Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.7.48 (transcriptase)
 9,479 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Met-ase-1 is a 30 000 Mr serine protease (granzyme) that was first isolated in the cytolytic granules of rat CD3(-) large granular lymphocytes. We screened a mouse genomic library with rat Met-ase-1 cDNA, and obtained bacteriophage clones that contained the mouse Met-ase-1 gene. The mouse Met-ase-1 gene comprises five exons spanning approximately 5.2 kilobases (kb) and exhibits a similar structural organization to its rat homologue and a family of neutrophil elastase-like serine proteases. Mouse Met-ase-1 mRNA was only detected in total cellular and poly A mRNA of mouse CD3(-) GM1(+) large granular lymphocytes derived from splenocytes stimulated with IL-2 and the mouse NK1.1(+) cell line 4 - 16. Spleen T-cell populations generated by Concanavalin A stimulation and a number of mouse pre-NK and T cell lines did not express mouse Met-ase-1 mRNA. The 5' flanking region of the mouse Met-ase-1 gene also shares considerable regions of identity with the 5' flanking region of the rat Met-ase-1 gene. A 3.3 kb segment of 5' sequence flanking the mouse Met-ase-1 gene was inserted upstream of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene and this construct transiently transfected into a variety of mouse and rat large granular lymphocyte leukemia and T-cell lines. The transcriptional activity of the mouse Met-ase-1 5' flanking region was significant in the RNK-16 large granular lymphocyte leukemia, strongest in the 4 - 16 mouse NK1.1(+) cell line, and weak in several mouse pre-NK cell lines. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of mouse large granular lymphocyte mRNA was used to derive the full-length coding sequence for mouse Met-ase-1. The predicted hexapropeptide of mouse Met-ase-1 (Asn-6 to Gln-1), was deleted by polymerase chain reaction mutagenesis to enable expression of active mouse Met-ase-1 in mammalian COS-7 cells. Northern blot analysis and protease assays of transfected COS cell lysates against a panel of thiobenzyl ester substrates formally demonstrated that the mouse Met-ase-1 gene encodes a serine proteinase that hydrolyzes substrates containing a long narrow hydrophobic amino acids like methionine, norleucine, and leucine in the P1.
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PMID:Cloning and expression of the recombinant mouse natural killer cell granzyme Met-ase-1. 878 Nov 19

IFN-gamma is critical for prevention of development of toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE). Since IL-4 down-regulates production of IFN-gamma, we examined its role in the pathogenesis of TE in IL-4-targeted mutant (IL-4-/-) mice. IL-4-/- mice all died from 6 to 20 wk after peroral infection with cysts of the ME49 strain of Toxoplasma gondii; control mice survived. At 4 and 8 wk after infection, significantly greater numbers of T. gondii cysts and foci of acute inflammation, and greater amounts of tachyzoite-specific mRNA (by reverse-transcriptase PCR) were in brains of IL-4-/- mice than controls. Toxoplasma IgG2b and IgG3 Ab levels were slightly but significantly higher in sera of IL-4-/- than control mice, whereas IgM and IgG2a levels did not differ between these mice. Toxoplasma IgG1 and IgE Abs were not detected in sera of either strain. Amounts of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 mRNA detected by reverse-transcriptase PCR did not differ between brains of infected IL-4-/- and controls, although brains of the former mice had greater numbers of inflammatory mononuclear cell infiltrates. IL-4 mRNA was detected only in infected control mice. Spleen cells of control mice at 8 wk after infection produced significantly greater amounts of IFN-gamma following stimulation in vitro with soluble T. gondii Ags than did those from IL-4-/- mice. These results indicate that IL-4 is protective against development of TE by preventing formation of T. gondii cysts and proliferation of tachyzoites in the brain. The impaired ability of IL-4-/- mice in the late stage of T. gondii infection to produce IFN-gamma most likely contributes to their susceptibility for development of severe TE.
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PMID:IL-4 is protective against development of toxoplasmic encephalitis. 880 58