Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0033036 (APC)
 10,214 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A unique feature of colon cancer is that truncation mutations in the APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) gene are common to most tumours. The high penetrance of APC mutations, especially in gut epithelium, supports the idea that APC may be involved in a number of the processes that govern the normal maintenance of this tissue: differentiation, migration, proliferation and apoptosis. Indeed, APC is involved in the regulation of beta-catenin and it also is an important regulator of the cytoskeleton. Thus mutations in APC lead to the accumulation of beta-catenin, which causes changes in differentiation, and they also produce changes in cytoskeletal organization, which results in altered cell migration and disrupted mitotic spindles. The function of APC in cytoskeletal organization is related to its effect on microtubules and F-actin. Depleting APC from cultured cells leads to changes in cytoskeletal organization. In addition, N-terminal fragments of APC, like those commonly found in tumours, compromise cell migration in Dictyostelium and in early developing chicken embryos. Consistent with the idea that such dominant effects are normally balanced by interactions within the full-length molecule, protein interactions of N-terminal fragments expressed in tumour cells can be altered by binding to C-terminal regions of APC commonly lost in tumours. This review summarizes effects of APC on the cytoskeleton and discusses how these functions of APC may contribute to its role in cancer.
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PMID:Relationship between the role of the adenomatous polyposis coli protein in colon cancer and its contribution to cytoskeletal regulation. 1604 76

Mathematical modelling forms a key component of systems biology, offering insights that complement and stimulate experimental studies. In this review, we illustrate the role of theoretical models in elucidating the mechanisms involved in normal intestinal crypt dynamics and colorectal cancer. We discuss a range of modelling approaches, including models that describe cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, crypt fission, genetic instability, APC inactivation and tumour heterogeneity. We focus on the model assumptions, limitations and applications, rather than on the technical details. We also present a new stochastic model for stem-cell dynamics, which predicts that, on average, APC inactivation occurs more quickly in the stem-cell pool in the absence of symmetric cell division. This suggests that natural niche succession may protect stem cells against malignant transformation in the gut. Finally, we explain how we aim to gain further understanding of the crypt system and of colorectal carcinogenesis with the aid of multiscale models that cover all levels of organization from the molecular to the whole organ.
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PMID:Crypt dynamics and colorectal cancer: advances in mathematical modelling. 1667 95

An increase in the tempo of local dendritic cell (DC)-mediated immune surveillance is a recognized feature of the response to acute inflammation at airway mucosal surfaces, and transient up-regulation of the APC functions of these DC preceding their emigration to regional lymph nodes has recently been identified as an important trigger for T cell-mediated airway tissue damage in diseases such as asthma. In this study, using a rat model, we demonstrate that the kinetics of the airway mucosal DC (AMDC) response to challenge with heat-killed bacteria is considerably more rapid and as a consequence more effectively compartmentalized than that in recall responses to soluble Ag. Notably, Ag-bearing AMDC expressing full APC activity reach regional lymph nodes within 30 min of cessation of microbial exposure, and in contrast to recall responses to nonpathogenic Ags, there is no evidence of local expression of APC activity within the airway mucosa preceding DC emigration. We additionally demonstrate that, analogous to that reported in the gut, a subset of airway intraepithelial DC extend their processes into the airway lumen. This function is constitutively expressed within the AMDC population, providing a mechanism for continuous immune surveillance of the airway luminal surface in the absence of "danger" signals.
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PMID:Accelerated antigen sampling and transport by airway mucosal dendritic cells following inhalation of a bacterial stimulus. 1705 10

Little is known about the molecular pathogenesis of neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of the gastro-entero-pancreatic (GEP) system. We analyzed genetic and epigenetic alterations as well as the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP). The study comprised 118 well-differentiated fore- and mid-gut GEP-NET from 71 patients. In addition to loss of heterozygosity (LOH), microsatellite instability (MSI) and the methylation status of various tumor associated genes were examined. The expression profile of p16, APC and MENIN was investigated by immunohistochemistry. None of the tumors was highly microsatellite unstable, LOH was found in 22.2%. Significant differences in promoter hypermethylation were identified in the RUNX3 and the O(6)-MGMT genes. We found a significant loss of p16 expression in insulinomas (p = 0.05) and functional NET (p = 0.01), respectively. APC was expressed less in gastrinomas (p = 0.01) and functional GEP-NET (p = 0.05) vs. nonfunctional tumors. MENIN expression was reduced in pancreatic vs. extrapancreatic NET (p = 0.008) and in insulinomas vs. nonfunctional GEP-NET (p = 0.019) and NET associated with the carcinoid syndrome (p = 0.029). Further CIMP and a Ki-67 index >10% showed a close correlation. Outcome analysis of 19 patients showed a better survival for CIMP-negative patients. The analyses identified significant genetic and epigenetic alterations in well-differentiated fore- and mid-gut NET. CIMP, similar to Ki-67, might turn out to be of prognostic relevance.
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PMID:Analysis of molecular pathways in sporadic neuroendocrine tumors of the gastro-entero-pancreatic system. 1727 96

Prions represent a new class of infectious agents. The pathogenic prion protein (PrPSc) is known as the trigger of bovine transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). By contrast, an oral transmission of PrPSc and an ensuing infection seems to be blocked in non-ruminants such as pigs. Several investigations postulate that the ribosomal protein SA (RPSA) previously named 37-kDa laminin receptor precursor (LRP)/67-kDa laminin receptor (LR) is the candidate for binding and internalization of externally added cellular prion protein in the gut. We isolated a porcine ribosomal protein SA cDNA that consists of 1064 bp with an open reading frame of 885 bp encoding a 295 aa protein. The alignment of vertebrate ribosomal protein SA sequences displayed interspecies differences between cattle and pigs at positions 241 and 272 in the putative indirect PrP interaction site (aa 180-285) on RPSA. A PAC library screen revealed the existence of two processed ribosomal protein SA pseudogenes (RPSAP1 and RPSAP3) and of one non-processed pseudogene (RPSAP2). The pseudogenes have been assigned to SSC6 and SSC1 by hybrid panel analyses and FISH. Compared with the porcine cDNA 3, 7, and 13 insdels, 36, 25, and 57 single nucleotide exchanges and 6, 10, and 8 premature stop codons have been deciphered for RPSAP1, RPSAP2, and RPSAP3. In the 5', 3', and intron like regions, 2 (RPSAP1), 10 (RPSAP2), and 4 (RPSAP3) repeats have been detected. Basically, the repeats belong to one of the class/family LINE/L1, SINE/tRNA-Glu and DNA/MER1_type. We conclude that the pig genome contains multiple copies of the RPSA sequence probably as a consequence to maintain the multifunctionality of the mature protein.
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PMID:Characterization of the porcine multicopy ribosomal protein SA/37-kDa laminin receptor gene family. 1743 68

Histone deacetylases (HDAC) reverse the acetylation of histone and nonhistone proteins and thereby modulate chromatin structure and function of nonhistone proteins. Many tumor cell lines and experimental tumors respond to HDAC inhibition. To assess the role of an individual HDAC isoenzyme in physiology and tumor development, HDAC2-mutant mice were generated from a gene trap embryonic stem cell clone. These mice express a catalytically inactive fusion protein of the NH(2)-terminal part of HDAC2 and beta-galactosidase, which fails to integrate into corepressor complexes with mSin3B. They are the first class 1 HDAC mutant mice that are viable although they are approximately 25% smaller than their littermates. Cell number and thickness of intestinal mucosa are reduced. Mutant embryonic fibroblasts fail to respond to insulin-like growth factor I (IGF) by the IGF-I-induced increase in cell number observed in wild-type cells. These data suggest a novel link between HDACs and IGF-I-dependent responses. Crossing of HDAC2-mutant with tumor-prone APC(min) mice revealed tumor rates that are lower in HDAC2-deficient mice by 10% to 100% depending on segment of the gut and sex of the mice. These mice provide evidence that the key functions of HDAC2, although not essential for survival of the organism, play a rate-limiting role for tumor development in vivo.
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PMID:Reduced body size and decreased intestinal tumor rates in HDAC2-mutant mice. 1790 8

The T cell receptor is a fundamental mediator of the adaptive immune responses, since TR alphabeta on T cells recognize foreign structures (peptides derived from processed antigens) bound to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on APC cells. In the present study, we report the cloning of six TRB chains cDNA sequences from gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), a fish of high economical impact in South Mediterranean aquaculture. The V-BETA domains have the canonical features of known teleost and mammalian TR V-BETA domains and have been divided in four different subgroups. A multiple alignment of the six sea bream TRB chains with other known TRB sequences was assembled and showed the conservation of the four cysteine residues involved in disulphide bonds and of some amino acids with an important role in the assembly and signalling of the TR alphabeta/CD3 complex. Real-time PCR analysis was used to investigate TRB basal expression, that was maximum in the thymus followed by gut, and TRB in vitro expression after stimulation with LPS or PHA-L at 4 and 24h (only the 4h stimulation with LPS gave a significant effect). Moreover, the 3D structures of sea bream TRB chains and MHC-I were predicted by homology modelling with the final aim to investigate the interaction surface in the V-BETA/MHC-I complexes.
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PMID:T cell receptor beta chain from sea bream (Sparus aurata): molecular cloning, expression and modelling of the complexes with MHC class I. 1803 19

Mesenteric lymph node (MLN) in gut-associated lymphoid tissue plays obligatory roles in the induction of oral tolerance and ignorance to commensals. However, little is known about its immunological characteristics. In this study, we investigated the hypo-responsiveness of MLN CD4(+) T cells, comparing them with spleen CD4(+) T cells. MLN CD4(+) T cells were hypo-proliferative and expressed low levels of Th1-type cytokines in response to antigen or CD3/T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. The hypo-responsiveness of MLN CD4(+) T cells is linked neither with changes in the regulatory T cell population (CD4(+)CD25(+), CD4(+)Foxp3(+)) nor the apoptotic population. Rather, MLN CD4(+) T cells showed deformity of T cell:APC conjugation and reduced expression of TCR signaling molecules such as CD3zeta, PLC-gamma1, PKC-theta, Zap70, with reduced phosphorylation of immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs). Among the alterations in TCR signaling molecules, defective CD3zeta expression is the most evident, and reversal of the anergic state by CD3/CD28 costimulation restored CD3zeta expression levels. Collectively, we suggest that reduced CD3zeta expression and defects in TCR signaling mediate the anergy state of MLN CD4(+) T cells, which play a critical role in maintenance of mucosal tolerance in gut-associated lymphoid tissue.
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PMID:Defect in TCR-CD3zeta signaling mediates T cell hypo-responsiveness in mesenteric lymph node. 1861 76

To reach the mammalian gut, enteric bacteria must pass through the stomach. Many such organisms survive exposure to the harsh gastric environment (pH 1.5-4) by mounting extreme acid-resistance responses, one of which, the arginine-dependent system of Escherichia coli, has been studied at levels of cellular physiology, molecular genetics and protein biochemistry. This multiprotein system keeps the cytoplasm above pH 5 during acid challenge by continually pumping protons out of the cell using the free energy of arginine decarboxylation. At the heart of the process is a 'virtual proton pump' in the inner membrane, called AdiC, that imports L-arginine from the gastric juice and exports its decarboxylation product agmatine. AdiC belongs to the APC superfamily of membrane proteins, which transports amino acids, polyamines and organic cations in a multitude of biological roles, including delivery of arginine for nitric oxide synthesis, facilitation of insulin release from pancreatic beta-cells, and, when inappropriately overexpressed, provisioning of certain fast-growing neoplastic cells with amino acids. High-resolution structures and detailed transport mechanisms of APC transporters are currently unknown. Here we describe a crystal structure of AdiC at 3.2 A resolution. The protein is captured in an outward-open, substrate-free conformation with transmembrane architecture remarkably similar to that seen in four other families of apparently unrelated transport proteins.
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PMID:Structure of a prokaryotic virtual proton pump at 3.2 A resolution. 1957 61

Intestinal APCs are considered critical in maintaining the balance between the response against harmful pathogens and the induction of tolerance to commensal bacteria and food Ags. Recently, several studies indicated the presence of gut-specific APC subsets, which possess both macrophage and dendritic cell (DC) markers. These unique APC subsets play important roles in gut immunity, especially for immune regulation against commensal bacteria. Herein, we examined a unique macrophage subset, which coexpressed the macrophage (Mphi) marker CD14 and the DC marker CD209 in human intestinal lamina propria (LP). The LP Mphi subset in both normal control subjects or Crohn's disease (CD) patients induced proliferation of naive CD4(+) T cells as well as monocyte-derived DCs, and it expressed retinoic acid synthetic enzyme retinaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 and retinol dehydrogenase 10, which induced expression of gut homing receptors on T cells in a retinoic acid-dependent manner. Moreover, the LP Mphi subset strongly evoked differentiation of Th1 cells and slightly induced Th17 cells in both normal control subjects and CD patients; the inducing potential was highest in CD patients. In CD patients, Th17, but not Th1, induction by the LP Mphi subset was enhanced in the presence of commensal bacteria Ags. This enhancement was not observed in normal control subjects. The Th17 induction by the LP Mphi subset was inhibited by neutralization of IL-6 and IL-1beta, but it was enhanced by blockade of retinoic acid signaling. These observations highlight a role for LP Mphi in the enhanced Th1, and potentially in Th17 differentiation, at the inflammatory site of inflammatory bowel diseases.
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PMID:Human CD14+ macrophages in intestinal lamina propria exhibit potent antigen-presenting ability. 1959 47


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