Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019693 (HIV)
 170,526 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Patients with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) develop in the late phase of infection a complex of neurological signs termed Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-Related Dementia (ADC). These patients exhibit cortical and subcortical atrophy. Considerable experimental data indicate that the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 may be one of the agents causing neuronal cell death. Gp120 causes neuronal cell death both in vitro and in vivo by activating a caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway, and in particular caspase-3. The neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been shown to prevent gp120-mediated apoptosis of cerebellar granule cells by inhibiting caspase-3 activation. However, the signal transduction pathway that contributes to the neuroprotective effects of BDNF has not been determined. BDNF binds with high affinity to the tyrosine kinase receptor TrkB and activates different intracellular signaling cascade including the extracellular signal-related kinases (ERK) and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K). Pharmacological inhibition of TrkB or ERK1/2, but not PI3-K, greatly reduced the ability of BDNF to block gp120-mediated apoptosis of cerebellar granule cells. These findings suggest that TrkB-mediated activation of ERK1/2 is the main signaling pathway that contributes to neuroprotection against gp120.
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PMID:Brain-derived neurotrophic factor activation of TrkB protects neurons from HIV-1/gp120-induced cell death. 1558 99

In tumor cells with mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (SQ20B), H-Ras (T24), or K-Ras (MIAPACA2 and A549), the inhibition of Akt phosphorylation increases radiation sensitivity in clonogenic assays, suggesting that Akt is a potential molecular target when combined with therapeutic radiation. Insulin resistance and diabetes are recognized side effects of HIV protease inhibitors (HPIs), suggesting that these agents may inhibit Akt signaling. Because activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt signaling pathway is common in human cancers, we hypothesized that HPIs can inhibit Akt activity resulting in increased tumor cell sensitivity to ionizing radiation-induced cell death. Five first-generation HPIs were subsequently tested and three of the five (amprenavir, nelfinavir, and saquinavir but not ritonavir or indinavir) inhibited Akt phosphorylation at Ser473 at serum concentrations routinely achieved in HIV patients. In both tumor cell colony formation assays and tumor regrowth delay experiments, combinations of drug and radiation exerted synergistic effects compared with either modality alone. In addition, in vivo, doses of amprenavir or nelfinavir comparable with the therapeutic levels achieved in HIV patients were sufficient to down-regulate phosphorylation of Akt in SQ20B and T24 xenografts. Finally, overexpression of active PI3K in cells without activation of Akt resulted in radiation resistance that could be inhibited with HPIs. Because there is abundant safety data on HPIs accumulated in thousands of HIV patients over the last 5 years, these agents are excellent candidates to be tested as radiation sensitizers in clinical trials.
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PMID:HIV protease inhibitors block Akt signaling and radiosensitize tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. 1616 2

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway can increase vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) expression. We examined the effect of nelfinavir, an HIV protease inhibitor that inhibits Akt signaling, on VEGF and HIF-1alpha expression and on angiogenesis, tumor oxygenation, and radiosensitization. Nelfinavir decreases VEGF expression under normoxia via the transcription factor Sp1, which regulates the proximal core VEGF promoter. Nelfinavir decreased Sp1 phosphorylation and decreased Sp1 binding to a probe corresponding to the proximal VEGF promoter in a gel shift assay. Nelfinavir also decreased the hypoxic induction of HIF-1alpha, which also regulates the VEGF promoter, most likely by decreasing its translation. The effect of nelfinavir on VEGF expression had the functional consequence of decreasing angiogenesis in an in vivo Matrigel plug assay. To determine the effect this might have on tumor radiosensitization, we did tumor regrowth assays with xenografts in nude mice. The combination of nelfinavir and radiation increased time to regrowth compared with radiation alone whereas nelfinavir alone had little effect on tumor regrowth. This radiosensitizing effect was greater than suggested by in vitro clonogenic survival assays. One possible explanation for the discordance is that nelfinavir has an effect on tumor oxygenation. Therefore, we examined this with the hypoxia marker EF5 and found that nelfinavir leads to increased oxygenation within tumor xenografts. Our results suggest that nelfinavir decreases HIF-1alpha/VEGF expression and tumor hypoxia, which could play a role in its in vivo radiosensitizing effect. These data support the use of nelfinavir in combination with radiation in future clinical trials.
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PMID:Nelfinavir down-regulates hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha and VEGF expression and increases tumor oxygenation: implications for radiotherapy. 1698 70

Profiling integral plasma membrane proteins is of particular importance for the identification of new biomarkers for diagnosis and for drug development. We report in this study the identification of surface markers by performing comparative proteomics of established human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) latent cell models and parental cell lines. To this end we isolated integral membrane proteins using a biotin-directed affinity purification method. Isolated proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) after in gel digestion. Seventeen different proteins were found to vary on the surface of T-cells due to HIV-1 infection. Of these proteins, 47% were integral membrane proteins, and 18% were membrane-associated. Through the use of complementary techniques such as Western blotting and fluorescent staining, we confirmed the differential expression of some of the proteins identified by MALDI-TOF including Bruton's tyrosine kinase and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis. Finally, using phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors and flavopiridol to inhibit Bruton's tyrosine kinase localization at the membrane and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein expression, respectively, we showed that HIV-1 latently infected cells are more sensitive to these drugs than uninfected cells. This suggests that HIV-1 latently infected cells may be targeted with drugs that alter several pathways that are essential for the establishment and maintenance of latency.
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PMID:Identifying the membrane proteome of HIV-1 latently infected cells. 1723 30

HIV protease inhibitors (HPIs), which have been used to treat HIV patients since the mid 1990s, have been shown to downregulate the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt pathway. Because this pathway is frequently activated in human malignancies and associated with resistance to ionizing radiation, we investigated and confirmed that HPIs could radiosensitize cells. However, the mechanism underlying this downregulation was unclear, prompting the investigations in this report. In this paper we show that nelfinavir inhibits proteasome activity. Inhibition of the proteasome leads to endoplasmic reticulum-based stress with accumulation of misfolded proteins, which triggers the unfolded protein response (UPR). As part of the UPR, the alpha subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2alpha) is phosphorylated, resulting in a decrease in global protein synthesis and induction of the feedback regulator growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible protein (GADD34), which acts as a phosphatase in complex with protein phosphatase 1. This complex dephosphorylates eIF2alpha; however, our data also suggest that this phosphatase activity can dephosphorylate Akt. Furthermore, our data indicate that nelfinavir decreases Akt phosphorylation by triggering this response. These findings may have important implications in understanding how nelfinavir may increase radiation sensitivity and also result in downregulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway.
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PMID:The HIV protease inhibitor nelfinavir downregulates Akt phosphorylation by inhibiting proteasomal activity and inducing the unfolded protein response. 1746 Jul 71

Opiate drug abuse exacerbates the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) in the central nervous system through direct actions on glia and neurons. Opiate abuse causes widespread disruption of astroglial and microglial function, and significant increases in astroglial-derived proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which likely contributes to neuronal dysfunction, death, and HIV encephalitis. Neurons are also directly affected by opiate-HIV-1 interactions. HIV-1 and the viral proteins gp120 and Tat activate multiple caspase-dependent and caspase-independent proapoptotic pathways in neurons involving phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3 kinase)/Akt, as well as p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and/or other mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Opiates appear to decrease the threshold for HIV-1-mediated neurotoxicity by sending convergent signals that exacerbate proapoptotic events induced by viral and cellular toxic products. The synergistic proinflammatory and neurotoxic effects of opiate drugs on glia and neurons are largely mediated through mu opioid receptors, which are expressed by subpopulations of astroglia, microglia, and neurons. Opiate abuse intrinsically modifies the host response to HIV-1. Identification of how this occurs is providing considerable insight toward understanding the mechanisms underlying HIV-1-associated dementia.
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PMID:Impact of opiate-HIV-1 interactions on neurotoxic signaling. 1804 Jul 95

CD28 is one of the most important co-stimulatory receptors necessary for full T lymphocyte activation. CD28 can act as a TCR-independent signalling unit by delivering specific signals which may induce HIV transcription and replication. However, the mechanisms by which CD28 regulates HIV expression remain largely unknown. Here we show that the TCR-independent CD28 signals lead to the trans-activation of HIV-1 LTR in an NF-kappaB-dependent manner. In particular, we found that CD28 engagement by B7 induces the specific recruitment of RelA/NF-kappaB subunit to the HIV-1 LTR promoter both in vitro and in ex vivo infected cells. The results obtained by mutating specific tyrosine residues within the CD28 cytoplasmic tail as well as by using LY294002 inhibitory drug evidenced that the recruitment and activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signalling pathway is crucial in mediating CD28-induced HIV transcription through RelA/NF-kappaB.
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PMID:CD28 ligation in the absence of TCR promotes RelA/NF-kappaB recruitment and trans-activation of the HIV-1 LTR. 1838 81

We have investigated the role of intracellular HIV-1 Tat on CXCR4 expression on T cells. We found that stable or doxycycline-regulated expression of HIV-1 Tat on Jurkat T cells results in lower cell surface expression of CXCR4, but not of other chemokine receptors. This effect was not due to an alteration in CXCR4 transcription, and total CXCR4 levels remained unaltered. Rather, when cells were treated with CXCL12/Stromal Cell-Derived Factor 1, a faster downmodulation of CXCR4 was observed although resurfacing was unaffected. Similar effect was seen in peripheral human T cells transiently transfected with Tat. At the molecular level Tat did not alter cellular levels of G-coupled receptor kinases 2 and 6 and beta-arrestin, proteins involved in CXCR4 downregulation. Neither Tat significantly affected phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activation in response to CXCL12. Interestingly, in Jurkat cell clones stably expressing both Protein kinase (PK)-Czeta and HIV-1 Tat, CXCL12 induced a faster CXCR4 internalization than in cells only expressing HIV-1 Tat. In contrast in Jurkat cell stably expressing a dominant negative PKCzeta, Tat enhancement of CXCR4 internalization was abrogated. Thus, our results show a new function of HIV-1 Tat, its ability to regulate CXCR4 expression via PKCzeta. The significance of those results is discussed.
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PMID:HIV-1-Tat potentiates CXCL12/stromal cell-derived factor 1-induced downregulation of membrane CXCR4 in T lymphocytes through protein kinase C zeta. 1876 Aug 39

Adipocyte insulin resistance can be caused by proximal insulin signaling defects but also from postreceptor mechanisms, which in large are poorly characterized. Adipocytes exposed for 18 h to the HIV protease inhibitor nelfinavir manifest insulin resistance characterized by normal insulin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor and insulin receptor substrate proteins, preserved in vitro phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) assay activity but impaired activation of PKB/Akt and stimulation of glucose uptake. Here we aimed to assess whether impaired PKB/Akt activation is indeed rate limiting for insulin signaling propagation in response to nelfinavir and the mechanism for defective PKB/Akt activation. Nelfinavir treatment of 3T3-L1 adipocytes impaired the insulin-stimulated translocation and membrane fusion of myc-glucose transporter (GLUT)-4-green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter. Phosphorylation of PKB/Akt substrates including glycogen synthase kinase-3 and AS160 decreased in response to nelfinavir, and this remained true, even in cells with forced generation of phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphohphate (PIP(3)) by a membrane-targeted active PI 3-kinase, confirming that impaired PKB/Akt activation was rate limiting for insulin signal propagation. Cells expressing a GFP-tagged pleckstrin homology domain of general receptors for phosphoinositides 1, which binds PIP(3), revealed intact PIP(3)-mediated plasma membrane translocation of this reporter in nelfinavir-treated cells. However, expression of a membrane-targeted catalytic subunit of PI 3-kinase failed to induce myc-GLUT4-GFP translocation in the absence of insulin, as it did in control cells. Conversely, a membrane-targeted and constitutively active PKB/Akt mutant was normally phosphorylated on S473 and T308, confirming intact PKB/Akt kinases activity, and induced myc-GLUT4-GFP translocation. Collectively, nelfinavir uncovers a postreceptor mechanism for insulin resistance, caused by interference with the sensing of PIP(3) by PKB/Akt, leading to impaired GLUT4 translocation and membrane fusion.
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PMID:Postreceptoral adipocyte insulin resistance induced by nelfinavir is caused by insensitivity of PKB/Akt to phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate. 1917 44

Application of the HIV protease inhibitor saquinavir (Saq) to cancer chemotherapy is limited by its numerous side effects. To overcome this toxicity, we modified the original compound by covalently attaching a nitric oxide (NO) group. We compared the efficacy of the parental and NO-modified drugs in vitro and in vivo. The novel compound saquinavir-NO (Saq-NO) significantly reduced the viability of a wide spectrum of human and rodent tumor cell lines at significantly lower concentration than the unmodified drug. In contrast to Saq, Saq-NO had no effect on the viability of primary cells and drastically reduced B16 melanoma growth in syngeneic C57BL/6 mice. In addition, at the equivalent of the 100% lethal dose of Saq, Saq-NO treatment caused no apparent signs of toxicity. Saq-NO blocked the proliferation of C6 and B16 cells, up-regulated p53 expression, and promoted the differentiation of these two cell types into oligodendrocytes or Schwann-like cells, respectively. Although it has been well documented that Saq decreases tumor cell viability by inhibiting Akt, the anticancer properties of Saq-NO were completely independent of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway. Moreover, Saq-NO transiently up-regulated Akt phosphorylation, delivering a protective signal that could be relevant for primary cell protection and the absence of drug toxicity in vivo. It was unlikely that released NO was independently responsible for these drug effects because Saq-NO treatment increased intracellular and secreted NO levels only slightly. Rather, the chemical modification seems to have produced a qualitatively new chemical entity, which may have a unique mode of action against cancer cells.
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PMID:The antitumor properties of a nontoxic, nitric oxide-modified version of saquinavir are independent of Akt. 1941 56


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