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)

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are a group of serine/threonine specific, proline directed, protein kinases which are activated by a wide spectrum of extracellular stimuli. MAPK activation is achieved through kinase cascades, which include a MAPK kinase (MAPKK or MEK) and a MAPKK/MEK kinase (MAPKKK/MEKK). These cascades serve as information relays, connecting cell-surface receptors to specific transcription factors and other regulatory proteins, thus allowing extracellular signals to regulate the expression of specific genes. Genetic and biochemical analyses have revealed many tiers in the regulation of the activities of MAPKs, as well as different routes that lead to the activation of an individual MAPK. An emerging topic of great interest is the basis for specificity in the activation of individual MAPKs and their ability to recognize their substrates.
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PMID:Mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades and regulation of gene expression. 879 94

We previously reported that both hypoxia and hypoxia followed by reoxygenation (hypoxia/reoxygenation) rapidly and sequentially activate mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK) activity of Raf-1. This was followed by the sequential activation of MAP kinase kinase (MAPKK). MAP kinases (p42mopk and p44mopk), and S6 kinase (p90rsk). In this study, we demonstrated that both hypoxia and hypoxia/ reoxygenation caused rapid activation of Src family tyrosine kinases, p60c-src and p59c-fyn, which are upstream mediators of MAP kinase activation. This was followed by the activation of p21ras. Because Src family tyrosine kinases are known to be cell-surface-associated kinases and upstream regulators of p21ras, these results strongly suggested that activation of Src family tyrosine kinases plays a key role in triggering intracellular signaling cascades in cardiac myocytes in response to hypoxia and hypoxia/reoxygenation.
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PMID:Hypoxia and hypoxia/reoxygenation activate Src family tyrosine kinases and p21ras in cultured rat cardiac myocytes. 880 68

The serine/threonine kinase Raf-1 functions downstream of Rats in a signal transduction cascade which transmits mitogenic stimuli from the plasma membrane to the nucleus. Raf-1 integrates signals coming from extracellular factors and, in turn, activates its substrate, MEK kinase. MEK activates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), which phosphorylates other kinases as well as transcription factors. Raf-1 exists in a complex with HSP90 and other proteins. The benzoquinone ansamycin geldanamycin (GA) binds to HSP90 and disrupts the Raf-1-HSP90 multimolecular complex, leading to destabilization of Raf-1. In this study, we examined whether Raf-1 destabilization is sufficient to block the Raf-1-MEK-MAPK signalling pathway and whether GA specifically inactivates the Raf-1 component of this pathway. Using the model system of NIH 3T3 cells stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), we show that GA does not affect the ability of protein kinase C alpha to be activated by phorbol esters, but it does block activation of MEK and MAPK. Further, GA does not decrease the activity of constitutively active MEK in transiently transfected cells. Finally, disruption of the Raf-1-MEK-MAPK signalling pathway by GA prevents both the PMA-induced proliferative response and PMA-induced activation of a MAPK-sensitive nuclear transcription factor. Thus, we demonstrate that interaction between HSP90 and Raf-1 is a sine qua non for Raf stability and function as a signal transducer and that the effects observed cannot be attributed to a general impairment of protein kinase function.
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PMID:Destabilization of Raf-1 by geldanamycin leads to disruption of the Raf-1-MEK-mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling pathway. 881 98

The c-Jun amino-terminal kinases (JNKs)/stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs) play a crucial role in stress responses in mammalian cells. The mechanism underlying this pathway in the hematopoietic system is unclear, but it is a key in understanding the molecular basis of blood cell differentiation. We have cloned a novel protein kinase, termed hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1), that is expressed predominantly in hematopoietic cells, including early progenitor cells. HPK1 is related distantly to the p21(Cdc42/Rac1)-activated kinase (PAK) and yeast STE20 implicated in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. Expression of HPK1 activates JNK1 specifically, and it elevates strongly AP-1-mediated transcriptional activity in vivo. HPK1 binds and phosphorylates MEKK1 directly, whereas JNK1 activation by HPK1 is inhibited by a dominant-negative MEKK1 or MKK4/SEK mutant. Interestingly, unlike PAK65, HPK1 does not contain the small GTPase Rac1/Cdc42-binding domain and does not bind to either Rac1 or Cdc42, suggesting that HPK1. activation is Rac1/Cdc42-independent. These results indicate that HPK1 is a novel functional activator of the JNK/SAPK signaling pathway.
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PMID:Human HPK1, a novel human hematopoietic progenitor kinase that activates the JNK/SAPK kinase cascade. 882 85

Both angiotensin II (Ang II) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) rapidly increase intracellular Ca2+ and activate protein kinase C (PKC) and MAP kinase in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). However, Ang II causes cell hypertrophy, whereas PDGF causes hyperplasia. These findings indicate that VSMCs are a good model for studying the relationship between cell growth and the MAP kinase pathway. In this study, we investigated the role of Raf in activation of 42- and 44-kD MAP kinases. Western blot analysis showed that c-Raf-1 was the predominant Raf isozyme in cultured rat aortic VSMCs. In response to Ang II, there was translocation of Raf to the membrane, which occurred significantly earlier than MAP kinase activation, suggesting that Raf activation precedes MAP kinase activation. Translocation of Raf to the membrane resulted in association with H-Ras as shown by c-Raf-1 coprecipitation with anti-Ras anti-bodies. Western blot analysis of H-Ras immunoprecipitates revealed c-Raf-1, but c-mos, MEK (MAP kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase) kinase-1 (MEKK-1), and Raf-B were not present. MAP kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK) activity was assayed in c-Raf-1 and H-Ras immunoprecipitates by MAP kinase kinase-dependent phosphorylation of catalytically inactive 42-kD MAP kinase. In Ras immunoprecipitates, MAPKKK activity was stimulated approximately threefold by both Ang II and PDGF, with a peak at 5 minutes. Downregulation of PKC by 24-hour exposure to phorbol ester significantly inhibited Ang II-stimulated and PDGF-stimulated MAPKKK activity (approximately 80% decrease) and Raf translocation (approximately 90% decrease), suggesting that a phorbol-responsive PKC is upstream from MAPKKK and Raf. In contrast, Ang II (but not PDGF) stimulation of MAP kinase was unaffected by PKC downregulation or pharmacological PKC inhibition. These findings demonstrate for the first time that Ang II stimulation of MAP kinase may occur via a pathway independent of c-Raf-1 and of the phorbol-responsive PKC isozymes. The differing effects of Ang II and PDGF on VSMC growth may be a consequence of specific signal transduction events, as demonstrated here for activation of MAP kinase.
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PMID:Angiotensin II stimulates MAP kinase kinase kinase activity in vascular smooth muscle cells, Role of Raf. 888 93

We have previously shown that osmotic stress activates both the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade and the stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK, also known as JNK) cascade in rat fibroblastic 3Y1 cells and rat PC12 cells. Here, we show that treatment of these cells with sodium arsenite, a chemical compound that mimics the effects of heat shock, or anisomycin, a protein synthesis inhibitor, induces activation of SAPKs potently. These chemical compounds also stimulated the activity of SEK1/MKK4/JNKK, SAPK activator, and the activity of MEKK, SEK1 activator. Expression of a dominant negative mutant of Ras blocked the anisomycin-induced activation of SAPK and SEK1, but did not affect markedly the arsenite-induced or heat shock-induced activation in PC12 cells. The osmotic-stress-induced activation of SAPK was insensitive to the expression of a dominant negative Ras, but was partly sensitive to down-regulation of protein kinase C. These results suggest the existence of Ras-dependent and Ras-independent activation pathways for the SAPK cascade triggered by environmental stresses including chemical stress in PC12 cells. Cell staining with a specific anti-SAPK serum showed that SAPKs were present in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus under normal conditions, and became located mainly in the nucleus after osmotic stress or ultraviolet treatment, suggesting the nuclear translocation of SAPKs.
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PMID:Ras-dependent and Ras-independent activation pathways for the stress-activated-protein-kinase cascade. 891 25

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

Mammalian cells contain at least three signaling systems which are structurally related to the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Growth factors acting through Ras primarily stimulate the Raf/MEK/MAPK cascade of protein kinases. In contrast, many stress-related signals such as heat shock, inflammatory cytokines, and hyperosmolarity induce the MEKK/SEK(MKK4)/SAPK(JNK) and/or the MKK3 or MKK6/p38(hog) pathways. Physiological agonists of these pathway types are either qualitatively or quantitatively distinct, suggesting few common proximal signaling elements, although past studies performed in vitro, or in cells using transient over-expression, reveal interaction between the components of all three pathways. These studies suggest a high degree of cross-talk apparently not seen in vivo. We have examined the possible molecular basis of the differing agonist profiles of these three MAPK pathways. We report preferential association between MAP kinases and their activators in eukaryotic cells. Furthermore, using the yeast 2-hybrid system, we show that association between these components can occur independent of additional eukaryotic proteins. We show that SAPK(JNK) or p38(hog) activation is specifically impaired by co-expression of cognate dominant negative MAP kinase kinase mutants, demonstrating functional specificity at this level. Further divergence and insulation of the stress pathways occurs proximal to the MAPK kinases since activation of the MAPK kinase kinase MEKK results in SAPK(JNK) activation but does not cause p38(hog) phosphorylation. Therefore, in intact cells, the three MAPK pathways may be independently regulated and their components show specificity in their interaction with cognate cascade members. The degree of intermolecular specificity suggests that mammalian MAPK signaling pathways may remain distinct without the need for specific scaffolding proteins to sequester components of individual pathways.
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PMID:Mammalian mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways are regulated through formation of specific kinase-activator complexes. 893 29

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades include MAPK or extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), MAPK kinase (MKK or MEK), and MAPK kinase kinase (MAPKKK or MEKK). MAPKK kinase/MEKK phosphorylates and activates its downstream protein kinase, MAPK kinase/MEK, which in turn activates MAPK. We report herein the isolation of a cDNA encoding a novel protein kinase designated MAPKKK5 from a human macrophage library. The nucleotide sequence predicts that MAPKKK5 encodes an open reading frame of 1374 amino acids with all 11 kinase subdomains. The putative catalytic domain of MAPKKK5 shows significant sequence homology to the kinase domains of the MAPKKK/MEKK level protein kinases from mouse MEKK2 and -3, Drosophila melanogaster PK92B, Saccharomyces cerevisiae STE11, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe BYR2. Northern blot analysis showed that MAPKKK5 transcript is abundantly expressed in human heart and pancreas. When transiently expressed in COS and 293 cells, MAPKKK5 markedly activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase or stress-activated protein kinase, but not MAPK/ERK. Furthermore, MAPKKK5 that was immunoprecipitated from transfected 293 cells was able to phosphorylate and activate MKK4 in vitro, suggesting that MAPKKK5 may be an upstream activator of MKK4 in the c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway.
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PMID:Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel protein kinase with a catalytic domain homologous to mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase. 894 Jan 79

Prostaglandin synthase 2 (PGS2) is an immediate-early gene induced in a variety of cellular contexts. We investigate here the transcriptional activation of the murine PGS2 gene in NIH 3T3 cells, in response to the mitogens platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) or serum. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments demonstrate that a consensus cyclic AMP response element (CRE) in the murine PGS2 promoter is essential for optimal PGS2 gene expression in response to PDGF or to serum. Overexpression of c-Jun potentiates PDGF- or serum-induced luciferase expression from a reporter construct containing the first 371 nucleotides of the PGS2 promoter. In contrast, overexpression of other transcription factors binding to the CRE element of the PGS2 gene inhibits induction by PDGF or serum. Moreover, positioning the c-Jun activation domain next to the minimal PGS2 promoter via a GAL4 DNA binding site rather than the CRE is sufficient to permit serum or PDGF stimulation of luciferase expression from this modified reporter construct. PDGF or serum treatment both activate c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), the mitogen-activated protein kinase responsible for phosphorylation and activation of c-Jun. Cotransfection of plasmids expressing dominant-negative Ras, Rac1, MEKK-1, or JNK along with the [PGS2][luciferase] reporter prevents induction by PDGF or serum, demonstrating that serum and PDGF induction of the PGS2 gene in NIH 3T3 cells requires activation of a Ras/Rac1/MEKK-1/JNK kinase/JNK signal transduction leading to phosphorylation of c-Jun. Additional cotransfection experiments with plasmids expressing dominant-negative Raf1 and ERK demonstrate that induction of PGS2 gene expression by PDGF and serum also requires activation of a Ras/Raf1/mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK)/ERK signal transduction pathway.
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PMID:Transcriptional regulation of prostaglandin synthase 2 gene expression by platelet-derived growth factor and serum. 894 Jan 99


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