Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.10.2 (focal adhesion kinase)
44,029 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sublethal doses of irradiation enhance the invasiveness of human malignantglioma cells. This can be inhibited by subtoxic concentrations of temozolomide (TMZ) but not by lomustine. Antagonism of irradiation-induced motility by TMZ is associated with the prevention of irradiation-induced alpha(v)beta(3)-integrin, matrix metalloproteinase-2 and MT1-matrix metalloproteinase-expression. Irradiation induces focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activation by phosphorylation, whereas TMZ promotes FAK cleavage. Inhibition of caspases prevents TMZ-induced FAK processing and restores the promigratory effect of irradiation, suggesting that the resistance of glioma cells to irradiation-induced caspase processing may determine the invasive responses of glioma cells to irradiation. In contrast, DAOY medulloblastoma cells, which respond with caspase activation to irradiation alone, do not show enhanced invasiveness when irradiated.
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PMID:Prevention of irradiation-induced glioma cell invasion by temozolomide involves caspase 3 activity and cleavage of focal adhesion kinase. 1191 74

New advances in apheresis technology allow for the safe and efficient collection of peripheral progenitor cells (PPC). Two blood cell separators were compared with respect to separation results such as PPC yield and contamination of the products. A total of 11 patients (6 multiple myeloma, 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and 1 medulloblastoma) underwent PPC collections with either the Amicus (Baxter) or AS. TEC (Fresenius) blood cell separator. PPC were mobilized by chemotherapy and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) application. Blood counts were determined before and after apheresis as well as in the PPC product. CD34 antigen-expressing cells were measured in the peripheral blood and in the PPC product by flow cytometry. Median baseline CD34 antigen-expressing cells were higher in patients undergoing PPC collection with the Amicus device. More PPC/kg of body weight were collected with this machine (5.3 x 10(6)/kg body weight versus 1.7 x 10(6) in the AS. TEC). The median volume was 129 ml (range 80-156 ml) for Amicus products and 111 ml (range 66-202 ml) for the AS. TEC, respectively. The median platelet contamination of the products from the Amicus blood cell separator was significantly lower than in products from the AS. TEC machine (0.17 x 10(11) versus 0.65 x 10(11), p < 0.001). The data show that a higher yield of PPC was collected with the Amicus machine. The platelet contamination of the products obtained from the two blood cells separators was significantly different.
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PMID:Comparison of two continuous-flow systems for the collection of peripheral progenitor cells. 1534 29

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumour in children. Its aetiology is unknown, although several signalling pathways controlling cell proliferation are thought to participate in the progress of the neoplasm. Mutations of the genes encoding proteins participating in the pathways triggered by embryonic growth factors like Sonic hedgehog (Shh) or WNT are often found in MB. Another model of MB development is overexpression or mutation of several types of growth factor receptors, including IGF-IR, EGF-R and PDGFR, that have the ability to activate cellular kinases responsible for promoting cell proliferation. In order to test this hypothesis, in the current paper we tested the activation of two kinases, Akt/PKB (protein kinase B) and Erk (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) and their substrates in 10 sporadic medulloblastoma cases. We show that MBs are a highly heterogeneous group of tumours that show upregulation of various signalling pathways. Nevertheless, both Akt and Erk may contribute to the progression of MB, triggering, at least in some cases, the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway, controlling translation of several cell cycle-related proteins. We hypothesize that Akt and Erk activation may also be associated with downregulation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).
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PMID:Activation of Akt and Erk pathways in medulloblastoma. 1703 17

Molecular pathways underlying medulloblastoma (MB), the most common malignant brain tumour in children, are still under scrutiny. The mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is one of the kinases that was recently found to be implicated in a number of human tumours. Also in the case of MB it is suspected that mTOR dysregulation may play an important role in pathogenesis. Active mTOR leads to translation of several proteins, some of which affect cellular proliferation. On the other hand, Akt/PKB (protein kinase B) and Erk (extracellular signal-regulated kinase, also called mitogen-activated protein kinase, MAPK) are two protein kinases whose hyperactivity leads to a number of downstream effects, including activation of mTOR. In our previous report we found that indeed Akt and Erk are variably activated in human MBs. However, because MBs are a highly heterogeneous group of tumours, we were unable to associate Akt or Erk activation with all the cases of MB. In this paper we evaluated six cases of MB, only of the classic subtype. We found that elements of the Erk pathway are hyperactive in all six tumours. Thus, we postulate that in classic type of MB, growth factor stimulation may lead to Erk upregulation and mTOR-dependent protein translation, causing malignant growth.
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PMID:Implication of active Erk in the classic type of human medulloblastoma. 1858 5

The interferon (IFN) antagonists of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) proteins contribute to the JE pathogenesis. Most flavivirus non-structural (NS) proteins correlate with virus-induced inflammation and immune escape. NS4A proteins of West Nile virus and dengue type 2 virus have been demonstrated to inhibit IFN signaling. In this study, JEV NS4A without the C-terminal 2K domain has been demonstrated to partially block activation of an IFN-stimulated response element (ISRE)-based cis-reporter by IFN-alpha/beta. In addition, JEV NS4A significantly inhibited the phosphorylation levels of STAT1 and STAT2, but not TYK2 in the IFN-treated cells. Moreover, the N-terminus of a RNA helicase DDX42 protein identified using a phage display human brain cDNA library have been demonstrated to specifically bind to JEV NS4A in vitro using a co-immunoprecipitation assay. The interaction between JEV NS4A and RNA helicase DDX42 showed partial co-localization in human medulloblastoma TE-671 cells by confocal microscopy. Importantly, the expression of N-terminal DDX42 is able to overcome JEV-induced antagonism of IFN responses. Therefore, these results show that JEV NS4A without the C-terminal 2K domain is associated with modulation of the IFN response and the interaction of JEV NS4A with RNA helicase DDX42 could be important for JE pathogenesis.
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PMID:Interferon antagonist function of Japanese encephalitis virus NS4A and its interaction with DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX42. 1858 27

Medulloblastoma is the most frequent type of childhood brain tumour. The insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) plays a significant neuroprotective role in medulloblastoma survival through regulation of the downstream effectors of the phosphoinositide-3-kinase-protein kinase-B (PI3K-PKB/c-Akt) pathway. One such target is Forkhead box O1 (FOXO1; FKHR), which is part of the FOXO family of Forkhead transcription factors. Phosphorylation by Akt results in cytoplasmic sequestration of FOXO1 thus inhibiting the expression of genes controlling cell death, cell proliferation, differentiation, cellular metabolism and oxidative stress. Here we show that serum starvation of medulloblastoma cells is accompanied by nuclear translocation of FOXO1. IGF-I stimulation of serum-starved cells resulted in rapid phosphorylation of Akt and FOXO1, and was associated with a significant increase in cell viability. In contrast, expression of a constitutively active form of FOXO1 that cannot be phosphorylated led to a significant reduction in medulloblastoma cell viability, even in the presence of growth factors provided by fetal bovine serum (FBS). These data suggest that the transcription factor FOXO1 may be a critical effector of medulloblastoma growth suppression.
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PMID:Impaired medulloblastoma cell survival following activation of the FOXO1 transcription factor. 1978 58

IFN-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), an ubiquitin-like protein, is rapidly induced by IFN-alpha/beta, and ISG15 conjugation is associated with the antiviral immune response. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a mosquito-borne neurotropic flavivirus, causes severe central nervous system diseases. We investigated the potential anti-JEV effect of ISG15 over-expression. ISG15 over-expression in human medulloblastoma cells significantly reduced the JEV-induced cytopathic effect and inhibited JEV replication by reducing the viral titers and genomes (p<0.05, Student's t-test); it also increased activation of the interferon stimulatory response element (ISRE)-luciferase cis-acting reporter in JEV-infected cells (p<0.05, Chi-square test). Furthermore, Western blotting revealed that ISG15 over-expression increased phosphorylation of IRF-3 (Ser396), JAK2 (Tyr1007/1008) and STAT1 (Tyr701 and Ser727) in JEV-infected cells (P<0.05, Chi-square test). Confocal imaging indicated that nucleus translocation of transcription factor STAT1 occurred in ISG15-over-expressing cells but not in vector control cells post-JEV infection. ISG15 over-expression activated the expression of STAT1-dependent genes including IRF-3, IFN-beta, IL-8, PKR and OAS before and post-JEV infection (p=0.063, Student's t-test). The results enabled elucidation of the molecular mechanism of ISG15 over-expression against JEV, which will be useful for developing a novel treatment to combat JEV infection.
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PMID:ISG15 over-expression inhibits replication of the Japanese encephalitis virus in human medulloblastoma cells. 2003 88

We previously showed the involvement of the tyrosine kinase receptor c-Met in medulloblastoma malignancy. The nonreceptor tyrosine kinases focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and Pyk2 are key players in the progression of different cancers. However, their role in medulloblastoma malignancy is not well understood. In this study, using a protein array approach, we found that c-Met induces FAK and Pyk2 phosphorylation in medulloblastoma cells. We therefore studied the interactions between c-Met and FAK/Pyk2 and their implications for medulloblastoma therapy. We found that c-Met activates FAK and Pyk2 in several medulloblastoma cell lines. We also found that FAK and Pyk2 mediate the malignant effects of c-Met on medulloblastoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. On the basis of these findings, we hypothesized that combined c-Met and FAK inhibitions would have additive effects on the inhibition of medulloblastoma malignancy. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the effects on medulloblastoma malignancy parameters of single or combined treatments of medulloblastoma cells with c-Met and FAK small-molecule kinase inhibitors. We found a significant increase in the inhibitory effect of both inhibitors on medulloblastoma cell migration and cell invasion as compared with single inhibitions (P < 0.05). In addition, oral gavage treatment with c-Met inhibitor of mice bearing medulloblastoma xenografts significantly reduced in vivo tumor growth. Therefore, combining c-Met inhibitors with FAK inhibitors constitutes a new potential strategy for medulloblastoma therapy. Altogether, our study describes a role for FAK and Pyk2 in medulloblastoma malignancy, uncovers new interactions between c-Met and FAK/Pyk2, and proposes for the first time combining anti-c-Met and anti-FAK inhibitors as a new strategy for medulloblastoma therapy.
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PMID:Cooperation between c-Met and focal adhesion kinase family members in medulloblastoma and implications for therapy. 2218 14

Medulloblastoma with extensive nodularity (MBEN) is the only type of medulloblastoma (MB), an aggressive CNS tumour of childhood, that is connected with favourable prognosis. In patients with MBEN tumour resection and chemotherapy are sometimes sufficient. While development of other types of MB is usually connected with activation of the wingless pathway, sonic hedgehog pathway or mammalian target of rapamycin (mTor) pathway, little is known about the molecular basis of MBEN pathophysiology. In the present paper we evaluated activation of the mTor pathway and kinases upstream of mTor, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK/Erk) and protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) in an MBEN sample. Using western blot technique with antibodies directed against active, phosphorylated forms of proteins, we found upregulation of mTor, Akt and Erk. Thus we postulate that the mTor pathway, often implicated in the development of CNS tumours, is also responsible for MBEN progression. Especially interesting seems implication of Erk and other kinases belonging to the same pathway: mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK-1) or phospho-ribosomal S6 kinase-1 (p90 RSK1), whose activity we usually demonstrate in more benign neoplasms. However, it remains to be clarified whether Erk pathway activation is actually prognostic for benign tumour development.
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PMID:Favourable prognosis in medulloblastoma with extensive nodularity is associated with mitogen-activated protein kinase upregulation. 2221 15

Musashi1 (Msi1) is a highly conserved RNA-binding protein that is required during the development of the nervous system. Msi1 has been characterized as a stem cell marker, controlling the balance between self-renewal and differentiation, and has also been implicated in tumorigenesis, being highly expressed in multiple tumor types. We analyzed Msi1 expression in a large cohort of medulloblastoma samples and found that Msi1 is highly expressed in tumor tissue compared with normal cerebellum. Notably, high Msi1 expression levels proved to be a sign of poor prognosis. Msi1 expression was determined to be particularly high in molecular subgroups 3 and 4 of medulloblastoma. We determined that Msi1 is required for tumorigenesis because inhibition of Msi1 expression by small-interfering RNAs reduced the growth of Daoy medulloblastoma cells in xenografts. To characterize the participation of Msi1 in medulloblastoma, we conducted different high-throughput analyses. Ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation followed by microarray analysis (RIP-chip) was used to identify mRNA species preferentially associated with Msi1 protein in Daoy cells. We also used cluster analysis to identify genes with similar or opposite expression patterns to Msi1 in our medulloblastoma cohort. A network study identified RAC1, CTGF, SDCBP, SRC, PRL, and SHC1 as major nodes of an Msi1-associated network. Our results suggest that Msi1 functions as a regulator of multiple processes in medulloblastoma formation and could become an important therapeutic target.
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PMID:The RNA-binding protein Musashi1 affects medulloblastoma growth via a network of cancer-related genes and is an indicator of poor prognosis. 2298 91


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