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 activation or interruption of the responses induced by regulatory peptides are ensured by ectoenzymes, the most important of them belonging to the group of zinc metallopeptidases. Thus angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) forms the hypertensive peptide angiotensin II from its inactive precursor AI. This also the case for aminopeptidase N (APN) and neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (NEP, CALLA) which together inactivate the endogenous opioid peptides, enkephalins, whereas only NEP is involved in the metabolism of the atrial natriuretic factor (ANP) at the kidney and vascular levels. The pharmacological effects resulting from the inhibition of these enzymatic processes will appear only in tissues where the peptide substrate is tonically or phasically released. This promising approach is expected to avoid, or at least to minimize, the side effects resulting from excessive and ubiquitous stimulation of peptide receptors by exogenously administered agonists or antagonists. The essential amino acids known to be present in the active site of the bacterial endopeptidase thermolysin from crystallographic studies, have also been found in NEP by using a new program of sequence comparison associated with mutagenesis experiments. Several classes of selective inhibitors of NEP, APN and ACE have been rationally designed by taking into account the structural differences in the active site of these peptidases. Thus, the retro-inversion of the amide bond of the NEP inhibitor thiorphan resulted in the elimination of a residual interaction with ACE. Moreover, we have proposed to associate inhibitory potencies towards two peptidases in the same compound. Thus kelatorphan HONH-CO-CH2-CH(CH2 phi)-CONH-CH(CH3)-COOH and other systemically-active mixed NEP/APN inhibitors were shown capable of completely blocking enkephalin metabolism in vivo. This concept has been extended to mixed NEP/ACE inhibitors with compounds such as HS-CH2-CH(CH2 phi)-CONH-CH(CH2R)-COOH where R = CH-(CH3)2 (ES 34) or -OCH2 phi (ES 37). Only mixed inhibitors of NEP and APN are able to produce potent analgesia after intracerebroventricular or systemic administration without the major side effects of morphine (tolerance and dependence). Thiorphan or its prodrugs acetorphan or sinorphan lead to a increase in natriuresis and diuresis by protection of ANP degradation, but without any significant antihypertensive effect. Contrastingly mixed NEP/ACE inhibitors such as ES34 induce decreases in blood pressure higher than those that produced by the association of selective NEP and ACE inhibitors.
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PMID:[New approach in the research of analgesics and antihypertensive agents]. 184 70

Neutral endopeptidase (NEP, also known as enkephalinase, CALLA, or EC 3.4.24.11) is a membrane-bound peptidase present in many different cell types. Previous studies have shown that it modulates the actions of a variety of biologically active peptides on several airway responses. More recent studies have demonstrated that reductions in neutral endopeptidase activity in animal airways is associated with increased responses to exogenously applied and endogenously released peptides. To study the regulation of NEP expression, we used human airway epithelial cells transformed in vitro with an origin-defective SV40 plasmid. Enzymatic activity, measured using [3H-Tyr,D-Ala2]leucine enkephalin, increased with cell density (1.4 ng/10(6) cells at 530 cells/cm2 and 21 ng/10(6) cells at confluence, 400 X 10(3) cells/cm2). In both confluent and nonconfluent cultures, the glucocorticoid budesonide increased neutral endopeptidase activity in time- and concentration-dependent fashions. Maximal increases of 10 ng/10(6) cells greater than control were observed after 6 days of incubation at 10(-7) M budesonide. Dexamethasone also increased NEP, suggesting that the effect is due to glucocorticoid receptor effects. Transcription, as assessed by Northern blot analysis of total cellular RNA, showed that NEP-specific RNAs also increased with increasing concentration of glucocorticoid. We conclude that neutral endopeptidase can be increased by cell growth or density and by glucocorticoids and that the effects of glucocorticoids are mediated by increased NEP gene expression.
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PMID:Glucocorticoids induce neutral endopeptidase in transformed human tracheal epithelial cells. 184 94

SCH 32615 is a novel inhibitor of the enzyme, neutral endopeptidase (NEP, E.C. 3.4.24.11), the so called 'enkephalinase', which plays a functional role in the degradation of [Met5]- and [Leu5]enkephalin. The present study was designed to assess whether SCH 32615 is able to modify the activity of dopaminergic neurons as reflected by changes in the content of the major dopamine metabolite, dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), in three different areas of the rat brain: the nucleus accumbens, the striatum, and the prefrontal cortex. When administered at analgesically active doses (1-100 mg/kg s.c., 60 min before killing), SCH 32615 induced a dose-dependent increase in dopamine metabolism in the nucleus accumbens but was ineffective in the striatum and in the prefrontal cortex. This effect appears to be mediated via opioid receptors, since it was completely prevented by naloxone (5 mg/kg s.c.). The increase in DOPAC content in the prefrontal cortex elicited by foot-shock was unaffected by pretreatment with SCH 32615. In the nucleus accumbens, dopamine metabolism was increased to the same extent by foot-shock and SCH 32615 administered separately, but these effects were not additive, suggesting that SCH 32615 and foot-shock act via a common mechanism. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that inhibition of the in vivo degradation of enkephalins induced by the systemic administration of SCH 32615 increases the enkephalinergic tone in the central nervous system and thereby activates the mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons.
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PMID:The neutral endopeptidase-24.11 (enkephalinase) inhibitor, SCH 32615, increases dopamine metabolism in the nucleus accumbens of the rat. 187 83

A search for the natural substrates for neutral endopeptidase (NEP; EC 3.4.24.11) in the immune system led to investigation of the enzyme's action on thymic humoral factor gamma 2 (THF). The ectoenzyme rapidly and efficiently hydrolyses the Lys6-Phe7 bond of the octapeptide. The site of cleavage was confirmed by h.p.l.c. analysis, amino acid analysis and sequence determination of the products. Phosphoramidon (3.6 microM), a potent inhibitor of the enzyme, prevents this cleavage even during prolonged incubation. The high efficiency of hydrolysis of THF by NEP is similar to that reported for [Leu5]enkephalin, and the dipeptide Phe-Leu is the C-terminal product in the hydrolysis of both peptides. The presence of NEP, reportedly identified as the common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia antigen (CALLA), in bone-marrow cells and other cells of the immune system raises the possibility that it may play a role in modulating the activity of peptides such as THF.
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PMID:Hydrolysis of thymic humoral factor gamma 2 by neutral endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11). 189 75

The rap1/Krev-1 gene encodes a ras-related protein that suppresses transformation by ras oncogenes. We have purified an 88 kd GTPase activating protein (GAP), specific for the rap1/Krev-1 gene product, from bovine brain. Based on partial amino acid sequences obtained from this protein, a 3.3 kb cDNA was isolated from a human brain library. Expression of the cDNA in insect Sf9 cells resulted in high level production of an 85-95 kd rap1GAP that specifically stimulated the GTPase activity of p21rap1. The complete deduced amino acid sequence is not homologous to any known protein sequences, including GAPs specific for p21ras. Northern and Western blotting analysis indicate that rap1GAP is not ubiquitously expressed and appears most abundant in fetal tissues and certain tumor cell lines, particularly the Wilms' kidney tumor, SK-NEP-1, and the melanoma, SK-MEL-3, cell lines.
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PMID:Molecular cloning of a GTPase activating protein specific for the Krev-1 protein p21rap1. 190 17

We have used a retroviral vector containing both the cDNA for rabbit neutral endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11; NEP) and the neomycin resistance gene to promote the expression of NEP in a polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell line. Cells resistant to G418 (a neomycin synthetic analog) were analyzed with a fluorescence-activated cell sorter to isolate a homogeneous population of cells which stably expressed NEP at their surface. When cells grown in Petri dishes were labeled with an antibody to NEP coupled to colloidal gold and examined under the electron microscope, a strong labeling of microvilli was observed, whereas very few particles were present on the basolateral domain, suggesting that the polarized distribution of this enzyme typical of proximal tubule cells is maintained in this MDCK cell population. To study more accurately the mechanism by which MDCK cells target NEP to the apical surface, cultures were grown to confluence on Costar Transwell chambers and used for pulse-chase experiments with [35S]methionine. Immunoprecipitation of recombinant NEP was then performed by adding an anti-NEP polyclonal antibody to the apical or basolateral surface of intact monolayers and by analyzing immunoprecipitates by gel electrophoresis and fluorography. Our results suggest that NEP is delivered directly to the apical domain and does not transit through the basolateral domain of the plasma membrane. This NEP-expressing MDCK cell line therefore constitutes a new model for investigating the molecular basis of apical membrane targeting in polarized epithelial cells.
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PMID:Neutral endopeptidase, a major brush border protein of the kidney proximal nephron, is directly targeted to the apical domain when expressed in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. 191 86

Neutral endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11, NEP) is a Zn-metallopeptidase involved in the degradation of biologically active peptides, notably the enkephalins and atrial natriuretic peptide. Recently, the structure of the active site of this enzyme has been probed by site-directed mutagenesis, and 4 amino acid residues have been identified, namely 2 histidines (His583 and His587), which act as zinc-binding ligands, a glutamate (Glu584) involved in catalysis, and an arginine residue (Arg102), suggested to participate in substrate binding. Site-directed mutagenesis has now been used to investigate the role of 4 other arginine residues (Arg408, Arg409, Arg659, and Arg747) that have been proposed as possible active site residues and to further analyze the role of Arg102. In each case, the arginine was replaced with a methionine, and both enzymatic activity and the IC50 values of several NEP inhibitors were measured for the mutated enzymes and compared to wild-type enzyme. The results suggest that 2 arginines, Arg102 and Arg747, could both be important for substrate and inhibitor binding. Arg747 seems to be positioned to interact with the carbonyl amide group of the P'1 residue and can be modified when the enzyme is treated with the arginine-specific reagents phenylglyoxal and butanedione. Arg102 could be positioned to interact with the free carboxyl group of a P'2 residue in some substrates and inhibitors and can be modified by phenylglyoxal but not by butanedione. The results could explain the dual dipeptidylcarboxypeptidase and endopeptidase nature of NEP.
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PMID:Evidence that both arginine 102 and arginine 747 are involved in substrate binding to neutral endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11). 198 94

Opioid peptides and their analogs have been shown to stimulate adherence, conformational changes and locomotory activity in human as well as invertebrate granulocytes. The present study demonstrates that [Met]-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7, an opioid substance thus far not included in these immunological tests, exhibits stimulatory effects comparable to those of [Met]-enkephalin in this regard. Furthermore, since neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (enkephalinase; CD10/NEP) exists in invertebrate immunocyte membranes, we demonstrate that its specific inhibitor, phosphoramidon, potentiates the effects of the heptapeptide in inducing conformational change in both human and invertebrate granulocytes. Additionally, the major metabolic products of NEP activity, Phe-Met-Arg-Phe and Tyr-Gly-Gly, appear to be potent antagonists of this enzyme activity, especially the tetrapeptide. The effects of heptapeptide stimulation showed a major difference between vertebrate and invertebrate immunocytes with respect to their time course, namely, the speed of their onset. [Met]-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 markedly stimulated the locomotory activity of these cells which becomes most noticeable within 15-45 min for Mytilus cells and in a 5-15 min period for human cells. It also enhanced the mobility and velocity of the responsive human (5 microns/min) and invertebrate cells (2.1 microns/min).
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PMID:A possible immunoregulatory function for [Met]-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 involving human and invertebrate granulocytes. 199 23

We investigated the distribution of neutral endopeptidase (NEP; EC 3.4.24.11) activity, a possible regulatory enzyme for neuropeptide-induced leukocyte activations, in each cell type of human blood leukocytes. The NEP activity assessed by an NEP inhibitor phosphoramidon-sensitive Met5-enkephalin degrading activity was present in neutrophils and the common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen (CALLA)-positive leukemic cells (59 pmol/min/10(6) cells and 62 pmol/min/10(6) cells, respectively); however, the NEP activity was virtually absent in lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils, CALLA-negative leukemic cells, or a promyelocytic cell line HL-60. The enzymatic activity was characterized as NEP on the basis of the values of kinetic parameters (Km = 61 microM, Kcat = 1,692 min-1, and Kcat/Km = 28 min-1 microM-1) and the values of IC50 of two NEP inhibitors phosphoramidon and thiorphan (7.4 nM and 8.4 nM, respectively). The distribution of NEP detected immunocytochemically using anti-NEP monoclonal antibodies was also found to be parallel with the distribution of NEP activity among peripheral blood leukocytes.
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PMID:Distribution of neutral endopeptidase activity in human blood leukocytes. 199 95

Extracts from Xenopus eggs capable of nuclear envelope assembly in vitro were fractionated by differential and density gradient centrifugation. Nuclear envelope assembly was found to require soluble components in the cytosol and two distinct particulate fractions, which we have called nuclear envelope precursor fractions A and B (NEP-A and NEP-B). Both NEP-A and NEP-B are sensitive to treatments with trypsin, sodium carbonate, and detergents, but can be distinguished from each other by their sensitivities to high salt and N-ethylmaleimide and by their levels of alpha-glucosidase activity. Vesicles in NEP-B bind to chromatin, whereas those in NEP-A do not. NEP-B may therefore be involved in the targeting of membranes to the surface of the chromatin, whereas NEP-A may provide a pool of vesicles that contributes many of the nuclear envelope membranes. NEP-B may also play a role in the assembly of nuclear pore complexes because the density of nuclear pores in the resulting envelope is dependent on the ratio of NEP-B to NEP-A in the reconstituted extract.
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PMID:A distinct vesicle population targets membranes and pore complexes to the nuclear envelope in Xenopus eggs. 199 30


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