Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.21.4 (trypsin)
 42,187 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Recent observations in children with rotavirus gastroenteritis and in infant mice given rotavirus vaccine by oral administration suggest that this well-known gastrointestinal pathogen may infect the liver. To examine this possibility, the susceptibility of Hep G2 cells to infection with a variety of rotavirus strains was tested. These cells were used because they are considered to be well differentiated and exhibit many liver-specific functions. The Hep G2 cells supported the growth of the simian strain rhesus rotavirus (MMU 18006), a strain currently being used in vaccine trails, but did not support the growth of any human strain (D, DS1, Price or ST3). The rhesus rotavirus infection was cytopathic and resulted in release of lactate dehydrogenase. Rhesus rotavirus growth in Hep G2 cells displayed trypsin-enhanced infectivity and was inhibited by pretreatment of cells with Arthrobacter ureafaciens neuraminidase but not with neuraminidase from Clostridium perfringens. Hep G2 cells were also permissive for another simian strain (SA11), a bovine strain (UK) and single gene substitution reassortants containing VP7 (the major outer capsid neutralization protein) from a human rotavirus strain and the remaining 10 genes from either rhesus rotavirus or UK. In general, UK and its reassortants produced lower levels of antigen than did rhesus rotavirus and its reassortants. Hep G2 cells and other hepatic cell lines may prove to be useful tools to explore the hepatotropic potential of wild-type rotaviruses and candidate vaccine strains.
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PMID:Growth of group A rotaviruses in a human liver cell line. 217 Feb 64

In the rotavirus SA11 surface protein VP4, the trypsin cleavage sites associated with the enhancement of infectivity are flanked by two amino acid regions that are highly conserved among different rotaviruses. We have tested the ability of synthetic peptides that mimic these two regions to induce and prime for a rotavirus neutralizing antibody response in mice. After the peptide immunization schedule, both peptides induced peptide antibodies, but neither was able to induce virus antibodies, as measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or a neutralization assay. However, when the peptide-inoculated mice were subsequently injected with intact SA11 virus, a rapid and high neutralizing antibody response was observed in mice that had previously received the peptide comprising amino acids 220 to 233 of the VP4 protein. This neutralizing activity was serotype specific; however, this peptide was also able to efficiently prime the immune system of mice for a neutralizing antibody response to the heterotypic rotavirus ST3 when the ST3 virus was used for the secondary inoculation.
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PMID:Priming for rotavirus neutralizing antibodies by a VP4 protein-derived synthetic peptide. 255 64

The complete nucleotide sequence of the fourth gene of symptomatic (Wa, DS-1, P, and VA70) and asymptomatic (M37, 1076, McN13, and ST3) rotaviruses of serotype 1, 2, 3, or 4 was determined by the dideoxy chain termination method. In each strain, the fourth gene, which encodes the outer capsid protein VP3, is 2,359 base pairs in length and has 5'- and 3'-noncoding regions of 9 and 25 nucleotides, respectively. The gene has a single long open reading frame of 2,325 base pairs that is capable of coding for a protein of 775 amino acids. A total of 14 N-terminal and 12 C-terminal amino acids are completely conserved or almost completely conserved, respectively, among nine human rotavirus VP3 genes that have been sequenced. In addition, there is conservation of arginine at the two trypsin cleavage sites as well as conservation of clusters of amino acids in different regions of the two VP3 cleavage products, VP8 and VP5. Three distinct forms of VP3 were identified among the nine human rotavirus strains analyzed. Three symptomatic rotaviruses (serotypes 1, 3, and 4) possess highly related VP3 genes (92.2 to 97% nucleotide identity). Two symptomatic serotype 2 rotaviruses possess VP3 genes which are even more closely related to each other (98.6% nucleotide identity) and only moderately related to the aforementioned VP3 genes of serotypes 1, 3, and 4 (87.4 to 88.2% nucleotide identity). The four asymptomatic rotaviruses, which constitute the third group, possess highly related VP3 genes (95.5 to 97.5% nucleotide identity) which are distinct from those of the virulent rotaviruses (73 to 74.8% nucleotide identity). At 91 positions in the protein sequence of VP3, an amino acid is conserved among the asymptomatic rotaviruses, while a different amino acid is conserved among the symptomatic rotaviruses. Notably, five regions are conserved among the symptomatic rotaviruses, while a different set of sequences are conserved among the asymptomatic rotaviruses. It is possible that some or all of these regions of sequence dimorphism may be responsible for the difference in virulence of these two groups of human rotaviruses. There are 13 regions in the VP3 protein sequence which exhibit the greatest variability; the majority of these variable regions are observed between amino acids 106 to 192. These regions may represent potential antigenic sites related to heterotypic rotavirus neutralization.
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PMID:Sequence of the fourth gene of human rotaviruses recovered from asymptomatic or symptomatic infections. 283 14

The primary structure of the region in the outer layer protein VP3, containing the two sites associated with trypsin enhancement of infectivity of rotavirus was found to be greatly conserved in cultivable human rotavirus serotypes 1 (Wa), 2 (DS1), and 3 (P) and in four human rotaviruses directly purified from feces. Significant differences with this conserved sequence were found in human rotavirus serotype 4 (ST3), isolated from an asymptomatic neonate, and in seven animal rotaviruses. However, the two trypsin cleavage sites were conserved in every rotavirus VP3 sequence analyzed.
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PMID:Conservation in rotaviruses of the protein region containing the two sites associated with trypsin enhancement of infectivity. 301 4

The antigenic structure of the VP4 protein of human rotavirus (HRV) strains Wa and ST3 was studied by using a panel of Wa- and ST3-derived VP4-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NMAbs) and NMAb-resistant variants. The VP4-coding genes from three Wa and three ST3 variants were sequenced. For Wa VP4, one homotypic and one heterotypic neutralization site, at amino acids 458 and 392, respectively, were identified. For ST3 VP4, three neutralization sites were found at amino acids 72, 217, and 385 that are either homotypic or associated with limited cross-reactivity. Cross-neutralization assays using several pairs of NMAbs and resistant variants showed that Wa VP4 has at least one large neutralization domain on its larger trypsin cleavage product, VP5*, consisting of several operationally related epitopes. VP4 of ST3 has at least two neutralization domains, one located on VP5* that is operationally related to the large neutralization domains on VP5* from HRVs Wa and KU, as well as an independent neutralization domain on VP8*, the smaller trypsin cleavage product of VP4.
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PMID:Identification of two independent neutralization domains on the VP4 trypsin cleavage products VP5* and VP8* of human rotavirus ST3. 753 Mar 90

Methotrexate (MTX) is one of the most commonly used agents in the treatment of solid malignancies; however, the toxicities of MTX to bone marrow and gastrointestinal tract complicate this therapy. We, therefore, propose a gene-dependent enzyme prodrug therapy to limit these toxicities by localizing the production of MTX to the site of the tumor. The combination of MTX-alpha-peptide prodrugs, which cannot be internalized by the cellular reduced folate carrier, with carboxypeptidase A (CPA), which can remove the blocking peptide, has been demonstrated previously in vitro using antibody-dependent enzyme prodrug therapy. CPA is normally synthesized as a zymogen that is inactive without proteolytic removal of its propeptide by trypsin. Therefore, to adapt this system to gene-dependent enzyme prodrug therapy, a mutant form of CPA was engineered, CPA(ST3), that does not require trypsin-dependent zymogen cleavage but is instead activated by ubiquitously expressed intracellular propeptidases. Purification, peptide sequencing, and kinetic analysis indicated that mature CPA(ST3) is structurally and functionally similar to the trypsin-activated, wild-type enzyme. In addition, CPA(ST3)-expressing tumors cells were sensitized to MTX prodrugs in a dose- and time-dependent manner. To limit diffusion of CPA, a cell surface localized form was generated by constructing a fusion protein between CPA(ST3) and the phosphatidylinositol linkage domain from decay accelerating factor. SDS-PAGE and flow cytometric analysis of infected tumor cells indicated that CPA(DAF) was cell surface localized. Finally, after retroviral transduction, this enzyme/prodrug strategy exhibited a potent bystander effect, even when <10% of the cells were transduced, because extracellular production of MTX sensitized both transduced and nontransduced cells.
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PMID:Expression of endogenously activated secreted or cell surface carboxypeptidase A sensitizes tumor cells to methotrexate-alpha-peptide prodrugs. 1067 50