Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0017168 (gastroesophageal reflux disease)
 11,783 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Human esophageal epithelial cells play a key role in esophageal inflammation in response to acidic pH during gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), increasing secretion of IL-6 and IL-8. The mechanisms underlying IL-6 and IL-8 expression and secretion in esophageal epithelial cells after acid stimulation are not well characterized. We investigated the role of PKC, MAPK, and NF-kappaB signaling pathways and transcriptional regulation of IL-6 and IL-8 expression in HET-1A cells exposed to acid. Exposure of HET-1A cells to pH 4.5 induced NF-kappaB activity and enhanced IL-6 and IL-8 secretion and mRNA and protein expression. Acid stimulation of HET-1A cells also resulted in activation of MAPKs and PKC (alpha and epsilon). Curcumin, as well as inhibitors of NF-kappaB (SN-50), PKC (chelerythrine), and p44/42 MAPK (PD-098059) abolished the acid-induced expression of IL-6 and IL-8. The JNK inhibitor SP-600125 blocked expression/secretion of IL-6 but only partially attenuated IL-8 expression. The p38 MAPK inhibitor SB-203580 did not inhibit IL-6 expression but exerted a stronger inhibitory effect on IL-8 expression. Together, these data demonstrate that 1) acid is a potent inducer of IL-6 and IL-8 production in HET-1A cells; 2) MAPK and PKC signaling play a key regulatory role in acid-mediated IL-6 and IL-8 expression via NF-kappaB activation; and 3) the anti-inflammatory plant compound curcumin inhibits esophageal activation in response to acid. Thus IL-6 and IL-8 expression by acid may contribute to the pathobiology of mucosal injury in GERD, and inhibition of the NF-kappaB/proinflammatory cytokine pathways may emerge as important therapeutic targets for treatment of esophageal inflammation.
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PMID:Effect of curcumin on acidic pH-induced expression of IL-6 and IL-8 in human esophageal epithelial cells (HET-1A): role of PKC, MAPKs, and NF-kappaB. 1907 41

MUC1 is a membrane-bound mucin known to participate in tumor proliferation. It has been shown that MUC1 pattern of expression is modified during esophageal carcinogenesis, with a progressive increase from metaplasia to adenocarcinoma. The principal cause of development of esophageal adenocarcinoma is gastro-esophageal reflux and MUC1 was previously shown to be up-regulated by several bile acids present in reflux. In this report, our aim was thus to determine whether MUC1 plays a role in biological properties of human esophageal cancer cells. For that, a stable MUC1-deficient esophageal cancer cell line was established using a shRNA approach. In vitro (proliferation, migration and invasion) and in vivo (tumor growth following subcutaneous xenografts in SCID mice) biological properties of MUC1-deficient cells were analyzed. Our results show that esophageal cancer cells lacking MUC1 were less proliferative and had decreased migration and invasion properties. These alterations were accompanied by a decreased activity of NFKB p65, Akt and MAPK (p44/42, JNK and p38) pathways. MCM6 and TSG101 tumor-associated markers were also decreased. Subcutaneous xenografts showed a significant decrease in tumor size when cells did not express MUC1. Altogether, the data indicate that MUC1 plays a key role in proliferative, migrating and invasive properties of esophageal cancer cells as well as in tumor growth promotion. MUC1 mucin appears thus as a good therapeutic target to slow down esophageal tumor progression.
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PMID:The MUC1 mucin regulates the tumorigenic properties of human esophageal adenocarcinomatous cells. 2500 15