Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0002736 (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
 19,048 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4) is a 38-kDa protein initially identified as the product of a gene upregulated in prostate tumor cells undergoing apoptosis. Par-4 contains both a death domain and a leucine zipper domain, and has been shown to interact with several proteins known to modulate apoptosis, including protein kinase Czeta, Bcl-2, and caspase-8. A rapid increase in Par-4 levels occurs in neurons undergoing apoptosis in a variety of paradigms, including trophic factor withdrawal, and exposure to oxidative and metabolic insults. Par-4, which can be induced at the translational level, acts at an early stage of the apoptotic cascade prior to caspase activation and mitochondrial dysfunction. The mechanism whereby Par-4 promotes apoptosis may involve inhibition of the antiapoptotic transcription factor NF-kappaB and suppression of Bcl-2 expression and/or function. Studies of postmortem tissues from patients and animal models of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and HIV encephalitis, have documented increased levels of Par-4 in vulnerable neurons. Manipulations that block Par-4 expression or function prevent neuronal cell death in models of each disorder, suggesting a critical role for Par-4 in the neurodegenerative process. Interestingly, Par-4 levels rapidly increase in synaptic terminals following various insults, and such local increases in Par-4 levels appear to play important roles in synaptic dysfunction and degeneration. A better understanding of the molecular and cellular biology of Par-4 will help clarify mechanisms of neuronal apoptosis, and may lead to the development of novel preventative and therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative disorders.
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PMID:Par-4: an emerging pivotal player in neuronal apoptosis and neurodegenerative disorders. 1069 Dec 89

Prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4), a protein containing a leucine zipper domain within a death domain, is up-regulated in prostate cancer cells and hippocampal neurons induced to undergo apoptosis. Here, we report higher Par-4 levels in lumbar spinal cord samples from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than in lumbar spinal cord samples from neurologically normal patients. We also compared the levels of Par-4 in lumbar spinal cord samples from wild-type and transgenic mice expressing the human Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase gene with a familial ALS mutation. Relative to control samples, higher Par-4 levels were observed in lumbar spinal cord samples prepared from the transgenic mice at a time when they had hind-limb paralysis. Immunohistochemical analyses of human and mouse lumbar spinal cord sections revealed that Par-4 is localized to motor neurons in the ventral horn region. In culture studies, exposure of primary mouse spinal cord motor neurons or NSC-19 motor neuron cells to oxidative insults resulted in a rapid and large increase in Par-4 levels that preceded apoptosis. Pretreatment of the motor neuron cells with a Par-4 antisense oligonucleotide prevented oxidative stress-induced apoptosis and reversed oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction that preceded apoptosis. Collectively, these data suggest a role for Par-4 in models of motor neuron injury relevant to ALS.
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PMID:The prostate apoptosis response-4 protein participates in motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 1078 45

Optineurin is a gene associated with normal tension glaucoma (NTG) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Foci formation and functional consequences including Golgi fragmentation, impairment of vesicle trafficking and apoptosis were observed previously upon overexpression and/or mutation of optineurin. In the current study, a total of 15 GFP tagged constructs that included NTG (E50K and 2 bp-AG insertion), ALS (exon 5 deletion, R96L, Q398X, and E478G) and non-disease (L157A and D474N) associated mutants and a series of deletion fragments were cloned into mammalian expression vectors and transfected into RGC5 and/or Neuro2A cells to evaluate whether their expression confer the optineurin phenotypes. The cells were monitored for foci formation and stained by immunofluorescence with anti-GM130 to analyze the Golgi integrity. Transferrin uptake experiments were performed to evaluate the protein trafficking process and apoptosis was assessed with the active caspase 3/7 detection kit. We demonstrated that cells expressing E50K and R96L optineurin exhibited all of the optineurin phenotypes. Q398X mutant did not induce foci formation, but triggered Golgi fragmentation, impairment of transferrin uptake and increase in apoptosis. The 2 bp-AG insertion mutant had a nuclear localization, compromised the transferrin uptake and strongly induced apoptosis. The foci formation, which might not predict the rest of the phenotypes, appeared to require both the leucine zipper and ubiquitin binding domains of the optineurin sequence. Interactions of optineurin with proteins including Rab8, myosin VI, huntingtin and transferrin receptor might directly determine whether the Golgi and protein trafficking phenotypes would be manifested. Examination of mutants and deletion fragments located at various sites of optineurin gene provide clues as to what regions of the gene may play a critical role in the development of pathologic consequences.
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PMID:Effects of mutations and deletions in the human optineurin gene. 2468 33

Hallmarks of chronic neurodegenerative disease include progressive synaptic loss and neuronal cell death, yet the cellular pathways that underlie these processes remain largely undefined. We provide evidence that dual leucine zipper kinase (DLK) is an essential regulator of the progressive neurodegeneration that occurs in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrate that DLK/c-Jun N-terminal kinase signaling was increased in mouse models and human patients with these disorders and that genetic deletion of DLK protected against axon degeneration, neuronal loss, and functional decline in vivo. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of DLK activity was sufficient to attenuate the neuronal stress response and to provide functional benefit even in the presence of ongoing disease. These findings demonstrate that pathological activation of DLK is a conserved mechanism that regulates neurodegeneration and suggest that DLK inhibition may be a potential approach to treat multiple neurodegenerative diseases.
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PMID:Loss of dual leucine zipper kinase signaling is protective in animal models of neurodegenerative disease. 2893 14

Dual leucine zipper kinase (DLK, MAP3K12) is an essential driver of the neuronal stress response that regulates neurodegeneration in models of acute neuronal injury and chronic neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS. In this review, we provide an overview of DLK signaling mechanisms and describe selected small molecules that have been utilized to inhibit DLK kinase activity in vivo. These compounds represent valuable tools for understanding the role of DLK signaling and evaluating the potential for DLK inhibition as a therapeutic strategy to prevent neuronal degeneration.
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PMID:Dual Leucine Zipper Kinase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Neurodegeneration. 2986 60