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)

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are generated during long term diabetes and are correlated with the development of diabetic complications, such as retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by an increased retinal neovascularization due to the action of the angiogenic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In this report, we show that injection of insulin and glycated albumin (Alb-AGE) to mice increases VEGF mRNA expression in eyes. Insulin and Alb-AGE stimulate VEGF mRNA and protein expression in retinal epithelial cells (ARPE-19). Alb-AGE-induced VEGF expression is not modulated by the use of antioxidants, N-acetyl-l-cysteine or pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate, or by an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), wortmannin. However, using an inhibitor of ERK activation, U0126, we show that Alb-AGE stimulates VEGF expression through an ERK-dependent pathway. Accordingly, we found that Alb-AGE activated mitogen-activate protein kinase, ERK1/2, JNK1/2, but not p38, and that Alb-AGE did not activate PI3K and PKB. Moreover, Alb-AGE activated the transcription factor, hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) DNA binding activity. This activation is mediated by an increase in accumulation of the HIF-1alpha protein through an ERK-dependent pathway. Thus, stimulation of VEGF expression by Alb-AGE, through the activation of HIF-1, could play an important role in the development of diabetic retinopathy.
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PMID:Regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor expression by advanced glycation end products. 1157 Dec 95

Insulin stimulates muscle and adipose tissue to absorb glucose through a signaling cascade that is incompletely understood. Insulin resistance, the inability of insulin to appropriately stimulate glucose uptake, is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The development of experimental systems that model human insulin resistance is important in elucidating the defects responsible for the development of type 2 diabetes. When two strains of mice, BTBR and C57BL/6J (B6), are crossed, the resultant male offspring (BtB6) demonstrate insulin resistance in muscle tissue. Here, we report an insulin resistance phenotype in adipose tissue from lean, nondiabetic BtB6 mice similar to that observed in human muscle. Adipocytes isolated from insulin-resistant male mice display 65% less insulin-stimulated glucose uptake compared with insulin-sensitive female mice. Similarly, adipocytes from insulin-resistant mice have diminished insulin-stimulated IRS-1 phosphorylation and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activation. However, normal activation of protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) by insulin is observed. Thus BtB6 mice demonstrate the dissociation of insulin-stimulated PI3K activity and Akt/PKB activation and represent a useful model to investigate the causes of insulin resistance in humans.
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PMID:Normal Akt/PKB with reduced PI3K activation in insulin-resistant mice. 1170 40

Insulin regulates the expression of several hepatic genes. Although the general definition of insulin signaling has progressed dramatically, the elucidation of the complete signaling pathway from insulin receptor to transcription factors involved in the regulation of a specific gene remains to be established. In fact, recent works suggest that multiple divergent insulin signaling pathways regulate the expression of distinct genes. 5-Aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS) is a mitochondrial matrix enzyme that catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step of heme biosynthesis. It has been reported that insulin caused the rapid inhibition of housekeeping ALAS transcription, but the mechanism involved in this repression has not been explored. The present study investigates the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways in insulin signaling relevant to ALAS inhibition. To explore this, we combined the transient overexpression of regulatory proteins involved in these pathways and the use of small cell permeant inhibitors in rat hepatocytes and HepG2 cells. Wortmannin and LY294002, PI3-kinase inhibitors, as well as lovastatin and PD152440, Ras farnesylation inhibitors, and MEK inhibitor PD98059 abolished the insulin repression of ALAS transcription. The inhibitor of mTOR/p70(S6K) rapamycin had no effect whatsoever upon hormone action. The overexpression of vectors encoding constitutively active Ras, MEK, or p90(RSK) mimicked the inhibitory action of insulin. Conversely, negative mutants of PKB, Ras, or MEK impaired insulin inhibition of ALAS promoter activity. Furthermore, inhibition of one of the pathways blocks the inhibitory effect produced by the activation of the other. Our findings suggest that factors involved in two signaling pathways that are often considered to be functionally separate during insulin action, the Ras/ERK/p90(RSK) pathway and the PI3K/PKB pathway, are jointly required for insulin-mediated inhibition of ALAS gene expression in rat hepatocytes and human hepatoma cells.
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PMID:Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways are required for the regulation of 5-aminolevulinate synthase gene expression by insulin. 1171 32

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase-Akt/PKB pathway mediates the mitogenic effects various nutrients and growth factors in cultured cells. To study its effects in vivo in pancreatic islet beta cells, we created transgenic mice that expressed a constitutively active Akt1/PKB alpha linked to an Insulin gene promoter. Transgenic mice exhibited a grossly visible increase in islet mass, largely due to proliferation of insulin-containing beta cells. Morphometric analysis verified a six-fold increase in beta cell mass/pancreas, a two-fold increase in 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation, a four-fold increase in the number of beta cells per pancreas area, and a two-fold increase in cell size in transgenic compared with wild-type mice at 5 weeks. At least part of the increase in beta cell number may be accounted for by neogenesis, defined by criteria that include beta cells proliferating from ductular epithelium, and by a six-fold increase in the number of single and doublet beta cells scattered throughout the exocrine pancreas of the transgenic mice. Glucose tolerance was improved, and fasting as well as fed insulin was greater compared with wild-type mice. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was maintained in transgenic mice, which were resistant to streptozotocin-induced diabetes. We conclude that activation of the Akt1/PKB alpha pathway affects islet beta cell mass by alteration of size and number.
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PMID:Islet beta cell expression of constitutively active Akt1/PKB alpha induces striking hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and hyperinsulinemia. 1173 50

Albert Renold strived to gain insight into the abnormalities of human diabetes by defining the pathophysiology of the disease peculiar to a given animal. He investigated the Israeli desert-derived spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus), which became obese on fat-rich seed diet. After a few months hyperplasia and hypertrophy of beta-cells occurred leading to a sudden rupture, insulin loss and ketosis. Spiny mice were low insulin responders, which is probably a characteristic of certain desert animals, protecting against insulin oversecretion when placed on an abundant diet. We have compared the response to overstimulation of several mutant diabetic species and nutritionally induced nonmutant animals when placed on affluent diet. Some endowed with resilient beta-cells sustain long-lasting oversecretion, compensating for the insulin resistance, without lapsing into overt diabetes. Some with labile beta cells exhibit apoptosis and lose their capacity of coping with insulin resistance after a relatively short period. The wide spectrum of response to insulin resistance among different diabetes prone species seems to represent the varying response of human beta cells among the populations. In search for the molecular background of insulin resistance resulting from overnutrition we have studied the Israeli desert gerbil Psammomys obesus (sand rat), which progresses through hyperinsulinemia, followed by hyperglycemia and irreversible beta cell loss. Insulin resistance was found to be the outcome of reduced activation of muscle insulin receptor tyrosine kinase by insulin, in association with diminished GLUT4 protein and DNA content and overexpression of PKC isoenzymes, notably of PKCepsilon. This overexpression and translocation to the membrane was discernible even prior to hyperinsulinemia and may reflect the propensity to diabetes in nondiabetic species and represent a marker for preventive action. By promoting the phosphorylation of serine/threonine residues on certain proteins of the insulin signaling pathway, PKCepsilon exerts a negative feedback on insulin action. PKCepsilon was also found to attenuate the activity of PKB and to promote the degradation of insulin receptor, as determined by co-incubation in HEK 293 cells. PKCepsilon overexpression was related to the rise in muscle diacylglycerol and lipid content, which are prevalent on lascivious nutrition especially if fat-rich. Thus, Psammomys illustrates the probable antecedents of the development of worldwide diabetes epidemic in human populations emerging from food scarcity to nutritional affluence, inappriopriate to their metabolic capacity.
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PMID:Albert Renold memorial lecture: molecular background of nutritionally induced insulin resistance leading to type 2 diabetes--from animal models to humans. 1179 38

Experimental data support a role for FAK, an important component of the integrin signaling pathway, in insulin action. To test the hypothesis that FAK plays a regulatory role in hepatic insulin action, we overexpressed wild type (WT), a kinase inactive (KR), or a COOH-terminal focal adhesion targeting (FAT) sequence-truncated mutant of FAK in HepG2 hepatoma cells. In control untransfected (NON) and vector (CMV2)- and WT-transfected cells, insulin stimulated an expected 54 +/- 13, 37 +/- 4, and 47 +/- 12 increase in [U-(14)C]glucose incorporation into glycogen, respectively. This was entirely abolished in the presence of either KR (-1 +/- 7%) or FAT mutants (0 +/- 8%, n = 5, p < 0.05 for KR or FAT versus other groups), and this was associated with a significant attenuation of incremental insulin-stimulated glycogen synthase (GS) activity. Insulin-stimulated serine phosphorylation of Akt/protein kinase B was significantly impaired in mutant-transfected cells. Moreover, the ability of insulin to inactivate GS kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta), the regulatory enzyme immediately upstream of GS, by serine phosphorylation (308 +/- 16, 321 +/- 41, and 458 +/- 34 optical densitometric units (odu) in NON, CMV2, and WT, respectively, p < 0.02 for WT versus CMV2) was attenuated in the presence of either FAT (205 +/- 14, p < 0.01) or KR (189 +/- 4, p < 0.005) mutants. FAK co-immunoprecipitated with GSK-3beta, but only in cells overexpressing the KR (374 +/- 254 odu) and FAT (555 +/- 308) mutants was this association stimulated by insulin compared with NON (-209 +/- 92), CMV2 (-47 +/- 70), and WT (-39 +/- 31 odu). This suggests that FAK and GSK-3beta form both a constitutive association and a transient complex upon insulin stimulation, the dissociation of which requires normal function and localization of FAK. We conclude that FAK regulates the activity of Akt/protein kinase B and GSK-3beta and the association of GSK-3beta with FAK to influence insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis in hepatocytes. Insulin action may be subject to regulation by the integrin signaling pathway, ensuring that these growth and differentiation-promoting pathways act in a coordinated and/or complementary manner.
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PMID:Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) regulates insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis in hepatocytes. 1180 46

In the absence of survival-inducing cytokines activated T cells and neutrophils enter apoptosis spontaneously. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3 K) activation and signaling through PKB/AKT have been widely linked to the inhibition of apoptosis by cytokines. Here we have investigated the role of PKB in the inhibition of spontaneous apoptosis of activated human CD4+ T cells and neutrophils. We used a range of cytokines known to induce survival and/or activation of PKB. We found activation of PKB in T cells treated with IL-2 and insulin, and neutrophils cultured with N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP), insulin or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Insulin did not inhibit apoptosis in neutrophils or T cells and fMLP did not delay neutrophil apoptosis. Intriguingly, IFN-beta induced PI3 K-dependent survival in both cell types, but did not activate PKB. IL-2 mediated rescue of T cells from apoptosis but no induction of proliferation occurred in thepresence of LY294002, an inhibitor of PI3 K, which also blocked subsequent PKB activation. The main role of PI3 K in IL-2-mediated signaling may therefore be in the regulation of proliferation. These findings suggest that activation of PKB and inhibition of apoptosis can be dissociated in cytokine-mediated rescue of non-transformed CD4+ T cells and neutrophils.
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PMID:Cytokine-mediated inhibition of apoptosis in non-transformed T cells and neutrophils can be dissociated from protein kinase B activation. 1182 65

Insulin-stimulated glucose transport is impaired in the early phases of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Studies in rodent cells suggest that atypical PKC (aPKC) isoforms (zeta, lamda, and iota) and PKB, and their upstream activators, PI3K and 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK-1), play important roles in insulin-stimulated glucose transport. However, there is no information on requirements for aPKCs, PKB, or PDK-1 during insulin action in human cell types. Presently, by using preadipocyte-derived adipocytes, we were able to employ adenoviral gene transfer methods to critically examine these requirements in a human cell type. These adipocytes were found to contain PKC-zeta, rather than PKC-lamda/iota, as their major aPKC. Expression of kinase-inactive forms of PDK-1, PKC-zeta, and PKC-lamda (which functions interchangeably with PKC-zeta) as well as chemical inhibitors of PI 3-kinase and PKC-zeta/lamda, wortmannin and the cell-permeable myristoylated PKC-zeta pseudosubstrate, respectively, effectively inhibited insulin-stimulated glucose transport. In contrast, expression of a kinase-inactive, activation-resistant, triple alanine mutant form of PKB-alpha had little or no effect, and expression of wild-type and constitutively active PKC-zeta or PKC-lamda increased glucose transport. Our findings provide convincing evidence that aPKCs and upstream activators, PI 3-kinase and PDK-1, play important roles in insulin-stimulated glucose transport in preadipocyte-derived human adipocytes.
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PMID:PKC-zeta mediates insulin effects on glucose transport in cultured preadipocyte-derived human adipocytes. 1183 10

Insulin and IGFs are potent inducers of skeletal muscle differentiation. Although PI3K is known to be involved in skeletal muscle differentiation, its downstream targets in this process are not clearly defined. We investigated the roles of Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in skeletal muscle differentiation. LY294002, a pharmacological inhibitor of PI3K, and the immunosuppressant rapamycin inhibited insulin-induced differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts. LY294002 and rapamycin suppressed myosin heavy chain expression and myotube formation. Transient reporter assays showed that both inhibitors repress muscle creatine kinase (MCK) and myogenin gene transcription. Heterologous expression of Akt1/PKB(alpha) potently suppressed MCK gene transcription without affecting myogenin gene transcription, whereas heterologous expression of Akt2 increased myogenin and MCK gene transcription. Finally, overexpression of myogenin rescued the inhibitory effect of rapamycin on MCK gene transcription, whereas it failed to rescue the inhibitory effect of LY294002 and Akt1. These results suggest that insulin regulates myogenic differentiation chiefly at the level of myogenin gene transcription via PI3K and mTOR. PI3K activity, but not mTOR, may regulate transcriptional activity of myogenin. Our data also suggest that Akt1 and Akt2 play distinct roles in myogenic differentiation.
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PMID:Akt1 and Akt2 differently regulate muscle creatine kinase and myogenin gene transcription in insulin-induced differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts. 1186 3

Insulin resistance is known to play a pivotal role in type 2 diabetes. Senile individuals, besides being prone to insulin resistance and, consequently, to type 2 diabetes, manifest diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) that may be influenced by disturbances of insulin signaling in the brain, such as memory impairment, Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer disease. We investigated the expression and response to insulin of elements involved in the insulin-signaling pathway in the forebrain cortex and cerebellum of rats ages 1 d to 60 wk. The protein content of insulin receptors and SRC homology adaptor protein (SHC) did not change significantly along the time frame analyzed. However, insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor and SHC, and the association of SHC/growth factor receptor binding protein-2 (GRB2) decreased significantly from d 1 to wk 60 of life in both types of tissues. Moreover, the expression of SH protein tyrosine phosphatase-2 (SHP2), a tyrosine phosphatase involved in insulin signal transduction and regulation of the insulin signal, decreased significantly with age progression, in both the forebrain cortex and the cerebellum of rats. Thus, elements involved in the insulin-signaling pathway are regulated at the expression and/or functional level in the CNS, and this regulation may play a role in insulin resistance in the brain.
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PMID:Effects of age on elements of insulin-signaling pathway in central nervous system of rats. 1195 67


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