Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.23 (beta-galactosidase)
 14,648 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase (Lst) is expressed on the outer membrane of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis and sialylates surface lipooligosaccharide (LOS), facilitating resistance to complement-mediated killing. The enzyme is constitutively expressed from a single gene (lst) and does not undergo antigenic or phase variation. We observed that Triton X-100 extracts of N. gonorrhoeae strain F62 contain about fivefold more sialyltransferase (Stase) activity than extracts of N. meningitidis strain MC58 [symbol: see text]3 a serogroup B acapsulate mutant. We confirmed and expanded upon this observation by showing that extracts of 16 random N. gonorrhoeae isolates contain various amounts of Stase activity, but, on average, 2.2-fold-more Stase activity than extracts of 16 N. meningitidis clinical isolates, representing several serogroups and nongroupable strains. Northern and real-time reverse transcription-PCR analysis of lst transcript levels in N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis revealed that N. gonorrhoeae strains express more lst transcript than N. meningitidis strains. Although transcript levels correlate with average Stase activity observed in the two species, there was not a direct correlation between lst transcript levels and Stase activity among individual isolates of each species. Comparison of lst upstream (5'lst) regions of N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis revealed striking sequence differences characteristic of the two pathogens. N. gonorrhoeae 5'lst regions possess 30-bp and 13-bp elements present as single elements or as tandem repeats that exist only as single elements in the 5'lst regions of N. meningitidis isolates. In addition, the 5'lst regions of N. meningitidis strains have 105-bp transposon-like Correia elements which are absent in N. gonorrhoeae. Chromosomal N. gonorrhoeae 5'lst::lacZ translational fusions expressed 4.75 +/- 0.09-fold (n = 4) higher beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) activity than N. meningitidis 5'lst::lacZ fusions in a host-independent manner, indicating differential expression is governed at least in part by sequence variations in the 5'lst regions. Reporter fusion assays and promoter-mapping analysis revealed that N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis use different promoters with different strengths to transcribe lst. In N. gonorrhoeae, a strong sigma 70 promoter 80 bp upstream of the translational start site is used to transcribe lst, whereas this promoter is inactive in N. meningitidis. In N. meningitidis, a weak sigma 70 promoter at the 3' terminus of a 105-bp Correia repeat-enclosed element 99 bp upstream of the translational start site is used to transcribe lst. We conclude that differential Stase expression between N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis is due at least in part to differential lst gene transcription.
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PMID:Differential expression and transcriptional analysis of the alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase gene in pathogenic Neisseria spp. 1662

The science of antiviral research was well advanced when HIV/AIDS appeared as a major new virus disease in the early 1980s. The first effective antiviral compound (AZT, azidothymidine, zidovudine) was already among the library of compounds screened and was promptly reported to be a specific inhibitor of retroviruses, including HIV. Due to the pivotal role of AZT in HIV treatment, this review summarizes the most known effects -some of which are toxic side effects- induced by AZT a drug which is still used in the combined therapy of HIV-infected patients. Among the toxic side effects, a severe bone marrow toxicity manifested as anemia, neutropenia and siderosis, and caused by inhibition of heme and globin synthesis together with a general derangement of iron supply, have been reported. In this regard, we proved that while AZT and its monophosphorylated derivative AZTMP were unable to chelate iron, the triphosphate form AZTTP displayed a significant capacity to remove iron from transferrin. Moreover, we have previously demonstrated that AZT-exposed K562 cells showed an increase of transferrin receptors located on the cell membrane without affecting their biosynthesis, but slowing down their endocytotic pathway. Interestingly, literature data report the impairement of glycosylation reactions by AZT. Indeed, we have shown that AZT-treated K562 cells exhibited a reduced sialylation of proteins and lipids, and a strong inhibition of alpha,(2-->8) sialyltransferase activity while beta,(1-->4)galactosyltransferase and beta-galactosidase activities were significantly increased. These latter observations could be of clinical relevance since alterations of intracellular and cell surface carbohydrate expression and composition, often are associated with several diseases. However, contrarily to previous reports by other authors on AZT as an inhibitor of plant and bacterial toxins activity, we have demonstrated that AZT not only did not inhibit saporin toxicity, but even increased the cytotoxic activity of this plant toxin on K562 cells. Furthermore, the review enlightens the potential utilization of AZT as a tool in proteomics since in the recent years several genes responding to this drug have been identified in different cell lines. We have shown, for the first time, an over-expression of two proteins (PDI-A3 and sthatmin), and a full repression of two others (HSP-60 and SOD1) in AZT-exposed K562 cells. At present, we are investigating if the above reported alterations are a general feature of AZT-treatment of cultured cells, or they represent a peculiar characteristic of a specific cell line. Finally, the paper reviews a number of novel methodologies aimed at enhancing the AZT plasma levels and its bioavailability in all human organs in order to improve its therapeutic efficacy against HIV infection. These new possibilities, namely the AZT prodrug strategy, the AZT transdermal delivery and the targeted brain delivery, are yet not in use for humans but they are under experimental studies.
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PMID:AZT: an old drug with new perspectives. 1869 Aug 75


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