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)

Calpain, a calcium-dependent, neutral cysteine-protease was purified from the erythrocyte cytosol of subjects having essential hypertension (HTN), sickle cell anaemia, (SCA), or kwashiorkor (KWA). Identical electrophoretic mobility on SDS-polyacrylamide gradient gel, sensitivity to micromolar amounts of Ca2+, absolute requirement for a reducing environment and a high susceptibility to inhibition by leupeptin and thiol-group modifying reagents confirm that calpain preparations from these erythrocytes are equivalent to calpain I. Whereas the extent of calpain activation of erythrocyte membrane Ca2(+)-pumping ATPase of normal subjects was almost equal to that due to calmodulin, calpain activation of the HTN and SCA pump was greater than activation by calmodulin. Like in normal membranes, exogenous calmodulin protected the Ca2(+)-pumping ATPase of these erythrocytes against calpainization; the degree of protection by calmodulin is least in SCA and HTN. Electrophoretic separation of erythrocyte membranes and the purified Ca2(+)-pumping ATPase of HTN, SCA and KWA subjects does not indicate the presence of fragments resulting from the proteolytic action of calpain.
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PMID:Comparative action of calpain on erythrocyte Ca2(+)-pumping ATPase in sickle cell anaemia, essential hypertension and kwashiorkor. 214 87

Sodium dimercaptopropanesulphonate (DMPS) and sodium dimercaptosuccinate (DMS) were discovered to be effective antidotes for acute poisoning of insecticides SCD [sodium ammonium dimethyl-2-(propane-1,3-dithiosulfate) monohydrate], nereistoxin (4-N,N-dimethylamino-1,2-dithiolane) and cartap (dihydronereistoxin dicarbamate). In mice, DMPS (250 mg/kg) or DMS (1000 mg/kg) ip 20 min before SCD increased LD50 of ig SCD from 97 to 374 or 251 mg/kg, respectively. The prophylactic effect of DMPS was better than that of DMS. Administration of DMPS prior to cartap increased LD50 of ig cartap from 130 to 375 mg/kg. The therapeutic effect of DMPS was also demonstrated in SCD-poisoned conscious rabbits. DMPS 62.5 mg/kg or DMS 500 mg/kg iv completely antagonized the neuromuscular blockade and respiratory depression caused by SCD, nereistoxin and cartap in anesthetized rabbits. The antagonism of SCD-induced neuromuscular blockade by cysteine (400 mg/kg, iv) was less effective and of shorter duration than that by DMPS and DMS. Dimercaprol 50 mg/kg im showed little effect on SCD-induced paralysis. The antagonistic actions of sulfhydryl compounds on neuromuscular blockade induced by these insecticides probably belong to chemical antagonism.
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PMID:[Antidotal effects of sulfhydryl compounds on acute poisonings by sodium ammonium dimethyl-2-(propane-1,3-dithiosulfate) monohydrate, nereistoxin and cartap]. 217 10

The authors examined the ability of antioxidants to prevent in vitro oxidant damage to the sickle red blood cell (RBC). One millimolar ascorbic acid and alpha-mercaptopropionylglycine significantly (p less than 0.005) protected against RBC Heinz body formation during incubation with acetylphenylhydrazine, while cysteine, cysteamine, and methionine did not. The effect of ascorbic acid was concentration dependent with concentrations as low as 0.1 mM having significant antioxidant effects. Ascorbic acid protected the RBC against hydrogen peroxide induced hemolysis as well (p less than 0.05). Ascorbic acid had a significant stimulatory effect on the rate of glucose oxidation by the pentose phosphate shunt (PPS), especially in the sickle RBC. Ascorbic acid did not protect the RBC from a patient with chronic hemolytic anemia due to G6PDTorrance from Heinz body formation, suggesting that an intact PPS is necessary for ascorbic acid to express its antioxidant properties. These data suggest that clinical trials should be undertaken to examine the efficacy of ascorbic acid in the treatment of SCD.
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PMID:Antioxidants in sickle cell disease: the in vitro effects of ascorbic acid. 352 Dec 79

Nitric oxide (NO) inhalation has been reported to increase the oxygen affinity of sickle cell erythrocytes. Also, proposed allosteric mechanisms for hemoglobin, based on S-nitrosation of beta-chain cysteine 93, raise the possibility of altering the pathophysiology of sickle cell disease by inhibiting polymerization or by increasing NO delivery to the tissue. We studied the effects of a 2-hour treatment, using varying concentrations of inhaled NO. Oxygen affinity, as measured by P(50), did not respond to inhaled NO, either in controls or in individuals with sickle cell disease. At baseline, the arterial and venous levels of nitrosylated hemoglobin were not significantly different, but NO inhalation led to a dose-dependent increase in mean nitrosylated hemoglobin, and at the highest dosage, a significant arterial-venous difference emerged. The levels of nitrosylated hemoglobin are too low to affect overall hemoglobin oxygen affinity, but augmented NO transport to the microvasculature seems a promising strategy for improving microvascular perfusion.
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PMID:Inhaled nitric oxide augments nitric oxide transport on sickle cell hemoglobin without affecting oxygen affinity. 1051 Mar 23

A mechanism has been proposed in which nitric oxide (NO) may bind to cysteine beta93 and be transported by haemoglobin from the lungs to the tissues and modify vascular tone. In addition, it has been reported that treatment of sickle cell anaemia blood with 80 p.p.m. NO gas in air shifts the oxygen affinity, as measured by P50 to the left. We exposed normal and sickle cell anaemia blood to 80 p.p.m. NO in air for 1 h in vitro and found no change in P50 of either normal or sickle cell blood. In addition, we exposed normal and sickle cell blood in buffer to aqueous NO (NO gas dissolved in buffer) at varying concentrations and found that the induced left shift in P50 correlates strongly and linearly with methaemoglobin formation. We also treated normal and sickle cell blood with other nitric oxide donors, such as sodium 2-(N, N-diethylamino)-diazenolate-2-oxide (DEANO), S-nitrosocysteine (CysNO) and sodium trioxodinitrate (OXINO, or Angeli's salt). In all cases, we found a dose-dependent increase in methaemoglobin that was strongly correlated with the dose-dependent P50 reduction. Our data do not support the report that low NO concentrations can selectively increase the oxygen affinity of sickle cell blood without affecting methaemoglobin levels significantly. NO, however, may have benefit in sickle cell disease by other mechanisms.
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PMID:Effect of nitric oxide and nitric oxide donors on red blood cell oxygen transport. 1097

Oxidant stress, in vivo or in vitro, is known to induce oxidative changes in human red blood cells (RBCs). Our objective was to examine the effect of augmenting RBC glutathione (GSH) synthesis on 1) degenerative protein loss and 2) RBC chemokine- and free radical-scavenging functions in the oxidatively stressed human RBCs by using banked RBCs as a model. Packed RBCs were stored up to 84 days at 1-6 degrees C in Adsol or in the experimental additive solution (Adsol fortified with glutamine, glycine, and N-acetyl-L-cysteine). Supplementing the conventional additive with GSH precursor amino acids improved RBC GSH synthesis and maintenance. The rise in RBC gamma-glutamylcysteine ligase activity was directly proportional to the GSH content and inversely proportional to extracellular homocysteine concentration, methemoglobin formation, and losses of the RBC proteins band 3, band 4.1, band 4.2, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and Duffy antigen (P < 0.01). Reduced loss of Duffy antigen correlated well with a decrease in chemokine RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed, and secreted) concentration. We conclude that the concomitant loss of GSH and proteins in oxidatively stressed RBCs can compromise RBC scavenging function. Upregulating GSH synthesis can protect RBC scavenging (free radical and chemokine) function. These results have implications not only in a transfusion setting but also in conditions like diabetes and sickle cell anemia, in which RBCs are subjected to chronic/acute oxidant stresses.
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PMID:Glutathione protects chemokine-scavenging and antioxidative defense functions in human RBCs. 1124 4

We have recently reported that nitric oxide inhalation in individuals with sickle cell anemia increases the level of NO bound to hemoglobin, with the development of an arterial-venous gradient, suggesting delivery to the tissues. A recent model suggests that nitric oxide, in addition to its well-known reaction with heme groups, reacts with the beta-globin chain cysteine 93 to form S-nitrosohemoglobin (SNO-Hb) and that SNO-Hb would preferentially release nitric oxide in the tissues and thus modulate blood flow. However, we have also recently determined that the primary NO hemoglobin adduct formed during NO breathing in normal (hemoglobin A) individuals is nitrosyl (heme)hemoglobin (HbFeIINO), with only a small amount of SNO-Hb formation. To determine whether the NO is transported as HbFeIINO or SNO-Hb in sickle cell individuals, which would have very different effects on sickle hemoglobin polymerization, we measured these two hemoglobin species in three sickle cell volunteers before and during a dose escalation of inhaled NO (40, 60, and 80 ppm). Similar to our previous observations in normal individuals, the predominant species formed was HbFeIINO, with a significant arterial-venous gradient. Minimal SNO-Hb was formed during NO breathing, a finding inconsistent with significant transport of NO using this pathway, but suggesting that this pathway exists. These results suggest that NO binding to heme groups is physiologically a rapidly reversible process, supporting a revised model of hemoglobin delivery of NO in the peripheral circulation and consistent with the possibility that NO delivery by hemoglobin may be therapeutically useful in sickle cell disease.
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PMID:Nitric oxide transport on sickle cell hemoglobin: where does it bind? 1169 98

We have previously demonstrated that an oxidative change, the formation of a disulfide bridge between two cysteine residues, in the membrane protein beta-actin is primarily responsible for locking the irreversibly sickled red blood cells (ISCs) of sickle cell anemic patients into the sickle shape. To support studies on biological and chemical characterization of the oxidized beta-actin and pharmacological research toward the reversal of the oxidation, we attempted to prepare oxidized beta-actin from normal red blood cell (RBC) beta-actin by a chemical reaction, expecting a product equivalent to that found in ISCs. 5,5'-Dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB, or Ellman's reagent) was used for the oxidation. We proved the absence of accessible sulfhydryl groups in the oxidized product using liquid chromatography (LC) with both UV and fluorescence detection. Polymerization assays indicated that the chemically produced ISC actin demonstrated the same kinetics as ISC actin obtained from patients with sickle cell disease. The effect of the oxidation could be reversed by the use of the reducing agent tris(carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP).
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PMID:Preparation of irreversibly sickled cell beta-actin from normal red blood cell beta-actin. 1177 28

Malignant melanoma is a skin tumour, which carries a very unfavourable prognosis. The early detection of a melanoma and even more its metastasis is of decisive importance for the survival prognosis of the patients. So there is always a desire for simple, economical and meaningful serological markers. From the cysteine- and indole-related derivatives, 5-S-cysteinyldopa (5-SCD) and 6-hydroxy-5-methoxy-indole-2-carboxylic acid (6H5MI2C) are the most important substances for this purpose. For 5-SCD, the sample pretreatment was carried out either by a manual extraction onto alumina, by an automated method onto boronic acid affinity gels or by an automated solid-phase extraction. For 6H5MI2C, liquid-liquid extractions or direct injection techniques were applied. The chromatographic analyses in the early years were mostly performed with GC-MS. Today HPLC is the nearly exclusively used separation technique. For HPLC, standard RP18 separating columns and usual compositions of eluents were applied. As detectors both the ECD and the FD showed a sufficient sensitivity and selectivity. 5-SCD and 6H5MI2C are very sensitive to light and oxidation. These properties must be taken into account in the complete analysis procedure, including the sample collection, otherwise false low values will result especially for plasma samples. For a critical discussion of the analytical methods and still more for the interpretation of the obtained results, the detailed analytical procedures must be considered. 5-SCD in plasma is one of the best markers of malignant melanoma. It shows an excellent specificity and also an adequate sensitivity in the metastatic melanoma stages. For the detection of primary melanomas and for urine instead of plasma samples, the sensitivity of 5-SCD is generally lower. Altogether, the sensitivity of this parameter is not yet sufficient. 6H5MI2C and other indole derivatives have been investigated far less than 5-SCD. 6H5MI2C correlates less clearly with the different stages of the melanoma and is therefore a less suitable marker. To improve the sensitivity of the findings, in future the investigations should be performed as multi-marker analysis with the simultaneous measurements of more than one marker substance in a given patient sample. Not only one measurement should be carried out per patient, it would be more meaningful to observe the patients with laboratory diagnostics in the follow-up.
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PMID:Cysteine and indole derivatives as markers for malignant melanoma. 1181 40

The tripeptide glutathione is an important biomolecule that acts as a scavenger of free radicals and plays a role in a number of other cellular processes. A number of diseases, including Parkinson's disease, cancer, sickle cell anemia, and HIV infection, are thought to involve oxidative stress and depletion of glutathione. The heterodimeric enzyme glutamate cysteine ligase catalyzes the first, rate-limiting step in the de novo synthesis of glutathione. Functional polymorphisms within the gene encoding the subunits of glutamate cysteine ligase have the potential to affect the body's capacity to synthesize glutathione and thus, may affect those diseases in which oxidative stress and glutathione have roles. We undertook systematic screening for polymorphisms within the exons and intronic flanking sequences of the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of glutamate cysteine ligase (GCLC). We identified 11 polymorphisms in GCLC and established allele frequencies for those polymorphisms in a population fitting the demographics of the middle Tennessee area. The nonsynonymous polymorphism C1384T was found only in individuals of African descent. In addition, allele frequencies for three other polymorphisms differ between Caucasians and African-Americans. Understanding these polymorphisms may lead to better understanding of diseases where glutathione is important so that better treatments may be developed.
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PMID:Ethnic diversity in a critical gene responsible for glutathione synthesis. 1249 81


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