Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0034186 (pyelonephritis)
6,144 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pyelonephritis is a risk factor for renal tubular epithelial cell damage in children. The inter- and intracellular regulator nitric oxide (NO) plays a role in the modulation of cellular viability in urinary tract infections, but the role of the NO pathway in renal proximal tubular-cell death remains unclear. The present study demonstrates that, in renal epithelial cells undergoing death mediated by Escherichia coli strain ARD6 serotype O6K13H1 (O6), levels of the phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) proteins are up-regulated, but levels of endothelial NO synthase are down-regulated. When NO synthase (NOS) activity is inhibited by the specific inhibitor of NOS or mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase, cells are prevented from death. Moreover, down-regulating protein 53 (p53) does not prevent the cells from dying, although p53 is up-regulated in O6-exposed cells. Up-regulation of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 by sodium nitroprusside or by the specific activator hemin inhibits cell death. In conclusion, the activation of ERK mediates O6 toxin-mediated renal cell death via induction of iNOS. Stimulation of HO-1 protects cells against death.
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PMID:Activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase mediates apoptosis induced by uropathogenic Escherichia coli toxins via nitric oxide synthase: protective role of heme oxygenase-1. 1519 52

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are often caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli). Previous studies have demonstrated that up-regulation of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) may trigger a survival mechanism against renal cell death induced by E. coli toxins. The present study analyses the role of carbon monoxide (CO), an end product of HO-1, in the survival mechanism. Moreover, we identified hemolysin as a putative pro-apoptotic toxin in the E. coli supernatant. Tubular cells were incubated with CO in the presence or absence of E. coli toxins. Uropathogenic or transformants of non-pathogenic strains expressing hemolysin were used. We found that the survival pathway during E. coli infection might be activated by HO-1-derived production of CO. The protection by CO was also associated with up-regulation of p21 protein expression. Furthermore, we found that in children with pyelonephritis, all the E. coli strains expressing hemolysin induced apoptosis. In E. coli strains not expressing hemolysin, only 45% of the strains could induce apoptosis. In conclusion, generation of CO elicited by HO-1 could promote survival signaling in renal cells. Hemolysin is one of the secreted toxins that are involved in inducing apoptosis during UTI.
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PMID:Carbon monoxide prevents apoptosis induced by uropathogenic Escherichia coli toxins. 1638 91