Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027819 (neuroblastoma)
 27,800 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The beta1,4-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (beta1,4GalNAc-T) (EC) gene is expressed in normal brain tissues and in various malignant transformed cells, such as malignant melanoma, neuroblastoma, and adult T cell leukemia. To analyze the regulatory mechanisms of gene expression, we determined the genomic organization of the beta1, 4GalNAc-T gene. The gene consists of at least 11 exons and spans >8 kilobase pairs. The coding region is located in exons 2-11. To determine the transcription initiation sites, 5'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends analysis and ribonuclease protection assays were performed using RNA obtained from the human melanoma cell line SK-MEL-31. Consequently, we defined three transcription initiation sites and the alternative usage of three exons. Exons 1a and 1b partially overlap; the latter is part (3'-side) of the former and corresponds to the 5'-noncoding region of the cDNA clone previously isolated. The third transcript, exon 1c, corresponds to nucleotides -520 to -412 (position +1 = A of ATG of beta1,4GalNAc-T cDNA), which are considered to be in intron 1 based on the cloned cDNA sequence. Ribonuclease protection assays revealed the corresponding protection bands in samples of the gene-expressing cell lines. 5'-Flanking regions of individual initiation sites showed promoter activity when analyzed by chloramphenicol acetyltransferase assay in SK-MEL-31 cells. The multiple transcription initiation sites and their promoters/enhancers identified here might be differentially involved in the cell type-specific expression of the beta1,4GalNAc-T gene. This gene was assigned to human chromosome 12q13.3 by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization.
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PMID:Genomic organization and chromosomal assignment of the human beta1, 4-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase gene. Identification of multiple transcription units. 870 39

The promoter region of the alpha-subunit of the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (alpha-CaMKII) gene was inserted into a beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) reporter plasmid, and beta-gal activities were examined in neuroblastoma (NB2a) and pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells after transient or stable transfections. The alpha-CaMKII promoter was 12- to 45-fold more active in NB2a compared with PC12 cells after transient or stable transfections. All-trans retinoic acid (RA) stimulated reporter gene expression at both protein and mRNA levels in transfected PC12 cells. RA increased the level of endogenous alpha-CaMKII mRNA in untransfected PC12 cells by 4.4-fold. The transcription initiation site(s) (TIS) of the alpha-CaMKII gene in PC12 cells and rat brain was examined by RNase protection assays (RPA) and reverse transcriptase PCRs. The TIS for the alpha-CaMKII/beta-gal reporter gene in transfected PC12 cells was indistinguishable from the TIS+1 in rat hippocampus. In contrast, the only detectable TIS for the alpha-CaMKII gene in untransfected PC12 cells was located near the ATG translation start codon, 147 nucleotides 3' to TIS+1 in hippocampus. This unusual TIS was also the predominant TIS in rat cerebellum. These results suggest that the alpha-CaMKII promoter may contain sequences that respond directly or indirectly to RA. In addition, the unusual TIS of the alpha-CaMKII gene in PC12 cells and rat cerebellum may contribute to the very low expression of this gene compared with that in hippocampus.
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PMID:Retinoic acid stimulates alpha-CAMKII gene expression in PC12 cells at a distinct transcription initiation site. 879 26

The human D1A dopamine receptor gene has a GC-rich, TATA-less promoter located upstream of a small, noncoding exon 1, which is separated from the coding exon 2 by a 116-base pair (bp)-long intron. Serial 3'-deletions of the 5'-noncoding region of this gene, including the intron and 5'-end of exon 2, resulted in 80 and 40% decrease in transcriptional activity of the upstream promoter in two D1A-expressing neuroblastoma cell lines, SK-N-MC and NS20Y, respectively. To investigate the function of this region, the intron and 245 bp at the 5'-end of exon 2 were investigated. Transient expression analyses using various chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs showed that the transcriptional activity of the intron is higher than that of the upstream promoter by 12-fold in SK-N-MC cells and by 5.5-fold in NS20Y cells in an orientation-dependent manner, indicating that the D1A intron is a strong promoter. Primer extension and ribonuclease protection assays revealed that transcription driven by the intron promoter is initiated at the junction of intron and exon 2 and at a cluster of nucleotides located 50 bp downstream from this junction. The same transcription start sites are utilized by the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs employed in transfections as well as by the D1A gene expressed within the human caudate. The relative abundance of D1A transcripts originating from the upstream promoter compared with those transcribed from the intron promoter is 1.5-2.9 times in SK-N-MC cells and 2 times in the human caudate. Transcript stability studies in SK-N-MC cells revealed that longer D1A mRNA molecules containing exon 1 are degraded 1.8 times faster than shorter transcripts lacking exon 1. Although gel mobility shift assay could not detect DNA-protein interaction at the D1A intron, competitive co-transfection using the intron as competitor confirmed the presence of trans-acting factors at the intron. These data taken together indicate that the human D1A gene has two functional TATA-less promoters, both in D1A expressing cultured neuroblastoma cells and in the human striatum.
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PMID:Two distinct promoters drive transcription of the human D1A dopamine receptor gene. 881 Feb 92

The presence of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) in SK-N-SH human neuroblastoma cells was investigated by immunocytochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays of whole cell extracts and culture medium. In addition, ribonuclease protection assays were utilized to quantitate LHRH messenger RNA. The expression of LHRH mRNA and LHRH protein level was correlated with neuronal differentiation induced by retinoic acid (RA). In differentiated SK-N-SH cells the LHRH mRNA level as well as the amount of LHRH in cell extracts and cell medium were significantly lower than in differentiated cells. These results suggest that RA affects the expression of LHRH mRNA and the level of LHRH protein in SK-N-SH cells. These data show that altering the growth state of the human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells toward more neuronal phenotype results in a significant decrease in expression of LHRH mRNA and the protein. The ability of RA to induce changes in LHRH at the mRNA and at the peptide levels will allow further study of RA regulation of LHRH at the neuronal level.
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PMID:Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone in undifferentiated and differentiated SK-N-SH human neuroblastoma cells. 886 5

The occurrence of multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the main obstacles in the successful chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer. MDR cell lines are resistant to the so-called naturally occurring anti-cancer drugs, such as anthracyclines, Vinca alkaloids and epipodophyllotoxins, but are not cross-resistant to alkylating agents, antimetabolites and cisplatin. So far, three separate forms of MDR have been characterized in more detail: classical MDR, non-Pgp MDR and atypical MDR. Although all three MDR phenotypes have much in common with respect to cross-resistance patterns, the underlying mechanisms certainly differ. Atypical MDR is associated with quantitative and qualitative alterations in topoisomerase II alpha, a nuclear enzyme that actively participates in the lethal action of cytotoxic drugs. Atypical MDR cells do not overexpress P-glycoprotein, and are unaltered in their ability to accumulate drugs. In this review we will focus on classical and non-Pgp MDR. The molecular mechanism of classical and non-Pgp MDR is transcriptional activation of membrane-bound transport proteins. These transport proteins belong to the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of transport systems. The classical MDR phenotype is characterized by a reduced ability to accumulate drugs, due to activity of an energy-dependent uni-directional, membrane-bound, drug-efflux pump with broad substrate specificity. The classical MDR drug pump is composed of a transmembrane glycoprotein (P-glyco-protein-Pgp) with a molecular weight of 170 kD, and is, in man, encoded by the so-called multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene. Typically, non-Pgp MDR has no P-gly-coprotein expression, yet has about the same cross-resistance pattern as classical MDR. This non-Pgp MDR phenotype is caused by overexpression of the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) gene, which encodes a 190 kD membrane-bound glycoprotein (MRP). MRP probably works by direct extrusion of cytotoxic drugs from the cell and/or by mediating sequestration of the drugs into intracellular compartments, both leading to a reduction in effective intracellular drug concentrations. For the classical MDR phenotype, evidence is accumulating that it plays a role indeed, in clinical drug resistance, especially in some hematological malignancies (acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) and solid tumors (soft tissue sarcomas and neuroblastoma). The association of MRP with clinical drug resistance has not been elaborated, yet, and studies on MRP expression in human cancer have just begun. We found that overexpression of MRP, as determined by RNase protection assay as well as by immunohistochemistry, occurs in several human cancers, among which are cancer of the lung, esophagus, breast and ovary, and leukemias. Further studies are indicated to establish whether elevated MRP expression at diagnosis is an unfavorable prognostic factor for clinical outcome of chemotherapy.
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PMID:Molecular mechanisms of multidrug resistance in cancer chemotherapy. 888 Aug 78

The adult ventricular isoform of chicken myosin heavy chain (MHC-V) is transiently expressed in all skeletal muscle primordia analyzed and is completely repressed around embryonic days 10-12, when functional innervation is established. By ribonuclease protection assay, we demonstrated that denervation of the adult anterior latissimus dorsi muscle resulted in reexpression of MHC-V mRNA. In contrast, treatment of primary cultures of fetal breast or leg muscles with embryonic brain extract or conditioned media from glial or neuroblastoma cell lines, but not from a myogenic cell line or primary muscle cell cultures, led to inhibition of MHC-V expression. This inhibitory activity was abolished by heating and increased with protein concentration. The acquisition of both brain inhibitory activity and the competence of myogenic cells to downregulate MHC-V mRNA expression were age dependent. Furthermore, either paralysis of muscle in ovo by curare or contraction arrest of cultured myotubes resulted in persistent expression of MHC-V mRNA. Thus a putative soluble factor(s) of nerve origin as well as muscle activity are involved in the developmental downregulation of MHC-V expression in muscle primordia.
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PMID:Developmental shift of myosin heavy chain mRNA expression due to neural factor(s) and muscle activity. 889 42

As an initial approach to define the regulatory elements and transcriptional factors that account for cell-restricted expression of the alpha2c-adrenergic receptor (AR) gene, we isolated and characterized the receptor gene and identified regions of the gene conferring cell-specific expression. A 4300-nucleotide (nt) fragment of the 5'-flanking region of the rat alpha2c-AR gene was isolated from a genomic library. The genomic sequence contained the uninterrupted sequence of the 5'-untranslated region of a previously isolated alpha2c-AR cDNA clone indicating the lack of introns in the 5' gene segment. RNase protection assays and/or RNA blot analysis indicated the expression of alpha2c-AR mRNA in rat brain but not in kidney or liver, which is consistent with the major expression of this gene in neuronal tissue. The 5' gene segment was used to identify sites of transcriptional initiation and promoter activity by RNase protection assays and transient transfection of reporter gene constructs. With the use of RNA probes progressively upstream of the translational start site, RNase protection assays with rat brain total RNA indicated multiple sites of transcriptional initiation within a approximately 70-nt span (-660 to -730 nt 5' to the translational start codon). The zone of transcriptional initiation was part of a larger GC-rich area of the 5' gene segment that is a characteristic of genes initiating transcripts at multiple sites. The promoter activity of this zone of transcriptional initiation and the influence of gene segments 5' to this area were addressed using chloramphenicol acetyl transferase reporter gene constructs. Transient transfection of reporter gene constructs indicated that a 96-nt gene fragment (-699/-603 relative to the translational start codon) was sufficient to direct transcription in the neuroblastoma X glioma hybrid cell line NG108-15, a cell line expressing the endogenous alpha2c-AR. Promoter activity was not observed in constructs lacking the zone of transcriptional initiation. The promoter segment was inactive when introduced into the rat glioma cell line C6B4, the rat submandibular cell line RSMT-A5, and the rat pancreatic beta cell line RIN-5AH, all of which do not express the endogenous alpha2c-AR gene. Upon incubation with nuclear extracts, a 129-nt fragment encompassing the promoter exhibited a gel mobility shift pattern that was specific for cells expressing the receptor protein and involved a nuclear protein that recognized a Sp1 oligonucleotide. These data indicate that a 96-nt gene promoter segment of the alpha2c-AR gene functions in a cell-type-specific manner.
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PMID:Analysis of the alpha2C-adrenergic receptor gene promoter and its cell-type-specific activity. 896 63

We have used SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells as a model for differentiating neurons to examine the mechanisms that regulate responses to the neuropoietic cytokine ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF). Retinoic acid and 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) each induced differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells. Cells treated for 24 h with retinoic acid (10 microM) showed a threefold increase in 125I-CNTF binding sites and were up to five times more sensitive to CNTF than untreated cells in stimulating the tyrosine phosphorylation of the transcription factor STAT3. TPA (10 nM) induced a transient 42% decrease in 125I-CNTF binding sites after 4 h of treatment that recovered to near control levels after 7 h of continuous exposure. TPA-treated cells showed a decreased sensitivity to CNTF and a sevenfold decrease in levels of STAT3. The retinoic acid-induced increase in 125I-CNTF binding could be prevented by administration of either cycloheximide or actinomycin D, whereas neither agent altered the TPA-induced decrease in 125I-CNTF binding. In addition, levels of mRNA for both the CNTF receptor alpha and gp130 subunits increased twofold as measured by RNase protection after treatment with retinoic acid for 30 h. The increase in CNTF receptor alpha subunit mRNA was not due to a decrease in its turnover rate, and therefore, was likely due to an increase in gene expression. Thus, retinoic acid and TPA regulate CNTF receptors on neuroblastoma cells differently, and the results demonstrate the importance of transcriptional control of CNTF receptors and also implicate translational and post-translational mechanisms in the regulation of cytokine receptors and responses on neurons.
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PMID:Opposing regulation of ciliary neurotrophic factor receptors on neuroblastoma cells by distinct differentiating agents. 898 65

Melanocortins (MC), neuropeptides derived from pro-opiomelanocortin, have been implicated in enhancing neurite outgrowth via an as yet unknown mechanism. Recently, five MC receptors have been identified, three of which, the MC3-R, the MC4-R and the MC5-R, are expressed in the nervous system. In this study, alpha-MSH and the melanocortin analog [D-Phe7]ACTH (4-10) were able to stimulate neurite outgrowth in the neuroblastoma cell line Neuro 2A. ACTH (4-10), gamma2-MSH and ORG2766 were inactive. In addition, the MC4-R antagonist [D-Arg8]ACTH (4-10), inhibited the alpha-MSH effect, indicating that the MC4-R mediated stimulation of neurite outgrowth by alpha-MSH. Indeed, the presence of MC4-R mRNA in Neuro 2A cells was demonstrated by a RNase protection assay. Heterologous expression of the MC5-R in Neuro 2A cells lead to the recruitment of a responsiveness to gamma2-MSH, but did not increase the effect of alpha-MSH on neurite outgrowth. This finding indicated that the function of MC4-R can also be exerted by another MC receptor, suggesting that the coupling to Gs, which they have in common, plays an essential role in the neurite outgrowth promoting effect. This was further substantiated by the fact that forskolin treatment per se induced neurite outgrowth in a similar fashion. These data imply that the neurotrophic properties of alpha-MSH are likely to result from Gs-coupled MC receptor activity in neuronal cells.
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PMID:Melanocortin receptors mediate alpha-MSH-induced stimulation of neurite outgrowth in neuro 2A cells. 901 63

It is now clearly established that alpha-2 adrenergic receptors can be subdivided in three pharmacological subtypes (alpha-2A, alpha-2B and alpha-2C) encoded by distinct genes (alpha 2C10, alpha 2C2 and alpha 2C4, respectively, in humans). Whereas the study of the regulation of the human alpha-2A adrenergic receptor and of the promoter region of the alpha 2C10 gene has being greatly helped by the availability of the colon carcinoma cell line HT29, the study of the other human receptor subtypes has thus far been limited to homologous desensitization/down-regulation in transfected cells, because of the lack of human cellular models constitutively-expressing alpha-2B or alpha-2C adrenergic receptors. Several human cell lines were thus screened, in an attempt to find such models. Radioligand binding studies with [3H]RX821002 and [3H]MK912, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions and RNase mapping experiments with pairs of primers and riboprobes specific for each subtype demonstrated that the hepatoma cell line HepG2 and the neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-MC possess alpha-2 adrenergic receptors of the alpha-2C subtype. However, whereas HepG2 expresses exclusively alpha-2C receptors (55 +/- 7 fmol of [3H]MK912 binding sites/mg of protein), SK-N-MC expresses both alpha-2A and alpha-2C subtypes in fairly similar amounts (20 +/- 8 and 23 +/- 3 fmol of [3H]MK912 binding sites/mg of protein, respectively). The study of the inhibition of 3H-labeled antagonist binding by UK14304 demonstrated that a fraction of the receptor population was coupled to pertussis toxin-sensitive G-proteins, which were identified as Gi2 and Gi3 by immunoblotting. The alpha-2 agonist was, moreover, able to decrease forskolin-stimulated cAMP production by 47% in HepG2 and 23% in SK-N-MC, demonstrating that inhibition of adenylyl cyclase is one of the primary mechanisms of signal transduction in both cell lines. HepG2 and SK-N-MC are the first human cell lines unquestionably shown to natively express alpha-2C adrenergic receptors. The discovery of these two models may be useful for future study of the regulation of alpha 2C4 gene expression in cells of different origins and investigation of the reciprocal regulation of alpha-2A and alpha-2C subtype in single cells.
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PMID:HepG2 and SK-N-MC: two human models to study alpha-2 adrenergic receptors of the alpha-2C subtype. 915 9


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