Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0002895 (sickle cell disease)
 11,747 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) has been shown to be an inhibitor of angiogenesis as well as a multipotent neurotrophic factor in the mammalian eye. Changes in PEDF levels have been correlated with development of retinal neovascularization in oxygen-induced retinopathy. The purpose of this study was to determine the localization and relative level of PEDF in human retinas and choroids using immunohistochemistry and evaluate the changes in PEDF and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) localization and their relation to the progression of proliferative sickle cell retinopathy. Cryopreserved tissues from eyes of normal subjects and subjects with non-proliferative or proliferative sickle cell retinopathy were used with streptavidin peroxidase immunohistochemistry. A rabbit polyclonal antibody was made against recombinant human PEDF. Binding of the antibody was blocked by preincubation of the antibody with excess human recombinant PEDF. Relative levels of immunoreactivity were scored with a seven-point grading system and by microdensitometric analysis.The most prominent sites of PEDF localization in the normal eye were the vitreous condensed at the internal limiting membrane and RPE-Bruch's membrane-choriocapillaris complex. PEDF was also prominent in choroidal stroma. There was limited immunoreactivity in some cells of the neural retinas, in blood vessels and in the interphotoreceptor matrix (IPM). There was no difference in ratio (1.47 vs. 1.44) of PEDF/VEGF or the relative levels of either growth factor in the retinal vasculatures of the control subjects and perfused area of non-proliferative sickle cell retinas. The ratio was increased in the non-perfused area of the non-proliferative sickle cell retinas (2.24). In eyes with proliferative sickle cell retinopathy, elevated PEDF and VEGF immunostaining was present in viable vessels of sea fan neovascular formations as well as feeder vessels of sea fans. The PEDF/VEGF ratio in sea fans was 1.0. Immunoreactivity for PEDF was prominent in retinal vessels in non-perfused regions and in atrophic sea fans, while VEGF immunoreactivity was weak or absent in these structures. In conclusion, PEDF and VEGF were both significantly elevated in viable sea fan formations in sickle cell disease (p<0.05) but only PEDF was present in non-viable sea fans. The highest levels of PEDF in all eyes were associated with extracellular matrices (vitreous, choroidal stroma, IPM, and walls of blood vessels). PEDF might play an important role in inhibiting angiogenesis and inducing the regression of sea fans. Progression of angiogenesis may be dependent on the ratio of PEDF/VEGF.
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PMID:Expression of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in sickle cell retina and choroid. 1295 43

Our previous works showed that oleic acid synthesized in vitro by astrocytes in response to albumin behaves as a neurotrophic factor in neurons, up-regulating several proteins, such as the axonal growth marker growth-associated protein 43(GAP-43). Although the molecular mechanism of this process is fairly known, there is no evidence pinpointing the region/s in which oleic acid is synthesized. In this study, we show that the rate-limiting enzyme in oleic acid synthesis, stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD-1), is located in the periventricular zone of the brain of newborn rats, simultaneously to an increase in the amount of free oleic acid in the forebrain. In addition, the spatio-temporal presence of albumin - the signal that promotes oleic acid synthesis - and that of GAP-43 are correlated with that of SCD-1. Using organotypic slice cultures, we found that albumin up-regulates SCD-1 and stimulates the growth of GAP-43-positive axons in the striatum. The effect of albumin on GAP-43 was reduced when SCD-1 was silenced by siRNA. In conclusion, our results suggest that albumin up-regulates axonogenesis in the striatum by increasing the amount of the neurotrophic factor oleic acid synthesized by SCD-1 in the periventricular zone of the newborn brain.
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PMID:Oleic acid synthesized in the periventricular zone promotes axonogenesis in the striatum during brain development. 2062 66