Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024312 (lymphopenia)
 4,859 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

RT6 is an unusual cell membrane protein that is expressed exclusively by postthymic T cells. The inherent defect in its expression has been correlated to lymphopenia and genetically determined susceptibility for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in the rat. We report here the primary structure of the RT6.2 alloantigen as deduced from the cDNA sequence. The predicted amino acid sequence of RT6.2 begins with a conventional leader of 20 amino acids and ends in a hydrophobic C-terminal extension peptide of 29 amino acids as is common for phosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins. Native RT6.2 is predicted to comprise 226 amino acids, with a calculated Mr of 26,036. Four cysteine residues account for two intrachain disulfide bonds. The sequence lacks potential N-glycosylation sites and contains an excess of positively charged residues. Homology searches in protein sequence data banks suggest that RT6.2 is not encoded by a member of the immunoglobulin supergene family. Moreover, these analyses did not reveal any close homologies of RT6.2 to known proteins: the highest homology found was 21.2% identity in a 52-amino acid overlap to the torpedo acetylcholinesterase precursor. Southern blot analyses indicate that RT6.2 is the product of a single-copy gene and provide evidence for closely related genes in the mouse and other species. The corresponding gene products remain to be identified.
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PMID:Primary structure of rat RT6.2, a nonglycosylated phosphatidylinositol-linked surface marker of postthymic T cells. 230 May 88

Metallothioneins that bind copper and zinc have an Mr of 6500 daltons, consist of a single polypeptide chain of 61 amino acids, 25-30 percent of whose residues are cysteine, have a metal-binding capacity of between 5 and 7 g atoms/mol, and contain no disulfide bonds or aromatic amino acids. Zincthionein has been postulated to participate in the transport and storage of zinc, which is involved in more than 235 metalloenzymes, including thymidine kinase, RNA polymerase, and ribonuclease, which in turn play crucial roles in the replication and transcription of DNA during cell division. In addition, trace elements including zinc modulate immune response and function. Conversely, zinc deficiency state causes, for example, thymic atrophy and lymphopenia and modifies antibody-mediated responses to both T-cell-dependent and T-cell-independent antigens. The concentrations of copper, zinc, and metallothionein and the copper/zinc ratio are modified in a number of malignancies. For example, the levels of metallothionein in normal and in malignant human livers are 471 and 75 micrograms/g, respectively. In addition, the copper/zinc ratio is significantly increased in human pancreatic cancer from 1.40 to 2.70. Furthermore, studies involving 64Cu in tumor-bearing mice showed that the distribution of 64Cu was altered and that all tumors contained a relatively high level of 64Cu. Moreover, the activity of superoxide dismutase to remove free oxygen radicals is lower in malignant tissues. Finally, the results of clinical studies suggest that the monitoring of the serum copper/zinc ratio may be a valuable tool, not only in determining the extent of malignancies, but also in predicting the efficacy of treatments.
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PMID:The status of zinc, copper, and metallothionein in cancer patients. 328 43

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency is identified here as a cause of adult onset immunodeficiency. Two sisters who noted recurrent, predominantly chest infections in their twenties were found in their thirties to have CD4+ lymphopenia and lymphocyte ADA activity of approximately 5% of the lower limit of normal. Immune function, measured by proliferation of PBMCs in vitro to mitogens and specific Ags, was impaired. Inheritance of a polymorphic marker showed that both patients were heterozygous at the ADA locus. In the paternal allele there was a deletion resulting from homologous recombination between two alu elements that normally flank the first exon and the polymorphic marker. The recombination site was distinct from that in similar deletions described in two infants having severe combined immunodeficiency. This allele is predicted to result in a null phenotype. In the mutant allele inherited from the mother, a C to T transition in a CpG dinucleotide changed the codon for arginine 211, which lies in a conserved sequence close to the active site, to that for cysteine. This mutation has been observed previously in a child in whom the other allele was also a null mutation, but who was diagnosed as having partial ADA deficiency because immune function was apparently normal. The late onset of immunodeficiency in our patients suggests that immune function in children with partial ADA deficiency may deteriorate with time and that ADA deficiency should be regarded as a possible cause of adult onset immune dysfunction of unknown etiology.
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PMID:Adult onset immunodeficiency caused by inherited adenosine deaminase deficiency. 805 29

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a dietary supplement consisting of L-selenomethionine, vitamin C, vitamin E succinate, alpha-lipoic acid and N-acetyl cysteine could improve the survival of mice after total-body irradiation. Antioxidants significantly increased the 30-day survival of mice after exposure to a potentially lethal dose of X rays when given prior to or after animal irradiation. Pretreatment of animals with antioxidants resulted in significantly higher total white blood cell and neutrophil counts in peripheral blood at 4 and 24 h after 1 Gy and 8 Gy. Antioxidants were effective in preventing peripheral lymphopenia only after low-dose irradiation. Antioxidant supplementation was also associated with increased bone marrow cell counts after irradiation. Supplementation with antioxidants was associated with increased Bcl2 and decreased Bax, caspase 9 and TGF-beta1 mRNA expression in the bone marrow after irradiation. Maintenance of the antioxidant diet was associated with improved recovery of the bone marrow after sublethal or potentially lethal irradiation. Taken together, oral supplementation with antioxidants appears to be an effective approach for radioprotection of hematopoietic cells and improvement of animal survival, and modulation of apoptosis is implicated as a mechanism for the radioprotection of the hematopoietic system by antioxidants.
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PMID:Dietary antioxidants protect hematopoietic cells and improve animal survival after total-body irradiation. 1836 33

Somatic stem cell (SSC) dysfunction is typical for different progeroid phenotypes in mice with genomic DNA repair defects. MtDNA mutagenesis in mice with defective Polg exonuclease activity also leads to progeroid symptoms, by an unknown mechanism. We found that Polg-Mutator mice had neural (NSC) and hematopoietic progenitor (HPC) dysfunction already from embryogenesis. NSC self-renewal was decreased in vitro, and quiescent NSC amounts were reduced in vivo. HPCs showed abnormal lineage differentiation leading to anemia and lymphopenia. N-acetyl-L-cysteine treatment rescued both NSC and HPC abnormalities, suggesting that subtle ROS/redox changes, induced by mtDNA mutagenesis, modulate SSC function. Our results show that mtDNA mutagenesis affected SSC function early but manifested as respiratory chain deficiency in nondividing tissues in old age. Deletor mice, having mtDNA deletions in postmitotic cells and no progeria, had normal SSCs. We propose that SSC compartment is sensitive to mtDNA mutagenesis, and that mitochondrial dysfunction in SSCs can underlie progeroid manifestations.
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PMID:Somatic progenitor cell vulnerability to mitochondrial DNA mutagenesis underlies progeroid phenotypes in Polg mutator mice. 2222 68

Cysteine-X-cysteine chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) is a broadly expressed and multifunctional G protein-coupled chemokine receptor critical for organogenesis, hematopoiesis, and antimicrobial host defense. In the hematopoietic system, the binding of CXCR4 to its cognate chemokine ligand, CXCL12, mediates leukocyte trafficking, distribution, survival, activation, and proliferation. Warts, hypogammaglobulinemia, infections, and myelokathexis (WHIM) syndrome is a rare, autosomal dominant, combined immunodeficiency disorder caused by mutations in the C-terminus of CXCR4 that prevent receptor downregulation and therefore result in pathologically increased signaling. The "M" in the acronym WHIM refers to myelokathexis, the retention of neutrophils in the bone marrow resulting in neutropenia, which explains in part the increased susceptibility to bacterial infection. However, WHIM patients also present with B and T lymphopenia, which may explain the susceptibility to human papillomavirus (HPV), the cause of warts. The impact of WHIM mutations on lymphocytes and adaptive immunity has received less attention than myelokathexis and is the focus of this review.
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PMID:Adaptive Immunodeficiency in WHIM Syndrome. 3057 53