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Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A full-length cDNA for the rat liver enzyme tyrosine aminotransferase has been used to construct mammalian expression vectors by recombinant DNA techniques. These vectors, which have employed either a simian virus 40 or a Rous sarcoma virus promoter, were transfected into a variety of nonhepatic mammalian cell lines in culture. Transient expression of tyrosine aminotransferase was readily observed after transfection into monkey COS cells and mouse L cells. Stable clones that express cloned tyrosine aminotransferase have been isolated from mouse L cells, hamster Wg1a fibroblasts, and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. A vector capable of expressing both tyrosine aminotransferase and dihydrofolate reductase was stimulated to undergo amplification by treatment with methotrexate in a CHO cell line deficient in the latter enzyme. Levels of tyrosine aminotransferase as much as 50-fold higher than typically seen in glucocorticoid-induced hepatoma cells were achieved in some CHO clones by this technique. The tyrosine aminotransferase produced at these highly amplified levels appeared structurally normal and had no major harmful effects on the cells.
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PMID:Expression and amplification of cloned rat liver tyrosine aminotransferase in nonhepatic cells. 196 11

The mechanism of glucocorticoid resistance was studied in a rat hepatoma cell variant (6.10.2) which contains low levels of glucocorticoid receptor. These cells seem to have lost glucocorticoid-induced transcriptional responses as measured by the induction of expression of stably integrated mouse mammary tumor virus gene and the endogenous tyrosine aminotransferase gene, as well as the transcriptional suppression of glucocorticoid receptor gene expression. However, characterization of the glucocorticoid resistance in 6.10.2 cells revealed that the receptor is indistinguishable from the wild-type receptor with respect to hormone binding and affinity for both nonspecific and specific DNA sequences. The levels of the receptor mRNA and the total immunoreactive protein found in 6.10.2 cells were about 20% of those found in wild-type cells. Further analysis of 6.10.2 cells demonstrated that the receptor was indeed biologically functional. First, treatment of 6.10.2 cells with 8-bromo-cAMP elevated the endogenous glucocorticoid receptor levels 2-fold and restored responsiveness to glucocorticoids. Second, pretreatment of the cells with cycloheximide also led to acquisition of cellular responsiveness to glucocorticoids. We propose that there exists a "threshold" level of glucocorticoid receptor which is required for responsiveness and that under normal culture conditions, the level of glucocorticoid receptor in 6.10.2 cells is below this threshold. However, glucocorticoid responsiveness can be restored by raising the glucocorticoid receptor level above the threshold with 8-bromo-cAMP or, alternatively, by removing the threshold barrier with cycloheximide.
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PMID:A glucocorticoid-resistant rat hepatoma cell variant contains functional glucocorticoid receptor. 197 May 70

The specific functions expressed by differentiated cells are extinguished when these cells are crossed with somatic cells of another histotype or with cells of the same differentiation that fail to express these functions: in rat hepatoma x mouse fibroblast hybrids, tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) and phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) activities are extinguished as they are in hybrids between the same rat hepatoma cell line and mouse hepatoma cells that do not express these two enzymes. The locus Tse-1 (tissue-specific extinguisher) on mouse chromosome 11 is responsible for the extinction of TAT and PEPCK in rat hepatoma x mouse fibroblast hybrids and loss of mouse chromosome 11 leads to re-expression of these two enzymes. We report here an analysis of rat hepatoma x mouse hepatoma hybrids that demonstrates that loss of mouse chromosome 11 is not necessary for re-expression of TAT and PEPCK. In view of the facts that Tse-1 is active in mouse hepatoma cells that do not express TAT and PEPCK and that the presence of only one active Tse-1 locus is sufficient to extinguish these functions in 2s rat hepatoma cells, we conclude that re-expression of TAT and PEPCK in rat hepatoma x mouse hepatoma hybrids is due to the epistatic action of tissue-specific trans-acting activators that override the Tse-1 effect.
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PMID:Interaction of trans-acting factors and re-expression of liver functions in hepatoma hybrid cells. 197 16

The relationship between DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HSs) and transcriptional enhancers of the rat tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) gene was examined by comparing HSs in and around the TAT gene with the activity of the corresponding DNA sequences in transient transfection assays. In this manner, we identified two HSs as liver-specific enhancers. Of three hepatoma cell lines examined, only one sustained TAT mRNA levels comparable to those of liver. In this cell line, both enhancers were strongly active, and strong hypersensitivity in chromatin over the enhancers was evident. The other two hepatoma cell lines had reduced levels of TAT mRNA and no or altered hypersensitivity over either the enhancers or the promoter. One of these lines carried a negative regulator of the TAT gene, the tissue specific extinguisher Tse-1. This cell line exhibited all HSs characteristic of the strongly active gene except at the promoter; however, one enhancer was inactive even though hypersensitive in chromatin. In a TAT-nonexpressing cell line, inactivity of both enhancers correlated with absence of the respective HSs. We conclude that although hypersensitivity in chromatin necessarily accompanies cell-type-specific enhancer activity, the occurrence of cell-type-specific HSs does not imply that the underlying sequences harbor enhancers active in transient transfection assays.
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PMID:Chromatin structures of the rat tyrosine aminotransferase gene relate to the function of its cis-acting elements. 197 41

Phenobarbital is a potent inducer of several liver-specific genes such as those encoding detoxication enzymes, including cytochromes P450. However, the mechanisms of action of the barbiturate are poorly understood. Since both, phenobarbital and glucocorticoids, are capable of inducing the same cytochrome P450 species, we asked whether the glucocorticoid receptor could participate to the phenobarbital induced responses. The results presented here show that phenobarbital was able to induce a two-fold increase in the affinity of the glucocorticoid receptor for the binding of dexamethasone, as well as a 30% increase of the receptor number in Reuber rat hepatoma cells of the Fao line. These effects may have a biological significance since they were paralleled by an enhancement of the dexamethasone-induced tyrosine aminotransferase activity, a glucocorticoid inducible function in rat hepatoma cells and in rat liver. To our knowledge, phenobarbital is the first compound shown to be able to induce, in intact cells, an increase in the affinity of the glucocorticoid receptor for the binding of its ligand.
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PMID:Effect of phenobarbital on the glucocorticoid receptor in rat hepatoma cells. 197 78

Amongst the proteins that are subjected to variation during the cell division cycle few are under hormonal regulation. The variation in amount of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) in the hepatic tissue is under the control of glucagon, glucocorticoids and insulin. It has been reported that the inducibility of TAT activity by dexamethasone in rat hepatoma (HTC) is limited to the late G1 and the S portions of the cell cycle. Evidence is presented in this report that in the rat hepatoma Fao, insulin (which has the capability to promote both cell growth and hormonal effects via its own receptors) modulates the TAT activity during the cell cycle. The maximal insulin-stimulated induction of TAT activity was observed at the end of the G1 phase and then decreased as cells progressed through their mitotic cycle. The number of insulin binding sites per cell was decreased by only 30% during the same period of time. Furthermore, the extent of receptor autophosphorylation decreased in the same proportion, suggesting that insulin receptors remained functional through the whole cell cycle. In fact, another insulin-stimulated cellular function, neutral amino-acid transport, was not modified as cells progressed into the S phase. Hydroxyurea, which is known to prevent cell progression into the S phase, stabilized the insulin-induced TAT activity at its maximal level for several hours. Reciprocally, removal of hydroxyurea resulted in a concomitant decrease in TAT activity and reinitiation of DNA synthesis.
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PMID:Cell-cycle regulation of insulin-stimulated tyrosine aminotransferase activity in rat hepatoma cells. 198 May 97

The expression of the tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) mRNA after cycloheximide treatment was analysed by Northern blotting method in Morris rat hepatoma cell lines. The level of TAT mRNA increased after 6-8 h of cycloheximide treatment only in the McA-RH 7777 cell line. McA-RH 7777 nuclear run-off assay showed that TAT transcription was induced by cycloheximide treatment. Both glucocorticoid and cycloheximide modulated TAT gene transcription in a synergistic way. There was no induction of TAT expression following cycloheximide or cycloheximide glucocorticoid simultaneous treatment in another cell line (McA-RH 8994), while c-myc and c-fos expression was superinduced by cycloheximide treatment. The possible mechanism of transcription regulation and its damage in hepatoma cells is discussed.
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PMID:[Activation of transcription of the tyrosine aminotransferase gene in the rat McA-RN 7777 hepatoma cell line by cycloheximide]. 198 Dec 48

We provide evidence that both covalent and non-covalent inhibitors of chymotrypsin-like activities inhibit the insulin-induced DNA replication, while the hormonal metabolic effects such as induction of tyrosine aminotransferase activity or increase of amino-acid transport remain unchanged. Besides, the protease inhibitors that we tested were without any effect on both the autocatalytic phosphorylation of insulin receptors and the tyrosine kinase activity towards poly(glutamate/tyrosine). The inhibitory effect of protease inhibitors on DNA synthesis was also visible when fibroblast growth factor (FGF) was used to commit cells in the proliferative cycle. This observation proves that the involvement of a putative protease is not restricted to the insulin mitogenic pathway. Finally, we observed that Fao cells totally escaped the inhibitory action of a covalent inhibitor of chymotrypsin after having been exposed to insulin for 10 h. We propose that a chymotrypsin-like activity is involved in the intracellular signalling leading to the proliferation of rat hepatoma cells up to a non-return point situated in the middle of G1 (6-8 h).
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PMID:Inhibitors of chymotrypsin-like activities selectively block the mitotic pathway in rat hepatoma cells. 198 14

The present study was undertaken to investigate the mechanism by which dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) exerts its protective action on cytochrome P450-dependent activities and differentiation in cultured rat hepatocytes. Loss of cytochrome P450 is associated with a shortage of heme and reduced activity of delta-aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase: the addition of DMSO, which induces this enzyme in human hepatoma cells, is not able to affect it in hepatocytes in primary culture. DMSO is a strong scavenger of hydroxyl radicals and may destroy the reactive oxygen species formed under conventional culture conditions (i.e., 95% air and 5% CO2). In fact other powerful scavengers of oxygen radicals like dimethylthiourea, desferal, and catalase itself maintain higher levels of cytochrome P450 and higher activities of 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase during 3 days of culture. DMSO and the other scavengers are also able to retain features of the morphological and biochemical differentiation of hepatocytes such as the ability to induce tyrosine aminotransferase activity in response to glucocorticoids.
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PMID:Mechanism of maintenance of liver-specific functions by DMSO in cultured rat hepatocytes. 201 49

We report that the concentration of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) mRNA increased 5- to 10-fold when H4IIEC3 rat hepatoma cells were cultured at high compared to low density. The magnitude and direction of this response were mRNA specific, as the mRNAs encoding tyrosine aminotransferase and albumin increased approximately 20%, whereas the mRNAs encoding beta-actin and alpha-tubulin decreased 40% and 20%, respectively. Paracrine or autocrine mechanisms were not responsible for the density effect, since conditioned medium or frequent medium changes had only a modest effect on the abundance of PEPCK mRNA. Culture of H4IIEC3 cells at low density or on collagen promoted a flattened morphology and low PEPCK mRNA levels. At high density, cells assumed a cuboidal shape on both plastic and collagen and expressed high PEPCK mRNA levels. Induction of PEPCK mRNA by high density culture did not involve increased intracellular cAMP, since treatment with 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cAMP was synergistic with density. High cell density increased PEPCK run-on transcription approximately 3-fold, while PEPCK mRNA increased more than 6-fold. These observations suggest that high culture density increases PEPCK mRNA by increasing its transcription and possibly stabilizing PEPCK mRNA. The response could be coupled to the regulation of cell shape, as a close relationship between cell shape and gene expression has previously been shown to be important in the development and maintenance of tissues and organs. The PEPCK gene in H4IIEC3 cells could provide a useful model in which to study the poorly understood mechanisms involved in coordinating form and function.
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PMID:Culture at high density increases phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase messenger RNA in H4IIEC3 hepatoma cells. 207 26


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