Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.11.25 (MEKK1)
 1,856 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The mechanisms by which interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) mediates its anti-leukemic effects in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells are not known. We determined whether p38 MAPK is activated by IFN-alpha in BCR-ABL-expressing cells and whether its function is required for the generation of growth inhibitory responses. IFN-alpha treatment induced phosphorylation/activation of p38 in the IFN-alpha-sensitive KT-1 cell line, but not in IFN-alpha-resistant K562 cells. Consistent with this, IFN-alpha treatment of KT-1 (but not K562) cells induced activation of the small GTPase Rac1, which functions as an upstream regulator of p38. In addition, IFN-alpha-dependent phosphorylation/activation of p38 was induced by treatment of primary granulocytes isolated from the peripheral blood of patients with CML. To define the functional role of the Rac1/p38 MAPK pathway in IFN-alpha signaling, the effects of pharmacological inhibition of p38 on the induction of IFN-alpha responses were determined. Treatment of KT-1 cells with the p38-specific inhibitors SB203580 and SB202190 reversed the growth inhibitory effects of IFN-alpha. On the other hand, the MEK kinase inhibitor PD098059 had no effects, further demonstrating the specificity of these findings. To directly determine the significance of IFN-alpha-dependent activation of p38 in the induction of the anti-leukemic effects of IFN-alpha, we evaluated the effects of p38 inhibition on leukemic colony formation in bone marrow samples of patients with CML. IFN-alpha inhibited leukemic granulocyte/macrophage colony formation in a dose-dependent manner, whereas concomitant treatment with p38 inhibitors reversed such an inhibition. Thus, the Rac1/p38 MAPK pathway is activated by IFN-alpha in BCR-ABL-expressing cells and appears to play a key role in the generation of the growth inhibitory effects of IFN-alpha in CML cells.
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PMID:The p38 MAPK pathway mediates the growth inhibitory effects of interferon-alpha in BCR-ABL-expressing cells. 1135 67

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is an aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm of young children initiated by mutations that deregulate cytokine receptor signaling. Studies of JMML are constrained by limited access to patient tissues. We generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from malignant cells of two JMML patients with somatic heterozygous p.E76K missense mutations in PTPN11, which encodes SHP-2, a nonreceptor tyrosine phosphatase. In vitro differentiation of JMML iPSCs produced myeloid cells with increased proliferative capacity, constitutive activation of granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and enhanced STAT5/ERK phosphorylation, similar to primary JMML cells from patients. Pharmacological inhibition of MEK kinase in iPSC-derived JMML cells reduced their GM-CSF independence, providing rationale for a potential targeted therapy. Our studies offer renewable sources of biologically relevant human cells in which to explore the pathophysiology and treatment of JMML. More generally, we illustrate the utility of iPSCs for in vitro modeling of a human malignancy.
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PMID:Patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells recapitulate hematopoietic abnormalities of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. 2376 58