Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:2.7.12.2 (MEK)
18,161 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This study examined the signal transduction pathway(s) leading to phosphorylation of p38 in human neutrophils stimulated with lipopolysaccharide and formyl peptides. Blockade of the nitric oxide (NO) pathway in neutrophils with the NO synthase inhibitor N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester or by treatment with the NO scavenger 2-phenyl-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide attenuated phosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 in response to lipopolysaccharide but not fMet-Leu-Phe. Using the NO releasing agents S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine and sodium nitroprusside it was determined that nitric oxide is sufficient to cause an increase in phosphorylation of p38. Increasing cellular cGMP with phosphodiesterase inhibitors, by stimulation of soluble guanylyl cyclase with YC-1 or with exogenous dibutyryl cGMP resulted in mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase 3,6 (MEK3,6) activation and phosphorylation of p38. This phenomenon was specific for MEK3,6, because these agents had no effect on the phosphorylation state of MEK1,2. A role for protein kinase G but not protein kinase A downstream of lipopolysaccharide but not formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine was shown using the specific inhibitors KT5823 and H89, respectively. These data indicate that activation of p38 by fMet-Leu-Phe and lipopolysaccharide involve different mechanisms, and that activation of protein kinase G by NO-dependent stimulation of guanylyl cyclase is necessary and sufficient for phosphorylation of p38 downstream of lipopolysaccharide.
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PMID:Activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase by lipopolysaccharide in human neutrophils requires nitric oxide-dependent cGMP accumulation. 986 77

The effect of norepinephrine (NE) on cytokine-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) production by cardiac myocytes has not been previously reported. NE alone caused no significant increase in NO-2 levels over vehicle. Addition of NE to interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) significantly increased inducible NO synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression, iNOS protein, and NO-2 production vs. IL-1beta alone. Addition of the alpha-adrenergic blocker prazosin or the beta-adrenergic blocker propranolol partially reduced the NE-mediated increase in iNOS mRNA expression and NO-2 production. Addition of prazosin and propranolol together completely abolished the NE-induced increase in iNOS mRNA expression and NO-2 production. NE significantly enhanced mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity that was reduced by prazosin, propranolol, and PD-98059, a selective MAP kinase kinase inhibitor. Addition of PD-98059 reduced the NE-mediated increase in iNOS mRNA expression and NO-2 production. We report for the first time that NE enhances IL-1beta-stimulated NO production by activation of alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors through a novel MAP kinase mechanism.
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PMID:Norepinephrine-stimulated MAP kinase activity enhances cytokine-induced NO production by rat cardiac myocytes. 988 16

In RAW 264.7 macrophages lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated the activation of p42 and p44 MAP kinases and their upstream activator mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase (MAPKK), and induced the 69-kDa isoform of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) and the 130-kDa isoform of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). PD 098059, a specific inhibitor of the activation of MAPKK, prevented LPS-mediated activation of MAPKK (IC50 = 3.0 +/- 0.1 microM, n = 3) and p42/44 MAP kinases and substantially reduced the induction of COX-2 by approximately 40%-70%, but was without effect upon the induction of iNOS. In parallel, LPS also stimulated the activation of p38 MAP kinase and the MAPKAP kinase-2, a downstream target of p38 MAP kinase. SB 203580, a specific inhibitor of p38 MAP kinase prevented the activation of p38 MAP kinase (IC50 = 3.3 +/- 1.4 microM, n = 3) and MAPKAP kinase-2 by LPS and reduced the induction of COX-2 by approximately 50-90%, with no significant effect upon iNOS expression. These studies indicate the involvement of both the classical p42/44 MAP kinases and p38 MAP kinase in the regulation of COX-2 but not iNOS induction following exposure to LPS.
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PMID:Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase homologues in the regulation of lipopolysaccharide-mediated induction of cyclo-oxygenase-2 but not nitric oxide synthase in RAW 264.7 macrophages. 1040 59

Angiotensin II (ATII) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) are two vasoconstrictors implicated in the maintenance of normal vascular homeostasis. PDGF A-chain levels increase in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) exposed to ATII. The molecular mechanisms underlying this induction are not known. We used transient transfection analysis to show that ATII can increase reporter gene activity driven by fragments of the PDGF-A promoter bearing recognition elements for the transcription factor, Egr-1. Nuclear run-off experiments indicate that ATII induces Egr-1 expression at the level of transcription. Gel shift and supershift studies show that Egr-1 protein accumulates in the nuclei of SMCs exposed to ATII and binds to the proximal region of the PDGF-A promoter in a specific, time-dependent manner. ATII induced extracellular-signal regulated kinase (p42/44 ERK) activity as did phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. The specific MEK1/2 inhibitor, PD98059, suppressed both PDGF-A and Egr-1 endogenous and promoter-dependent expression inducible by ATII. The ATII type 1 receptor (AT1) antagonist, Losartan, inhibited ATII-induction of p42/44 ERK, as well as Egr-1 and PDGF-A, whereas neither PD123319, an AT2 receptor antagonist, nor wortmannin, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and c-Jun N-terminal kinase, had any effect. ATII-induction of Egr-1 and PDGF-A was blocked by SIN-1, a NO donor. In addition, this pathway was blocked by overexpression of NO synthase. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that ATII activation of the PDGF-A promoter is mediated via the MEK/ERK/Egr-1 pathway and AT1 receptor and that this process is antagonized by NO.
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PMID:Angiotensin II (ATII)-inducible platelet-derived growth factor A-chain gene expression is p42/44 extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 and Egr-1-dependent and mediated via the ATII type 1 but not type 2 receptor. Induction by ATII antagonized by nitric oxide. 1044 31

Our laboratory has recently demonstrated a role for the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-mediated inducible NO synthase (iNOS) signaling pathway in acute regulation of insulin-induced mitogen-activated protein phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) expression in primary cultures of rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) (N. Begum, L. Ragolia, M. McCarthy, and N. Duddy. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 25164-25170, 1998). We now show that prolonged treatment of VSMCs with 100 nM insulin and high glucose (25 mM) for 12-24 h, to mimic hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia, completely blocked MKP-1 mRNA and protein expression in response to subsequent acute insulin treatment. To understand the mechanism of insulin resistance induced by high glucose and insulin, we studied the regulation of iNOS protein induction in these cells. Both high glucose and chronic insulin treatment caused a marked impairment of iNOS induction in response to acute insulin. Blocking of signaling via the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway by prior treatment for 1 h with SB-203580, a synthetic p38 MAPK inhibitor, completely prevented the inhibition of iNOS induced by high glucose and insulin and restored MKP-1 induction to levels observed with acute insulin treatment. In contrast, PD-98059, a MEK inhibitor, had no effect. Furthermore, high glucose and chronic insulin treatment caused sustained p38 MAPK activation. We conclude 1) that chronic insulin and high glucose-induced insulin resistance is accompanied by marked reductions in both iNOS and MKP-1 inductions due to p38 MAPK activation that leads to excessive cell growth and 2) that p38 MAPK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathways regulate iNOS induction, thereby controlling MKP-1 expression, which in turn inactivates MAPKs as a feedback mechanism and inhibits cell growth.
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PMID:High glucose and insulin inhibit VSMC MKP-1 expression by blocking iNOS via p38 MAPK activation. 1064 15

Aberrancies of growth and proliferation-regulating mechanisms might be critically involved in the processes of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Expression of p21ras and further downstream signalling elements involved in regulation of proliferation and differentiation as, for example, MEK, ERK1/2, cyclins, cyclin-dependent kinases and their inhibitors such as those of the p16INK4a family, are elevated early during the course of neurodegeneration. Activation of p21ras can also directly be triggered by nitric oxide (NO), synthesized in the brain by various isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) that might be differentially involved into the pathomechanism of AD. To study the potential link of NO and critical regulators of cellular proliferation and differentiation in the process of neurofibrillary degeneration, we analyzed the expression pattern of NOS-isoforms, p21ras and p16INK4a compared to neurofibrillary degeneration in AD. Additionally to its expression in a subtype of cortical interneurons that contain the nNOS-isoform also in normal brain, nNOS was detected in pyramidal neurons containing neurofibrillary tangles or were even unaffected by neurofibrillary degeneration. Expression of nNOS in these neurons was highly co-localized with p21ras and p16INK4a. Because endogenous NO can activate p21ras in the same cell which in turn leads to cellular activation and stimulation of NOS expression [H.M. Lander, J.S. Ogiste, S.F.A. Pearce, R. Levi, A. Novogrodsky, Nitric oxide-stimulated guanine nucleotide exchange on p21 ras, J. Biol. Chem. 270 (1995) 7017-7020], the high level of co-expression of NOS and p21ras in neurons vulnerable to neurofibrillary degeneration early in the course of AD thus provides the basis for an autocrine feedback mechanism that might exacerbate the progression of neurodegeneration in a self-propagating manner.
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PMID:Aberrant expression of nNOS in pyramidal neurons in Alzheimer's disease is highly co-localized with p21ras and p16INK4a. 1066 94

Conditioned medium from stimulated microglia and from the monocyte/macrophage cell line (RAW 264.7; MC-CM) promotes the differentiation of cholinergic neurons from undifferentiated progenitors in the septal nuclei and adjacent basal forebrain (BF). We have studied the regulation of this process by measuring the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in cultured BF taken from embryonic day 16 rat brain. Inhibition of either xanthine oxidase with allopurinol or nitric oxide synthase with N(G)-monomethyl-l-arginine produces a small but significant improvement in the efficacy of MC-CM while inclusion of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, a hydroxyl radical scavenger widely used as an antioxidant, lowers MC-CM-induced ChAT activity. Addition of nerve growth factor (NGF) but not brain-derived neurotrophic factor or glial-derived neurotrophic factor together with MC-CM has a synergistic effect on both ChAT activity and ChAT mRNA, raising ChAT activity as much as 29-fold and ChAT mRNA almost 15-fold. While MC-CM raised mRNA for trkA, the effect was not synergistic with NGF. mRNA for the common neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) showed a modest synergistic increase. Blockade of the Ras/Raf/ERK [extracellular signal-regulated kinase, also known as mitogen-activated protein [(MAP) kinase] signal transduction pathway with either PD28059 (an inhibitor of MAP kinase/ERK kinase kinase or MEK) or N-acetyl-S-farnesyl-l-cysteine (an inhibitor of Ras farnesylation and, hence, activation) inhibited the action of MC-CM. Moreover, a subpopulation of cells responded rapidly to MC-CM with an increased appearance of phosphorylated ERK. Because NGF also utilizes this pathway, synergy may occur along this signal transduction pathway.
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PMID:Macrophage cell-conditioned medium promotes cholinergic differentiation of undifferentiated progenitors and synergizes with nerve growth factor action in the developing basal forebrain. 1068 94

Macrophages produce large amounts of nitric oxide (NO) in response to proinflammatory cytokines and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) by expressing inducible isoform of NO synthase (iNOS). We examined the role of extracellular signal-regulated kinase p42/44(MAPK) (Erk1/2) in signal transduction pathways leading to induction of NO synthesis in response to LPS in J774 mouse macrophages and T-84 human colon epithelial cells. LPS activated Erk1/2 and induced iNOS and subsequent NO production. Erk1/2 activation was inhibited by PD 98059, a specific inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (Mek) that is an upstream activator of Erk1/2. At corresponding concentrations PD 98059 reduced LPS-induced NO formation by 40 to 50% by inhibiting iNOS expression in J774 and T-84 cells. Inhibition of iNOS expression was not mediated by nuclear factor-kappaB because PD 98059 had no effect on nuclear factor-kappaB activity in J774 macrophages. In addition, PD 98059 reduced LPS-induced L-arginine transport into the cells as measured in J774 macrophages, whereas the availability of tetrahydrobiopterin was not a limiting factor in NO production after PD 98059. Our results indicate that Erk1/2 activation mediates up-regulation but is not essential for LPS-induced iNOS expression.
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PMID:Inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase suppresses endotoxin-induced nitric oxide synthesis in mouse macrophages and in human colon epithelial cells. 1094 76

Microtubule-associated protein MAP-2 is a neuronal phosphoprotein which modulates microtubule stability and spatial organization of signal transduction pathways. The functions of MAP-2 are modulated by phosphorylation. We studied the modulation of MAP-2 phosphorylation using the N-methyl- D-aspartate (NMDA) type of glutamate receptors and the signal transduction pathways mediating this modulation in primary cultures of rat cerebellar neurons. NMDA induced a rapid increase (330% of basal at 5 min) in MAP-2 phosphorylation which was not prevented by KN-62, indicating that it is not mediated by activation of Ca-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase. NMDA-induced phosphorylation of MAP-2 was inhibited by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitors nitroarginine and 7-nitroindazole and by PD098059 (an inhibitor of MAP kinase kinase), but was only slightly reduced by calphostin C or U-73122, inhibitors of protein kinase C and of phospholipase C, respectively. This indicates that the main pathway mediating NMDA-induced phosphorylation of MAP-2 is activation of nitric oxide synthase and subsequent activation of MAP kinase. We show that activation of NMDA receptors induces an activation of MAP kinase which is prevented by nitroarginine. The nitric oxide-generating agent (+/-)-S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) also induced activation of MAP kinase and increased phosphorylation of MAP-2. Other nitric oxide-generating agents (NOC-18 and NOR-3) also increased MAP-2 phosphorylation. The interplay between NMDA receptors-associated signal transduction pathways and MAP-2 may be involved in the modulation of neuronal responses to extracellular signals and in the regulation of neuronal function.
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PMID:NMDA-induced phosphorylation of the microtubule-associated protein MAP-2 is mediated by activation of nitric oxide synthase and MAP kinase. 1129 88

While both nitric oxide synthase-2 (NOS-2) and low molecular weight GTPases, such as Ras and Rho, have been implicated in malignant transformation, the cross talk between these important proteins is ill understood. In this study we examined the ability of H-Ras, RhoA, RhoB and Rac1 to modulate cytokine-induced NOS2. In the normal human liver AKN-1 cell line and in the human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line, A-549, the ability of the cytokines (INF-gamma, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha) to activate NOS-2 was blocked by activated L61-H-Ras whereas dominant negative N17-H-Ras enhanced NOS-2 activation. Consistent with this dominant negative Erk2 as well as a MEK inhibitor also enhanced cytokine activation of NOS-2. Furthermore, activated L63-RhoA blocked whereas activated V14-RhoB enhanced cytokine NOS-2 activation. Activated I115-Racl did not affect NOS-2 activation. These results demonstrate that the Ras/Erk and the Ras/RhoA pathways negatively regulate whereas RhoB enhances cytokine-induced NOS-2. This is the first demonstration that genes that promote malignant transformation such as Ras and RhoA inhibit, whereas genes with tumor suppressor activity such as RhoB enhance NOS2 induction.
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PMID:Ras and RhoA suppress whereas RhoB enhances cytokine-induced transcription of nitric oxide synthase-2 in human normal liver AKN-1 cells and lung cancer A-549 cells. 1164 77


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