Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0025202 (melanoma)
 69,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Two analogues of alpha-MSH (Ac-Ser-Tyr-Ser-Met-Glu-His-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly-Lys-Pro-Val-NH2), Ac-[Nle4, Asp5, D-Phe7, Lys10]alpha-MSH4-10NH2 and Ac-[Nle4, Asp5, D-Phe7, Lys10] alpha-MSH4-10-NH2, were synthesized, and the melanotropic activities of the peptides were compared in several bioassays. Potencies were determined in the in vitro frog and lizard skin bioassays and in the S91 melanoma cell tyrosinase assay. Both analogues were equipotent or more potent than alpha-MSH in all bioassays, and the activities of the analogues were prolonged compared to alpha-MSH. The two analogues were very resistant to inactivation by purified proteolytic enzymes (alpha-chymotrypsin, trypsin, and pepsin). The two peptides could be topically applied and transdermally delivered across the skin of mice in vivo, resulting in a shift from pheomelanogenesis to eumelanogenesis within follicular melanocytes. The cyclic analogue exhibited greater potency, prolonged activity, and stability against enzyme inactivation than did the linear peptide. The significance of the findings for the further design of melanotropin analogues is discussed, as in the possible relevance of these melanotropin analogues for use in biomedical studies.
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PMID:Linear and cyclic alpha-melanotropin [4-10]-fragment analogues that exhibit superpotency and residual activity. 255 3

The integrin heterodimer VLA-2, previously known as a collagen receptor, is now shown also to be a laminin receptor. Adhesion of the human melanoma cell line LOX to laminin was inhibited by anti-VLA alpha 2 antibodies. Because VLA-2-mediated LOX cell attachment to laminin was not inhibited by digestion with collagenase, collagen contamination of laminin was not a factor. In addition, VLA-2 from LOX cells bound to immobilized laminin, and binding was disrupted by EDTA but not by Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptides. VLA-3 also bound to laminin-Sepharose, although less avidly than VLA-2. Thus, at least four separate members of the integrin beta 1 subfamily serve as laminin receptors--i.e., VLA-2 and VLA-3 (this study) together with VLA-1 and VLA-6 (other reports). Whereas LOX and other cell lines used VLA-2 as both a laminin and collagen receptor, fibroblast VLA-2 mediated collagen but not laminin binding. Likewise, VLA-2 from platelets did not interact with laminin. Despite this functional discordancy, VLA-2 from laminin-binding and nonbinding sources was indistinguishable by all immunochemical and biochemical criteria examined. Thus, functional differences in VLA-2 may be due to cell type-specific modulation.
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PMID:The human integrin VLA-2 is a collagen receptor on some cells and a collagen/laminin receptor on others. 255 34

Tumor cell metastasis involves a complex series of interdependent events, including repeated invasion of basement membranes. Studies from several laboratories have implicated tumor cell adhesion and migration in response to laminin as a major contributing factor in tumor cell invasion. The current studies address the direct role of type IV collagen in promoting tumor cell adhesion, spreading, and migration. The observations of type IV collagen-mediated cellular behavior are contrasted with cellular behavior on type I collagen. The highly metastatic K1735 M4 melanoma cell line adhered, spread, and migrated in response to type IV collagen in a concentration-dependent manner. Functional assays using well-defined proteolytic fragments of type IV collagen demonstrated that melanoma cells interact with multiple domains of this protein. Highly metastatic melanoma cells adhered, spread, and exhibited motile behavior in response to 0.2 to 200 nM concentrations of a purified pepsin-generated, triple helix-rich domain of type IV collagen. In contrast, cells adhered and spread but were essentially nonmotile in response to a purified major noncollagenous domain of the protein. In addition, de novo protein synthesis was required for cell adhesion to the major noncollagenous domain, whereas adhesion to the helical domain was less dependent upon de novo protein synthesis. Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-related peptides were used to study the adhesion and spreading of melanoma cells on type IV collagen. The results demonstrated that a serine containing RGD-related peptide (GRGDSP) has virtually no effect on melanoma cell adhesion on type IV collagen-coated substrata, whereas this peptide inhibited melanoma cell adhesion to fibronectin-coated substrata in a concentration-dependent manner. In contrast, when threonine was substituted for serine (GRGDTP), cell adhesion to type IV collagen was significantly (45%) inhibited. The threonine-containing peptide virtually eliminated cell adhesion on substrata coated with type I collagen. These data demonstrate that adhesion, spreading, and migration of melanoma cells on type IV collagen have a complex molecular basis which is partially dependent on RGD-related sequences.
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PMID:Type IV collagen-mediated melanoma cell adhesion and migration: involvement of multiple, distinct domains of the collagen molecule. 275 12

The movement of cells up an adhesive substratum gradient has been proposed as a mechanism for directing cell migration during development and metastasis. Critical evaluation of this hypothesis (haptotaxis) benefits from the use of quantifiable, stable substratum gradients of biologically relevant adhesion molecules. We report covalent derivatization of polyacrylamide surfaces with quantifiable gradients of a nonapeptide containing the adhesive Arg-Gly-Asp sequence. Cell migration was studied by seeding derivatized surfaces evenly with B16F10 murine melanoma cells. Within 8 hr, cells on gradients redistributed markedly; higher cell densities were found at gel positions having higher immobilized peptide densities. In contrast, cells seeded on control gels with uniform concentrations of adhesive peptide did not redistribute. Redistribution occurred on gradients in both serum-free and serum-containing media. Experiments with uniform density peptide-derivatized gels demonstrated that redistribution on gradients was not due to preferential initial cell attachment or preferential growth on the higher density of immobilized peptide, but must have been due to cell translocation. Cells on exponential gradients of immobilized peptide migrated to a position on the gel surface corresponding to the highest immobilized peptide density, while cells on linear gradients of the same peptide migrated to a position of intermediate peptide density. These data suggest that the B16F10 cells respond to proportional changes in immobilized peptide density rather than to absolute changes, implying a sensing mechanism which utilizes adaptation. These results demonstrate that (1) a gradient of a small adhesive peptide is sufficient to generate redistribution of cell populations and (2) controlled quantifiable substratum gradients can be produced and used to probe the underlying cellular mechanisms of this behavior.
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PMID:Tumor cell haptotaxis on covalently immobilized linear and exponential gradients of a cell adhesion peptide. 276 36

Elastin surrounds microvessels in the pulmonary circulation and may pose a barrier to the extravasation of metastatic tumor cells. We find that lung-colonizing murine melanoma cells produce an enzymatic activity that degrades elastin. In addition, the elastin fragments liberated by enzymatic digestion of insoluble elastin stimulate tumor cell chemotaxis. Chemotactic activity is associated with other forms of soluble elastin, including alpha-elastin and tropoelastin. Val-Gly-Val-Ala-Pro-Gly, a synthetic peptide that is a repeat sequence in the elastin molecule, also displayed tumor cell chemotactic activity. The ability to degrade elastin and to migrate in response to soluble elastin peptides is not a property of all tumor cells, but it is most commonly found associated with metastatic tumor cells that colonize pulmonary tissue. We postulate that the ability to migrate in response to elastin fragments may facilitate tumor cell invasion of elastin-rich pulmonary tissue.
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PMID:Tumor cell interactions with elastin: implications for pulmonary metastasis. 281 13

Adhesion to specific extracellular matrix molecules appears to be an important prerequisite for successful target organ colonization by metastasizing tumour cells. Interference in the adhesive function of malignant cells with antiadhesive agents is therefore one potential approach for preventing metastasis. Recently, synthetic peptides taken from the cell interaction sites of fibronectin have been characterized as inhibitors of cellular adhesion in vitro. Using these antiadhesive probes we have examined the role of cell adhesion to fibronectin in tumour metastasis using the B16-F10 murine melanoma model system. Two sequences from the IIICS cell-binding domain, the 25-mer CS1 peptide and the tetrapeptide Arg-Glu-Asp-Val (REDV), had no detectable activity, but the pentapeptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS), an active sequence from the central cell-binding domain, exhibited potent, dose-dependent inhibition, indicating a role for this cell recognition determinant in tumour metastasis. Under appropriate conditions GRGDS treatment afforded remarkable protection to the host; mice injected with melanoma cells and peptide were still alive 15 months after injection whereas mice injected with melanoma cells alone died within six weeks. Kinetic analyses of the retention of tumour cells in the lungs and of the vascular clearance rate of labelled GRGDS predict an early time frame of activity for the peptide. From the results of a variety of in vitro invasion and migration assays it appears that GRGDS may interfere with multiple, fibronectin-mediated adhesive and migratory events at different points of the metastatic cascade. In preliminary studies designed to optimize the therapeutic usefulness of GRGDS-like agents, peptide conjugates have been found to possess enhanced antiadhesive activity as well as an extended vascular clearance rate. In the future, therefore, these or related peptide derivatives may be potentially useful agents for the prevention of tumour metastasis.
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PMID:The cell interaction sites of fibronectin in tumour metastasis. 285 15

We have compared the molecular specificities of the adhesive interactions of melanoma and fibroblastic cells with fibronectin. Several striking differences were found in the sensitivity of the two cell types to inhibition by a series of synthetic peptides modeled on the Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (RGDS) tetrapeptide adhesion signal. Further evidence for differences between the melanoma and fibroblastic cell adhesion systems was obtained by examining adhesion to proteolytic fragments of fibronectin. Fibroblastic BHK cells spread readily on fl3, a 75-kD fragment representing the RGDS-containing, "cell-binding" domain of fibronectin, but B16-F10 melanoma cells could not. The melanoma cells were able to spread instead on f9, a 113-kD fragment derived from the large subunit of fibronectin that contains at least part of the type III connecting segment difference region (or "V" region); f7, a fragment from the small fibronectin subunit that lacks this alternatively spliced polypeptide was inactive. Monoclonal antibody and fl3 inhibition experiments confirmed the inability of the melanoma cells to use the RGDS sequence; neither molecule affected melanoma cell spreading, but both completely abrogated fibroblast adhesion. By systematic analysis of a series of six overlapping synthetic peptides spanning the entire type III connecting segment, a novel attachment site was identified in a peptide near the COOH-terminus of this region. The tetrapeptide sequence Arg-Glu-Asp-Val (REDV), which is somewhat related to RGDS, was present in this peptide in a highly hydrophilic region of the type III connecting segment. REDV appeared to be functionally important, since this synthetic tetrapeptide was inhibitory for melanoma cell adhesion to fibronectin but was inactive for fibroblastic cell adhesion. REDV therefore represents a novel adhesive recognition signal in fibronectin that possesses cell type specificity. These results suggest that, for some cell types, regulation of the adhesion-promoting activity of fibronectin may occur by alternative mRNA splicing.
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PMID:Identification of an alternatively spliced site in human plasma fibronectin that mediates cell type-specific adhesion. 302 21

The purpose of this study has been to compare collagen-gelatin degrading enzymes isolated from cancer cell organelles and cytosol to the metalloproteinases released by cancer cells. To this end, metastatic mouse melanoma cell organelles were isolated by sucrose density gradient centrifugation and metalloproteinases were assayed using native and denatured [methyl-3H]collagen substrates. Solubilized proteinases were purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, anion exchange, concanavalin A affinity and gel-filtration column chromatographic procedures and characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The conclusions were as follows: malignant melanoma cells have a metalloproteinase (Mr = 59,000) which is shed from cells into conditioned medium as a component of intact membrane vesicles rather than as a soluble enzyme; storage of tumor-conditioned medium leads to the generation of autoactivated soluble metalloproteinases of lower molecular weight; purification of these metalloproteinase species yielded variant collagenases that have considerable gelatinolytic activity and a cleavage preference site for the Gly-Ile bond in a collagen-like synthetic octapeptide substrate which is typical for collagenase-type metalloproteinases. It is proposed that localization of potent proteinases to the surface of cancer cells facilitates the local breakdown of connective tissues during the invasive process.
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PMID:Metastatic mouse melanoma cells release collagen-gelatin degrading metalloproteinases as components of shed membrane vesicles. 303 Apr 44

The experimental metastasis of B16-F10 murine melanoma cells is blocked by the anti-cell adhesive pentapeptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS) derived from the central cell-binding domain of fibronectin. In this report, we show that peptide treatment substantially extends the survival time for mice injected intravenously with B16-F10 cells (8/8 vs. 0/8 mice alive at 150 d), thereby demonstrating the potential efficacy of GRGDS treatment in protection against metastatic colonization. We have also examined the specificity of GRGDS activity by testing a series of related homologues for their effects on experimental metastasis. The overall profile of the relative inhibitory activities of these peptides closely matched their previously established capacity to disrupt adhesion in vitro. Lung retention studies with radiolabeled B16-F10 cells revealed an accelerated rate of cell loss from the lung 0-6 h after coinjection with the active peptide GRGDS. This early effect of GRGDS was consistent with its short circulatory half-life, which was found to be 8 min. Taken together, these results suggest that peptide-mediated inhibition of pulmonary colonization is due to interference with B16-F10 cell adhesion to structures in the target organ. Possible peptide interference in tumor cell-blood cell interactions was examined in order to assess (a) possible biological side-effects of peptide treatment and (b) whether such interactions might be an alternative mechanism for GRGDS-mediated inhibition of pulmonary colonization. GRGDS was found to retain full inhibitory activity when coinjected with B16-F10 cells into mice in which platelet function was impaired by acetylsalicylic acid treatment or into thrombocytopenic mice treated with antiplatelet serum (76-93% inhibition of colony formation). These data suggest that platelet involvement in the effects of the peptide is minimal. Similarly, GRGDS was also found to be a potent inhibitor of experimental metastasis in natural killer (NK) cell-deficient beige mice (86% inhibition), thereby discounting the possibility that GRGDS artifactually enhanced NK cell activity. We conclude as a result of these studies that cell-binding fibronectin peptides are specific inhibitors of experimental metastasis that prolong survival, that they appear to function by blocking the adhesion of B16-F10 cells to structures in the target organ, and that they do not appear to act through side effects on certain metastasis-related blood cell functions. In the future, derivatives of fibronectin peptides may be potentially useful prophylactic agents for interfering with the process of metastasis.
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PMID:Investigation of the biological effects of anti-cell adhesive synthetic peptides that inhibit experimental metastasis of B16-F10 murine melanoma cells. 334 38

Adhesive interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix occur at several stages of metastasis. Such interactions might be inhibited by synthetic peptide probes derived from the cell-binding regions of matrix molecules. Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS) is a pentapeptide sequence that appears to be critical for cell interaction with fibronectin. Coinjection of GRGDS with B16-F10 murine melanoma cells dramatically inhibited the formation of lung colonies in C57BL/6 mice. Two closely related control peptides, in which specific amino acids within the GRGDS sequence were transposed or substituted, displayed little or no activity. Inhibition by GRGDS was dose-dependent, noncytotoxic, and did not result from an impairment of cellular tumorigenicity. GRGDS may function by inhibiting tumor cell retention in the lung since radiolabeled B16-F10 tumor cells injected with the peptide were lost at a substantially greater rate than control cells.
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PMID:A synthetic peptide from fibronectin inhibits experimental metastasis of murine melanoma cells. 372 41


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