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)

The ability of low dose ionizing radiation (2 Gy) to modulate the activities of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK1) cascades in human monocytic leukemia (U937/pREP4) cells and in cells over-expressing dominant negative c-Jun (TAM67) (U937/TAM67) was investigated. Radiation exposure caused prolonged ( approximately 1 h) MAPK activations in U937 cells. In contrast, low dose irradiation weakly modulated JNK1 activity in these cells. Inhibition of the MAPK pathway by use of the specific MEK1/2 inhibitor (10 microM PD98059) in both U937/pREP4 and U937/TAM67 cells prior to radiation exposure permitted strong prolonged radiation-induced activations of JNK1. Expression of TAM67 decreased the ability of radiation to cause apoptosis compared to control transfected cells. However, combined MEK1/2 inhibition and radiation exposure in both cell types caused a large decrease in suspension culture growth and a large increase in apoptosis, when compared to either treatment alone. Reduced proliferation after combined irradiation and PD98059 treatment in both cell types correlated with prolonged cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Prolonged growth arrest was abolished when MEK1/2 inhibitor was removed 6 h following irradiation, which was associated with a reduction in apoptosis. The ability of MEK1/2 inhibition to cause prolonged G2/M growth arrest was reduced in U937 cells stably transfected with a p21Cip-1/WAF1 antisense construct (U937/p21AS). This data correlated with an enhancement of radiation-induced apoptosis and a reduced ability of MEK1/2 inhibition to potentiate apoptosis. Collectively our data demonstrate that inhibition of MEK1/2 function increases the radiation sensitivity of U937 cells, independently of c-Jun function, and decreases the ability of these cells to recover from the radiation-induced G2/M cell cycle checkpoint arrest. In addition, our data also demonstrate that the ability of MEK1/2 inhibition to potentiate radiation-induced cell death in U937 cells in part requires an ability of cells to express low levels of p21Cip-1/WAF1.
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PMID:Inhibition of the mitogen activated protein kinase pathway potentiates radiation-induced cell killing via cell cycle arrest at the G2/M transition and independently of increased signaling by the JNK/c-Jun pathway. 1063 86

Chemotherapeutic drugs and energy-rich radiation cause DNA damage, inducing signaling pathways for apoptotic cell death or cell growth arrest. The tumor suppressor gene p53 plays the critical role in the regulation of these DNA damage responses. Human tumor cells can become resistant to chemotherapy through functional inactivation of p53. Thus, it is important to identify p53-independent DNA damage signaling pathways. Here, treatment of cells with chemotherapeutic drugs or UV irradiation potentiated the transcriptional activity of IFN regulatory factor-7 (IRF7), inducing its phosphorylation and its nuclear translocation. Furthermore, IRF7 was activated by the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) in response to DNA-damaging agents. Activation of JNK by mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-4 stimulated the transcriptional activity of IRF7 and induced its translocation into the nucleus. Thus, activation of IRF7 through the JNK signaling pathway may play a role in the transcriptional regulation of genes in response to DNA-damaging agents.
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PMID:Chemotherapeutic DNA-damaging drugs activate interferon regulatory factor-7 by the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-4-cJun NH2-terminal kinase pathway. 1072 64

Tumor production of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHRP) is responsible for most cases of hypercalcemia of malignancy. The transplantable rat Leydig tumor H-500 is known to cause hypercalcemia in rats by the release of abundant PTHRP and to closely reproduce the human syndrome. We have demonstrated recently that Ras oncogene can stimulate PTHRP gene expression in Fr3T3 fibroblasts in vitro and cause hypercalcemia in vivo. Using rat Leydig tumor H-500 cells, we have investigated the role of effector pathways downstream of Ras in serum-induced PTHRP expression. The Ras inhibitors B-1086 and Lovastatin decreased PTHRP mRNA expression. i.p. administration of B-1086 (50-100 mg/kg/day) into H-500 tumor-bearing male Fischer rats resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in tumor volume, serum calcium, plasma PTHRP, and tumoral PTHRP mRNA expression. Transient transfection of dominant-negative Ras (Ras N17) and Raf (Raf C4B) reduced, whereas activated Raf-1 (Raf BXB) increased, basal expression of PTHRP in H-500 cells. A similar decrease in PTHRP production was seen with a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor (PD 098059), implicating the involvement of Ras/Raf/MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. In addition, stimulation with UV light, which can activate c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK), or expression of an activated form of Rac (Rac V12) was sufficient to increase PTHRP mRNA. Moreover, a dominant-negative Rac (Rac N17) blocked serum-induced PTHRP gene expression. Collectively, these results demonstrate that PTHRP is induced via both Raf-ERK and Rac-JNK mediated pathways, effects which can be blocked by chemical inhibitors and dominant-negative mutants of these pathways in vitro and in vivo. Availability of selective inhibitors of Ras signaling molecules may therefore add to our existing armamentarium to control hypercalcemia of malignancy.
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PMID:Role of mitogen-activated protein kinases in the induction of parathyroid hormone-related peptide. 1074 50

Recent studies have revealed that a variety of malignant tumors express Fas and/or its ligand FasL. However, tumor cells expressing Fas are not always susceptible to Fas-mediated cell death, and the biological significance of simultaneous expression of Fas and FasL in the same tumor is not known. In the present study, we addressed this question in three glioma cells lines, A-172, T98G, and YKG-1, which express both Fas and FasL endogenously and their Fas transfectants. We report here that: (a) in gliomas, [3H]TdR incorporation was enhanced by anti-Fas IgM monoclonal antibody CH-11 and conversely inhibited by anti-FasL monoclonal antibody NOK-2; (b) cross-linking of Fas with CH-11 drove both cell cycle progression and apoptosis as demonstrated by the induction of the S-G2 phase of DNA and RNA and fragmented nuclei; (c) phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), but not of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase or p38, was induced by cross-linking of Fas; (d) a mitogen-activated protein kinase/ERK kinase 1 (MEK1) inhibitor PD98059 completely blocked CH-11-induced ERK phosphorylation as well as cell cycle progression without affecting induction of apoptosis; and (e) a broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor Z-Asp-CH2-DCB inhibited CH-11-induced ERK phosphorylation, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis. These results indicate that Fas-mediated caspase activation elicits two independent cellular responses; one is to induce apoptosis and another is to promote cell cycle progression; the latter is closely linked to the MEK-ERK pathway. Together, our data strongly suggest that FasL may play a role as an autocrine growth factor in gliomas.
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PMID:Fas drives cell cycle progression in glioma cells via extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation. 1074 52

The Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase 4 (MKK4), a member of the MAP kinase kinase family, directly phosphorylates and activates the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinases (JNK), in response to cellular stresses and proinflammatory cytokines. JNK is a member of the MAP kinase family and a key component of a stress activated protein kinase signalling pathway. MKK4 mRNA is widely expressed in adult mouse tissues, but is especially abundant in skeletal muscle and brain. Mice lacking the MKK4 gene had abnormal hepatogenesis and died before embryonic day 14. However cell lines lacking MKK4 have been obtained and these exhibited defective activation of JNK and AP-1 dependent transcription activity in response to some, but not all cellular stresses. Furthermore, T lymphocytes deficient in MKK4 showed impaired IL-2 production following activation of the T cell receptor, suggesting a key role of the MKK4/JNK pathway in inflammation. The mutation of the MKK4 gene in some carcinomas indicates that it may also have a role as a tumor suppressor. Control of the MKK4 activity and expression may provide novel approaches to cancer or anti-inflammatory therapy.
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PMID:Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4 (MKK4). 1078 55

To elucidate mechanisms underlying glutathione S-transferase p (GSTp)-mediated cellular protection against oxidative stress-induced cell death, the effect of GSTp on stress signaling pathways was investigated before and after H2O2 treatment. Under nonstressed conditions, increased expression of GSTp via a tet-off-inducible GSTp in NIH 3T3 cells increased the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase 4, p38, extracellular receptor kinase (ERK), and inhibitor of kappa-kinase (IKK), and reduced phosphorylation of MAP kinase kinase 7 and Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK). Whereas H2O2 treatment of cells induced JNK, p38, and IKK activities, in the presence of H2O2 and elevated GSTp expression there was an additional increase in ERK, p38, and IKK activities and a decrease in JNK activity. GSTp-mediated protection from H2O2-induced death was attenuated upon inhibition of p38, nuclear factor KB, or MAP kinase by dominant negative or pharmacological inhibitors. Conversely, expression of a dominant negative JNK protected cells from H2O2-mediated death. These data suggest that the coordinated regulation of stress kinases by GSTp, as reflected by increased p38, ERK, and nuclear factor kappaB activities together with suppression of JNK signaling, contributes to protection of cells against reactive oxygen species-mediated death.
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PMID:Glutathione S-transferase p elicits protection against H2O2-induced cell death via coordinated regulation of stress kinases. 1094 8

We studied whether bovine pituitary thyrotropin (bTSH) or human recombinant thyrotropin (rhTSH) stimulated p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing human thyrotropin receptor (CHO-hTSHR cells). We show that p42/p44 MAPK phosphorylation was induced by both TSH preparations at similar levels in CHO-hTSHR cells and in wild-type CHO cells. In contrast, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production was stimulated by TSH only in CHO-hTSHR cells, demonstrating that p42/p44 MAPK stimulation was independent of the TSH receptor. Moreover, similar results were obtained with two other cell lines: the FRTL-5 thyroid cell line and the CCL39 fibroblast cell line. Maximal stimulation of p42/p44 MAPK phosphorylation was observed after a 5- to 10-minute incubation with bTSH and rhTSH preparations. At this time, the phosphorylation of GST-Elk1 was also increased in a time- and concentration-dependent manner by bTSH preparations. The phosphorylation of p42/p44 MAPKs was abolished by PD 98059 and GF 109203X, indicating the involvement of MAPK kinases (MEK 1/2) and protein kinase C. In contrast, the activation of p42/p44 MAPKs was insensitive to H89, to cholera toxin and to pertussis toxin. These data suggest that the protein kinase A pathway was not implicated in p42/p44 MAPK activation by TSH preparations. Moreover, Gs or Gi/Go proteins do not appear to participate in p42/p44 MAPK activation. We also showed that these TSH preparations failed to induce activation of c-Jun NH2 terminal kinase. We therefore conclude that the commercial TSH preparations used in this study contained factor(s) responsible for the specific activation of p42/p44 MAPKs by a TSH receptor-independent mechanism.
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PMID:The thyrotropin receptor is not involved in the activation of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinases by thyrotropin preparations in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the human thyrotropin receptor. 1104 51

Osmotic shock and insulin stimulate GLUT4 translocation and glucose transport via mechanisms that are for the most part distinct yet convergent. In this article, we investigated the effect of osmotic shock and insulin on the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The MAPKs are activated by phosphorylation on conserved tyrosine and threonine residues. Both sorbitol and insulin strongly stimulated extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) 1 and 2 phosphorylation (8- and 18-fold, respectively). In contrast, c-jun-NH2-terminal kinase (JNK)/stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) phosphorylation was stimulated only by sorbitol (sevenfold) and not by insulin. Phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was stimulated strongly by sorbitol (22-fold) but weakly by insulin (2.7-fold). Measurement of intrinsic JNK and p38 MAPK activity confirmed the phosphorylation studies. JNK and p38 MAPK were activated only significantly by sorbitol. The MAPKs are phosphorylated by dual-specificity kinases (mitogen-activated ERK-activating kinase [MEK] or MAPK kinase [MKK]). As expected, sorbitol and insulin both stimulated MEK phosphorylation. MKK4 was phosphorylated only in response to sorbitol, and neither of the stimuli caused phosphorylation of MKK3 or 6. To determine the functional significance of the observed activation of p38 MAPK in response to insulin and osmotic shock, we used three pyridinyl imidazole p38 MAPK inhibitors, SB203580, SB202190, and PD169316. Insulin and osmotic shock-stimulated glucose transport was not inhibited by any inhibitor at concentrations that were shown to block p38 MAPK activity. Furthermore, activation of the p38 MAPK pathway by treatment of cells with anisomycin did not stimulate glucose transport. These results suggest that activation of the p38 MAPK pathway is not involved in the stimulation of glucose transport.
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PMID:Stimulation of MAPK cascades by insulin and osmotic shock: lack of an involvement of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in glucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. 1107 44

The mixed lineage kinase (MLK) family is a recently described protein kinase family. The MLKs contain a kinase domain followed by a dual leucine zipper-like motif. We previously reported the molecular cloning of LZK (leucine zipper-bearing kinase), a novel MLK, and that LZK activated the c-Jun NH2 terminal kinase (JNK)/stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) pathway through MKK7 in cells. Here, we reveal that LZK forms dimers/oligomers through its dual leucine zipper-like motif, and that this is necessary for activation of the JNK/SAPK pathway. We also identify the C-terminal functional region of LZK, which is indispensable for the activation of SEK1, but not that of MKK7.
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PMID:Identification and characterization of functional domains in a mixed lineage kinase LZK. 1116 70

The mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases mediate the response of renal glomerular mesangial cells to a variety of physiologic and pathologic stimuli. This investigation examines the effect of the cyclopentenone prostaglandin 15-deoxy-delta(12,14)-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2) on MAP kinases in human mesangial cells. We show that 15d-PGJ2 dose-dependently increases the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activity of human mesangial cells, but has no effect on Jun-NH2-terminal kinase or p38 MAP kinase. Despite the fact that 15d-PGJ2 is a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) ligand, and PPARgamma is shown to be expressed by mesangial cells, the thiazolidinedione PPARgamma agonist ciglitazone does not activate ERK. Additionally, a synthetic PPARgamma antagonist does not attenuate the activation of ERK by 15d-PGJ2. 15d-PGJ2-mediated ERK activation is however blocked by the MEK inhibitor PD 098059, appears to require phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase, but is independent of protein kinase C activation. These results demonstrate a novel effect of 15d-PGJ2 to induce ERK in human mesangial cells independently of PPARgamma.
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PMID:A cyclopentenone prostaglandin activates mesangial MAP kinase independently of PPARgamma. 1117 60


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