Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

HA1077 is a newly synthesized vasodilator with unique intracellular calcium antagonistic action. In this study, its effect on the growth of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) stimulated by fetal calf serum was examined. Both the proliferation and [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA of the growth-arrested VSMC was dose-dependently inhibited by HA1077. The expression of a proto-oncogene, c-fos, which reached the maximum 30 min after addition of serum, was similarly inhibited by this agent in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, HA1077 is expected to be a useful vasodilator agent capable of suppressing the growth of VSMC which is thought to be an important underlying mechanism of atherosclerosis or restenosis after angioplasty.
 ...
PMID:HA-1077 suppress both proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and c-fos mRNA induction. 147 48

Vascular smooth muscle cells proliferate and transform to foam cells in the process of atherosclerosis. In the present study, we demonstrated that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB induced expression of proto-oncogene c-fms in vascular smooth muscle cells, which normally do not express c-fms, isolated from either human umbilical artery or rabbit aorta. No effect of the protein kinase C activator, phorbol ester, was demonstrated on mRNA expression of c-fms. In contrast, the scavenger receptor activity was induced by both PDGF-BB and phorbol ester. These results indicate that two characteristic genes of monocyte-macrophages were induced by PDGF-BB via the different pathways, and suggest that PDGF-BB plays an important role in initiating phenotypic conversion of smooth muscle cells to macrophage-like cells.
 ...
PMID:Platelet-derived growth factor induces c-fms and scavenger receptor genes in vascular smooth muscle cells. 153 29

hPDGF is the major growth factor of human blood serum. In vivo, it is apparently synthesized by megakaryocytes and is transported in blood stored in the alpha granules of platelets. hPDGF is a heterodimer of two homologous polypeptide chains (PDGF-1(A) and PDGF-2(B] linked together by disulphide bonds. The PDGF-1(A) chain is encoded by a gene localized in chromosome 7 and the PDGF-2(B) chain is encoded by the c-sis proto-oncogene localized in chromosome 22. The hPDGF heterodimer and its two isoforms, the PDGF-1(A) and PDGF-2(B) homodimers, are potent mitogens and chemoattractants for target cells such as diploid fibroblasts, osteoblasts, arterial smooth muscle cells and brain glial cells. The PDGF-1(A) homodimer binds only to its specific receptor alpha, and the hPDGF heterodimer and PDGF-2(B) homodimer bind to both receptors a and b. In addition to their mitogenic action, PDGF stimulates important cellular metabolic activities, including protein, lipid and prostaglandin synthesis. It appears to be an important factor in early development and in vivo appears to modulate tissue regeneration and remodelling during wound healing and osteogenesis. The inappropriate expression of PDGF genes and their mitogenic products has been linked to several proliferative disorders such as fibrosis, atherosclerosis and neoplasia.
 ...
PMID:PDGF: a multifunctional growth factor. 166 77

The Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbit is a widely studied animal model for the human genetic disorder familial hypercholesterolemia, and spontaneously develops atherosclerotic disease. We studied the growth characteristics of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from WHHL rabbits compared with VSMC from Japanese white rabbits. We measured cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, and c-myc proto-oncogene expression, in response to growth stimuli such as fetal bovine serum (FBS) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). VSMC from Japanese white rabbits exhibited a 4-fold increase in cell numbers during a 5-day incubation period compared with those from WHHL rabbits. FBS and PDGF stimulated DNA synthesis, as measured by thymidine incorporation into VSMC, in both Japanese white rabbits and WHHL rabbits, however the response was significantly higher in the former strain. The intracellular pH value of VSMC determined using the pH-sensitive fluorescence dye 2',7'-bis-carboxyethyl-carboxyfluorescein was significantly higher in WHHL rabbits than in Japanese white rabbits. Proto-oncogene c-myc was induced by exposure of VSMC to FBS, however there was no significant difference in c-myc mRNA levels between the two strains. These results suggest that VSMC from WHHL rabbits are not genetically growth accelerated, but show decreased growth response to growth stimuli.
Atherosclerosis 1991 Oct
PMID:Vascular smooth muscle cells from genetically hyperlipidemic rabbit (WHHL rabbit) exhibit decreased growth response. 175 82

We studied the expression of c-myc proto-oncogene in hearts and cultured aortic smooth muscle cells of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), in order to investigate the association of the c-myc gene with cardiac hypertrophy and atherosclerosis in SHR. Transcription of the c-myc gene in hearts of SHR was higher than that of WKY at 10 weeks of age, when cardiac hypertrophy had developed in SHR. The c-myc gene expression in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells of SHR, after the addition of serum to the serum-deprived cultures, was higher than that of WKY. These results suggest that the enhanced expression of the c-myc gene in the hearts and cultured aortic smooth muscle cells of SHR may be associated with the growth control of these cells, and may play a role in the development of cardiac hypertrophy and atherosclerotic lesions in SHR.
 ...
PMID:Expression of c-myc proto-oncogene in hearts and cultured smooth muscle cells of spontaneously hypertensive rats. 297 56

Proliferation of vascular smooth-muscle cells occurs during the development of atherosclerosis and the remodeling of arteries that accompanies chronic systemic or pulmonary hypertension. To help define the signals that initiate this abnormal growth, we cultured smooth-muscle cells from human atherosclerotic plaques. These cells (n = 9) released material into their culture medium that stimulated the proliferation of aortic smooth-muscle cells to a mean (+/- SD) level 5.1 +/- 1 times that in control medium. Part of this activity was due to molecules that resemble a mitogen first isolated from platelets and known as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), since these cells released PDGF measured in a radioreceptor assay (355 +/- 117 pg per milliliter per 48 hours; n = 6) and since anti-PDGF antibody neutralized 38 +/- 7 percent of this mitogenic activity (range, 13 to 60 percent; n = 6 carotid-plaque isolates). Two human genes encode distinct PDGF subunits that form dimers in different combinations to create biologically active PDGF. Cells cultured from human atheroma contained mRNAs for the PDGF A chain (16 of 17 isolates) but none (of 13) that encoded PDGF B chain (the c-sis proto-oncogene product). We conclude that smooth-muscle cells from diseased human arteries can secrete mitogenic activity, some of which resembles PDGF, and that these cells express the gene for the PDGF A chain selectively. This capacity to produce an endogenous, potentially self-stimulatory (autocrine) growth factor may help to explain how replication of smooth-muscle cells can begin, even while the endothelial barrier remains morphologically intact, early in atherogenesis.
 ...
PMID:Production of platelet-derived growth factor-like mitogen by smooth-muscle cells from human atheroma. 336 60

Current ideas about the mechanism of wound healing and the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis and hepatic fibrosis suggest a central role for the mononuclear phagocyte in attracting and/or stimulating the proliferation of mesenchymal cells. We demonstrate here that activated human blood monocytes, but not resting monocytes, release a mediator that attracts smooth muscle cells and cooperates with other mediators to stimulate fibroblast proliferation. This mediator is very similar to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF): its chromatographic properties and chemical stability are similar to those of PDGF, it competes with 125I-PDGF for binding to fibroblasts and it immunoprecipitates with anti-PDGF antibodies. In parallel, stimulated monocytes, but not resting monocytes, express the c-sis proto-oncogene, a gene coding for one of the PDGF chains, consistent with the concept that expression of the c-sis proto-oncogene may be involved in the ability of mononuclear phagocytes to modulate the accumulation of mesenchymal cells.
 ...
PMID:Activated human monocytes express the c-sis proto-oncogene and release a mediator showing PDGF-like activity. 394 44

Vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cell proliferation contributes to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, restenosis after angioplasty and vein graft disease. The regulation of genes involved in VSM cell proliferation, particularly by naturally occurring inhibitors, is therefore of some importance. We have investigated the role of the c-myc proto-oncogene in growth arrest of exponentially proliferating rat VSM cells, following mitogen withdrawal, treatment with heparin (50 micrograms/ml), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) (100 i.u./ml), or the cyclic nucleotide analogues, 8-bromo-adenosine-3'5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-Br-cAMP; 0.1 mM) and 8-bromoguanosine-3'5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-Br-cGMP; 0.1 mM). Growth arrest was accompanied by down-regulation of c-Myc protein and mRNA following treatment with all inhibitors. Serum withdrawal or IFN-gamma treatment suppressed c-myc expression by more than 50% within 2 h, and this occurred throughout the cell cycle. Platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor all contributed independently to the maintenance of c-myc expression. Heparin, 8-Br-cAMP or 8-Br-cGMP also suppressed c-myc, but this occurred later, after 24-48 h, and was also observed following arrest by metabolic block. We conclude that c-myc expression is linked to VSM cell growth arrest in response to endogenous regulators and metabolic block. Down-regulation of c-myc expression may thus be an essential part of the arrest programme in VSM cells induced by many pharmacological agents.
 ...
PMID:Down-regulation of the c-myc proto-oncogene in inhibition of vascular smooth-muscle cell proliferation: a signal for growth arrest? 752 76

Increased generation of active oxygen species such as H2O2 and O2- may be important in vascular smooth muscle cell growth associated with atherosclerosis and restenosis. In previous work, we showed that H2O2 stimulated vascular smooth muscle cell growth and proto-oncogene expression. In the present study, we compared the effects of H2O2 and O2- on cultured rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cell growth and signal transduction. O2- was generated in a concentration-dependent manner by the naphthoquinolinedione LY83583. Vascular smooth muscle cell growth, as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation, was stimulated by 200 mumol/L H2O2 (110% increase versus 0.1% serum) and 1 mumol/L LY83583 (175% increase) to levels comparable to 10 ng/mL platelet-derived growth factor (210% increase). Since activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) is one of the earliest growth factor signal events, the activity of MAP kinase was measured by changes in mobility on Western blot and by phosphorylation of myelin basic protein. There was a concentration-dependent increase in MAP kinase activity by LY83583 (maximum, 10 mumol/L) but not by H2O2. The time course for activation of MAP kinase by LY83583 showed a maximum at 5 to 10 minutes with return to baseline by 20 minutes. Activation of MAP kinase by LY83583 was protein kinase C dependent. Expression of MAP kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1), a transcriptionally regulated redox-sensitive protein tyrosine/threonine phosphatase, was also measured. Although H2O2 induced MKP-1 mRNA to a greater extent than did LY83583, the increased MKP-1 expression could not explain the inability of H2O2 to stimulate MAP kinase, because mRNA levels were not detected until 60 minutes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Differential activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases by H2O2 and O2- in vascular smooth muscle cells. 754 May 16

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA expression was analysed in rabbit vascular smooth muscle cells following exposure to hypoxia and platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB). Hypoxia potently upregulated VEGF mRNA steady-state levels in a time- and concentration-dependent manner reaching a maximum level (approximately 30-fold increase) after 12-24 h at 0% 0(2). In contrast, PDGF-BB caused a modest increase in VEGF expression. However, the combination of PDGF-BB and a threshold hypoxic stimulus (2.5% O2 for 4 h) had a marked synergistic effect. Synergy between hypoxia and PDGF-BB was selective for VEGF expression as hypoxia had no effect on the PDGF-induced upregulation of the proto-oncogene c-myc. These results raise the possibility that hypoxia and PDGF-BB may act in concert to induce VEGF expression in the arterial wall during the development of atherosclerosis.
 ...
PMID:Hypoxia and platelet-derived growth factor-BB synergistically upregulate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in vascular smooth muscle cells. 784 20


1 2 3 4 Next >>