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)

Using in situ hybridization histochemistry, we characterized the spatiotemporal gene expression patterns of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), and their receptor components (LIFR, GFR-alpha1, RET) induced in muscle cells, intramuscular nerves, and motoneurons in the regeneration processes of both muscle cells and nerves following muscle contusion. Muscle contusion induced upregulation of GDNF and GFR-alpha1 mRNAs in Schwann cell-like cells in the intramuscular nerves and of LIFR mRNA in damaged muscle cells. LIFR, GFR-alpha1, and RET mRNA expressions in motoneurons were upregulated following muscle contusion. Muscle contusion also induced more rapid, prominent transactivations of GFR-alpha1 and RET genes in motoneurons than did sciatic nerve axotomy. These findings suggest that rapid and prominent upregulation of the receptor components for LIF and GDNF in motoneurons is important for the regeneration of intramuscular motor nerves damaged by muscle contusion.
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PMID:Leukemia inhibitory factor, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, and their receptor expressions following muscle crush injury. 1051 37

Neurturin (NRTN) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) are members of a family of trophic factors with similar actions in vitro on certain neuronal classes. Retrograde transport of GDNF and NRTN was compared in peripheral sensory, sympathetic, and motor neurons to determine whether in vivo these factors are transported selectively by different neuronal populations. After sciatic nerve injections, NRTN was transported by sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). Competition studies demonstrated only limited cross-competition between NRTN and GDNF, indicating selective receptor-mediated transport of these factors. By using immunohistochemistry, we identified two populations of NRTN-transporting DRG neurons: a major population of small, RET-positive, IB4-positive, non-TrkA-expressing neurons that also show the ability to transport GDNF and a minor population of calretinin-expressing neurons that fail to transport GDNF. Spinal motor neurons in the adult showed relatively less ability to transport NRTN than to transport GDNF, although NRTN prevented the cell death of neonatal motor neurons in a manner very similar to GDNF (Yan et al., 1995) and persephin (PSPN) (Milbrandt et al., 1998). Last, NRTN, like GDNF, was not transported to sympathetic neurons of the adult superior cervical ganglion (SCG) after injection into the anterior eye chamber. These data reveal a high degree of functional selectivity of GDNF family receptor-alpha (GFRalpha) coreceptor subtypes for NRTN and GDNF in vivo.
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PMID:Analysis of the retrograde transport of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), neurturin, and persephin suggests that in vivo signaling for the GDNF family is GFRalpha coreceptor-specific. 1053 37

Co-localization of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its functional receptor c-RET was examined immunohistochemically in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of the 5th lumbar nerve in rats. The total 1728 DRG neurons were observed in three female rats (Wistar) with ca. 200 g body weight, 46.6% of small neurons, 41.4% of medium-sized neurons, and 8.4% of large neurons showed GDNF-immunoreactivity. C-RET immunoreactivity was more intense in small and medium-sized DRG neurons than in large ones; it was detected in 43.8% of small neurons, 52.0% of medium-sized neurons and 14.5% of large neurons. On examination of alternate serial sections, each of which was immunostained for GDNF and c-RET, 16.1% of small neurons, 16.9% of medium-sized neurons, and 2.4% of large neurons showed both GDNF- and c-RET-immunoreactivities. Ligation of the sciatic nerve caused an accumulation of GDNF immunoreactive products more prominently in the ganglion side rather than the peripheral side of ligation. Our present results suggested that GDNF was always expressed in DRG neurons and was transported to spinal dorsal horn via the primary afferent neurons.
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PMID:Co-localization of the glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor and its functional receptor c-RET in a subpopulation of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons. 1055 81

The tyrosine kinase receptor Ret is expressed in the ureteric bud and is required for normal renal development. Constitutive loss of Ret, its co-receptor gfralpha-1, or the ligand glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor results in renal agenesis. Transgenic embryos that express a constitutively active form of Ret (Ret(MEN2B)) under the control of the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DbetaH) promoter develop profound neuroglial hyperplasia of their sympathetic ganglia and adrenal medullae. Embryos from two independent DbetaH-Ret(MEN2B)-transgenic lines exhibit renal malformations. In contrast with ret-/- embryos, renal maldevelopment in DbetaH-Ret(MEN2B)-transgenic embryos results from primary changes in sympathoadrenal organs extrinsic to the kidney. The ureteric bud invades the metanephric mesenchyme normally, but subsequent bud branching and nephrogenesis are retarded, resulting in severe renal hypoplasia. Ablation of sympathoadrenal precursors restores normal renal growth in vivo and in vitro. We postulate that disruption of renal development results because Ret(MEN2B) derived from the hyperplastic nervous tissue competes with endogenous renal Ret for gfralpha-1 or other signaling components. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that renal malformations, which do not normally occur in a transgenic line with low levels of DbetaH-Ret(MEN2B) expression, arise in a gdnf+/- background. However, renal maldevelopment was not recapitulated in kidneys that were co-cultured with explanted transgenic ganglia in vitro. Our observations illustrate a novel pathogenic mechanism for renal dysgenesis that may explain how putative activating mutations of the RET gene can produce a phenotype usually associated with RET deficiency.
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PMID:Sympathoadrenal hyperplasia causes renal malformations in Ret(MEN2B)-transgenic mice. 1059 45

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has potent trophic effects on adult sensory neurons after nerve injury and is one of a family of proteins that includes neurturin, persephin, and artemin. Sensitivity to these factors is conferred by a receptor complex consisting of a ligand binding domain (GFRalpha1-GFRalpha4) and a signal transducing domain RET. We have investigated the normal expression of GDNF family receptor components within sensory neurons and the response to nerve injury. In normal rats, RET and GFRalpha1 were expressed in a subpopulation of both small- and large-diameter afferents projecting through the sciatic nerve [60 and 40% of FluoroGold (FG)-labeled cells, respectively]. GFRalpha2 and GFRalpha3 were both expressed principally within small-diameter DRG cells (30 and 40% of FG-labeled cells, respectively). Two weeks after sciatic axotomy, the expression of GFRalpha2 was markedly reduced (to 12% of sciatic afferents). In contrast, the proportion of sciatic afferents that expressed GFRalpha1 increased (to 66% of sciatic afferents) so that virtually all large-diameter afferents expressed this receptor component, and the expression of GFRalpha3 also increased (to 66% of sciatic afferents) so that almost all of the small-diameter afferents expressed this receptor component after axotomy. There was little change in RET expression. The changes in the proportions of DRG cells expressing different receptor components were mirrored by alterations in the total RNA levels within the DRG. The changes in GFRalpha1 and GFRalpha2 expression after axotomy could be largely reversed by treatment with GDNF.
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PMID:The glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family receptor components are differentially regulated within sensory neurons after nerve injury. 1062 18

The glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family ligands (GFLs) (GDNF, neurturin, artemin, and persephin) are critical regulators of neurodevelopment and support the survival of midbrain dopaminergic and spinal motor neurons in vitro and in animal disease models making them attractive therapeutic candidates for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The GFLs signal through a multicomponent receptor complex comprised of a high affinity binding component (GDNF-family receptor alpha-component (GFRalpha1-GFRalpha4)) and the receptor tyrosine kinase RET. To begin characterization of GFL receptor specificity at the molecular level, we performed comprehensive homologue-scanning mutagenesis of GDNF, the prototypical member of the GFLs. Replacing short segments of GDNF with the homologous segments from persephin (PSPN) (which cannot bind or activate GFRalpha1.RET or GFRalpha2.RET) identified sites along the second finger of GDNF critical for activating the GFRalpha1.RET and GFRalpha2.RET receptor complexes. Furthermore, introduction of these regions from GDNF, neurturin, or artemin into PSPN demonstrated that they are sufficient for activating GFRalpha1. RET, but additional determinants are required for interaction with the other GFRalphas. This difference in the molecular basis of GFL-GFRalpha specificity allowed the production of GFRalpha1. RET-specific agonists and provides a foundation for understanding of GFL-GFRalpha.RET signaling at the molecular level.
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PMID:Functional mapping of receptor specificity domains of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family ligands and production of GFRalpha1 RET-specific agonists. 1065 34

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is expressed in many neuronal and non-neuronal tissues during development as well as in adult animals. GDNF signaling is mediated through a two-component system consisting of the so called GDNF receptor-alfa (GFRalpha1) which binds to GDNF. Thereafter this complex binds to and activates the tyrosine kinase receptor RET. In this work, for the first time, we have characterized the expression of both GDNF and RET in the anterior pituitary. First of all, RT-PCR analysis, Western blot and immunohistochemistry of the whole anterior pituitary showed that GDNF, GFRalpha1 and RET are expressed in this gland. Following double-immunofluorescence of consecutive sections we found GDNF immunoreactivity in most cell types, and it was most abundant in corticotrophs (55%), LH (59%) and FSH-producing cells (81%). In contrast, while the majority of somatotrophs (87%) were stained for RET, no positive immunostaining could be detected in other cell types. Taken together, this data indicate that gonadotrophs and corticotrophs are the main source of GDNF synthesized in the anterior pituitary and that the somatotrophs appears to be their target cell. This study provides direct morphological evidences that GDNF may well be acting in a paracrine-like fashion in the regulation of somatotroph cell growth and/or cell function.
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PMID:GDNF and RET-gene expression in anterior pituitary-cell types. 1080

The RET receptor tyrosine kinase was first identified in a screen for human oncogenes and has subsequently been linked to several human syndromes: Hirschprung's disease, multiple endocrine neoplasia types 2A and 2B and familial thyroid carcinoma. Interestingly, all of the tissues affected by mutations in RET are derived from the neural crest during development. RET transduces a signal following activation by ligands of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family of neurotrophins which currently comprises GDNF, neuturin (NTN), artemin (ART) and persephin (PSP). To activate RET they form a tripartite complex with RET and a member of a family of four extracellular, GPI-linked alpha receptors (GFR alpha 1-4). Specificity is achieved by each GFR alpha binding only one member of the GDNF family with high affinity. Current evidence indicates that signal transduction by RET activates several second messenger systems including the PLC gamma, Ras, JNK and inositol phosphate pathways. Targeted mutagenesis in transgenic mice has shown that Ret, GFR alpha 1 and GDNF are required for multiple developmental events including development of the enteric nervous system (ENS) affected in Hirschsprung's disease. We describe experiments in chick neural crest cells which provide evidence for the normal function of RET and the basis of the defect in Hirschsprung's disease.
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PMID:The RET receptor tyrosine kinase: activation, signalling and significance in neural development and disease. 1081 67

The glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family of ligands binds to lipid anchored proteins termed GDNF family receptor (GFR)alphas, and then activates the RET receptor tyrosine kinase, by ligand GFRalpha. The binding of soluble GFRalphas to transfected cells suggested that different GFRalphas were dedicated to particular ligands, with GDNF acting primarily or entirely through GFRalpha1, and neurturin (NTN), through GFRalpha2. More recent evidence has suggested the possibility of cross-talk between these ligands and the two receptors. We examined here whether crosstalk between the GDNF ligands and the GFRalphas is biologically relevant, using midbrain dopaminergic, and parasympathetic, submandibular gland neurons. By biochemical and genetic addition and/or deletion of GFRalpha1 and 2, we show that in both neuronal cell types, robust biological activities of GDNF or NTN can be mediated by either GFRalpha1 or GFRalpha2, although GDNF is slightly more potent in dopaminergic (DA) neurons which normally express GFRalpha1, and NTN in submandibular neurons which normally express GFRalpha2. Throughout the body, GDNF and NTN are likely to have important biological actions on both GFRalpha1- and GFRalpha2-expressing cells.
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PMID:Broad specificity of GDNF family receptors GFRalpha1 and GFRalpha2 for GDNF and NTN in neurons and transfected cells. 1086 94

The RET tyrosine kinase is a functional receptor for neurotrophic ligands of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family. Loss of function of RET is associated with congenital megacolon or Hirschsprung's disease, whereas germ-line point mutations causing RET activation are responsible for multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2A, MEN2B, and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma) syndromes. Here we show that the expression of a constitutively active RET-MEN2A oncogene promotes survival of rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells upon growth factor withdrawal. Moreover, we show that the RET-MEN2A-mediated survival depends on signals transduced by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades. Thus, in PC12 cells, RET-MEN2A associates with the PI3K regulatory subunit p85 and promotes activation of Akt (also referred to as protein kinase B) in a PI3K-dependent fashion; in addition, RET-MEN2A promotes MAPK activation. PI3K recruitment and Akt activation as well as MAPK activation depend on RET-MEN2A tyrosine residue 1062. As a result, tyrosine 1062 of RET-MEN2A is essential for RET-MEN2A-mediated survival of PC12 cells cultured in growth factor-depleted media.
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PMID:Tyrosine 1062 of RET-MEN2A mediates activation of Akt (protein kinase B) and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways leading to PC12 cell survival. 1091 41


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