Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.24.23 (MMP)
 4,246 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Axl, a prototypic member of the transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor family, is known to regulate innate immunity. In this study, we show that Axl expression is induced by IFN-alpha during human dendritic cell (DC) differentiation from monocytes (IFN/DC) and that constitutively Axl-negative, IL-4-differentiated DC (IL-4/DC) can be induced to up-regulate Axl by IFN-alpha. This effect is inhibited by TLR-dependent maturation stimuli such as LPS, poly(I:C), TLR7/8 ligand, and CD40L. LPS-induced Axl down-regulation on the surface of human IFN-alpha-treated DC correlates with an increased proteolytic cleavage of Axl and with elevated levels of its soluble form. GM6001 and TAPI-1, general inhibitors of MMP and ADAM family proteases, restored Axl expression on the DC surface and diminished Axl shedding. Furthermore, stimulation of Axl by its ligand, Gas6, induced chemotaxis of human DC and rescued them from growth factor deprivation-induced apoptosis. Our study provides the first evidence that Gas6/Axl-mediated signaling regulates human DC activities, and identifies Gas6/Axl as a new DC chemotaxis pathway. This encourages one to explore whether dysregulation of this novel pathway in human DC biology is involved in autoimmunity characterized by high levels of IFN-alpha.
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PMID:Survival and migration of human dendritic cells are regulated by an IFN-alpha-inducible Axl/Gas6 pathway. 1965 94

In recent years, compelling evidence has been gathered that supports a role for epigenetic alterations in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Different blood cell populations of SLE patients are characterized by a global loss of DNA methylation. This process is associated with defects in ERK pathway signalling and consequent DNMT 1 downregulation. Hypomethylation of gene promoters has been described, which permits transcriptional activation and therefore functional changes in the cells and also hypomethylation of the ribosomal RNA gene cluster. Among the identified targets undergoing demethylation are genes involved in autoreactivity (ITGAL), osmotic lysis and apoptosis (PRF1, MMP14 and LCN2), antigen presentation (CSF3R), inflammation(MMP 14), B- T-cell interaction (CD70 and CD40LG) and cytokine pathways (CSF3R, IL-4, IL-6 and IFNGR2). DNA methylation inhibitors are also known to induce autoreactivity in vitro and cause a lupus-like disease in vivo. Further, altered patterns of histone modifications have been described in SLE. CD4+ lymphocytes undergo global histone H3 and H4 deacetylation and consequent skewed gene expression. Although multiple lines of evidence highlight the contribution of epigenetic alterations to the pathogenesis of lupus in genetically predisposed individuals, many questions remain to be answered. Attaining a deeper understanding of these matters will create opportunities in the promising area of epigenetic treatments.
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PMID:A new epigenetic challenge: systemic lupus erythematosus. 2162 46