide bond formation and covalent receptor dimerization. Microinjection of Xenopus embryos with RNA encoding mutant receptors with elevated tyrosine kinase activity results in ligand-independent induction of mesoderm in animal pole explants. Wild-type XFGFR1 and XFGFR2 do not induce mesoderm when injected at similar doses. Co-injection of RNA encoding a dominant negative
FGF receptor
, lacking the tyrosine kinase domain, together with RNA encoding various activated FGFRs inhibits mesoderm induction by a receptor activated by a transmembrane domain mutation or extracellular mutations that introduce an unpaired cysteine residue into the extracellular domain but does not inhibit mesoderm induction by receptors bearing a tyrosine kinase domain mutation. These results indicate that different point mutations may activate FGFRs by distinct mechanisms and that ligand-independent FGFR activation may be a feature in common to many skeletal disorders.
...
PMID:Ligand-independent activation of fibroblast growth factor receptors by point mutations in the extracellular, transmembrane, and kinase domains. 879 88
The expression of mRNA encoding alternative forms of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) differing in the carboxy terminal half of their third immunoglobulin-like domain, was investigated in 77 human breast cancer tissues, 12 non-malignant breast biopsies and 29 cell lines, using a reverse transcriptase (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. RNA from the two tissue groups yielded PCR product corresponding to both the
BEK
and the
K-SAM
form; amounts normalised to glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase product were similar in both groups. The level of either variant or of the total FGFR2 product was essentially unrelated to prognosis or clinical status except that patients with advanced clinical T staging had a higher proportion of
BEK
to
K-SAM
(P = 0.01). RNA from 1/2 normal breast derived and 8/10 breast cancer cell lines expressed exclusively or predominantly the
K-SAM
form; 2/10 had significant amounts of both
BEK
and
K-SAM
mRNA. Of 12 other epithelial lines, seven expressed mainly
K-SAM
mRNA, four expressed
BEK
and one was negative. Of five non-epithelial lines, one was negative, two expressed only
BEK
mRNA and two had significant amounts of both variants. We conclude that tissue levels of FGFR2 mRNA are unaltered in breast cancer extracts and that the splicing mechanism for this exon selection appears not to be significantly disrupted.
...
PMID:Expression of FGFR2 BEK and K-SAM mRNA variants in normal and malignant human breast. 881 1
Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and its receptor (
KGFR
) are thought to play important roles in normal keratinocyte growth and differentiation. Since UVB radiation is known to influence keratinocyte growth, we sought to determine whether UVB would alter the expression of KGF and
KGFR
. Using a reverse-transcription coupled polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the present study examined the expression of KGF and
KGFR
mRNA in cultured normal human keratinocytes exposed to UVB irradiation. Total cellular RNA was extracted from cultured keratinocytes at various time points after irradiation, reverse transcribed and used for PCR amplification using primers specific for KGF and
KGFR
. Constitutive expression of
KGFR
mRNA, but not KGF mRNA, was detected in normal cultured human keratinocytes. After UVB irradiation at 300 J/m2, the KGF mRNA remained undetectable while the
KGFR
mRNA level was significantly decreased. The down-regulation of
KGFR
mRNA expression was also confirmed by Northern blot analysis. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated a decreased positive signal of
KGFR
in human keratinocytes after UVB irradiation. Our results suggest a possible role for the KGF-
KGFR
signalling pathway in the skin after exposure to UVB, and that UVB-induced growth inhibition of keratinocytes in hyperproliferative skin disorders may be related to downregulation of
KGFR
.
...
PMID:Effects of UVB irradiation on keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and receptor (KGFR) expression in cultured human keratinocytes. 884 Jan 53
The membrane proximal, immunoglobulin- (Ig-) like domain 3 of
KGFR
shows significant sequence similarity to the Ig light chain variable (V) domain. According to our model, based on this similarity, the F-G loop in
KGFR
corresponds to the complementarity determining region (CDR) 3 of the Ig V domain. The F-G loop in the membrane proximal domain of the
keratinocyte growth factor receptor
has previously been shown to participate in determining the FGF ligand binding specificity of
KGFR
[Gray, T. E., Eisenstein, M., Shimon, T., Givol, D., & Yayon, A. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 10325-10333]. Here, we report the effects of additional mutations in this F-G loop. Both a single mutant
KGFR
Q348-->I and a double mutant
KGFR
Q348-->I, Q351-->H are found to have relatively mild effects on ligand binding, as was previously found for three other F-G loop mutant receptors. In contrast, a single mutation N344-->A in the F-G loop of
KGFR
is sufficient to abolish essentially all affinity of this receptor for its primary ligand KGF, while some affinity for aFGF is retained. Asparagine-344 is, therefore, essential for ligand binding by
KGFR
. We discuss the likelihood of this effect being due to global or local structural changes or to the removal of a specific interaction with the ligand, in relation to various known and model structures. Taking into account the mild effects of other mutations in the region and various other considerations, we tend to favor the idea that asparagine-344 is a key residue in determining the local conformation of the F-G loop.
...
PMID:Asparagine-344 is a key residue for ligand binding in keratinocyte growth factor receptor. 896 26
Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and receptors (FGFRs) are expressed in the developing lung and appear to be major regulators of lung growth and differentiation. By using mesenchyme-free lung epithelial cultures we show that FGF-1 (aFGF) and FGF-7 (KGF) produce different effects in the developing lung. FGF-1 stimulates epithelial proliferation that results in bud formation (branching), while FGF-7 promotes epithelial proliferation that leads to formation of cyst-like structures. In addition, FGF-7 stimulates epithelial differentiation, stimulating expression of SP-A and SP-B mRNA throughout the explant, and inducing formation of focal areas of highly differentiated cells. The FGF-1 effects on differentiation are limited to induction of surfactant protein SP-B mRNA at the tips of the explant. The FGF-induced patterns of growth appear to correlate with the distribution of epithelial FGFRs mRNAs;
FGFR-2
IIIb (
KGFR
) is diffusely expressed in the day 11 lung epithelium, while FGFR-4 appears in distal but not in proximal sites. We propose that cyst-like structures may result from FGF-7 binding to the uniformly distributed
FGFR-2
-IIIb. Lung bud formation may be regulated by FGF-1 and/or other ligands binding to
FGFR-2
and a distally located FGFR, such as FGFR-4, leading to an increasing binding and activation of FGFRs at the tips of the explant. Thus, in the embryonic lung epithelium, growth effects of FGFs appear to be dependent on location of FGFRs, while effects on differentiation are ligand-dependent.
...
PMID:FGF-1 and FGF-7 induce distinct patterns of growth and differentiation in embryonic lung epithelium. 905 43
The c-ret proto-oncogene encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase which plays an important role in kidney and enteric nervous system development. Germline mutations in c-ret are responsible for the dominantly inherited cancer syndromes, multiple endocrine neoplasia types 2A and 2B and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma as well as the developmental disorder Hirschsprung's disease. Using SK-N-MC neuroepithelioma cells stably transfected with an
EGFR
/Ret chimeric receptor, we have studied cellular consequences and signalling events following activation of exogenous
EGFR
/Ret and endogenous FGF and PDGF receptor tyrosine kinases in cells of neuroectodermal origin. Here we report that Ret activation led to cell scattering, growth inhibition and loss of anchorage-independent growth. Basic FGF, but not PDGF, evoked similar responses in those cells. Nevertheless, activation of all three receptor tyrosine kinases led to ERK2 activation. Analysis of the kinetics of ERK2 activation and downstream events revealed that Ret and
FGF receptor
activation led to sustained ERK2 activation and SRE transactivation, while PDGF treatment led to transient ERK2 activation and failed to induce SRE transactivation. Our results suggest that sustained, but not transient ERK2 activation may be involved in cell scattering.
...
PMID:Cell scattering of SK-N-MC neuroepithelioma cells in response to Ret and FGF receptor tyrosine kinase activation is correlated with sustained ERK2 activation. 912 63
Proliferation and function of the intestinal epithelium is modulated by a range of regulatory peptides, including cytokines and peptide growth factors. To define mechanisms integrating these regulatory systems, the effects of growth factors and cytokines on the expression of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor 3 (
FGFR3
) IIIb expressed on intestinal epithelial cells were examined in Caco-2 cells. Regulated expression of
FGFR3
IIIb was associated with acquisition of the differentiated state. Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), a ligand of another member of the
FGF receptor
family, enhanced expression of
FGFR3
IIIb, but acidic FGF, the ligand for
FGFR3
IIIb itself, had no effect. Epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta also markedly enhanced
FGFR3
IIIb expression in a different temporal pattern. In addition,
FGFR3
IIIb expression was increased 10-fold by the cytokine interleukin-2. These studies demonstrate integration between cytokines and growth factor ligand-receptor systems in intestinal epithelial cells.
...
PMID:Cytokine regulation of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 IIIb in intestinal epithelial cells. 914 22
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