Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022568 (keratitis)
 5,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Tyrosinemia type II (Richner-Hanhart syndrome, RHS) is a disease of autosomal recessive inheritance characterized by keratitis, palmoplantar hyperkeratosis, mental retardation, and elevated blood tyrosine levels. The disease results from deficiency in hepatic tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT; L-tyrosine:2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase, EC 2.6.1.5), a 454-amino acid protein encoded by a gene with 12 exons. To identify the causative mutations in five TAT alleles cloned from three RHS patients, chimeric genes constructed from normal and mutant TAT alleles were tested in directing TAT activity in a transient expression assay. DNA sequence analysis of the regions identified as nonfunctional revealed six different point mutations. Three RHS alleles have nonsense mutations at codons 57, 223, and 417, respectively. One "complex" RHS allele carries a GT----GG splice donor mutation in intron 8 together with a Gly----Val substitution at amino acid 362. A new splice acceptor site in intron 2 of the fifth RHS allele leads to a shift in reading frame.
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PMID:Point mutations in the tyrosine aminotransferase gene in tyrosinemia type II. 135 62

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) inhibit Herpes simplex virus entry at low micromolar concentrations and may be useful either as prophylactic or therapeutic agents for herpetic keratitis. The aim of this study was to assess the in vitro and in vivo toxicity of three CPPs-EB, TAT-C, and HOM (penetratin)-for the cornea. Incubation of primary (HK320) or immortalized (THK320) human keratocytes with the EB peptide (up to 100 microM), bHOMd (up to 200 microM), or TAT-C (up to 400 microM) resulted in no evidence of toxicity using a formazan dye-reduction assay. Similar results were obtained with a human trabecular meshwork cell line (TM-1), primary human foreskin fibroblasts (DP-9), Vero, and HeLa cells with EB and TATC. The bHOMd peptide showed some toxicity in Vero and HeLa cells, with CC50 values of 70 and 93 microM, respectively. The EB peptide did not inhibit macromolecular synthesis in Vero cells at concentrations below 150 microM, although cell proliferation was blocked at concentrations of EB above 50 microM. In vivo toxicity was assessed by applying peptides in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium to the cornea 4 times daily for 7 d. At concentrations 1000 times the IC50 values, the EB and bHOM peptides showed no toxicity, whereas TAT-C caused some mild eyelid swelling. Some slight epithelial cell sloughing was seen with the bKLA peptide in vivo. These results suggest that these CPPs-and EB in particular-have a favorable toxicity profile, and that further development is warranted.
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PMID:Corneal toxicity of cell-penetrating peptides that inhibit Herpes simplex virus entry. 1691 Aug 69