Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:4.2.2.7 (heparinase)
 1,270 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Homosexual males often present signs of immune activation and are likely to have increased levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma. These individuals develop Kaposi's sarcoma (AIDS-KS) more frequently than other HIV-1-infected groups. Our previous work demonstrated that inflammatory cytokines stimulate the growth of spindle cells derived from AIDS-KS lesions (AIDS-KS cells) and that these cells produce high levels of bFGF that mediate autocrine and paracrine (endothelial) cell growth and angiogenesis. Here we show that AIDS-KS cells constitutively produce and release bioactive bFGF in the absence of cell death, and that extracellular bFGF exist in both a soluble and a bound form; the latter can be released by treatment with trypsin, heparin, or heparinase I. Inflammatory cytokines stimulate both the synthesis and release of biologically active bFGF from KS cells and enhance their ability to induce angiogenic KS-like lesions in nude mice. Because bFGF is highly expressed in primary KS lesions, and is a mediator of KS-like lesion formation, these results suggest that the export of bFGF induced by inflammatory cytokines may play a critical role in the induction and progression of KS in HIV-1-infected homosexual men.
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PMID:Inflammatory cytokines induce AIDS-Kaposi's sarcoma-derived spindle cells to produce and release basic fibroblast growth factor and enhance Kaposi's sarcoma-like lesion formation in nude mice. 789 37

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) or Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is associated with Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma. In vivo, HHV-8 DNA and transcripts have been detected in B cells, endothelial cells, macrophages, and epithelial cells. HHV-8 infects a variety of cell lines of human and animal origin, leading to latent or abortive infection. This study shows that the broad cellular tropism of HHV-8 may be in part due to its interaction with the ubiquitous host cell surface molecule, heparan sulfate (HS). This conclusion is based on the following findings: (i) HHV-8 infection of human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by soluble heparin, a glycosaminoglycan closely related to HS. Chondroitin sulfates A and C did not inhibit HHV-8 infection. (ii) Enzymatic removal of HFF cell surface HS with heparinase I and III reduced HHV-8 infection. (iii) Soluble heparin inhibited the binding of radiolabeled HHV-8 to human B cell lines, embryonic kidney epithelial (293) cells, and HFF cells, suggesting interference at the virus attachment stage. (iv) Cell surface adsorbed HHV-8 was displaced by soluble heparin. (v) Radiolabeled HHV-8 also bound to wild-type HS expressing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells. In contrast, binding of virus to mutant CHO cells deficient in HS was significantly reduced. These data show that the gamma2 herpesvirus HHV-8, similar to some members of alpha, beta, and gamma2 herpesviruses, adsorbs to cells by binding to cell surface HS-like moieties. Heparin did not completely prevent the binding and infectivity of HHV-8, suggesting that HHV-8 interactions with HS could be the first set of ligand-receptor interaction leading to the binding with one or more host cell receptors essential for the subsequent viral entry process.
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PMID:Human herpesvirus 8 interaction with target cells involves heparan sulfate. 1128 7