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

A human prostate cancer model was established by inoculating a prostate specific antigen (PSA)-producing LNCaP cell line with either prostate or bone fibroblasts. Alternatively, this human prostate cancer model can also be established by inoculating LNCaP cells with growth factor(s) (GFs) and extracellular matrix (ECM) immobilized on Gelfoam. The resulting LNCaP tumors were used to evaluate PSA production and excretion in athymic hosts. This model was also employed to examine the biochemical nature of mesenchymal cell-derived growth-promoting protein(s) and to assess the efficacy of potential chemotherapeutic agents. Because of the propensity of human prostate cancer to metastasize to the bone, this study defined a 1.0 M NaCl-eluted fraction, MS1, from the conditioned medium of a bone stromal cell line (MS) by heparin-affinity column chromatography. The growth-promoting activity was assayed both in vivo (e.g., tumor formation) and in vitro (e.g., soft agar colony formation). We found that the growth-promoting activity was trypsin- and heat-sensitive, and partially degraded by acid and dithiothreitol. Immunochemical studies indicated that the polyclonal antibody raised against MS1 blocked the growth-promoting effect elicited by the bone-conditioned media. This growth-promoting factor was found to be immunochemically dissimilar to KGF, HGF, and bFGF. However, addition of bFGF, HGF and NGF, but not aFGF, TGF beta, IGF1, IGF2, PDGF, EGF, TGF alpha and KGF, stimulated anchorage-independent growth of prostate cells, a condition closely parallel to tumor formation in vivo. We found that the MS1 fraction also contained fibronectin and tenascin but not laminin or collagen IV.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Human prostate cancer model: roles of growth factors and extracellular matrices. 128 80

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a M(r) 34,000 serine protease, is recognized as a useful marker for the detection and prognosis of patients with prostate cancer. Although serum PSA is an excellent prognostic indicator, an increasing number of factors were found to regulate the PSA expression of prostatic cancer cells, which include androgenic steroids, the growth factors (GFs) and the extracellular matrix. The purpose of this study is to define a novel protein factor that may be responsible for regulating PSA expression by androgen-independent (AI) human prostate cancer cells. We have established a LNCaP subline (C4) from a parental LNCaP tumor grown in a castrated host. The C4 subline overexpressed PSA mRNA and protein. Serum-free conditioned medium (CM) isolated from the C4 subline is able to stimulate PSA gene expression in parental LNCaP cells in a concentration-dependent manner. This autocrine PSA-inducing activity was found to be organ specific because CMs from other fibroblast cell lines (such as bone, prostate, kidney, and lung fibroblasts) and the CMs from several prostatic carcinoma cell lines (such as parental LNCaP, PC-3, DU-145) and a bladder transitional carcinoma cell line (WH) fail to exhibit similar activity. The activity of the CM from the C4 subline cannot be substituted by GFs such as TGF-alpha, TGF-beta, bFGF, HGF, KGF, or NGF; neuropeptide (bombesin/GRP); secondary messenger analogue (dibutyryl cAMP); beta 2-adrenergic agonist (isoproterenol); or alpha 1-adrenergic agonist (phenylephrine), indicating that the factor(s) may be a novel prostate-specific autocrine factor (PSAF). Both androgen and PSAF exhibit an additive effect on up-regulating PSA gene expression, suggesting that the signal transduction pathway elicited by PSAF may differ from that mediated by the androgen receptor. Further characterization of PSAF by heat, acid, and trypsin digestion revealed that the PSAF may be a protein factor with a unique amino acid composition. These observations suggest that a novel autocrine pathway mediated by PSAF may be responsible for the overexpression of PSA mRNA and protein in a human prostatic cancer cell line. The potential clinical significance of this factor will be discussed.
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PMID:Autocrine regulation of prostate-specific antigen gene expression in a human prostatic cancer (LNCaP) subline. 768 49

Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions mediate aspects of normal lung growth and development and are important in the restoration of normal alveolar architecture after lung injury. To determine if fibroblasts are a source of soluble growth factors for alveolar type II cells, we investigated the effect of fibroblast-conditioned medium (CM) on alveolar type II cell DNA synthesis. Serum-free CM from confluent adult human lung fibroblasts was concentrated fivefold by lyophilization. Type II cells were isolated from adult rats by elastase dissociation and incubated with [3H]thymidine and varying dilutions of concentrated CM and serum from day 1 to 3 of culture. Stimulation of type II cell DNA synthesis by fibroblast-CM was maximal after 48 h of conditioning and required the presence of serum. The activity of the CM was eliminated by boiling and by treatment with trypsin, pepsin, or dithiothreitol and was additive with saturating concentrations of acidic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and insulin. The growth factor activity bound to heparin-Sepharose and was eluted with 0.6 and 1.0 M NaCl. Neutralizing antibody studies demonstrated that the primary mitogens isolated in the 0.6 and 1.0 M NaCl fractions were keratinocyte growth factor (KGF, fibroblast growth factor 7) and hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), respectively. HGF/SF was demonstrated in the crude CM and KGF was detected in the 0.6 M NaCl eluent by immunoblotting. Northern blot analysis confirmed that the lung fibroblasts expressed both KGF and HGF/SF transcripts. Human recombinant KGF and HGF/SF induced a concentration- and serum-dependent increase in rat alveolar type II cell DNA synthesis. We conclude that adult human lung fibroblasts produce at least two soluble heparin-binding growth factors, KGF and HGF/SF, which promote DNA synthesis and proliferation of rat alveolar type II cells in primary culture. KGF and HGF/SF may be important stimuli for alveolar type II cell proliferation during lung growth and after lung injury.
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PMID:Keratinocyte growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor are heparin-binding growth factors for alveolar type II cells in fibroblast-conditioned medium. 768 69

TTSPs [type II TMPRSSs (transmembrane serine proteases)] are a growing family of trypsin-like enzymes with, in some cases, restricted tissue distribution. To investigate the expression of TTSPs in the nervous system, we performed a PCR-based screening approach with P10 (postnatal day 10) mouse spinal cord mRNA. We detected the expression of five known TTSPs and identified a novel TTSP, which we designated neurobin. Neurobin consists of 431 amino acids. In the extracellular part, neurobin contains a single SEA (sea-urchin sperm protein, enterokinase and agrin) domain and a C-terminal serine protease domain. RT-PCR (reverse transcription-PCR) analysis indicated the expression of neurobin in spinal cord and cerebellum. Histochemical analysis of brain sections revealed distinct staining of Purkinje neurons of the cerebellum. Transiently overexpressed neurobin was autocatalytically processed and inserted into the plasma membrane. Autocatalytic activation could be suppressed by mutating Ser(381) in the catalytic pocket to an alanine residue. The protease domain of neurobin, produced in Escherichia coli and refolded from inclusion bodies, cleaved chromogenic peptides with an arginine residue in position P(1). Serine protease inhibitors effectively suppressed the proteolytic activity of recombinant neurobin. Ca2+ or Na+ ions did not significantly modulate the catalytic activity of the protease. Recombinant neurobin processed 17-kDa FGF-2 (fibroblast growth factor-2) at several P(1) lysine and arginine positions to distinct fragments, in a heparin-inhibitable manner, but did not cleave FGF-7, laminin or fibronectin. These results indicate that neurobin is an authentic TTSP with trypsin-like activity and is able to process FGF-2 in vitro.
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PMID:Neurobin/TMPRSS11c, a novel type II transmembrane serine protease that cleaves fibroblast growth factor-2 in vitro. 1821 25