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Query: EC:2.7.11.1 (
protein kinase
)
81,284
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Sphingolipids and their metabolic products are now known to have second-messenger functions in a variety of cellular signaling pathways. Lactosylceramide (LacCer), a glycosphingolipid (GSL) present in vascular cells such as endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, macrophages, neutrophils, platelets, and monocytes, contributes to atherosclerosis. Large amounts of LacCer accumulate in fatty streaks, intimal plaque, and calcified intimal plaque, along with oxidized low density lipoproteins (Ox-LDLs), growth factors, and proinflammatory cytokines. A possible role for LacCer in vascular cell biology was suggested when this GSL was found to stimulate the proliferation in vitro of aortic smooth muscle cells (ASMCs). A further link of LacCer in atherosclerosis was uncovered by the finding that Ox-LDLs stimulated specifically the biosynthesis of LacCer. Ox-LDL-stimulated endogenous synthesis of LacCer by activation of UDP-Gal:GlcCer,beta1-4galtransferase (GalT-2) is an early step in this signaling pathway. In turn, LacCer serves as a lipid second messenger that orchestrates a signal transduction pathway, ultimately leading to cell proliferation. This signaling pathway includes LacCer-mediated activation of NADPH oxidase that produces superoxide. Such superoxide molecules stimulate the GTP loading of p21(ras). Subsequently, the kinase cascade (
Raf-1
, Mek2, and p44MAPK [mitogen-activated protein kinase]) is activated. The phosphorylated form of p44MAPK translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and engages in c-fos expression,
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
(
PCNA
) such as cyclin activation, and cell proliferation takes place. Interestingly, D-threo-1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (D-PDMP), an inhibitor of GalT-2, can abrogate the Ox-LDL-mediated activation of GalT-2, the signal kinase cascade noted above, as well as cell proliferation. Additional studies have revealed that LacCer mediates the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)-induced nuclear factor-kappaB expression and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) expression in vascular endothelial cells via the redox-dependent transcriptional pathway. LacCer also stimulates the expression of CD11/CD8, or Mac-1, on the surface of human neutrophils. Collectively, this phenomenon may contribute to the adhesion of neutrophils or monocytes to the endothelial cell surface and thus initiate the process of atherosclerosis. In addition, the LacCer-mediated proliferation of ASMCs may contribute to the progression of atherosclerosis. On the other hand, programmed cell death (apoptosis) by proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, interleukin-1, and high concentrations of Ox-LDL occur via activation of a cell membrane-associated neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase). N-SMase hydrolyzes sphingomyelin into ceramide and phosphocholine. In turn, ceramide or a homologue serves as an important stress-signaling molecule. Interestingly, an antibody against N-SMase can abrogate Ox-LDL- and TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis and therefore may be useful for in vivo studies of apoptosis in experimental animals. Because plaque stability is an integral aspect of atherosclerosis management, activation of N-SMase and subsequent apoptosis may be vital events in the onset of plaque rupture, stroke, or heart failure. Interestingly, in human liver cells, N-SMase action mediates the TNF-alpha-induced maturation of the sterol regulatory-element binding protein. Moreover, a cell-permeable ceramide can reconstitute the phenomenon above in a sterol-independent fashion. Such findings may provide new avenues for therapy for patients with atherosclerosis. The findings described here indicate an important role for sphingolipids in vascular biology and provide an exciting opportunity for further research in vascular disease and atherosclerosis.
...
PMID:Sphingolipids in atherosclerosis and vascular biology. 976 22
The WAF1/Cip1 gene product is an important regulator at the G1 checkpoint in the cell cycle. WAF1/Cip1 expression can be activated through p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways. The WAF1/Cip1 protein binds to
cyclin-dependent kinase
complexes and inhibits the kinase activity that is required for cell cycle progression. In this preliminary study, we analyzed with Western blot assays the steady-state levels of the WAF1/Cip1 protein in the leukemia cells of 100 untreated acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) patients. Normal bone marrow cells from six donors were used as a control. The results of these analyses showed that the levels of the WAF1/Cip1 protein were very low in normal marrow cells and in the leukemia cells of 83 AML patients. High levels of WAF1/Cip1 were detected in 17 patients; these patients with high WAF1/Cip1 levels were significantly less likely to achieve complete remission (41% versus 69%, P = 0.03) and were four times as likely to be resistant to therapy (47% versus 12%, P = 0.003) as patients with very low levels of WAF1/Cip1. Median survival was 38 weeks for patients having very low expression levels versus 11 weeks for patients having high expression levels (P = 0.04). The WAF1/Cip1 level was an independent predictor for response but not survival in a stepwise multivariate regression analysis. Southern blotting analyses did not detect deletion of the WAF1/Cip1 gene in the 12 negative WAF1/Cip1 AML samples tested. Also, the level of WAF1/Cip1 protein expression was not correlated with overexpression of cyclin D1, cyclin E,
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
, cyclin-dependent kinase 4, or p53 in the leukemia cells. However, the levels of cyclin D1, cyclin E, and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 were elevated in most of the AML samples compared with that in normal marrow. We hypothesize that high-level constitutively expressed WAF1/Cip1 in tumor cells may result in an indolent state that is refractory to chemotherapy drugs. We conclude that the WAF1/Cip1 expression level may be an important prognostic factor for response to therapy and survival in AML patients.
...
PMID:High levels of constitutive WAF1/Cip1 protein are associated with chemoresistance in acute myelogenous leukemia. 981 79
p53 tumor suppression is deficient in the majority of human cancers. Efforts to understand this pathway have identified
cyclin-dependent kinase
(
CDK
) inhibitors and suggested a potential for their replacement in human cancer. In the present studies, expression of a C-terminal deletion mutant of the human p21(WAF1/CIP1)
CDK
inhibitor completely suppressed the growth of colon cancer cells, whereas full-length p21 only partially suppressed growth. We prepared a replication-deficient adenoviral recombinant which expresses the p21 C-terminal mutant (Ad-WAF1-341) and compared its tumor suppressive abilities with Ad-p53 and Ad-LacZ. Ad-WAF1-341- and Ad-p53-infected cancer cells, but not Ad-LacZ-infected cancer cells, expressed a nuclear protein recognized by anti-p21 antibody and were deficient in cell cycle progression. The exogenous p21 mutant interacted with CDK2 but not
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
following infection of p21-/- cancer cells. Ad-WAF1-341 was more potent than Ad-p53 in inhibiting DNA synthesis in human papillomavirus 16 E6-expressing cancer cells. Most importantly, the Ad-WAF1-341-infected E6-expressing cells died, whereas most of the Ad-p53-infected cells continued to proliferate. Endonucleolytic cleavage of DNA was observed in Ad-WAF1-341-infected cancer cells. These observations suggest that Ad-WAF1-341 should be evaluated in the treatment of human papillomavirus-associated neoplasia and other neoplasias resistant to p53.
...
PMID:Suppression of cancer cell growth by adenovirus expressing p21(WAF1/CIP1) deficient in PCNA interaction. 981 91
Replication factor C (RF-C) and
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
(
PCNA
) assemble a complex, called sliding clamp, onto DNA. The clamp in turn loads DNA polymerases (pol) delta and epsilon to form the corresponding holoenzymes, which play an essential role in replication of eukaryotic chromosomal DNA and in several DNA repair pathways. To determine the fate of RF-C after loading of
PCNA
onto DNA, we tagged the RF-C subunit p37 with a
protein kinase A
recognition motif, so that the recombinant five-subunit RF-C complex could be 32P-labeled and quantitatively detected in femtomolar amounts. Nonspecific binding of RF-C to DNA was minimized by replacing the p140 subunit with an N-terminally truncated p140 subunit lacking the previously identified nonspecific DNA binding domain. Neither of these modifications impaired the clamp loading activity of the recombinant RF-C. Using gel filtration techniques, we demonstrated that RF-C dissociated from the DNA after clamp loading or pol delta holoenzyme assembly, while
PCNA
or
PCNA
.pol delta complex remained bound to DNA.
PCNA
catalytically loaded onto the template-primer was sufficient by itself to tether pol delta and stimulate DNA replication. The readdition of RF-C to the isolated
PCNA
.DNA complex did not further stimulate pol delta DNA synthesis. We conclude that pol delta holoenzyme consists of
PCNA
and pol delta core and that RF-C serves only to load
PCNA
clamp.
...
PMID:Replication factor C disengages from proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) upon sliding clamp formation, and PCNA itself tethers DNA polymerase delta to DNA. 982 71
The
cyclin-dependent kinase
(
CDK
) inhibitor p21(Cip1/Waf1) plays an essential role in the control of cell proliferation by modulating the activity of cyclin/
CDK
complexes in response to various intracellular or extracellular signals. Small variations in p21 expression levels may determine whether it acts as an inhibitor or an assembly factor for cyclin/
CDK
complexes. It is therefore critical to better characterize the mechanisms regulating p21 abundance. Here, we show, using a tetracycline-regulated system in p53-deficient DLD-1 human colon cancer cells, that p21 protein levels and stability are regulated by the proteasome-dependent degradation pathway and by association with its partners, CDKs and
PCNA
. A p21 mutant deficient for interaction with CDKs, p21CDK-, displayed an enhanced stability and greatly reduced sensitivity to proteasome-mediated proteolysis, indicating that association with cyclin/
CDK
complexes may trigger p21 degradation. In contrast, a p21 mutant impaired in the interaction with
PCNA
, p21PCNA-, exhibited a decreased stability, suggesting that association with
PCNA
protects p21 from proteasome-dependent degradation. Furthermore, the abundance of p21 itself, in addition to protein-protein interactions, may also modulate p21 stability since we found that high levels of p21 expression overcome proteasome-dependent regulation of p21 accumulation.
...
PMID:Interaction with cyclin-dependent kinases and PCNA modulates proteasome-dependent degradation of p21. 982 54
The specificity and the temporal location of cell cycle arrest induced by the
cyclin-dependent kinase
(
CDK
) inhibitors olomoucine and roscovitine were investigated in normal human fibroblasts. Effects on the cell cycle were compared with those induced by the kinase inhibitor staurosporine, which arrests normal cells in early G1 phase by acting upstream of CDK2. Consistent with their in vitro activity, olomoucine and roscovitine, but not the related compound iso-olomoucine, induced a dose-dependent arrest in G1 phase. Following removal of
CDK
inhibitors, cells resumed cycle progression entering S phase with a kinetics faster than staurosporine-treated samples. Cellular levels of
PCNA
, cyclin D1, and cyclin E were not affected by the
CDK
inhibitors. In contrast, staurosporine significantly reduced the levels of these proteins, as determined by immunocytometry and Western blot analysis. Cyclin A was detectable only in some cells remaining in the G2 + M compartment of samples treated with
CDK
inhibitors, but not in samples treated with staurosporine. Significant reduction in the hyperphosphorylated forms of retinoblastoma protein was found in samples treated with
CDK
inhibitors, while only hypophosphorylated forms were observed in staurosporine-treated samples. Concomitantly, CDK2, but not CDK4, activity immunoprecipitated from cells treated with olomoucine or roscovitine was markedly inhibited. These results suggest that in normal cells, CDK2 kinase activity is the specific target of olomoucine and roscovitine.
...
PMID:The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors olomoucine and roscovitine arrest human fibroblasts in G1 phase by specific inhibition of CDK2 kinase activity. 982 96
At the nonpermissive temperature the fission yeast cdc24-M38 mutant arrests in the cell cycle with incomplete DNA replication as indicated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The cdc24(+) gene encodes a 501-amino-acid protein with no significant homology to any known proteins. The temperature-sensitive cdc24 mutant is effectively rescued by pcn1(+), rfc1(+) (a fission yeast homologue of RFC1), and hhp1(+), which encode the
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
(
PCNA
), the large subunit of replication factor C (RFC), and a
casein kinase I
involved in DNA damage repair, respectively. The Cdc24 protein binds
PCNA
and RFC1 in vivo, and the domains essential for Cdc24 function and for RFC1 and
PCNA
binding colocalize in the N-terminal two-thirds of the molecule. In addition, cdc24(+) genetically interacts with the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase epsilon, which is stimulated by
PCNA
and RFC, and with those encoding the fission yeast counterparts of Mcm2, Mcm4, and Mcm10. These results indicate that Cdc24 is an RFC- and
PCNA
-interacting factor required for DNA replication and might serve as a target for regulation.
...
PMID:Fission yeast cdc24 is a replication factor C- and proliferating cell nuclear antigen-interacting factor essential for S-phase completion. 989 Oct 39
The irreversible G1 arrest in senescent human diploid fibroblasts is probably caused by inactivation of the G1 cyclin-
cyclin-dependent kinase
(Cdk) complexes responsible for phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb). We show that the Cdk inhibitor p21(Sdi1,Cip1,Waf1), which accumulates progressively in aging cells, binds to and inactivates all cyclin E-Cdk2 complexes in senescent cells, whereas in young cells only p21-free Cdk2 complexes are active. Furthermore, the senescent-cell-cycle arrest occurs prior to the accumulation of the Cdk4-Cdk6 inhibitor p16(Ink4a), suggesting that p21 may be sufficient for this event. Accordingly, cyclin D1-associated phosphorylation of pRb at Ser-780 is lacking even in newly senescent fibroblasts that have a low amount of p16. Instead, the cyclin D1-Cdk4 and cyclin D1-Cdk6 complexes in these cells are associated with an increased amount of p21, suggesting that p21 may be responsible for inactivation of both cyclin E- and cyclin D1-associated kinase activity at the early stage of senescence. Moreover, even in the late stage of senescence when p16 is high, cyclin D1-Cdk4 complexes are persistent, albeit reduced by </=50% compared to young cells. We also provide new evidence that p21 may play a role in inactivation of the DNA replication factor
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
during early senescence. Finally, because p16 accumulates in parallel with the increases in senescence-associated beta-Gal activity and cell volume that characterize the senescent phenotype, we suggest that p16 upregulation may be part of a differentiation program that is turned on in senescent cells. Since p21 decreases after senescence is achieved, this upregulation of p16 may be essential for maintenance of the senescent-cell-cycle arrest.
...
PMID:Differential roles for cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p21 and p16 in the mechanisms of senescence and differentiation in human fibroblasts. 1002 98
We previously showed that the rate of hepatocyte proliferation in livers from newborn C/EBPalpha knockout mice was increased. An examination of cell cycle-related proteins showed that the
cyclin-dependent kinase
(
CDK
) inhibitor p21 level was reduced in the knockout animals compared to that in wild-type littermates. Here we show additional cell cycle-associated proteins that are affected by C/EBPalpha. We have observed that C/EBPalpha controls the composition of E2F complexes through interaction with the retinoblastoma (Rb)-like protein, p107, during prenatal liver development. S-phase-specific E2F complexes containing E2F, DP, cdk2, cyclin A, and p107 are observed in the developing liver. In wild-type animals these complexes disappear by day 18 of gestation and are no longer present in the newborn animals. In the C/EBPalpha mutant, the S-phase-specific complexes do not diminish and persist to birth. The elevation of levels of the S-phase-specific E2F-p107 complexes in C/EBPalpha knockout mice correlates with the increased expression of several E2F-dependent genes such as those that encode cyclin A,
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
, and p107. The C/EBPalpha-mediated regulation of E2F binding is specific, since the deletion of another C/EBP family member, C/EBPbeta, does not change the pattern of E2F binding during prenatal liver development. The addition of bacterially expressed, purified His-C/EBPalpha to the E2F binding reaction resulted in the disruption of E2F complexes containing p107 in nuclear extracts from C/EBPalpha knockout mouse livers. Ectopic expression of C/EBPalpha in cultured cells also leads to a reduction of E2F complexes containing Rb family proteins. Coimmunoprecipitation analyses revealed an interaction of C/EBPalpha with p107 but none with cdk2, E2F1, or cyclin A. A region of C/EBPalpha that has sequence similarity to E2F is sufficient for the disruption of the E2F-p107 complexes. Despite its role as a DNA binding protein, C/EBPalpha brings about a change in E2F complex composition through a protein-protein interaction. The disruption of E2F-p107 complexes correlates with C/EBPalpha-mediated growth arrest of hepatocytes in newborn animals.
...
PMID:C/EBPalpha regulates formation of S-phase-specific E2F-p107 complexes in livers of newborn mice. 1008 61
The mechanisms of nitric oxide (NO)-mediated inhibition of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cell proliferation are still obscure. Cyclins A and E in association with cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (cdk2) serve as positive regulators for mammalian cell cycle progression through the G1/S checkpoint of the cell cycle and subsequent cell proliferation. Therefore, we have tested the effect of adenovirus-mediated transfection of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene into guinea pig coronary VSM cells on platelet-derived growth factor (BB homodimer) (PDGF-BB)-stimulated cell proliferation and the expression of cell cycle regulatory molecules. Transfection of the eNOS gene (eNOS) into VSM cells significantly inhibited (P < 0.05) [3H]thymidine incorporation into the DNA in response to PDGF-BB stimulation compared with lacZ-transfected control cells. The eNOS transfer significantly inhibited (P < 0.05) PDGF-BB-induced
proliferating cell nuclear antigen
(
PCNA
) and cyclin A expression in VSM cells compared with cells transfected with the control vector. The time course of cyclin E expression in response to PDGF-BB stimulation was delayed in eNOS-transfected cells. Levels of
cyclin-dependent kinase
inhibitors p21 and p27 were not significantly affected by eNOS transfer. eNOS transfer did not decrease PDGF-beta receptor number, affinity, and autophosphorylation measured by radioreceptor assay and Western analysis. These results suggest that inhibition of PDGF-stimulated expression of cyclin A, cyclin E, and
PCNA
is the target of NO action. These findings could explain, at least in part, NO-mediated inhibition of VSM cell proliferation.
...
PMID:NOS gene transfer inhibits expression of cell cycle regulatory molecules in vascular smooth muscle cells. 1033 Feb 27
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