Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011849 (diabetes)
 277,896 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are generated during long term diabetes and are correlated with the development of diabetic complications, such as retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by an increased retinal neovascularization due to the action of the angiogenic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In this report, we show that injection of insulin and glycated albumin (Alb-AGE) to mice increases VEGF mRNA expression in eyes. Insulin and Alb-AGE stimulate VEGF mRNA and protein expression in retinal epithelial cells (ARPE-19). Alb-AGE-induced VEGF expression is not modulated by the use of antioxidants, N-acetyl-l-cysteine or pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate, or by an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), wortmannin. However, using an inhibitor of ERK activation, U0126, we show that Alb-AGE stimulates VEGF expression through an ERK-dependent pathway. Accordingly, we found that Alb-AGE activated mitogen-activate protein kinase, ERK1/2, JNK1/2, but not p38, and that Alb-AGE did not activate PI3K and PKB. Moreover, Alb-AGE activated the transcription factor, hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) DNA binding activity. This activation is mediated by an increase in accumulation of the HIF-1alpha protein through an ERK-dependent pathway. Thus, stimulation of VEGF expression by Alb-AGE, through the activation of HIF-1, could play an important role in the development of diabetic retinopathy.
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PMID:Regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor expression by advanced glycation end products. 1157 Dec 95

The serine/threonine protein kinase PKB (also known as Akt) is thought to be a key mediator of signal transduction processes. The identification of PKB substrates and the role PKB phosphorylation plays in regulating these molecules have been a major focus of research in recent years. A recently developed motif-profile scoring algorithm that can be used to scan the genome for potential PKB substrates is therefore a useful tool, although additional considerations, such as the evolutionary conservation of the phosphorylation site, must also be taken into account. Recent evidence indicates that PKB plays a key role in cancer progression by stimulating cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis and is also probably a key mediator of insulin signalling. These findings indicate that PKB is likely to be a hot drug target for the treatment of cancer, diabetes and stroke. There are, however, a number of pitfalls of methodologies currently employed to study PKB function, and therefore caution should be used in interpretation of such experiments.
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PMID:PKB/Akt: a key mediator of cell proliferation, survival and insulin responses? 1168 94

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is activated by phosphorylation of serine 1177 by the protein kinase Akt/PKB. Since hyperglycemia-induced mitochondrial superoxide overproduction increases O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification and decreases O-linked phosphorylation of the transcription factor Sp1, the effect of hyperglycemia and the hexosamine pathway on eNOS was evaluated. In bovine aortic endothelial cells, hyperglycemia inhibited eNOS activity 67%, and treatment with glucosamine had a similar effect. Hyperglycemia-associated inhibition of eNOS was accompanied by a twofold increase in O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification of eNOS and a reciprocal decrease in O-linked serine phosphorylation at residue 1177. Both the inhibition of eNOS and the changes in its post-translational modifications were reversed by antisense inhibition of glutamine:fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase, the rate-limiting enzyme of the hexosamine pathway, or by blocking mitochondrial superoxide overproduction with uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1) or manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD). Immunoblot analysis of cells expressing myc-tagged wild-type human eNOS confirmed the reciprocal increase in O-linked N-acetylglucosamine and decrease in O-linked serine 1177 phosphorylation in response to hyperglycemia. In contrast, when myc-tagged human eNOS carried a mutation at the Akt phosphorylation site (Ser1177), O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification was unchanged by hyperglycemia and phospho-eNOS was undetectable. Similar changes in eNOS activity and covalent modification were found in aortae from diabetic animals. Chronic impairment of eNOS activity by this mechanism may partly explain the accelerated atherosclerosis of diabetes.
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PMID:Hyperglycemia inhibits endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity by posttranslational modification at the Akt site. 1171 33

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase-Akt/PKB pathway mediates the mitogenic effects various nutrients and growth factors in cultured cells. To study its effects in vivo in pancreatic islet beta cells, we created transgenic mice that expressed a constitutively active Akt1/PKB alpha linked to an Insulin gene promoter. Transgenic mice exhibited a grossly visible increase in islet mass, largely due to proliferation of insulin-containing beta cells. Morphometric analysis verified a six-fold increase in beta cell mass/pancreas, a two-fold increase in 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation, a four-fold increase in the number of beta cells per pancreas area, and a two-fold increase in cell size in transgenic compared with wild-type mice at 5 weeks. At least part of the increase in beta cell number may be accounted for by neogenesis, defined by criteria that include beta cells proliferating from ductular epithelium, and by a six-fold increase in the number of single and doublet beta cells scattered throughout the exocrine pancreas of the transgenic mice. Glucose tolerance was improved, and fasting as well as fed insulin was greater compared with wild-type mice. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was maintained in transgenic mice, which were resistant to streptozotocin-induced diabetes. We conclude that activation of the Akt1/PKB alpha pathway affects islet beta cell mass by alteration of size and number.
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PMID:Islet beta cell expression of constitutively active Akt1/PKB alpha induces striking hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and hyperinsulinemia. 1173 50

It has generally been observed that cells grow to a certain size before they divide. In the last few years, the PI3K signal transduction pathway has emerged as one of the main signaling routes utilized by cells to control their increase in size. Here we focus on two components of this pathway, PKB and S6K, and briefly review the experiments that initially uncovered their roles in cell size control. In addition, we discuss a number of recent observations suggesting that the generic models used to describe this pathway to date may have been oversimplified. Indeed, recent observations in Drosophila and mouse support a more complex interaction between these signaling components in development. Finally, we have utilized two contemporary studies involving PKB- and S6K-deficient mice as a paradigm to underscore the importance of cell size and to accurately delineate the connections between signaling pathways for human disease, such as diabetes mellitus.
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PMID:Regulation of cell size in growth, development and human disease: PI3K, PKB and S6K. 1178 51

Albert Renold strived to gain insight into the abnormalities of human diabetes by defining the pathophysiology of the disease peculiar to a given animal. He investigated the Israeli desert-derived spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus), which became obese on fat-rich seed diet. After a few months hyperplasia and hypertrophy of beta-cells occurred leading to a sudden rupture, insulin loss and ketosis. Spiny mice were low insulin responders, which is probably a characteristic of certain desert animals, protecting against insulin oversecretion when placed on an abundant diet. We have compared the response to overstimulation of several mutant diabetic species and nutritionally induced nonmutant animals when placed on affluent diet. Some endowed with resilient beta-cells sustain long-lasting oversecretion, compensating for the insulin resistance, without lapsing into overt diabetes. Some with labile beta cells exhibit apoptosis and lose their capacity of coping with insulin resistance after a relatively short period. The wide spectrum of response to insulin resistance among different diabetes prone species seems to represent the varying response of human beta cells among the populations. In search for the molecular background of insulin resistance resulting from overnutrition we have studied the Israeli desert gerbil Psammomys obesus (sand rat), which progresses through hyperinsulinemia, followed by hyperglycemia and irreversible beta cell loss. Insulin resistance was found to be the outcome of reduced activation of muscle insulin receptor tyrosine kinase by insulin, in association with diminished GLUT4 protein and DNA content and overexpression of PKC isoenzymes, notably of PKCepsilon. This overexpression and translocation to the membrane was discernible even prior to hyperinsulinemia and may reflect the propensity to diabetes in nondiabetic species and represent a marker for preventive action. By promoting the phosphorylation of serine/threonine residues on certain proteins of the insulin signaling pathway, PKCepsilon exerts a negative feedback on insulin action. PKCepsilon was also found to attenuate the activity of PKB and to promote the degradation of insulin receptor, as determined by co-incubation in HEK 293 cells. PKCepsilon overexpression was related to the rise in muscle diacylglycerol and lipid content, which are prevalent on lascivious nutrition especially if fat-rich. Thus, Psammomys illustrates the probable antecedents of the development of worldwide diabetes epidemic in human populations emerging from food scarcity to nutritional affluence, inappriopriate to their metabolic capacity.
Int J Exp Diabetes Res 2001
PMID:Albert Renold memorial lecture: molecular background of nutritionally induced insulin resistance leading to type 2 diabetes--from animal models to humans. 1179 38

Hyperinsulinemia has been shown to be associated with diabetic angiopathy. Migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are the processes required for the development of atherosclerosis. In this study, we attempted to determine whether insulin affects mitogenic signaling induced by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in a rat VSMC cell line (A10 cells). PDGF stimulated DNA synthesis which was totally dependent on Ras, because transfection of dominant negative Ras resulted in complete loss of PDGF-stimulated DNA synthesis. Initiation of DNA synthesis was preceded by activation of Raf-1, MEK and MAP kinases (Erk 1 and Erk2). Treatment of the cells with PD98059, an inhibitor of MAPK kinase (MEK) attenuated but did not abolish PDGF-stimulated DNA synthesis, suggesting that MAPK is required but not essential for DNA synthesis. PDGF also stimulated phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) and p70 S6Kinase (p70S6K) in a wortmannin-sensitive manner. Rapamycin, an inhibitor of p70S6K, markedly suppressed DNA synthesis. Low concentrations of insulin (1-10 nmol/l) alone showed little mitogenic activity and no significant effect on MAPK activity. However, the presence of insulin enhanced both DNA synthesis and MAPK activation by PDGF. The enhancing effect of insulin was not seen in cells treated with PD98059. Insulin was without effect on PDGF-stimulated activations of protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) and p70S6K. We conclude that insulin, at pathophysiologically relevant concentrations, potentiates the PDGF-stimulated DNA synthesis, at least in part, by potentiating activation of the MAPK cascade. These results are consistent with the notion that hyperinsulinemia is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis.
Int J Exp Diabetes Res
PMID:Potentiation of mitogenic activity of platelet-derived growth factor by physiological concentrations of insulin via the MAP kinase cascade in rat A10 vascular smooth muscle cells. 1199 Nov 99

Insulin stimulates tyrosine kinase activity of its receptor, resulting in phosphorylation of its cytosolic substrate, insulin receptor substrate-1, which, in turn, associates with proteins containing SH2 domains, including phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) and the phosphotyrosine phosphatase SHP2. The regulation of these associations in situations of altered insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) phosphorylation was not yet investigated. In the present study, we investigated insulin-induced IRS-1/SHP2 and IRS-1/PI 3-kinase associations and the regulation of a downstream serine-kinase AKT/PKB in liver and muscle of three animal models of insulin resistance: STZ diabetes, epinephrine-treated rats, and aging, which have alterations in IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation in common. The results demonstrated that insulin-induced IRS-1/PI 3-kinase association has a close correlation with IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation levels, but insulin-induced IRS-1/SHP2 association showed a modulation that did not parallel IRS-1 phosphorylation, with a tissue-specific regulation in aging. The integration of the behavior of IRS-1/PI 3-kinase and with IRS-1/SHP2 associations may be important for insulin signaling downstream as AKT phosphorylation. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that insulin-induced IRS-1/SHP2 association can be regulated in insulin-sensitive tissues of animal models of insulin resistance and may have a role in the control of AKT phosphorylation, which may be implicated in the control of glucose metabolism.
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PMID:Regulation of IRS-1/SHP2 interaction and AKT phosphorylation in animal models of insulin resistance. 1216 18

Protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) has been well established as an important signaling intermediate, and its deregulation has been implicated in the development of human cancer and diabetes (reviewed in). Full activation of PKB requires phosphorylation on residues Thr308 and Ser473. While the Thr308 kinase, named 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1), has been extensively characterized (reviewed in ), the identity of the Ser473 kinase remains unclear. We have focused our study on the plasma membrane (PM) fraction because membrane localization is sufficient to activate PKB, and this suggests that PKB upstream kinases are constitutively active at the membrane. Here, we report the identification of a constitutively active PKB Ser473 kinase activity enriched in buoyant, detergent-insoluble plasma membrane rafts that are distinct from the cytosolic distribution of PKB and PDK1. This Ser473 kinase activity was released from the membrane by high salt, and gel filtration analysis showed that the kinase responsible is present in a large complex of >500 kDa. Two major phosphoproteins and integrin-linked kinase (ILK) were detected in partially purified PKB Ser473 kinase preparations. In contrast to previous observations, however, ILK immunoprecipitates did not retain Ser473 kinase activity. Thus, we have identified a novel raft-associated PKB Ser473 kinase, implicating a role for lipid rafts in PKB signaling.
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PMID:Identification of a plasma membrane Raft-associated PKB Ser473 kinase activity that is distinct from ILK and PDK1. 1217 37

Summary. Insulin is known to inhibit glucose-6-phosphatase gene expression through PI 3-kinase/PKB mediated phosphorylation and inactivation of the forkhead transcription factor FKHR, which is a potent transactivator of the glucose-6-phosphatase gene. To study the function and regulation of the transcription factor FKHR in hepatic cells, we constructed a hydroxytamoxifen-inducible version of FKHR by fusing a part of the hormone binding domain of the estrogen receptor (ER) to the C-terminus of FKHR (FKHR-ER). In HepG2-cells transiently transfected with plasmids encoding the FKHR-ER fusion protein and a glucose-6-phosphatase reporter construct, hydroxytamoxifen induced a marked induction of glucose-6-phosphatase promoter activity, whereas no effect was observed in control cells. We next generated a H4IIEC3 rat hepatoma cell line stably expressing both FKHR-ER and a glucose-6-phosphatase promoter-based reporter construct. After 2h stimulation with hydroxytamoxifen, the promoter activity was stimulated 3-5 fold, and continued to increase up to 100-fold after 15 h. The response was half maximal at 0.5 microM hydroxytamoxifen. Insulin (1 nM) decreased the hydroxytamoxifen induced promoter activity by about 70% of the maximal response. This cell system can be used for (1) the identification of FKHR dependent genes and for (2) high throughput screening (HTS) of agents affecting the activity of FKHR and its regulation by insulin. Abbreviations used: FKHR, forkhead in rhabdomyosarcoma; G6Pase, glucose-6-phosphatase; PKB, protein kinase B; PI 3-kinase, phosphatidyl-inositol 3-kinase; IRU, insulin-responsive unit; Tx, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, ER, estrogen receptor; HBD, hormone binding domain
Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2002 Sep
PMID:Construction and characterization of a conditionally active construct of the insulin-regulated forkhead transcription factor FKHR. 1237 35


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