Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.4.3 (phospholipase C)
 18,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Drugs that interfere with the action of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the membrane efflux pump responsible for multidrug resistance (MDR), should be valuable in the treatment of patients with drug-resistant cancer. We have used one class of drug, the phenothiazines, to study the structural features required for optimum interference with the function of P-gp. The structure-activity relationships revealed three important components including the hydrophobicity of the tricyclic ring, the length of the alkyl bridge and the charge on the terminal amino group. Trans-flupenthixol is a lead compound that conforms to these structural requirements and demonstrates significant activity as a sensitizer of MDR cell lines to drugs affected by the MDR phenotype. Based on these data, we have proposed a model for the binding of modulators to P-gp and have speculated on the structure of the drug-binding domain. We have developed pre-clinical models of MDR that may help predict clinical activity of chemo-modulators. L1210/VMDRC.06 is a murine lymphocytic leukemia line transformed by a retroviral expression vector containing a full-length cDNA for the human mdr1 gene. K562/VBL1-3 are clones of human myeloid blast cells that were transformed with the same vector. Resistance in these lines is not complicated by changes in the cellular content of glutathione or alterations in topoisomerase II. The transformed L1210 line grows in mice as a slowly proliferating non-metastatic peritoneal implant. Both MDR lines are restored to sensitivity by cyclosporin A or trans-flupenthixol, and the K562 clones are induced to differentiate by hemin. These lines should provide simple, sensitive screens for new drugs for use against cancers expressing P-gp. We have proposed a model to explain how the pumping activity of P-gp is activated in response to toxic drugs. In this schema, basal activity of P-gp is modulated through phosphorylation/dephosphorylation reactions mediated by protein kinase C (PKC) and calcium sensitive phosphatases. In response to the activation of phospholipase C by toxic drugs and the local production of 1,2-diacylglycerol, PKC is translocated to the cell membrane where it phosphorylates P-gp. Following the extrusion of drug from the cell membrane, phospholipase C activity returns to baseline, diacylglycerol is metabolized, PKC returns to the cytosol and serine/threonine phosphatases dephosphorylate P-gp returning it to the basal state.
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PMID:Rational design and pre-clinical pharmacology of drugs for reversing multidrug resistance. 134 93

Because of its unique DNA-cleaving and strand-passing activities, topoisomerase II is involved in many aspects of DNA metabolism, including replication, transcription, recombination, and repair. The cytotoxic potential of topoisomerase II-targeted drugs, such as etoposide, is related to their ability to stabilize covalently linked enzyme-DNA complexes, which are intermediates in the enzyme's catalytic cycle. Epidermal growth factor receptor is expressed on the cell surface of the majority of squamous cell carcinomas, and epidermal growth factor binding is known to stimulate a number of cellular transduction pathways, including tyrosine kinase, protein kinase C, and phospholipase C. Because topoisomerase II is a proliferation-dependent protein and has been shown to be a high-affinity substrate for many of these cellular transduction pathways, the effects of epidermal growth factor on cellular regulation and sensitivity to etoposide were studied with the human oral cavity squamous cell line, KB. Topoisomerase II catalytic activity was rapidly and transiently inhibited after the addition of epidermal growth factor to the cellular growth media. Western blot on nuclear extracts did not demonstrate alterations in topoisomerase II polypeptide levels to account for changes in catalytic activity. Epidermal growth factor treatment also led to the formation of stabilized, covalently linked enzyme-DNA complexes. Furthermore, epidermal growth factor-induced, topoisomerase II-mediated DNA strand breaks were additive to those induced by etoposide. This study indicates that epidermal growth factor specifically regulates the catalytic and DNA-cleaving activities of topoisomerase II in KB cells. This may direct clinical strategies for circumventing the intrinsic cellular resistance to chemotherapy commonly observed in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck.
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PMID:Epidermal growth factor regulates topoisomerase II activity and drug sensitivity in human KB cells. 864 3

Despite their individual key roles in promoting head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) progression and treatment resistance, little is known about the impact of intratumoral hypoxia on the activity of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway in this cancer type. Here, we show that in highly EGFR-expressing HNSCC cells, hypoxic stress triggers the activation of the EGFR and downstream targets, including Akt and phospholipase C (PLC) gamma1. In support of these findings, we also demonstrate that EGFR activation takes place within hypoxic foci in a subset of human HNSCC tissues. Whereas hypoxia had no major effect on HNSCC cell proliferation, it markedly altered tumor cell shape by inducing morphological changes consistent with a more spindle-shaped, fibroblast-like morphology together with an enhanced migratory capacity. We found that hypoxia-induced EGFR activation and cell migration could be prevented by targeting EGFR signaling with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor tyrphostin, the phospholipase C inhibitor U73122, or by inhibiting the expression of the alpha subunit of hypoxia-inducible factor 2 via RNA interference or the topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide. Our results position hypoxia-inducible factor-2alpha as a novel regulator of EGFR activation under low oxygen conditions, and suggest that hypoxia-induced EGFR signaling may promote a more aggressive phenotype in a fraction of HNSCC tumors. Because EGFR continues in the forefront as a highly attractive target in clinical oncology, further studies are warranted to define the mechanistic and therapeutic implications of the hypoxic response relative to the EGFR signaling pathway in head and neck cancer.
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PMID:HIF-2alpha-mediated activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor potentiates head and neck cancer cell migration in response to hypoxia. 2039 90