Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.11.1 (protein kinase)
 81,284 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Interleukin-8 (IL-8), the prototypic member of the CXC subfamily of chemokines, induces in neutrophils chemotaxis, the respiratory burst, granule release, and increased cell adhesion. The IL-8 receptor is a seven-transmembrane spanning receptor coupled to specific heterotrimeric G proteins including Gi and G16. IL-8 stimulation of its receptor on neutrophils activates Ras GTP loading and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway including Raf-1 and B-Raf. The properties of IL-8 stimulation of the MAPK pathway differ from those observed for chemoattractants such as C5a. Even though Ras GTP loading is similar for IL-8 and C5a, the maximal activation of Raf-1 and B-Raf is approximately 2-fold and 3-7-fold, respectively, less for IL-8 than that observed for C5a. Raf-1 activation is rapid but transient, returning to near basal levels by 10 min. B-Raf activation is slower in onset and does not return to basal levels for nearly 30 min. IL-8 activation of MAPK follows a time course suggesting an involvement of both Raf-1 and B-Raf. Surprisingly, wortmannin, at low concentrations, inhibits Raf-1, B-Raf, and MAPK activation in response to IL-8 and C5a demonstrating a role for phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in the activation of Raf kinases in G protein-coupled receptor systems in human neutrophils. Furthermore, wortmannin inhibits IL-8 stimulated granule release and neutrophil adherence. These findings demonstrate the control of Raf kinases, the MAPK pathway and specific neutrophil functions by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase enzymes.
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PMID:Interleukin-8 regulation of the Ras/Raf/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in human neutrophils. 857 62

B-Raf is regulated by Ras protein and acts as a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase kinase in PC12 cells and brain. Ras protein undergoes a series of post-translational modifications on its C-terminal CAAX motif, and the modifications are critical for its function. To elucidate the role of the post-translational modifications in interaction with, and activation of, B-Raf, we have analyzed a direct association between H-Ras and B-Raf, and constructed an in vitro system for B-Raf activation by H-Ras. By using methods based on inhibition of yeast adenylyl cyclase or RasGAP activity and by in vitro binding assays, we have shown that the segment of B-Raf corresponding to amino acid 1-326 binds directly to H-Ras with a dissociation constant (Kd) comparable to that of Raf-1 and that the binding is not significantly affected by the post-translational modifications. However, when the activity of B-Raf to stimulate MAP kinase was measured by using a cell-free system derived from rat brain cytosol, we observed that the unmodified form of H-Ras possesses an almost negligible activity to activate B-Raf in vitro compared to the fully modified form. H-RasSer-181,184 mutant, which was farnesylated but not palmitoylated, was equally active as the fully modified form. These results indicate that the post-translational modifications, especially farnesylation, are required for H-Ras to activate B-Raf even though they have no apparent effect on the binding properties of H-Ras to B-Raf.
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PMID:Post-translational modification of H-Ras is required for activation of, but not for association with, B-Raf. 861 31

Although Rafs play a central role in signal transduction, the mechanism(s) by which they become activated is poorly understood. Raf-1 activation is dependent on the protein's ability to bind Ras, but Ras binding is insufficient to activate Raf-1 tyrosine phosphorylation to this Ras-induced activation, in the absence of an over-expressed tyrosine kinase. We demonstrate that Raf-1 purified form Sf9 cells coinfected with baculovirus Ras but not Src could be inactivated by protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP-1B. 14-3-3 and Hsp90 proteins blocked both the tyrosine dephosphorylation and inactivation of Raf-1, suggesting that Raf-1 activity is phosphotyrosine dependent. In Ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells, a minority of Raf-1 protein was membrane associated, but essentially all Raf-1 activity and Raf-1 phosphotyrosine fractionated with plasma membranes. Thus, the tyrosine-phosphorylated and active pool of Raf-1 constitute a membrane-localized subfraction which could also be inactivated with PTP-1B. By contrast, B-Raf has aspartic acid residues at positions homologous to those of the phosphorylated tyrosines (at 340 and 341) of Raf-1 and displays a high basal level of activity. B-Raf was not detectably tyrosine phosphorylated, membrane localized, or further activated upon Ras transformation, even though B-Raf has been shown to bind to Ras in vitro. We conclude that tyrosine phosphorylation is an essential component of the mechanism by which Ras activates Raf-1 kinase activity and that steady-state activated Ras is insufficient to activate B-Raf in vivo.
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PMID:Ras-induced activation of Raf-1 is dependent on tyrosine phosphorylation. 862 47

PC12 pheochromocytoma cells possess four known MEK activators: A-, B-, c-Raf-1 and MEKK. In order to examine whether differentiation factors or growth factors have a Raf isozyme preference for activation of the mitogenic cytoplasmic Raf-MEK-MAPK protein kinase cascade, the activation kinetics of these enzymes in response to epidermal growth factor (EGF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) were compared. An initial activation of all three Raf kinases was noticed, but only A- and B-Raf showed sustained activation by NGF, which was not seen after EGF treatment. Furthermore, expression of oncogenic versions of all three Raf kinases as well, as a potentially Raf-independent MEK activator, v-Mos, leads to activation of MAPK and to differentiation of PC12 cells. These data suggest a differential regulation of Raf kinases and that probably no alternative Raf substrates are involved in differentiation processes of PC12 cells.
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PMID:Differential regulation of Raf isozymes by growth versus differentiation inducing factors in PC12 pheochromocytoma cells. 864 37

Ras is known to possess multiple cellular targets including Raf-1. Here, we measured both direct binding of various H-Ras mutants to two representative mammalian Ras targets, Raf-1 and B-Raf, and the activity of the mutants to stimulate Raf-1 and B-Raf, and analysed the difference in their Ras-interaction mechanisms. B-Raf was shown to share almost the same H-Ras binding-specificity with Raf-1 by examining binding of the H-Ras mutants to Raf-1 and B-Raf in the yeast two-hybrid and in vitro binding assays. Mutants, Y32F, A59E, and V45E bound to Raf-1 in Sf9 cells coexpressing them, but failed to activate Raf-1. On the other hand, Y32F activated B-Raf in a cell-free system which consisted of rat brain cytosol and recombinant MEK. These results suggest that there is a subtle structural difference in requirements for the interaction of Ras with Raf-1 and B-Raf.
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PMID:Difference in the mechanism of interaction of Raf-1 and B-Raf with H-Ras. 868 65

The Ras/Raf/MEK/MAP kinase cascade transmits signals from activated cell-surface receptors to transcription factors in the nucleus and is an essential component of metazoan intracellular signaling pathways (see, for example, [1-6]). In the mouse, the Raf protein kinase family is comprised of three homologous genes, Raf-1, A-Raf and B-Raf [5] which are ubiquitously expressed in the developing embryo [7]. We have introduced into the mouse germ line a loss-of-function mutation in the X-chromosomal A-Raf gene, by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells. On a predominantly C57 Bl/6 genetic background, A-Raf-deficient mice displayed neurological and intestinal abnormalities and died between 7 and 21 days post-partum. When the mutated allele was maintained on a predominantly 129/OLA background, by contrast, A-Raf-deficient animals survived to adulthood, did not display obvious intestinal abnormalities, were fertile, but did have a subset of the neurological defects.
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PMID:Post-natal lethality and neurological and gastrointestinal defects in mice with targeted disruption of the A-Raf protein kinase gene. 880 80

Although the Ras-related protein TC21/R-Ras2 has only 55% amino acid identity with Ras proteins, mutated forms of TC21 exhibit the same potent transforming activity as constitutively activated forms of Ras. Therefore, like Ras, TC21 may activate signaling pathways that control normal cell growth and differentiation. To address this possibility, we determined if regulators and effectors of Ras are also important for controlling TC21 activity. First, we determined that Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factors (SOS1 and RasGRF/CDC25) synergistically enhanced wild-type TC21 activity in vivo and that Ras GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs; p120-GAP and NF1-GAP) stimulated wild-type TC21 GTP hydrolysis in vitro. Thus, extracellular signals that activate Ras via SOS1 activation may cause coordinate activation of Ras and TC21. Second, we determined if Raf kinases were effectors for TC21 transformation. Unexpectedly, yeast two-hybrid binding analyses showed that although both Ras and TC21 could interact with the isolated Ras-binding domain of Raf-1, only Ras interacted with full-length Raf-1, A-Raf, or B-Raf. Consistent with this observation, we found that Ras- but not TC21-transformed NIH 3T3 cells possessed constitutively elevated Raf-1 and B-Raf kinase activity. Thus, Raf kinases are effectors for Ras, but not TC21, signaling and transformation. We conclude that common upstream signals cause activation of Ras and TC21, but activated TC21 controls cell growth via distinct Raf-independent downstream signaling pathways.
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PMID:TC21 causes transformation by Raf-independent signaling pathways. 888 43

It has previously been shown that maximal activation of Raf-1 is produced by synergistic signals from oncogenic Ras and activated tyrosine kinases. This synergy arises because Ras-GTP translocates Raf-1 to the plasma membrane where it becomes phosphorylated on tyrosine residues 340 and 341 by membrane-bound tyrosine kinases (Marais, R., Light, Y., Paterson, H. F., and Marshall, C. J. (1995) EMBO J. 14, 3136-3145). We have examined whether the other two members of the Raf family, A-Raf and B-Raf, are regulated in a similar way to Raf-1. A-Raf behaves like Raf-1, being weakly activated by oncogenic Ras more strongly activated by oncogenic Src, and these signals synergize to give maximal activation. B-Raf by contrast is strongly activated by oncogenic Ras alone and is not activated by oncogenic Src. These results show that maximal activation of B-Raf merely requires signals that generate Ras-GTP, whereas activation of Raf-1 and A-Raf requires Ras-GTP together with signals that lead to their tyrosine phosphorylation. B-Raf may therefore be the primary target of oncogenic Ras.
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PMID:Differential regulation of Raf-1, A-Raf, and B-Raf by oncogenic ras and tyrosine kinases. 902 Jan 59

Two protein kinases that are involved in proliferation and oncogenesis but so far were thought to be functionally independent are Raf and CK2. The Raf signaling pathway is known to play a critical role in such fundamental biological processes as cellular proliferation and differentiation. Abnormal activation of this pathway is potentially oncogenic. Protein kinase CK2 exhibits enhanced levels in solid human tumors and proliferating tissue. In a two-hybrid screen of a mouse-embryo cDNA library we detected an interaction between A-Raf and CK2beta subunit. This binding was specific, as no interaction between CK2beta and B-Raf or c-Raf-1 was observed. Regions critical for this interaction were localized between residues 550 and 569 in the A-Raf kinase domain. A-Raf kinase activity was enhanced 10-fold upon coexpression with CK2beta in Sf9 cells. The alpha subunit of CK2 abolishes this effect. This is the first demonstration of both a direct Raf-isoform-specific activation and a regulatory role for CK2beta independent of the CK2alpha subunit. The present data thus link two different protein kinases that were thought to work separately in the cell.
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PMID:The regulatory subunit of protein kinase CK2 is a specific A-Raf activator. 904 66

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has tissue-specific effects on growth, differentiation, and gene expression. We show here that cAMP can activate the transcription factor Elk-1 and induce neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells via its activation of the MAP kinase cascade. These cell type-specific actions of cAMP require the expression of the serine/threonine kinase B-Raf and activation of the small G protein Rap1. Rap1, activated by mutation or by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase PKA, is a selective activator of B-Raf and an inhibitor of Raf-1. Therefore, in B-Raf-expressing cells, the activation of Rap1 provides a mechanism for tissue-specific regulation of cell growth and differentiation via MAP kinase.
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PMID:cAMP activates MAP kinase and Elk-1 through a B-Raf- and Rap1-dependent pathway. 909 16


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