Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0020538 (hypertension)
 170,190 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several dominant mutations at the murine agouti locus cause a syndrome of marked obesity and insulin resistance. We have recently reported that intracellular free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) is elevated in viable yellow mice. Because [Ca2+]i has a key role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, obesity, and hypertension, the role of the purified agouti gene product in regulating [Ca2+]i was evaluated in a number of cell types. Purified murine agouti induced slow, sustained increases in [Ca2+]i in A7r5 vascular smooth muscle cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes in a dose-dependent fashion. In L6 skeletal myocytes, agouti stimulated an increase in [Ca2+]i with an apparent concentration eliciting 50% of the maximal response (EC50) of 62 nM. This response was substantially inhibited by Ca2+ entry blockade with nitrendipine. To determine whether melanocortin receptors play a role in agouti regulation of [Ca2+]i, we examined the effect of melanocortin peptides and agouti in cells stably transfected with human melanocortin receptors. Human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293 cells) transfected with either the human melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) or melanocortin 3 receptor responded to human agouti with slow, sustained increases in [Ca2+]i, whereas nontransfected HEK-293 cells with no melanocortin receptors did not respond to agouti. Dose-response curves in the MC1R line showed that agouti had an EC50 of 18 nM, which is comparable to that for agouti antagonism of (125)I-Nle,D-Phe-alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone binding in the same cell line. This direct effect of agouti on stimulating increases in [Ca2+]i suggests a potential mechanism for agouti-induced insulin resistance.
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PMID:Agouti regulation of intracellular calcium: role of melanocortin receptors. 912 42

In a contractility assay based on the rabbit jugular vein, the structurally related drugs NPC 17731 or icatibant (1 to 3 nmol/L) were insurmountable antagonists of bradykinin (BK) B(2) receptors (B(2)Rs). After ample washing (3 hours), the antagonism exerted by these peptides was not reversible. By contrast, the antagonist LF 16. 0687 (30 to 100 nmol/L) was competitive and reversible. A rabbit B(2)R-green fluorescent protein (B(2)R-GFP) conjugate was expressed in mammalian cells. In COS-1 cells, it exhibited an affinity for [3H]BK (K(D)=1.61 nmol/L) similar to that of the wild-type rabbit B(2)R. The stably expressed construction in HEK-293 cells was functionally active (phospholipase A(2) assay), and the antagonists mentioned above retained their respective surmountable or insurmountable behavior. Competition of [(3)H]BK binding to B(2)R-GFP by the antagonists or BK was largely reversible after a 3-hour washout period at 0 degrees C; at 37 degrees C, icatibant or NPC 17731 effects were not reversible. B(2)R-GFP was visualized in the plasma membranes of HEK-293 cells and rapidly internalized in response to BK. NPC 17731 or icatibant slowly translocated B(2)R-GFP into cells over 24 hours, whereas LF 16.0687 had no effect on the subcellular distribution of B(2)R-GFP. Cell extract immunoblotting with anti-GFP antibodies revealed a 101- to 105-kDa protein that was not significantly degraded on 24 hours of cell treatment with any of the ligands but was translocated in part to the 15 000-g pellet of the extract on treatment with BK or the noncompetitive antagonists. NPC 17731 and icatibant are noncompetitive, nonequilibrium antagonists that promote the cellular sequestration of rabbit B(2)R expressed in an heterologous system.
Hypertension 2000 Jun
PMID:Antagonist-induced intracellular sequestration of rabbit bradykinin B(2) receptor. 1085 84

Renal 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11betaHSD2) is an enzyme responsible for the peripheral inactivation of cortisol to cortisone in mineralocorticoid target tissues. Mutations in the gene encoding 11betaHSD2 cause the syndrome of apparent mineralocorticoid excess (AME), an autosomal recessive form of inherited hypertension, in which cortisol acts as a potent mineralocorticoid. The mutations reported to date have been confined to exons 3-5. Here, we describe two siblings, 1 and 2 yr old, who were diagnosed with hypokalemic hypertension and low plasma aldosterone and renin levels, indicating mineralocorticoid hypertension. Analysis of urinary steroid metabolites showed a markedly impaired metabolism of cortisol, with (tetrahydrocortisol + 5alpha-tetrahydrocortisol)/tetrahydrocortisone ratios of 40-60, and nearly absent urinary free cortisone. Although phenotypically normal, the heterozygous parents showed a disturbed cortisol metabolism. Genetic analysis of the HSD11B2 gene from the AME patients revealed the homozygous deletion of six nucleotides in exon 2 with the resultant loss of amino acids Leu(114) and Glu(115), representing the first alteration found in the cofactor-binding domain. The deletion mutant, expressed in HEK-293 cells, showed an approximately 20-fold lower maximum velocity but increased apparent affinity for cortisol and corticosterone. In contrast, two additionally constructed substitutions, Glu(115) to Gln or Lys, showed increased maximal velocity and apparent affinity for 11beta-hydroxyglucocorticoids. Functional analysis of wild-type and mutant proteins indicated that a disturbed conformation of the cofactor-binding domain, but not the missing negative charge of Glu(115), led to the observed decreased activity of the deletion mutant. Considered together, these findings provide evidence for a role of Glu(115) in determining cofactor-binding specificity of 11betaHSD2 and emphasize the importance of structure-function analysis to elucidate the molecular mechanism of AME.
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PMID:A mutation in the cofactor-binding domain of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 associated with mineralocorticoid hypertension. 1123 16

Mutations in the serine-threonine kinases WNK1 and WNK4 [with no lysine (K) at a key catalytic residue] cause pseudohypoaldosteronism type II (PHAII), a Mendelian disease featuring hypertension, hyperkalemia, hyperchloremia, and metabolic acidosis. Both kinases are expressed in the distal nephron, although the regulators and targets of WNK signaling cascades are unknown. The Cl(-) dependence of PHAII phenotypes, their sensitivity to thiazide diuretics, and the observation that they constitute a "mirror image" of the phenotypes resulting from loss of function mutations in the thiazide-sensitive Na-Cl cotransporter (NCCT) suggest that PHAII may result from increased NCCT activity due to altered WNK signaling. To address this possibility, we measured NCCT-mediated Na(+) influx and membrane expression in the presence of wild-type and mutant WNK4 by heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes. Wild-type WNK4 inhibits NCCT-mediated Na-influx by reducing membrane expression of the cotransporter ((22)Na-influx reduced 50%, P < 1 x 10(-9), surface expression reduced 75%, P < 1 x 10(-14) in the presence of WNK4). This inhibition depends on WNK4 kinase activity, because missense mutations that abrogate kinase function prevent this effect. PHAII-causing missense mutations, which are remote from the kinase domain, also prevent inhibition of NCCT activity, providing insight into the pathophysiology of the disorder. The specificity of this effect is indicated by the finding that WNK4 and the carboxyl terminus of NCCT coimmunoprecipitate when expressed in HEK 293T cells. Together, these findings demonstrate that WNK4 negatively regulates surface expression of NCCT and implicate loss of this regulation in the molecular pathogenesis of an inherited form of hypertension.
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PMID:Molecular pathogenesis of inherited hypertension with hyperkalemia: the Na-Cl cotransporter is inhibited by wild-type but not mutant WNK4. 1251 52

We have examined whether exogenous human tissue kallikrein exerts pharmacological actions via the bradykinin B2 receptor; specifically, whether the protease can bind to, cleave, internalize, and/or activate a fusion protein composed of the rabbit B2 receptor conjugated to the green fluorescent protein (B2R-GFP). The enzyme partially digested the fusion protein at 1 micromol/L, but not 100 nmol/L, and promoted B2R-GFP endocytosis in HEK 293 cells (> or =50 nmol/L). Trypsin and endoproteinase Lys-C, but not plasma kallikrein, also cleaved B2R-GFP. Phospholipase A2 was activated by 50 nmol/L tissue kallikrein in HEK 293 cells expressing B2R-GFP, and this was mediated by the receptor, as shown by the effect of a B2 receptor antagonist and by the lack of response in untransfected cells. However, 500 nmol/L kallikrein elicited a strong receptor-independent activation of phospholipase A2. Tissue kallikrein competed for [3H]bradykinin binding to B2R-GFP only at 1 micromol/L. A simulation involving kallikrein treatment of HEK 293 cells, pretreated or not with human plasma, evidenced the formation of immunoreactive bradykinin. The enzyme (50 nmol/L) contracted the rabbit isolated jugular vein via its endogenous B2 receptors, but the effect was tachyphylactic, and there was no cross-desensitization with bradykinin effects. Aprotinin prevented all pharmacological responses to tissue kallikrein, indicating that the enzyme activity is required for its effect. The local generation of kinins is a plausible mechanism for the pharmacological effects of lower concentrations of tissue kallikrein (50 to 100 nmol/L); higher levels (0.5 to 1 micromol/L) can not only initiate the degradation of rabbit B2 receptors but also exert nonreceptor-mediated effects.
Hypertension 2003 Mar
PMID:Tissue kallikrein actions at the rabbit natural or recombinant kinin B2 receptors. 1283 33

Mutations in the gene encoding 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2, 11beta-HSD2 (HSD11B2), explain the molecular basis for the syndrome of apparent mineralocorticoid excess (AME), characterized by severe hypertension and hypokalemic alkalosis. Cortisol is the offending mineralocorticoid in AME, as the result of a lack of 11beta-HSD2-mediated cortisol to cortisone inactivation. In this study, we describe mutations in the HSD11B2 gene in 3 additional AME kindreds in which probands presented in adult life, with milder phenotypes including the original seminal case reported by Stewart and Edwards. Genetic analysis of the HSD11B2 gene revealed that all probands were compound heterozygotes, for a total of 7 novel coding and noncoding mutations. Of the 7 mutations detected, 6 were investigated for their effects on gene expression and enzyme activity by the use of mutant cDNA and minigene constructs transfected into HEK 293 cells. Four missense mutations resulted in enzymes with varying degrees of activity, all <10% of wild type. A further 2 mutations generated incorrectly spliced mRNA and predicted severely truncated, inactive enzyme. The mothers of 2 probands heterozygous for missense mutations have presented with a phenotype indistinguishable from "essential" hypertension. These genetic and biochemical data emphasize the heterogeneous nature of AME and the effects that heterozygosity at the HSD11B2 locus can have on blood pressure in later life.
Hypertension 2003 Aug
PMID:Late-onset apparent mineralocorticoid excess caused by novel compound heterozygous mutations in the HSD11B2 gene. 1286 Aug 34

Recent evidence indicates that mutations in the gene encoding the WNK1 [with no K (lysine) protein kinase-1] results in an inherited hypertension syndrome called pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. The mechanisms by which WNK1 is regulated or the substrates it phosphorylates are currently unknown. We noticed that Thr-60 of WNK1, which lies N-terminal to the catalytic domain, is located within a PKB (protein kinase B) phosphorylation consensus sequence. We found that PKB phosphorylated WNK1 efficiently compared with known substrates, and both peptide map and mutational analysis revealed that the major PKB site of phosphorylation was Thr-60. Employing a phosphospecific Thr-60 WNK1 antibody, we demonstrated that IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor) stimulation of HEK-293 cells induced phosphorylation of endogenously expressed WNK1 at Thr-60. Consistent with PKB mediating this phosphorylation, inhibitors of PI 3-kinase (phosphoinositide 3-kinase; wortmannin and LY294002) but not inhibitors of mammalian target of rapamycin (rapamycin) or MEK1 (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-1) activation (PD184352), inhibited IGF1-induced phosphorylation of endogenous WNK1 at Thr-60. Moreover, IGF1-induced phosphorylation of endogenous WNK1 did not occur in PDK1-/- ES (embryonic stem) cells, in which PKB is not activated. In contrast, IGF1 still induced normal phosphorylation of WNK1 in PDK1(L155E/L155E) knock-in ES cells in which PKB, but not S6K (p70 ribosomal S6 kinase) or SGK1 (serum- and glucocorticoid-induced protein kinase 1), is activated. Our study provides strong pharmacological and genetic evidence that PKB mediates the phosphorylation of WNK1 at Thr-60 in vivo. We also performed experiments which suggest that the phosphorylation of WNK1 by PKB is not regulating its kinase activity or cellular localization directly. These results provide the first connection between the PI 3-kinase/PKB pathway and WNK1, suggesting a mechanism by which this pathway may influence blood pressure.
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PMID:WNK1, the kinase mutated in an inherited high-blood-pressure syndrome, is a novel PKB (protein kinase B)/Akt substrate. 1461 43

WNK kinases are novel serine/threonine protein kinases. Mutations in two members of the WNK family, WNK1 and WNK4, cause familial hyperkalemic hypertension. These kinases regulate ion transport across diverse epithelia; WNK4 reduces activity of the Na-Cl cotransporter activity and the potassium channel, ROMK, by reducing their appearance at the plasma membrane. We examined the kinase activity of WNK1 and WNK4 in vitro. A glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein of the WNK1 kinse domain phosphorylated itself and a substrate protein, as reported previously. A longer construct, containing the autoinhibitory domain, did not. A GST WNK4 kinase domain construct demonstrated no kinase activity, in vitro or in HEK 293 cells. WNK4 constructs that included a region homologous to the autoinhibitory domain of WNK1 inhibited WNK1 kinase activity. Inhibition by a short WNK4 segment, WNK4 (444-518), was greater than inhibition by WNK4 (444-563). Together, these results suggest that WNK4 must be activated by currently unknown factors to exhibit kinase activity and that WNK4 contains an inhibitory domain that can inhibit the kinase activity of WNK1.
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PMID:Comparison of WNK4 and WNK1 kinase and inhibiting activities. 1508 30

Human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) potassium channels are expressed in multiple tissues including the heart and adenocarcinomas. In cardiomyocytes, HERG encodes the alpha-subunit underlying the rapid component of the delayed rectifier potassium current, I(Kr), and pharmacological reduction of HERG currents may cause acquired long QT syndrome. In addition, HERG currents have been shown to be involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Selective alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonists are commonly used in the treatment of hypertension and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Recently, doxazosin has been associated with an increased risk of heart failure. Moreover, quinazoline-derived alpha 1-inhibitors induce apoptosis in cardiomyocytes and prostate tumor cells independently of alpha1-adrenoceptor blockade. To assess the action of the effects of prazosin, doxazosin, and terazosin on HERG currents, we investigated their acute electrophysiological effects on cloned HERG potassium channels heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes and HEK 293 cells.Prazosin, doxazosin, and terazosin blocked HERG currents in Xenopus oocytes with IC(50) values of 10.1, 18.2, and 113.2 microM respectively, whereas the IC(50) values for HERG channel inhibition in human HEK 293 cells were 1.57 microM, 585.1 nM, and 17.7 microM. Detailed biophysical studies revealed that inhibition by the prototype alpha 1-blocker prazosin occurred in closed, open, and inactivated channels. Analysis of the voltage-dependence of block displayed a reduction of inhibition at positive membrane potentials. Frequency-dependence was not observed. Prazosin caused a negative shift in the voltage-dependence of both activation (-3.8 mV) and inactivation (-9.4 mV). The S6 mutations Y652A and F656A partially attenuated (Y652A) or abolished (F656A) HERG current blockade, indicating that prazosin binds to a common drug receptor within the pore-S6 region. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that HERG potassium channels are blocked by prazosin, doxazosin, and terazosin. These data may provide a hypothetical molecular explanation for the apoptotic effect of quinazoline-derived alpha1-adrenoceptor antagonists.
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PMID:Inhibition of human ether-a-go-go-related gene potassium channels by alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonists prazosin, doxazosin, and terazosin. 1509 86

G-protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) are implicated in the pathophysiology of human diseases such as arterial hypertension, heart failure and rheumatoid arthritis. While G-protein-coupled receptor kinases 2 and 5 have been shown to be involved in the desensitization of the rat thyrotropin receptor (TSHR), their role in the pathophysiology of hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules (HTNs) is unknown. Therefore, we analyzed the expression pattern of the known GRKs in human thyroid tissue and investigated their function in the pathology of HTNs. The expression of different GRKs in human thyroid and HTNs was measured by Western blotting. The influence of GRK expression on TSHR function was analyzed by coexpression experiments in HEK 293 cells. We demonstrate that in addition to GRKs 2, 5 and 6, GRKs 3 and 4 are also expressed in the human thyroid. GRKs 2, 3, 5 and 6 are able to desensitize the TSHR in vitro. This GRK-induced desensitization is amplified by the additional over-expression of beta-arrestin 1 or 2. We did not find any mutations in the GRKs 2, 3 and 5 from 14 HTNs without TSHR mutations and Gsalpha mutations. The expression of GRKs 3 and 4 was increased in HTNs independently from the existence of TSHR mutations or Gsalpha mutations. In conclusion, the increased expression of GRK 3 in HTNs and the ability of GRK 3 to desensitize the TSHR in vitro, suggest a potential role for GRK 3 as a negative feedback regulator for the constitutively activated cAMP pathway in HTNs.
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PMID:Increased expression of G-protein-coupled receptor kinases 3 and 4 in hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules. 1522 42


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