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)

The increased phosphorylation and activity of protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) was found early upon butyrate treatment of HT-29 cells with a potent differentiating agent, sodium butyrate. It was accompanied by the increased phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) and the inhibition of the activity of GSK-3beta to catalyze phosphorylation of its substrate, translation initiation factor eIF2B. Phosphorylation of PKB and GSK-3 in HT-29 cells was reduced by wortmannin, the inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-3' kinase (PI3'-kinase), which is upstream activator of PKB and GSK-3 in the intracellular signalling. Modulation of the activity and phosphorylation of these protein kinases during transient in vitro differentiation of HT-29 cells indicates that control of the PI3'-kinase/PKB-dependent signalling pathway may be implicated very early in the changes of malignant phenotype of HT-29 cells.
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PMID:Activity of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta is down-regulated during transient differentiation of human colon cancer HT-29 cells. 1037 64

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) is known to be a crucial regulator of muscle differentiation. However, its downstream pathway for this function is quite obscure. In this experiment we demonstrated the regulatory mechanism of the differentiation of H9c2 cardiomyoblasts, focusing on PI3-kinase, protein kinase B/Akt (PKB/Akt) and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p42/44 MAPK). When H9c2 cells stably transfected with a constitutively active p110 (H9c2-p110*), a constitutively active PKB/Akt (H9c2-Akt), and an empty vector (H9c2-con) were induced to differentiate, H9c2-p110* cells differentiated fastest, followed by H9c2-Akt cells. H9c2-con cells differentiated at the slowest rate. Consistent with this result, LY294002 completely blocked differentiation of all these transfected cell lines, whereas PD098059 had no effect on their differentiation. When H9c2-p110* cells were transiently transfected with a dominant negative form of PKB/Akt, differentiation was not affected. Taken together, we concluded that PI3-kinase, but not p42/44 MAPK, regulates differentiation of H9c2 cardiomyoblasts mainly through the PKB/Akt-independent pathway.
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PMID:Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase regulates differentiation of H9c2 cardiomyoblasts mainly through the protein kinase B/Akt-independent pathway. 1037

Nitric oxide (NO) produced by the endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) is a fundamental determinant of cardiovascular homesotasis: it regulates systemic blood pressure, vascular remodelling and angiogenesis. Physiologically, the most important stimulus for the continuous formation of NO is the viscous drag (shear stress) generated by the streaming blood on the endothelial layer. Although shear-stress-mediated phosphorylation of eNOS is thought to regulate enzyme activity, the mechanism of activation of eNOS is not yet known. Here we demonstrate that the serine/threonine protein kinase Akt/PKB mediates the activation of eNOS, leading to increased NO production. Inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase/Akt pathway or mutation of the Akt site on eNOS protein (at serine 1177) attenuates the serine phosphorylation and prevents the activation of eNOS. Mimicking the phosphorylation of Ser 1177 directly enhances enzyme activity and alters the sensitivity of the enzyme to Ca2+, rendering its activity maximal at sub-physiological concentrations of Ca2+. Thus, phosphorylation of eNOS by Akt represents a novel Ca2+-independent regulatory mechanism for activation of eNOS.
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PMID:Activation of nitric oxide synthase in endothelial cells by Akt-dependent phosphorylation. 1037 3

Most early onset cases of familial Alzheimer's disease (AD) are caused by mutations in presenilin-1 (PS1) and presenilin-2 (PS2). These mutations lead to increased beta-amyloid formation and may induce apoptosis in some model systems. Using primary cultured hippocampal neurons (HNs) and rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells transiently transfected with replication-defective recombinant adenoviral vectors expressing wild-type or mutant PS1, we demonstrate that mutant PS1s induce apoptosis, downregulate the survival factor Akt/PKB, and affect several Akt/PKB downstream targets, including glycogen synthase kinase-3beta and beta-catenin. Expression of a constitutively active Akt/PKB rescues HNs from mutant PS1-induced neuronal cell death, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for AD. Downregulation of Akt/PKB may be a mechanism by which mutant PS1 induces apoptosis and may play a role in the pathogenesis of familial AD.
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PMID:Mutant presenilin-1 induces apoptosis and downregulates Akt/PKB. 1037 46

The involvement of Ras in the activation of multiple early signaling pathways is well understood, but it is less clear how the various Ras effectors interact with the cell cycle machinery to cause G(1) progression. Ras-mediated activation of extracellular-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase has been implicated in cyclin D(1) up-regulation, but there is little extracellular-regulated kinase activity during the later stages of G(1), when cyclin D(1) expression becomes maximal, implying that other effector pathways may also be important in cyclin D(1) induction. We have addressed the involvement of Ras effectors from the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase and Ral-GDS families in G(1) progression and compared it to that of the Raf/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. PI 3-kinase activity is required for the expression of endogenous cyclin D(1) and for S phase entry following serum stimulation of quiescent NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. Activated PI 3-kinase induces cyclin D(1) transcription and E2F activity, at least in part mediated by the serine/threonine kinase Akt/PKB, and to a lesser extent the Rho family GTPase Rac. In addition, both activated Ral-GDS-like factor and Raf stimulate cyclin D(1) transcription and E2F activity and act in synergy with PI 3-kinase. Therefore, multiple cooperating pathways mediate the effects of Ras on progression through the cell cycle.
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PMID:Multiple ras effector pathways contribute to G(1) cell cycle progression. 1041 29

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and its downstream effector kinase PKB/Akt have been suggested to have crucial roles in suppressing apoptosis in several classes of neurons. However, few studies have conducted a long-term investigation of either kinase activity, many studies relying instead on use of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors wortmannin and LY294002. When we added LY294002 or wortmannin to sympathetic neurons, apoptosis in the presence of nerve growth factor (NGF) was very slow compared to that obtained by NGF deprivation. However, expression of a kinase-inactive mutant of PKB/Akt in the presence of NGF induced apoptosis in a significant proportion of the neurons. To understand this discrepancy, we investigated more closely the regulation of PKB/Akt activity by NGF. NGF stimulation induced a rapid increase in PKB/Akt activity which was sustained at approximately 6-fold up to 24 h. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase was also rapidly activated by NGF. However, concentrations of wortmannin which completely blocked phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity in the neurons inhibited no more than 50-70% of cellular PKB/Akt activity. Similarly, approximately 50% of maximal NGF-stimulated PKB/Akt activity remained elevated at concentrations of LY294002 which completely blocked neurite outgrowth, a process known to be phosphoinositide 3-kinase dependent. We suggest that a proportion of the sustained PKB/Akt activity induced by NGF is mediated by phosphoinositide 3-kinase-independent pathways. These results raise a cautionary note as to the usefulness of LY294002 or wortmannin as tools to dissect the role of PKB/Akt in neuronal survival.
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PMID:Nerve growth factor-induced PKB/Akt activity is sustained by phosphoinositide 3-kinase dependent and independent signals in sympathetic neurons. 1043 95

The tumor suppressor gene PTEN (MMAC1, TEP1) encodes a dual-specificity phosphatase and is considered a progression-associated target of genetic alterations in human gliomas. Recently, it has been reported that the introduction of wild type PTEN into glioma cells containing endogenous mutant PTEN alleles (U87MG, LN-308), but not in those which retain wild-type PTEN (LN-18, LN-229), causes growth suppression and inhibits cellular migration, spreading and focal adhesion. Here, we show that PTEN gene transfer has no effect on the chemosensitivity of the four cell lines. Further, a correlational analysis of the endogenous PTEN status of 12 human glioma cell lines with their sensitivity to seven different cancer chemotherapy drugs reveals no link between PTEN and chemosensitivity. In contrast, ectopic expression of wild type PTEN, but not the PTEN(G129R) mutant, in PTEN-mutant gliomas markedly sensitizes these cells to irradiation and to CD95-ligand (CD95L)-induced apoptosis. PTEN-mediated facilitation of CD95L-induced apoptosis is associated with enhanced CD95L-evoked caspase 3 activity. Protein kinase B (PKB/Akt), previously shown to inhibit CD95L-induced apoptosis in nonglial COS7 cells, is inactivated by dephosphorylation. Interestingly, both PTEN-mutant U87MG and PTEN-wild-type LN-229 cells contain phosphorylated PKB constitutively. Wild-type PTEN gene transfer promotes dephosphorylation of PKB specifically in U87MG cells but not in LN-229 cells. Sensitization of U87MG cells to CD95L-apoptosis by wild-type PTEN is blocked by insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). The protection by IGF-1 is inhibited by the phosphoinositide 3-OH (PI 3) kinase inhibitor, wortmannin. Although PKB is a down-stream target of PI 3 kinase, the protection by IGF-1 was not associated with the reconstitution of PKB phosphorylation. Thus, PTEN may sensitize human malignant glioma cells to CD95L-induced apoptosis in a PI 3 kinase-dependent manner that may not require PKB phosphorylation.
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PMID:PTEN gene transfer in human malignant glioma: sensitization to irradiation and CD95L-induced apoptosis. 1043 16

Gas6 is a growth factor membrane of the vitamin K-dependent family of proteins which is preferentially expressed in quiescent cells. Gas6 was identified as the ligand for Axl tyrosine kinase receptor family. Consistent with this, Gas6 was previously reported to induce cell cycle re-entry of serum-starved NIH3T3 cells and to prevent cell death after complete growth factor withdrawal, the survival effect being uncoupled from Gas6-induced mitogenesis. We have previously demonstrated that both Gas6 mitogenic and survival effects are mediated by Src and the phosphatidylinositol3-OH kinase (PI3K). Here we report that Ras is required for Gas6 mitogenesis but is dispensable for its survival effect. Gas6-induced survival requires the activity of the small GTPases of the Rho family, Rac and Rho, together with the downstream kinase Pak. Overexpression of the respective dominant negative constructs abrogates Gas6-mediated survival functions. Addition of Gas6 to serum starved cells results in the activation of AKT/PKB and in the phosphorylation of the Bcl-2 family member, Bad. By ectopic expression of a catalytically inactive form of AKT/PKB, we demonstrate that AKT/PKB is necessary for Gas6-mediated survival functions. We further show evidence that Gas6 stimulation of serum starved NIH3T3 cells results in a transient ERK, JNK/SAPK and p38 MAPK activation. Blocking ERK activation did not influence Gas6-induced survival, suggesting that such pathway is not involved in Gas6 protection from cell death. On the contrary we found that the late constitutive increase of p38 MAPK activity associated with cell death was downregulated in Gas6-treated NIH3T3 cells thus suggesting that Gas6 might promote survival by interfering with this pathway. Taken together the evidence here provided identity elements involved in Gas6 signalling more specifically elucidating the pathway responsible for Gas6-induced cell survival under conditions that do not allow cell proliferation.
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PMID:Gas6-mediated survival in NIH3T3 cells activates stress signalling cascade and is independent of Ras. 1043 35

The phosphoinositide 3-OH kinase (PI3K)-PKB/Akt signaling pathway has been shown to mediate both Ras- and cytokine-induced protection from apoptosis. In addition, apoptosis induced by the p53 tumor suppressor protein can be inhibited by Ras- and cytokine-mediated signaling pathways. It was therefore of interest to determine if the PI3K-PKB/Akt signaling pathway was capable of conferring protection from apoptosis induced by p53. We demonstrate in this report that constitutively active PI3K and PKB/Akt are capable of significantly delaying the onset of p53-mediated apoptosis. This was manifested as a delay in the kinetics of DNA degradation and cell death as well as a profound attenuation in the accumulation of cells with a sub-G(1) DNA content. Moreover, we found that this effect is mediated in the absence of changes in expression of Bcl-2, Bcl-Xl, and the pro-apoptotic protein Bax. Our results provide the first direct and unambiguous link between p53-mediated apoptosis and the PI3K-PKB/Akt signaling pathway.
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PMID:Phosphoinositide 3-OH kinase (PI3K) and PKB/Akt delay the onset of p53-mediated, transcriptionally dependent apoptosis. 1044 2

We compared the intracellular signalling pathways through Ret tyrosine kinase activated by glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) 2A, or MEN 2B mutation. Tyrosine phosphorylation of Grb2-associated binder-1 (Gab1) and activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) were induced at higher levels by GDNF stimulation or the MEN 2B mutation than by the MEN 2A mutation. Tyrosine-phosphorylated Gab1 was a major component that interacted with the active PI 3-kinase in vivo. In addition, we found that p62Dok and PKB/Akt were phosphorylated in a PI 3-kinase-dependent manner and the levels of their phosphorylation were significantly higher in the MEN 2B transfectant than in the MEN 2A transfectant. Tyrosine phosphorylation of p62Dok resulted in its complex formation with the Ras GTPase-activating protein (RasGAP) and the Nck adaptor protein. These findings thus suggested that high levels of activation of PI 3-kinase and of phosphorylation of its downstream signalling molecules may be associated with the clinical phenotype of MEN 2B.
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PMID:Enhanced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity and high phosphorylation state of its downstream signalling molecules mediated by ret with the MEN 2B mutation. 1044 70


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