Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.24.3 (collagenase)
 18,340 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

MRL/Mp mice bearing the Fas deletion mutant gene, lpr (MRL/lpr), spontaneously develop polyarthritis, sialoadenitis and dacryoadenitis, resembling rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and also corneal involvement such as keratopathy and scleritis, which is a major complication in RA patients. In this study, we found that the expression levels of IL-1beta and MMP-1 mRNAs in cornea were high in both MRL/lpr and MRL/Mp-+/+ strains of mice at an age younger than when they develop any inflammatory lesions. This was not true of other inbred strains, even those bearing the lpr gene, and also not of (NZB x NZW) F1 lupus mice. There was no significant difference in the expression of IL-1alpha and TGFbeta in cornea in these strains. Using crosses between MRL/lpr and C3H/HeJ-lpr/lpr (C3H/lpr) mice, at least the expression of IL-1beta was found to be under the control of the MRL genetic background, likely with a recessive mode of inheritance. Considering that IL-1beta in cornea was detected particularly in the epithelial layer, the high expression of IL-1beta in cornea is most likely involved in the genetic predisposition for corneal involvement and possibly also for arthritis in an MRL strain of mice.
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PMID:High expression of interleukin-1beta in the corneal epithelium of MRL/lpr mice is under the control of their genetic background. 1508 86

Scleritis is a severe and destructive inflammatory eye disease characterized by extensive extracellular matrix degradation. As in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), tissue destruction in scleritis may be mediated in part by matrix metalloproteinases such as collagenase (MMP-1) and stromelysin (MMP-3) which are normally kept in balance by endogenous inhibitors, such as tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP-1). To test this hypothesis, in situ hybridization was used to localize MMP-1, MMP-3 and TIMP-1 mRNA in diseased and normal scleral tissue using digoxigenin labelled probes. Strong expression of MMP-3 and TIMP-1 mRNA, but not MMP-1, was observed in the diseased scleral tissue. Infiltrating inflammatory cells such as macrophages and scleral fibroblasts were the primary source of MMP-3 and TIMP-1 expression. There was also relatively less TIMP-1 compared with MMP-3 mRNA expression in the inflammatory cells in scleritis tissue. In order to study regulation of metalloproteinase expression in ocular cells the authors established human scleral fibroblasts (HSF) in primary culture. Northern blot analysis was performed on total RNA extracted from HSF grown in serum free media. MMP-1 MMP-3 and TIMP-1 were constitutively expressed in these cells. Stimulation of HSF with pro-inflammatory cytokines likely to be present in scleritis, such as interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), significantly induced MMP-3 and TIMP-1 mRNA expression. Using culture supernatants derived from the same cytokine stimulated scleral fibroblast the authors were able to detect MMP-3 protein production by Western blot analysis. They conclude that matrix metalloproteinase-3 mRNAs are present in scleritis tissue and may be induced by cytokines produced in the inflammatory process.
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PMID:Stromelysin (matrix metalloproteinase-3) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP-1) mRNA expression in scleritis. 2282 40