Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.12.2 (MEK)
 18,161 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

para-Phenylenediamine (p-PD) is a major aromatic amine that is a widely used commercial oxidative-type hair dye. Some epidemiologic studies have suggested that the use of p-PD-based hair dyes might be related to increased risk of human malignant tumors including bladder cancer. However, the effects of p-PD on autophagy in human uroepithelial cells (SV-HUC-1) is still unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that p-PD can activate the extracellular signaling-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway in SV-HUC-1 cells. In addition, we observed that autophagosomes increased in p-PD-treated SV-HUC-1 cells as shown by electron microscopy. Our results showed incremental increase of the concentrations, Beclin-1 and microtubule-associated protein light chain 3B (LC3B), which are important regulators of autophagosomes. In contrast, the MEK inhibitor (U0126) was suppressed autophagy and the effect of p-PD on ERK1/2, Beclin-1 and LC3B proteins expression, except for mutant p53. In this study, we demonstrated that inactivation of p53 induces a potent autophagy response. Finally, our results suggest that p-PD can activate the ERK1/2 signaling pathway and mutant p53, leading to the stimulation of autophagy in SV-HUC-1 cells. These results provide us with new insights for the understanding of the mechanism of p-PD-induced cell death in urothelial cells.
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PMID:para-Phenylenediamine-induced autophagy in human uroepithelial cell line mediated mutant p53 and activation of ERK signaling pathway. 2174 67

We recently reported that necrotic renal proximal tubular cells (RPTC) can induce the death of renal interstitial fibroblasts. Since autophagy plays either cytoprotective or cytodestructive roles depending on the experimental condition, the present study was carried out to investigate whether necrotic RPTC would induce autophagy of renal interstitial fibroblasts and, if so, whether autophagy would contribute to cell death or exert a protective effect. Exposure of necrotic RPTC supernatant (RPTC-Sup) induced autophagy in renal interstitial fibroblast cells (NRK-49F) in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and its induction was earlier than caspase-3 activation. Inhibition of autophagy with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or knockdown of Beclin-1, a molecule involved in the initiation of autophagosome formation, with small interference RNA (siRNA) significantly enhanced necrotic RPTC-Sup-induced cell death. Necrotic RPTC-Sup induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2), p38, c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinases (JNKs), and AKT. Treatment with an ERK1/2 pathway inhibitor, but not with specific inhibitors for p38, JNKs, or AKT pathways, blocked NRK-49F autophagy and cell death upon exposure to necrotic RPTC-Sup. Furthermore, knockdown of MEK1 with siRNA also reduced autophagy along with cell death in NRK-49F exposed to necrotic RPTC-Sup. In contrast, overexpression of MEK1/2 increased RPTC-Sup-induced fibroblast cell death without enhancing autophagy. Collectively, this study demonstrates that necrotic RPTC induce both autophagy and cell death and that autophagy plays a cytoprotective or prosurvival role in renal fibroblasts. Furthermore, necrotic RPTC-induced autophagy and cell death in renal fibroblasts is mediated by the activation of the MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling pathway.
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PMID:Autophagy protects against necrotic renal epithelial cell-induced death of renal interstitial fibroblasts. 2249 8

Oncogenic mutations in GNAQ and GNA11 genes are found in 80% of uveal melanoma. These mutations result in the activation of the RAF/MEK signaling pathway culminating in the stimulation of ERK1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinases. In this study, using a siRNA strategy, we show that mutant GNAQ signals to both MEK and AKT, and that combined inhibition of these pathways with the MEK inhibitor selumetinib (AZD6244) and the AKT inhibitor MK2206 induced a synergistic decrease in cell viability. This effect was genotype dependent as autophagic markers like beclin1 and LC3 were induced in GNAQ-mutant cells, whereas apoptosis was the mechanism of cell death of BRAF-mutant cells, and cells without either mutation underwent cell-cycle arrest. The inhibition of MEK/ATK pathways induced activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the GNAQ-mutant cells. The downregulation of AMPK by siRNA or its inhibition with compound C did not rescue the cells from autophagy, rather they died by apoptosis, defining AMPK as a key regulator of mutant GNAQ signaling and a switch between autophagy and apoptosis. Furthermore, this combination treatment was effective in inhibiting tumor growth in xenograft mouse models. These findings suggest that inhibition of MEK and AKT may represent a promising approach for targeted therapy of patients with uveal melanoma.
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PMID:Inhibition of mutant GNAQ signaling in uveal melanoma induces AMPK-dependent autophagic cell death. 2344 2

Identification of efficient chemo-therapeutic/chemo-preventive agents for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is important. In this study, we examined the activity of pemetrexed, an anti-folate chemotherapy drug, against HepG2 human HCC cells. Pemetrexed treatment in vitro exerted weak but significant cytotoxic activity against HepG2 cells. When analyzing the possible pemetrexed-resistance factors, we indentified that pemetrexed treatment in HepG2 cells induced cyto-protective autophagy activation, evidenced by GFP-light chain 3B (LC3B) puncta formation, p62 downregulation and Beclin-1/LC3B-II upregulation. Correspondingly, autophagy inhibitors, including bafliomycin A1, 3-methyladenine and chloroquine, enhanced pemetrexed-induced cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells. Further, RNAi-mediated knockdown of Beclin-1 in HepG2 cells also increased pemetrexed sensitivity. Pemetrexed activated MEK (mitogen-activated protein kinase/ERK kinase)/ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase) signaling in HepG2 cells, which was required for autophagy induction. Pharmacological inhibition of MEK/ERK activation attenuated pemetrexed-induced autophagy, enhanced HepG2 cell death and apoptosis. In summary, pemetrexed activates MEK/ERK-dependent cyto-protective autophagy, and inhibition of this pathway potentiates pemetrexed's activity in HepG2 cells.
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PMID:Inhibition of MEK/ERK activation attenuates autophagy and potentiates pemetrexed-induced activity against HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. 2544 2

Areca nut (AN) is a popular carcinogen used by about 0.6-1.2 billion people worldwide. Although AN contains apoptosis-inducing ingredients, we previously demonstrated that both AN extract (ANE) and its 30-100 kDa fraction (ANE 30-100K) predominantly induce autophagic cell death in both normal and malignant cells. In this study, we further explored the action mechanism of ANE 30-100K-induced autophagy (AIA) in Jurkat T lymphocytes and carcinoma cell lines including OECM-1 (mouth), CE81T/VGH (esophagus), SCC25 (tongue), and SCC-15 (tongue). The results showed that chemical- and small hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated inhibition of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) resulted in the attenuation of AIA in Jurkat T but not in OECM-1 cells. Knockdown of Atg5 and Beclin 1 expressions ameliorated AIA in OECM-1/CE81T/VGH/Jurkat T and OECM-1/SCC25/SCC-15, respectively. Furthermore, ANE 30-100K could activate caspase-3 after inhibition of Beclin 1 expression in OECM-1/SCC25/SCC15 cells. Meanwhile, AMPK was demonstrated to be the upstream activator of the extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) in Jurkat T cells, and inhibition of MEK attenuated AIA in Jurkat T/OECM-1/CE81T/VGH cells. Finally, we also found that multiple myeloma RPMI8226, lymphoma U937, and SCC15 cells survived from long-term non-cytotoxic ANE 30-100K treatment exhibited stronger resistance against serum deprivation through upregulated autophagy. Collectively, our studies indicate that Beclin-1 and Atg5 but not AMPK are commonly required for AIA, and MEK/ERK pathway is involved in AIA. Meanwhile, it is also suggested that long-term AN usage might increase the resistance of survived tumor cells against serum-limited conditions.
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PMID:Impacts of autophagy-inducing ingredient of areca nut on tumor cells. 2601 3

Malignant gliomas are notoriously resistant to therapies that induce apoptosis, but are less resistant to therapies that induce autophagy. Therefore, drugs targeting autophagy are promising candidates in the treatment of malignant gliomas. In this study, we investigated the anti-glioma potential of sanguinarine (SNG) in vitro, and further examined the molecular mechanisms of SNG-induced cell death. In human malignant glioma cells SNG activated autophagic cell death pathway characterized by increased acidic vesicular organelles formation, GFP-LC3 punctate formation, LC3-II conversion, and expression of autophagy related proteins, such as Atg5 and Beclin-1. The autophagy inhibitor bafilomycin A1 or knockdown of Atg5 markedly inhibited the SNG-induced autophagic cell death. Apart from inducing autophagic cell death, SNG has also been shown to induce apoptotic cell death in these cell lines. Importantly, the study also identified the crucial role of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2) in the facilitation of SNG-induced autophagic cell death. Antioxidants, such as glutathione and N-acetyl cysteine, significantly abrogated ROS production, ERK1/2 activation, and in turn, prevented SNG-induced autophagic cell death. Moreover, scavengers of H2O2 (sodium pyruvate and catalase) significantly attenuated the activity of SNG. Down-regulation of ERK1/2 activity, by using selective ERK1/2 inhibitor (U0126) or siERK1/2, led to an inhibition of SNG-induced autophagic cell death. Furthermore, tumor cells transfected with constitutively active ERK2-MEK1-LA fusion protein accentuated SNG-induced autophagic cell death. Overall, our findings unveil a novel anti-tumor mechanism of action of SNG in human malignant glioma cells, opening up the possibility of using SNG based pro-autophagic drugs for the treatment of malignant glioma.
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PMID:ROS-dependent activation of autophagy is a critical mechanism for the induction of anti-glioma effect of sanguinarine. 2647 94

Autophagy is the basic catabolic mechanism that involves cell degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components. Autophagy has a controversial role in cancer--both in protecting against tumor progression by isolation of damaged organelles, or by potentially contributing to cancer growth. The impact of autophagy in RAS induced transformation still remains to be further analyzed based on the differential effect of RAS isoforms and tumor cell context. In the present study, the effect of KRAS/BRAF/PIK3CA oncogenic pathways on the autophagic cell properties and on main components of the autophagic machinery like p62 (SQSTM1), Beclin-1 (BECN1) and MAP1LC3 (LC3) in colon cancer cells was investigated. This study provides evidence that BRAF oncogene induces the expression of key autophagic markers, like LC3 and BECN1 in colorectal tumor cells. Herein, PI3K/AKT/MTOR inhibitors induce autophagic tumor properties, whereas RAF/MEK/ERK signalling inhibitors reduce expression of autophagic markers. Based on the ineffectiveness of BRAFV600E inhibitors in BRAFV600E bearing colorectal tumors, the BRAF related autophagic properties in colorectal cancer cells are further exploited, by novel combinatorial anti-cancer protocols. Strong evidence is provided here that pre-treatment of autophagy inhibitor 3-MA followed by its combination with BRAFV600E targeting drug PLX4720 can synergistically sensitize resistant colorectal tumors. Notably, colorectal cancer cells are very sensitive to mono-treatments of another autophagy inhibitor, Bafilomycin A1. The findings of this study are expected to provide novel efficient protocols for treatment of otherwise resistant colorectal tumors bearing BRAFV600E, by exploiting the autophagic properties induced by BRAF oncogene.
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PMID:BRAF associated autophagy exploitation: BRAF and autophagy inhibitors synergise to efficiently overcome resistance of BRAF mutant colorectal cancer cells. 2680 26

Autophagy is an important mechanism for cellular homeostasis and survival during pathologic stress conditions in the liver, such as ischemia-reperfusion injury. In this study, we hypothesized a protective role of vitamin Din hepatic IR model. The administration of vitamin D displayed significantly preserved liver function as characterized by less histological damage and reduced serum enzymes level. We found that the protective effect was associated with ameliorated oxidative stress as manifested by the increase of antioxidant capacity and decrease of lipid peroxidation. Further, increased autophagic flux after vitamin D administration was demonstrated by the increase of protein light chain 3 (LC3) conversion both in vivo and in vitro. MEK/ERK and PTEN/PI3K/Akt/mTOR were both found critically involved in vitamin D-induced autophagy. By employing intracellular ROS and cell viability assay, we further confirmed this hypothesis with the observation that inhibition either of the MEK/ERK or PTEN/PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway partly abolished the protective effect of vitamin D-induced autophagy, while inhibiting initiation of autophagy signaling pathway by knockdown of Beclin-1 completely reversed the protection provided by vitamin D. Collectively, the present results indicate that the protective role of vitamin D in murine hepatic IR injury is autophagy dependent, which is regulated by both MEK/ERK and PTEN/PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.
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PMID:The role of 1,25-dyhydroxyvitamin D3 in mouse liver ischemia reperfusion injury: regulation of autophagy through activation of MEK/ERK signaling and PTEN/PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 signaling. 2688 62

Rapamycin, also known as sirolimus, is an antifungal agent and immunosuppressant drug used to prevent organ rejection in transplantation. However, little is known about the role of rapamycin in cardiac hypertrophy and the signaling pathways involved. Here, the effect of rapamycin was examined using phenylephrine (PE) induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in vitro and in a rat model of aortic banding (AB) - induced hypertrophy in vivo. Inhibition of MEK/ERK signaling reversed the effect of rapamycin on the up-regulation of LC3-II, Beclin-1 and Noxa, and the down-regulation of Mcl-1 and p62. Silencing of Noxa or Beclin-1 suppressed rapamycin-induced autophagy, and co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that Noxa abolishes the inhibitory effect of Mcl-1 on Beclin-1, promoting autophagy. In vivo experiments showed that rapamycin decreased AB-induced cardiac hypertrophy in a MEK/ERK dependent manner. Taken together, our results indicate that rapamycin attenuates cardiac hypertrophy by promoting autophagy through a mechanism involving the modulation of Noxa and Beclin-1 expression by the MEK/ERK signaling pathway.
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PMID:Rapamycin Inhibits Cardiac Hypertrophy by Promoting Autophagy via the MEK/ERK/Beclin-1 Pathway. 2704 90

Myocardial ischemia is one of the main causes of sudden cardiac death worldwide. Depending on the cell type and stimulus, ERK activity mediates different anti-proliferative events, such as apoptosis, autophagy, and senescence. The aim of this study was to determine the protective effect of 1,4-diamino-2,3-dicyano-1,4-bis[2-aminophenylthio] butadiene (U0126), an ERK kinase inhibitor, on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and the mechanisms involved. An I/R model was established in vivo in C57BL/6 mice and in vitro using mouse cardiomyocytes, respectively. To evaluate the protective effects of U0126 on I/R injury, we measured the myocardial infarct area, apoptosis, and autophagy. Our data indicated that pretreatment with U0126 significantly reduced the infarct area caused by I/R. Moreover, U0126 reduced the caspase-3 activity and the number of TUNEL-positive cardiomyocytes, which together indicate decreased apoptosis. Additionally, U0126 remarkable reduced the level of Beclin-1 and LC3 and increased p62 expression, which indicates that U0126 suppressed H/R-induced autophagy. Furthermore, the relationship between U0126 and MEK/ERK pathway activation in H/R-induced cardiomyocytes was also investigated. U0126 ameliorated H/R injury through inhibition of the MEK/ERK pathway and by suppressing in the downstream EGR-1 expression. Together, our research suggests that U0126 may protect against H/R injury by preventing H/R-induced myocardium apoptosis and autophagy via the MEK/ERK/EGR-1 pathway, and may be a potential therapeutic approach for attenuating myocardial I/R injury.
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PMID:U0126 attenuates ischemia/reperfusion-induced apoptosis and autophagy in myocardium through MEK/ERK/EGR-1 pathway. 2734 76


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