Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Defensins are antimicrobial peptides that are produced by leukocytes and epithelial cells. Recent advances indicate that these peptides play an important role in innate immune responses. Nonetheless, the role of defensins in caprine eimeriosis remains unknown. Therefore, this study investigated the expression of a goat beta-defensin, named GBD-2 in caprine intestinal epithelial cells (CIEC) stimulated with recombinant bovine interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in the presence or absence of recombinant bovine interleukin-4 (IL-4) by a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. GBD-2 mRNA was clearly expressed in IFN-gamma-stimulated CIEC. On the other hand, the direct addition of IL-4 showed no significant effect on GBD-2 expression in CIEC. However, when supernatants from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) cultured with IL-4 were added to CIEC, the expression of GBD-2 decreased. To elucidate if IFN-gamma functions as a signaling molecule that facilitates the generation of GBD-2 against Eimeria spp. in goats, anti- IL-4 was added to PBMC from Eimeria-infected goats and levels of IFN-gamma in culture supernatants were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test. Results showed that IFN-gamma secretion increased when anti-IL-4 was added to PBMC. It then appears safe to suggest that IL-4 may be a further factor in the pathogenesis of goat coccidiosis and its induction may be part of an evasion strategy of the parasite to avoid pro-inflammatory responses.
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PMID:Downregulation of the goat beta-defensin-2 gene by IL-4 in caprine intestinal epithelial cells infected with Eimeria spp. 1739 83

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are important components of our first line of defense. Induction of AMPs such as LL-37 of the cathelicidin family might provide a novel approach in treating bacterial infections. In this study we identified 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) as a novel inducer of AMP expression and investigated affected regulatory pathways. We treated various cell lines with PBA and assessed mRNA expression by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). Cathelicidin AMP (CAMP) gene expression was found to be upregulated in all four cell lines tested. Additionally, we found that the beta-defensin 1 gene was upregulated in the lung epithelial cell line VA10 while being downregulated in the monocytic cell line U937. Further we found that PBA induced CAMP gene expression synergistically with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) at both protein and mRNA levels. The general mechanism of induction of CAMP gene expression by PBA was found to be dependent on protein synthesis. Results from quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments challenge the common view that histone deacetylase inhibitors directly increase CAMP gene expression. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinases MEK1/2 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase attenuate PBA-induced CAMP gene expression. Similarly, alpha-methylhydrocinnamate (ST7), an analogue of PBA, increases CAMP gene expression. Our findings contribute to understanding of the regulation of AMP expression and suggest that PBA and/or ST7 is a promising drug candidate for treatment of microbial infections by strengthening the epithelial antimicrobial barriers.
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PMID:Phenylbutyrate induces antimicrobial peptide expression. 1977 Feb 73


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