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 pleiotropic cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) controls the expression of multiple gene products in macrophages and plays an important role in host defense. TNF alpha is recognized by the receptors, CD120a (p55) and CD120b (p75). Ligation of CD120a (p55) by TNF alpha or by anti-receptor agonistic antibodies initiates signal transduction leading to the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) (p42mapk/erk2 and p44mapk/erk1). Phosphorylation and activation of MAPK are mediated by MAPK kinase (MEK), a family of Thr/Tyr kinases. In this study, we investigated the preferential involvement of the MEK isoforms MEK1 and MEK2 in the activation of p42mapk/erk2 in mouse macrophages stimulated with TNF alpha. Exposure of macrophages to TNF alpha stimulated a time-dependent increase in the activity of MEK1 as measured by an in vitro kinase assay using kinase-inactive p42mapk/erk2 (rMAPKkd) as substrate in the presence of gamma-[32P]ATP. Maximal activation of MEK1 was detected at 10 min poststimulation and coincided with maximal transphosphorylation of Tyr and Thr residues of rMAPKkd. By contrast, there was no evidence of MEK2 activation in macrophages in response to TNF alpha. These data suggest that MEK1 is the preferred substrate for MEK kinase, the upstream kinase implicated in activation of the MAPK pathway in macrophages by TNF alpha.
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PMID:Preferential involvement of MEK1 in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced activation of p42mapk/erk2 in mouse macrophages. 749 90

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) is bound by two cell surface receptors, CD120a (p55) and CD120b (p75), that belong to the TNF/nerve growth factor receptor family and whose signaling is initiated by receptor multimerization in the plane of the plasma membrane. The initial signaling events activated by receptor crosslinking are unknown, although activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade occurs shortly after ligand binding to CD120a. In this study, we investigated the upstream kinases that mediate the activation of the 42-kDa MAPK p42mapk/erk2 following crosslinking of CD120a in mouse macrophages. Exposure of mouse macrophages to TNF alpha stimulated a time-dependent increase in the activity of MAPK/ERK kinase (MEK) that temporally preceded peak activation of p42mapk/erk2. MEKs, dual-specificity threonine/tyrosine kinases, act as a convergence point for several signaling pathways including Ras/Raf, MEK kinase (MEKK), and Mos. Incubation of macrophages with TNF alpha was found to transiently stimulate a MEKK that peaked in activity within 30 sec of exposure and progressively declined toward basal levels by 5 min. By contrast, under these conditions, activation of either c-Raf-1 or Raf-B was not detected. These data suggest that the activation of the MAPK cascade in response to TNF alpha is mediated by the sequential activation of a MEKK and a MEK in a c-Raf-1- and Raf-B-independent fashion.
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PMID:Tumor necrosis factor alpha rapidly activates the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade in a MAPK kinase kinase-dependent, c-Raf-1-independent fashion in mouse macrophages. 787 28

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a pleiotropic cytokine produced predominantly by macrophages. In addition, macrophages respond to TNF-alpha by differentiating to express different groups of gene products. Our laboratory recently showed that the context in which TNF-alpha is recognized by macrophages dramatically impacts the pattern of gene expression and hence investigating the mechanism of TNF-alpha signal transduction will be important in understanding how this molecule regulates macrophage differentiation. TNF-alpha is recognized by two cell surface receptors, CD120a (p55) and CD120b (p75) that belong to the TNF/NGF receptor family. Signalling is initiated by receptor multimerization in the plane of the plasma membrane. The initial signalling events activated by receptor cross-linking are unknown although activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade occurs shortly after ligand binding to CD120a (p55). We have investigated the upstream kinases that mediate the activation of p42mapk/erk2 following cross-linking of CD120a (p55) in mouse macrophages. Exposure of mouse macrophages to TNF-alpha stimulated a time-dependent increase in the activity of MEK1, that temporally preceded peak activation of p42mapk/erk2. MEKs, dual specificity T/Y kinases, act as a convergence point for several signalling pathways including Ras/Raf, MEKK and Mos. Incubation of macrophages with TNF-alpha was found to transiently stimulate an MEKK that peaked in activity within 30 sec of exposure and progressively declined towards basal levels by 5 min. By contrast, under these conditions, activation of either c-Raf-1 or Raf-B was not detected. These data suggest that the activation of the MAPK cascade in response to TNF-alpha is mediated by the sequential activation of an MEKK and MEK1 in a c-Raf-1 and Raf-B-independent fashion. The implications of these findings will be discussed in the context of the regulation of macrophage gene expression.
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PMID:TNF-alpha-induced regulation and signalling in macrophages. 893 52

The expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by macrophages is stimulated by coexposure to IFN-gamma and a number of stimuli, including TNF-alpha. Recent work has shown that TNF-alpha activates members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family that subsequently trans-activate transcription factors implicated in the regulation of iNOS expression. The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate the role of: 1) p42mapk/erk2, 2) p46 c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase (p46 JNK/SAPK), and 3) p38mapk in the induction of iNOS expression during costimulation of mouse macrophages with IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. All three kinases were activated during costimulation with IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. However, specific antagonism of the p42mapk/erk2 and p38mapk with PD98059 and SKF86002, respectively, had no effect on the induction of iNOS expression. In contrast, blockade of all three kinases with N-acetylcysteine completely blocked the induction of iNOS expression. In addition, specific antagonism of the JNK/SAPK upstream kinases MEKK (mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase kinase) and MKK4 (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4) with dominant inhibitory mutants blocked transcriptional activation of the iNOS promoter in response to costimulation with IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. Collectively, these findings support the involvement of p46 JNK/SAPK and its upstream kinases in regulating the induction of iNOS following ligation of the TNF-alpha receptor CD120a (p55) in the presence of IFN-gamma.
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PMID:Evaluation of the role of mitogen-activated protein kinases in the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase by IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in mouse macrophages. 988 15