Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.27.1 (RNase)
 16,360 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The retinoblastoma (Rb), cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK), and CDK inhibitor genes regulate cell generation, and deregulation can produce increased cell growth and tumorigenesis. Polycythemia vera (PV) is a clonal myeloproliferative disease where the mechanism producing increased hematopoiesis is still unknown. To investigate possible defects in cell-cycle regulation in PV, the expression of Rb and CDK inhibitor gene messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in highly purified human erythroid colony-forming cells (ECFCs) was screened using an RNase protection assay (RPA) and 11 gene probes. It was found that RNA representing exon 2 of p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF) was enhanced by 2.8- to 15.9-fold in 11 patients with PV. No increase of exon 2 mRNA was evident in the T cells of patients with PV, or in the ECFCs and T cells from patients with secondary polycythemia. p27 also had elevated mRNA expression in PV ECFCs, but to a lesser degree. Because the INK4a/ARF locus encodes 2 tumor suppressors, p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF) with the same exon 2 sequence, the increased mRNA fragment could represent either one. To clarify this, mRNA representing the unique first exons of INK4a and ARF were analyzed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. This demonstrated that mRNAs from the first exons of both genes were increased in erythroid and granulocyte-macrophage cells and Western blot analysis showed that the INK4a protein (p16(INK4a)) was increased in PV ECFCs. Sequencing revealed no mutations of INK4a or ARF in 10 patients with PV. p16(INK4a) is an important negative cell-cycle regulator, but in contrast with a wide range of malignancies where inactivation of the INK4a gene is one of the most common carcinogenetic events, in PV p16( INK4a) expression was dramatically increased without a significant change in ECFC cell cycle compared with normal ECFCs. It is quite likely that p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF) are not the pathogenetic cause of PV, but instead represent a cellular response to an abnormality of a downstream regulator of proliferation such as cyclin D, CDK4/CDK6, Rb, or E2F. Further work to delineate the function of these genes in PV is in progress. (Blood. 2001;97:3424-3432)
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PMID:Increased expression of the INK4a/ARF locus in polycythemia vera. 1136 33

RNA interference (RNAi) is used as a reverse-genetic tool to examine functions of a gene in different cellular processes including apoptosis. As key cellular proteins are inactivated during apoptosis, and as RNAi requires cooperation of many cellular proteins, we examined whether DNA vector-based RNAi would continue to function during apoptosis. The short hairpin RNA transcribed from the DNA vector is processed by Dicer-1 to form small interfering RNA that is incorporated in the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to guide a sequence-specific silencing of the target mRNA. We report here that DNA vector-based RNAi of three different genes, namely poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1, p14(ARF) and lamin A/C are abrogated during apoptosis. The failure of DNA vector-based RNAi was not at the level of Ago-2 or RISC-mediated step of RNAi but due to catalytic inactivation of Dicer-1 on specific cleavage at the STTD(1476) and CGVD(1538) sites within its RNase IIIa domain. Using multiple approaches, caspase-3 was identified as the major caspase responsible for the cleavage and inactivation of Dicer-1. As Dicer-1 is also the common endonuclease required for formation of microRNA (miRNA) in mammalian cells, we observed decreased levels of mature forms of miR-16, miR-21 and let-7a. Our results suggest a role for apoptotic cleavage and inactivation of Dicer-1 in controlling apoptotic events through altered availability of miRNA.
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PMID:Abrogation of DNA vector-based RNAi during apoptosis in mammalian cells due to caspase-mediated cleavage and inactivation of Dicer-1. 1922 43