Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038002 (splenomegaly)
 9,873 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

RelB, originally identified as an immediate early gene product, is a member of the Rel/NF-kappa B family of transcription factors important for the regulation of genes involved in immune and inflammatory processes. RelB by itself is inactive due to its inability to homodimerize and to bind to kappa B sequences. However, in the presence of the Rel/NF-kappa B proteins p50 or p52, RelB is a potent transactivator. Transcriptional activation domains were identified in the NH2 and COOH termini of RelB separated by the approximately 300 amino acids spanning the Rel homogy domain (RHD). The last 120 amino acids of this domain are necessary for the dimerization of RelB and were analyzed in detail by in vitro mutagenesis. RelB forms complexes with p50 and p52 but not with RelA and c-Rel. In contrast to RelA-containing complexes, RelB-containing complexes are only weakly inhibited in their activity by I kappa B alpha. Furthermore, in lymphoid tissues RelB is not associated with I kappa B alpha. In contrast to other members of the Rel/NF-kappa B family, high expression of RelB is limited to interdigitating dendritic cells. Mice with a targeted disrupted relB locus show phenotypic abnormalities including multifocal, mixed inflammatory cell infiltration in several organs, myeloid hyperplasia, splenomegaly due to extramedullary hematopoiesis, and a reduced population of thymic dendritic cells.
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PMID:RelB, a member of the Rel/NF-kappa B family of transcription factors. 907 Mar 78

Human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) or its transcriptional transactivator, Tax1, was introduced into a human osteosarcoma cell line, HOS, and a Moloney murine sarcoma virus-positive HOS cell line, S+L-HOS. These HTLV-I- or Tax1-expressing cells were injected subcutaneously into nude mice to investigate the effects of HTLV-I on their tumorigenicities. HOS cells did not form any tumors even in the presence of HTLV-I or Tax1. S+L-HOS cells did form small tumors in two-thirds of nude mice. Infection of S+L-HOS cells with HTLV-I, or transduction of Tax1 into S+L-HOS cells markedly facilitated the tumor formation, and the tumor-bearing mice showed marked splenomegaly and neutrophilia. Elevated levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) were detected in sera of these mice and also in the culture supernatants of Tax1-expressing human cells, suggesting that G-CSF in the mouse sera was produced by the human cells. In sera of some mice with splenomegaly and neutrophilia, high levels of murine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (mGM-CSF) were observed, suggesting that Tax1 produced by human cells induced mouse cells to produce mGM-CSF. Only S+L-HOS cell lines expressing Tax1 showed high tumorigenicity in nude mice. Thus, this system will be a useful model of tumor formation, splenomegaly and neutrophilia dependent on Tax1.
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PMID:Rapid tumor formation and development of neutrophilia and splenomegaly in nude mice transplanted with human cells expressing human T cell leukemia virus type I or Tax1. 1094 44

Gammaherpesviruses infect lymphocytes and cause lymphocytic cancers. Murid herpesvirus-4 (MuHV-4), Epstein-Barr virus, and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus all infect B cells. Latent infection can spread by B cell recirculation and proliferation, but whether this alone achieves systemic infection is unclear. To test the need of MuHV-4 for lytic infection in B cells, we flanked its essential ORF50 lytic transactivator with loxP sites and then infected mice expressing B cell-specific Cre (CD19-Cre). The floxed virus replicated normally in Cre- mice. In CD19-Cre mice, nasal and lymph node infections were maintained; but there was little splenomegaly, and splenic virus loads remained low. Cre-mediated removal of other essential lytic genes gave a similar phenotype. CD19-Cre spleen infection by intraperitoneal virus was also impaired. Therefore, MuHV-4 had to emerge lytically from B cells to colonize the spleen. An important role for B cell lytic infection in host colonization is consistent with the large CD8+ T cell responses made to gammaherpesvirus lytic antigens during infectious mononucleosis and suggests that vaccine-induced immunity capable of suppressing B cell lytic infection might reduce long-term virus loads.IMPORTANCE Gammaherpesviruses cause B cell cancers. Most models of host colonization derive from cell cultures with continuous, virus-driven B cell proliferation. However, vaccines based on these models have worked poorly. To test whether proliferating B cells suffice for host colonization, we inactivated the capacity of MuHV-4, a gammaherpesvirus of mice, to reemerge from B cells. The modified virus was able to colonize a first wave of B cells in lymph nodes but spread poorly to B cells in secondary sites such as the spleen. Consequently, viral loads remained low. These results were consistent with virus-driven B cell proliferation exploiting normal host pathways and thus having to transfer lytically to new B cells for new proliferation. We conclude that viral lytic infection is a potential target to reduce B cell proliferation.
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PMID:Gammaherpesvirus Colonization of the Spleen Requires Lytic Replication in B Cells. 2934 72