Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0035412 (rhabdomyosarcoma)
 6,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The control of myogenin (Myf-4), one of the muscle-specific regulatory proteins, is particularly interesting since its expression appears obligatory in myoblasts at the onset of differentiation. We isolated the human Myf-4 (myogenin) gene and determined promoter elements which direct cell type-specific expression and are subject to transactivation by the muscle transcription factors Myf-5 and MyoD1 in fibroblasts. Extrinsic signals such as serum components and purified growth factors or potential intracellular signals such as cAMP down-regulate transcription of the myogenin gene. Constitutive expression of the catalytic subunit of PKA completely suppresses transactivation of the myogenin promoter by Myf-5 or MyoD1 suggesting that cAMP may act via phosphorylation by PKA. In contrast to normal myogenic cell lines in which differentiation and myogenin expression can be induced by the removal of serum components, retinoic acid (RA) is required for differentiation in the rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line BA-Han-1C. This model system was utilized to investigate factors which influence the balance between the transformed state and differentiation. Administration of retinoic acid to BA-Han-1C cells leads to the accumulation of myogenin mRNA approximately 48 h after the addition of RA. This late induction requires ongoing protein- and DNA-synthesis suggesting that trans- and cis-acting factors may be involved in the control. The critical involvement of myogenin in the process of terminal muscle differentiation was also demonstrated in the rat L6 muscle cell line which has been blocked for differentiation by the transforming protein E1a of Ad5 adenovirus. In cells which stably express E1a, myogenin expression is completely suppressed while Myf-5 continues to be synthesized normally. However, E1a inhibits the transactivator function of Myf-5, as demonstrated on GAL4-Myf5 chimeric proteins. A possible interpretation of this result is that Myf-5 or factors activated by Myf-5 are required for the expression of myogenin and myogenin itself is necessary for the terminal differentiation of myoblasts.
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PMID:Regulation of myogenin expression in normal and transformed myogenic cell lines. 134 Oct 49

The transactivator (tat) gene of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) plays an essential role in the replication cycle of HIV. Previous studies have evaluated the extent and mechanistic aspects of tat-mediated transactivation using lymphoid and adherent non-lymphoid cells. We have exploited the transactivation property of the tat gene to achieve high levels of hybrid HIV resulting from recombination between HIV DNAs. For this purpose, we have generated stably transformed human rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell lines expressing tat gene product of HIV-1. Functional analysis of the cell lines for the presence of tat protein by transfecting HIV-long terminal repeat (LTR) linked to chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) revealed low, moderate, and high tat producer cell lines. RD-tat cell lines also showed enhanced virus production upon transfection of HIV-1 proviral DNA. Further, tat producer cell lines showed a high amount of hybrid virus in comparison to the control RD cells upon transfection of truncated viral DNAs. Thus, RD-tat cell lines would be valuable target cells for generating homogeneous viruses upon transfection of viral DNA.
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PMID:Development of RD-tat cell lines: use in HIV recombination studies. 212 54

Summary. Insulin is known to inhibit glucose-6-phosphatase gene expression through PI 3-kinase/PKB mediated phosphorylation and inactivation of the forkhead transcription factor FKHR, which is a potent transactivator of the glucose-6-phosphatase gene. To study the function and regulation of the transcription factor FKHR in hepatic cells, we constructed a hydroxytamoxifen-inducible version of FKHR by fusing a part of the hormone binding domain of the estrogen receptor (ER) to the C-terminus of FKHR (FKHR-ER). In HepG2-cells transiently transfected with plasmids encoding the FKHR-ER fusion protein and a glucose-6-phosphatase reporter construct, hydroxytamoxifen induced a marked induction of glucose-6-phosphatase promoter activity, whereas no effect was observed in control cells. We next generated a H4IIEC3 rat hepatoma cell line stably expressing both FKHR-ER and a glucose-6-phosphatase promoter-based reporter construct. After 2h stimulation with hydroxytamoxifen, the promoter activity was stimulated 3-5 fold, and continued to increase up to 100-fold after 15 h. The response was half maximal at 0.5 microM hydroxytamoxifen. Insulin (1 nM) decreased the hydroxytamoxifen induced promoter activity by about 70% of the maximal response. This cell system can be used for (1) the identification of FKHR dependent genes and for (2) high throughput screening (HTS) of agents affecting the activity of FKHR and its regulation by insulin. Abbreviations used: FKHR, forkhead in rhabdomyosarcoma; G6Pase, glucose-6-phosphatase; PKB, protein kinase B; PI 3-kinase, phosphatidyl-inositol 3-kinase; IRU, insulin-responsive unit; Tx, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, ER, estrogen receptor; HBD, hormone binding domain
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PMID:Construction and characterization of a conditionally active construct of the insulin-regulated forkhead transcription factor FKHR. 1237 35

Bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) is a gammaherpesvirus with no clear disease association, it establishes persistent infections in its natural host, the bovine, and in an experimental host, the rabbit. BoHV-4 immediate early 2 (IE2) RNA is the less abundant, spliced, 1.8 kb RNA. The predicted amino acid sequence, of the IE2 protein, reveals that it could encode a 61 kDa protein with amino acid sequence homology to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) transactivator R protein and its homologues including, herpesvirus saimiri (HVS), equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2), murine herpesvirus 68 and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). We examined recently the interaction of BoHV-4 with a human rhabdomyosarcoma cell line, RD-4, and found that although some infectious viruses can be produced, no cytopathic effect (CPE) was observed [J. Gen. Virol. 81 (2000) 1807]. Because IE2 could play a critical role in BoHV-4 productive infection and its overexpression in RD-4 cells could switch the non-permissive RD-4 status to a permissive one. RD-4 cells expressing stably BoHV-4 IE2 gene were generated. BoHV-4 IE2 induced an increased production of infectious viral particles sufficient to obtain an apparent cytopathic effect. It is concluded that BoHV-4 IE2 is a key factor in determining the outcome of BoHV-4 infection.
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PMID:Activation of bovine herpesvirus 4 lytic replication in a non-permissive cell line by overexpression of BoHV-4 immediate early (IE) 2 gene. 1473 89