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)

We have previously shown that 4-anilinoquinazolines can be potent inhibitors of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor (Flt-1 and KDR) tyrosine kinase activity. A novel subseries of 4-anilinoquinazolines that possess basic side chains at the C-7 position of the quinazoline nucleus have been synthesized. This subseries contains potent, nanomolar inhibitors of KDR (median IC(50) 0.02 microM, range 0.001-0.04 microM), which are comparatively less potent vs Flt-1 tyrosine kinase (median IC(50) 0.55 microM, range 0.02-1.6 microM). The compounds also retain some inhibitory activity against the tyrosine kinase associated to the endothelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) (median IC(50) 0.2 microM, range 0.075-0.8 microM) but demonstrate selectivity vs that associated to the FGF receptor 1 (median IC(50) 2.5 microM, range 0.9-19 microM). This selectivity profile is also evident in a growth factor-stimulated human endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation assay (i.e., inhibition of VEGF > EGF > FGF), with inhibition of VEGF-induced proliferation being achieved at nanomolar concentrations (median IC(50) 0.06 microM). Further examination of compound 2 (ZD6474) in recombinant enzyme assays revealed excellent selectivity for the inhibition of KDR tyrosine kinase (IC(50) 0.04 microM) vs the kinase activity of erbB2, MEK, CDK-2, Tie-2, IGFR-1R, PDK, PDGFRbeta, and AKT (IC(50) range: 1.1 to >100 microM). Anilinoquinazolines possessing basic C-7 side chains exhibited markedly improved aqueous solubility over previously described anilinoquinazolines possessing neutral C-7 side chains (up to 500-fold improvement at pH 7.4). In addition, aqueous solubility of the neutral fraction present at pH 7.4 of the basic subseries of anilinoquinazoline proved to be higher than that of the neutral analogue 1 (ZD4190). Oral administration of representative compounds to mice (50 mg/kg) produced plasma levels between 0.2 and 3 microM at 24 h after dosing. Our development candidate 2 demonstrated a very attractive in vitro profile combined with excellent solubility (330 microM at pH 7.4) and good oral bioavailability in rat and dog (> 80 and > 50%, respectively). This compound demonstrated highly significant, dose-dependent, antitumor activity in athymic mice. Once daily oral administration of 100 mg/kg of compound 2 for 21 days inhibited the growth of established Calu-6 lung carcinoma xenografts by 79% (P < 0.001, Mann Whitney rank sum test), and substantial inhibition (36%, P < 0.02) was evident with 12.5 mg/kg/day.
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PMID:Novel 4-anilinoquinazolines with C-7 basic side chains: design and structure activity relationship of a series of potent, orally active, VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. 1188 99

Cell dissociation and cell migration are the two main components of epithelium-mesenchyme transitions (EMT). We previously demonstrated that Ras is required for the accomplishment of both of these processes during the EGF-induced EMT of the NBT-II rat carcinoma cell line in vitro. In this study, we examined the downstream targets of Ras that are responsible for the dissociation and motility of NBT-II cells. Overexpression of activated forms of c-Raf and MEK1 (a component of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, MAPK) led to cell dissociation, as inferred by the loss of desmosomes from the cell periphery. By contrast, active PI3K, RalA and RalB did not induce desmosome breakdown. The MEK1 inhibitor PD098059 inhibited EGF- and Ras-induced cell dispersion, whereas the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 had no effect. Accordingly, among the partial loss-of-function mutants of Ras (RasV12) that were used to distinguish between downstream targets of Ras, we found that the Raf-specific Ras mutants RasV12S35 and RasV12E38 induced cell dissociation. The PI3K- and RalGDS-activating Ras mutants had, in contrast, no effect on cell dispersion. However, MEK1 was unable to promote cell motility, whereas RasV12S35 and RasV12E38 induced cell migration, suggesting that another Ras effector was responsible for cell motility. We found that the small GTPase Rac is necessary for EGF-mediated cell dispersion since overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant of Rac1 (Rac1N17) inhibited EGF-induced NBT-II cell migration. All stimuli that promoted cell migration also induced Rac activation. Finally, coexpression of active Rac1 and active MEK1 induced the motility of NBT-II cells, suggesting that Ras mediates NBT-II cell scattering through the coordinate activation of Rac and the Raf/MAPK pathway.
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PMID:Ras induces NBT-II epithelial cell scattering through the coordinate activities of Rac and MAPK pathways. 1204 29

The current understanding of the cellular signal transduction system is that cells initially respond to outside stimuli, such as growth factors or neurotransmitters, through ligand binding to the respective growth factor receptors or the G-protein-coupled receptors, to initiate transduction of the stimulus. This is followed by a series of association-dissociation and phosphorylation-dephosphorylation processes among the components of a well-defined and intricate infrastructure between the cell membrane and the cytosolic protein kinases to activate and initiate nuclear target genes for cell proliferation, differentiation and other cellular functions. Although some past reports have indicated this signaling machinery is present in the lens, certain pathways, namely the mitogen-response pathway (Raf-MEK-ERK cascade), the stress-response pathways (p38 and SAPK/JNK cascades) and the survival pathway (PI-3K-Akt), have not been thoroughly explored in an intact lens. These pathways were studied using porcine lenses cultured under mitogenic (10 ngml(-1) growth factor) or osmotic stress (30 mM galactose) conditions to examine the cellular response in the epithelial layer, using unstimulated lenses as controls. It was found that all the key members in the Raf-MEK-ERK cascade and PI-3K-Akt cascade were present and that growth factors had a differential stimulatory effect on them. Basic-FGF was the most potent stimulator for ERK followed by EGF and IGF-1, while PDGFab and VEGF were less active. The opposite was true for their stimulatory effect on PI-3K. Hyperglycemic-induced osmotic stress stimulated p38 but not SAPK/JNK, while bFGF could stimulate SAPK/JNK but not p38. Both stimuli activated the Raf-MEK-ERK and PI-3K-Akt pathways. Osmotic-induced activation could be normalized using an aldose reductase inhibitor.
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PMID:Studies of the mitogen-activated protein kinases and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase in the lens. 1. The mitogenic and stress responses. 1212 44

Extracellular signal regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2), an important factor in signal transduction, controls cell growth, differentiation, and death. To elucidate the details of the mechanism of ERK1/2 signaling in human cells, we isolated Nef-associated factor 1 alpha (Naf1 alpha) by a yeast two-hybrid system, which bound to human ERK2. The binding was confirmed by a pull-down assay in vitro and immunoprecipitation in vivo. Upon EGF treatment, Naf1 alpha was phosphorylated by the EGF/MEK/ERK2 signal transduction pathway. To identify the role of Naf1 alpha in the ERK2 signaling, Naf1 alpha-expressing Saos-2 cells were analyzed for ERK2 nuclear translocation and activation of its downstream target. Overexpression of Naf1 alpha suppressed ERK2 entering into the nucleus and inhibited the ERK2-dependent Elk1-driven luciferase transcription, suggesting Naf1 alpha to be an attenuator of activated ERK2 signaling.
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PMID:A new ERK2 binding protein, Naf1, attenuates the EGF/ERK2 nuclear signaling. 1222 May 2

Previous studies have shown that EGF can induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of caveolin-1 in murine fibroblasts following ErbB1 (EGF receptor) mutation or overexpression, but the cell signaling events linking EGF action with caveolin phosphorylation are not fully established. In this regard, we examined multiple human carcinoma cell lines that express various ErbB family members, including A431 epidermoid carcinoma cells and several squamous carcinoma cell lines. In all cases, EGF treatment induced the tyrosine phosphorylation of caveolin-1 in a time- and EGF dose-dependent manner, and immunoblotting analysis revealed that this phosphorylation occurred at tyrosine-14. The EGF-dependent phosphorylation of caveolin-1 was observed at low temperatures (4 degrees C) and was enhanced by caveolae-disrupting agents (cyclodextrin), suggesting that this EGF-dependent system is in a low temperature-stable arrangement that allows for their interaction under conditions where mobility in the membrane is altered. To further assess the events linking EGF action with caveolin phosphorylation, we evaluated the ligand specificity of these responses and their dependence on known effectors of EGF receptor function. We observed that EGF and HB-EGF, but not heregulin, promoted caveolin-1 phosphorylation in A431 cells, suggesting that these responses are linked to EGF receptor activation and not solely occurring via the activation of other endogenous ErbB family members. In addition, the EGF-induced phosphorylation of caveolin-1 in A431 cells was blocked by the Src kinase antagonists PP1 and PP2, but not by the MEK inhibitor PD98059, the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors LY294002 and wortmannin, or cytoskeleton-disrupting agents, such as cytochalasin D, colchicine, and nocadazole. Altogether, these data indicate that multiple human carcinoma cells exhibit an EGF receptor-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of caveolin-1 and that this process is sensitive to Src family kinase inhibitors. These observations support a role for caveolin tyrosine phosphorylation in the profile of cellular responses by which Src potentiates cancer progression following EGF receptor overexpression.
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PMID:Caveolin-1 phosphorylation in human squamous and epidermoid carcinoma cells: dependence on ErbB1 expression and Src activation. 1237 46

Increased expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is common in cancer and correlates with neoplastic progression. Although the biology of this receptor has been the subject of intense investigation, surprisingly little is known about how increased expression of the wild-type EGFR affects downstream signal transduction in cells. We show that increasing the expression of the receptor results in dramatic shifts in signaling with attenuation of EGF-induced Ras, extracellular signal-related kinases (ERKs), and Akt activation, as well as amplification of STAT1 and STAT3 signaling. In this study, we focus on the mechanism of attenuated ERK signaling and present evidence suggesting that the mechanism of attenuated ERK signaling in EGFR-overexpressing cells is a sequestration of ERKs at the cell membrane in EGFR-containing complexes. Increased expression of the EGFR results in an aberrant localization of ERKs to the cell membrane. Furthermore, ERKs become associated with the EGFR in a physical complex in EGFR-overexpressing cells but not in control cells. The EGFR-ERK association is detected in unstimulated cells or on exposure to a low concentration of EGF; under these conditions, ERK activation is minimal. Exposure of these cells to saturating concentrations of EGF results in a decreased membrane localization of ERKs, a concomitant dissociation of ERKs from the EGFR, and restores ERK activation. A similar association can be detected between the EGFR and MEK1 in receptor-overexpressing cells, suggesting that multiple components of the ERK signaling pathway may become trapped in complexes with the EGFR. These findings can be demonstrated in cells transfected to express high levels of the EGFR as well as in cancer cells which naturally overexpress the EGFR and, thus, may be representative of altered EGFR signaling in human cancer.
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PMID:Increased expression of epidermal growth factor receptor induces sequestration of extracellular signal-related kinases and selective attenuation of specific epidermal growth factor-mediated signal transduction pathways. 1255 61

Interleukin 15 (IL-15) is a potent stimulator of proliferation and an inhibitor of apoptosis in lymphocytes. We attempted to elucidate the mechanism of IL-15 function in HaCaT keratinocytes. We found that 5-bromo-2(')-deoxyuridine incorporation increased in a dose-dependent manner with IL-15. This was blocked by MEK inhibitor U0126 or PI 3-K inhibitor LY294002. ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation by IL-15 were detected in a dose- and time-dependent manner. U0126 and LY294002 abolished ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation, respectively. DNA fragmentation and Annexin V binding accompanied by UVB-induced apoptosis were reduced by 30-50% with IL-15. Taken together, IL-15 induced cellular proliferation and had an anti-apoptotic effect on keratinocytes, in which ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation played crucial roles. The signal transduction pathways of IL-15 in keratinocytes were partially elucidated; they share a substantial part with growth signals induced by EGF. These results suggest a therapeutic approach to inflammatory skin diseases by controlling these signals.
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PMID:Interleukin 15 induces the signals of epidermal proliferation through ERK and PI 3-kinase in a human epidermal keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. 1258 89

A loss of functional androgen receptor and an enhanced expression of growth factor receptors and associated ligands are causal genetic events in prostate cancer (PCA) progression. These genetic alterations lead to an epigenetic mechanism where a feedback autocrine loop between membrane receptor and ligand (e.g. EGFR-TGFalpha) results in a constitutive activation of MAPK-Elk1-AP1-mediated mitogenic signaling in human PCA at an advanced and androgen-independent stage. We rationalized that inhibiting these epigenetic events could be useful in controlling advanced PCA growth. Recently, we found that grape seed extract (GSE), a dietary supplement rich in flavonoid procyanidins, inhibits advanced and androgen-independent human PCA DU145 cell growth in culture and nude mice. Here, we performed detailed mechanistic studies to define the effect of GSE on EGFR-Shc-MAPK-Elk1-AP1-mediated mitogenic signaling in DU145 cells. Pretreatment of serum-starved cells with GSE resulted in 70% to almost complete inhibition of EGF-induced EGFR activation and 50% to complete inhibition of Shc activation, which corroborated with a comparable decrease in EGF-induced Shc binding to EGFR. Conversely, EGF-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation was inhibited only by lower doses of GSE; in fact, higher doses showed an increase. Additional studies showed that GSE alone causes a dose- and time-dependent increase in ERK1/2 phosphorylation in starved DU145 cells that is inhibited by an MEK1 inhibitor PD98059. Independent of this increase in ERK1/2 phosphorylation, GSE showed a strong inhibition of ERK1/2 kinase activity to Elk1 in both cellular and cell-free systems. GSE treatment of cells also inhibited both EGF-induced and constitutively active Elk1 phosphorylation and AP1 activation. GSE treatment also showed DNA synthesis inhibition in starved and EGF-stimulated cells as well as loss of cell viability and apoptotic death that was further increased by adding MEK1 inhibitor. Since GSE strongly induced apoptosis independent of its affect on an increase in phospho-ERK1/2, we hypothesized that apoptotic effect of GSE could be by other mechanism(s) including its effect on stress-associated MAPK, the JNK. Indeed, GSE-treated cells showed a strong and sustained increase in phospho-JNK1/JNK2 levels, JNK activity and phospho-cJun levels. An inhibition of GSE-induced JNK activation by a novel JNK inhibitor SP600125 resulted in a significant reversal of GSE-induced apoptotic death suggesting the involvement of JNK activation by GSE in its apoptosis response. Together, these results suggest that anticancer effects of GSE in PCA be mediated via impairment of EGFR-ERK1/2-Elk1-AP1-mediated mitogenic signaling and activation of JNK causing growth inhibition and apoptosis, respectively.
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PMID:Grape seed extract inhibits EGF-induced and constitutively active mitogenic signaling but activates JNK in human prostate carcinoma DU145 cells: possible role in antiproliferation and apoptosis. 1261 55

Growth hormone (GH) promotes signaling by causing activation of the non-receptor tyrosine kinase, JAK2, which associates with the GH receptor. GH causes phosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR; ErbB-1) and its family member, ErbB-2. For EGFR, JAK2-mediated GH-induced tyrosine phosphorylation may allow EGFR to serve as a scaffold for GH signaling. For ErbB-2, GH induces serine/threonine phosphorylation that dampens basal and EGF-induced ErbB-2 kinase activation. We now further explore GH-induced EGFR phosphorylation in 3T3-F442A, a preadipocytic fibroblast cell line that expresses endogenous GH receptor, EGFR, and ErbB-2. Using a monoclonal antibody that recognizes ERK consensus site phosphorylation (PTP101), we found that GH caused PTP101-reactive phosphorylation of EGFR. This GH-induced EGFR phosphorylation was prevented by MEK1 inhibitors but not by a protein kinase C inhibitor. Although GH did not discernibly affect EGF-induced EGFR tyrosine phosphorylation, we observed by immunoblotting a substantial decrease of EGF-induced EGFR degradation in the presence of GH. Fluorescence microscopy studies indicated that EGF-induced intracellular redistribution of an EGFR-cyan fluorescent protein chimera was markedly reduced by GH cotreatment, in support of the immunoblotting results. Notably, protection from EGF-induced degradation and inhibition of EGF-induced intracellular redistribution afforded by GH were both prevented by a MEK1 inhibitor, suggesting a role for GH-induced ERK activation in regulating the trafficking itinerary of the EGF-stimulated EGFR. Finally, we observed augmentation of early aspects of EGF signaling (EGF-induced ERK2 activation and EGF-induced Cbl tyrosine phosphorylation) by GH cotreatment; the GH effect on EGF-induced Cbl tyrosine phosphorylation was also prevented by MEK1 inhibition. These data indicate that GH, by activating ERKs, can modulate EGF-induced EGFR trafficking and signaling and expand our understanding of mechanisms of cross-talk between the GH and EGF signaling systems.
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PMID:Growth hormone-induced phosphorylation of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor in 3T3-F442A cells. Modulation of EGF-induced trafficking and signaling. 1264 95

This work examined the importance of radiation-induced and ligand-induced EGFR-ERK signaling for the regulation of DNA repair proteins XRCC1 and ERCC1 in prostate carcinoma cells, DU145 (TP53(mut)), displaying EGFR-TGFA-dependent autocrine growth and high MAPK (ERK1/2) activity, and LNCaP (TP53(wt)) cells expressing low constitutive levels of ERK1/2 activity. Using quantitative RT-PCR and Western analyses, we determined that ionizing radiation activated the DNA repair genes XRCC1 and ERCC1 in an ERK1/2-dependent fashion for each cell line. After irradiation, a rapid increase followed by a decrease in ERK1/2 activity preceded the increase in XRCC1/ERCC1 expression in DU145 cells, while only the rapid decrease in ERK1/2 preceded the increase in XRCC1/ERCC1 expression in LNCaP cells. Administration of EGF, however, markedly increased the up-regulation of phospho-ERK, ERCC1 and XRCC1 in both cell lines. Although the EGFR inhibitor tyrphostin (AG-1478) and the MEK inhibitor PD90859 both attenuated EGF-induced levels of the ERCC1 and XRCC1 protein, PD98059 blocked the induction of ERCC1 and XRCC1 by radiation more effectively in both cell lines. Inhibition of ERK at a level that reduced the up-regulation of DNA repair led to the persistence of apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites of DNA damage and increased cell killing. Taken together, these data imply a complex control of DNA repair activation that may be more generally dependent on MAPK (ERK1/2) signaling than was previously noted. These data provide novel insights into the capacity of the EGFR-ERK signaling to modulate DNA repair in cancer cells and into the functional significance of this signaling.
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PMID:Epidermal growth factor and ionizing radiation up-regulate the DNA repair genes XRCC1 and ERCC1 in DU145 and LNCaP prostate carcinoma through MAPK signaling. 1264 88


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