Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0023418 (leukemia)
 93,477 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

RNases H are traditionally thought to degrade RNA only in RNA-DNA hybrid form. We found that the wild-type Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) reverse transcriptase (RT) was capable of degrading RNA in RNA-RNA duplexes as well as in RNA-DNA hybrids, as assayed by in situ gel techniques. Escherichia coli RNase H does not degrade the RNA-RNA duplex in this assay, while E. coli RNase III, a double-strand-specific ribonuclease, does. The apparent specific activity of M-MuLV RT on RNA-RNA duplexes is similar to that on RNA-DNA hybrids. Neither the DNA polymerase domain nor the RNase H domain of RT expressed individually exhibited this RNA-RNA activity. We have generated a series of mutations in the RNase H domain of M-MuLV RT, expressed the mutant enzymes in E. coli, and assayed these mutants for various activities. All RTs were as active as the wild type in the oligo(dT):poly(rA) DNA polymerase assay, and many retained both nuclease activities. Two enzymes with mutations at the carboxyl terminus of the RNase H domain retained RNA-DNA activity, but not RNA-RNA activity. Another mutant enzyme showed the opposite phenotype, retaining RNA-RNA, but not RNA-DNA, nuclease activity. Thus, we were able to genetically separate the two activities. These results may be helpful in defining enzyme-substrate interactions.
 ...
PMID:Nuclease activities of Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase. Mutants with altered substrate specificities. 769 92

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to an abundant class of highly conserved small (22nt) non-coding RNAs. MiRNA profiling studies indicate that their expression is highly cell type-dependent. DICER1 is an essential RNase III endoribonuclease for miRNA processing. Hematopoietic cell type- and developmental stage-specific Dicer1 deletion models show that miRNAs are essential regulators of cellular survival, differentiation and function. For instance, miRNA deficiency in hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors of different origins results in decreased cell survival, dramatic developmental aberrations or dysfunctions in mice. We recently found that homozygous Dicer1 deletion in myeloid-committed progenitors results in an aberrant expression of stem cell genes and induces a regained self-renewal capacity. Moreover, Dicer1 deletion causes a block in macrophage development and myeloid dysplasia, a cellular condition that may be considered as a preleukemic state. However, Dicer1-null cells do not develop leukemia in mice, indicating that depletion of miRNAs is not enough for tumorigenesis. Surprisingly, we found that heterozygous Dicer1 deletion in myeloid-committed progenitors, but not Dicer1 knockout, collaborates with p53 deletion in leukemic progression and results in various types of leukemia. Our data indicate that Dicer1 is a haploinsufficient tumorsuppressor in hematopoietic neoplasms, which is consistent with the observed downregulation of miRNA expression in human leukemia samples. Here, we review the various hematopoietic specific Dicer1 deletion mouse models and the phenotypes observed within the different hematopoietic lineages and cell developmental stages. Finally, we discuss the role for DICER1 in mouse and human malignant hematopoiesis.
 ...
PMID:Stop the dicing in hematopoiesis: what have we learned? 2280 45

Dicer, a member of the RNase III family, is the key enzyme required for the biogenesis of microRNAs and small interfering RNAs. Recent evidence indicates that DICER1 expression levels vary among different solid tumors and decreased or increased DICER1 expression has been associated with aggressive cancers. In this study, we assessed DICER1 expression levels in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and investigated its biological effects and transcriptional regulation in leukemia cell lines. We demonstrated that DICER1 was overexpressed in AML patients and leukemia cell lines by real-time quantitative PCR and western blot analysis. A functional assay demonstrated that the silencing of DICER1 inhibited cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis in leukemia cell lines. We also demonstrated that DICER1 was upregulated by the hematopoietic transcription factor, GATA1, through luciferase, electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. These data suggest that DICER1 plays an important role in AML and the finding that the upregulation of DICER1 is induced by GATA1 may provide a framework for the understanding of differential DICER1 expression levels in multiple types of cancer.
 ...
PMID:Overexpression of DICER1 induced by the upregulation of GATA1 contributes to the proliferation and apoptosis of leukemia cells. 2342 81

T cells made with messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) offer a safe alternative to those transduced with viral CARs by mitigating the side effects of constitutively active T cells. Previous studies have shown that mRNA CAR T cells are transiently effective but lack persistence and potency across tumor types. It was hypothesized that the efficacy of mRNA CARs could be improved by utilizing recent advancements in RNA technology, such as incorporating a modified nucleoside, 1-methylpseudouridine, into the mRNA and applying a novel purification method using RNase III to eliminate dsRNA contaminants. T cells electroporated with nucleoside-modified and purified mRNA encoding CD19 CAR showed an initial twofold increase in CAR surface expression, as well as a twofold improvement in cytotoxic killing of leukemia cells that persisted up to 5 days. T cells generated with nucleoside-modified and purified CAR mRNA also showed reduced expression of checkpoint regulators and a differential pattern of genetic activation compared to those made with conventional mRNA. In vivo studies using a leukemia mouse model revealed that the most robust 100-fold suppression of leukemic burden was achieved using T cells electroporated with purified mRNAs, regardless of their nucleoside modification. The results provide a novel approach to generate mRNA for clinical trials, and poise mRNA CAR T cells for increased efficacy during testing as new CAR targets emerge.
 ...
PMID:Purification of mRNA Encoding Chimeric Antigen Receptor Is Critical for Generation of a Robust T-Cell Response. 3002 72