Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
 24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Intestinal trefoil factor (ITF) is an essential regulator of colonic epithelial restitution, the rapid migration of colonocytes over mucosal wounds. High levels of ITF are frequently present in colorectal cancers and derived cell lines. Mucosal restitution requires the detachment of epithelium from substrate, which would be expected to induce apoptosis. However, mice deficient in ITF showed an increase in colonocyte apoptosis unaccompanied by changes in expression of receptor-related (TNFR/Fas) or stress-related (Bcl-family) cell death regulators. An ITF-expressing colonic (HT-ITF1) cell line was resistant to apoptosis induced by serum starvation and ceramide. Exogenous ITF also protected another human colonic carcinoma-derived cell line (HCT116) and a nontransformed rat intestinal epithelial cell line (IEC-6) from apoptosis. This effect was abrogated by wortmannin and tyrphostin A25, indicating the potential involvement of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor activation. Expression of phosphorylated Akt, which lies downstream of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activation, was elevated in this HT-29-ITF line. p53-dependent cell death in the AGS human gastric cancer cell line after etoposide was similarly inhibited by transient expression of ITF but not a C-terminal truncation mutant of ITF, and it required functional phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and EGF receptor. These findings support a central role for ITF in the maintenance of intestinal mucosal continuity, and conversely demonstrate the potential for ITF expression to confer resistance of colorectal tumors to therapy.
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PMID:Intestinal trefoil factor confers colonic epithelial resistance to apoptosis. 1063 60

Cellular differentiation entails the coordination of cell cycle arrest and tissue-specific gene expression. We investigated the involvement of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factors in differentiation of osteoblasts using the human osteoblastic cell line MG63. Serum starvation induced growth arrest at G1 phase, accompanied by expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1/Cip1). Reporter assays with the p21 gene promoter demonstrated that the combination of E2A (E12 or E47) and coactivator CBP was responsible for p21 induction independent of p53. Twist inhibited E2A-CBP-dependent activation of the exogenous and endogenous p21 promoters. Ids similarly inhibited the exogenously transfected p21 promoter; however less antagonistic effect on the endogenous p21 promoter was observed. Twist was predominantly present in nuclei in MG63 cells growing in complete medium, while it localized mainly in the cytoplasm after serum starvation. The fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 gene (FGFR3), which generates signals leading to differentiation of osteoblasts, was found to be controlled by the same transcriptional regulation as the p21 gene. E2A and Twist influenced alkaline phosphatase expression, a consensus marker of osteoblast differentiation. Expression of E2A and FGFR3 was seen at the location of osteoblast differentiation in the calvaria of mouse embryos, implicating bHLH molecules in physiological osteoblast differentiation. These results demonstrate that a common regulatory system is involved in at least two distinct steps in osteoblastic differentiation. Our results also provide the molecular basis of Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, caused by mutations of the TWIST and FGFR3 genes.
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PMID:Common regulation of growth arrest and differentiation of osteoblasts by helix-loop-helix factors. 1158 22

We previously identified the TFPT (FB1) gene as a molecular partner of TCF3 (E2A) in childhood pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). TFPT (FB1) alignment in man, mouse and rat displays a very high degree of identity, indicating that it may play a basic role in mammalian cells. To get insights into this role, we have identified and studied the TFPT (FB1) promoter and its responsiveness to hematopoietic transcriptional factors. We found that the TFPT (FB1) 5' flanking sequence displays the features of a TATA-less promoter with weak homology to Inr (Initiator) elements. Starvation experiments suggested that TFPT (FB1) expression might be constitutive. Nevertheless, the TFPT (FB1) promoter, tested by transactivation assays, was found to be responsive to Ikaros 2 and, mainly, to PU.1, a transcription factor belonging to the Ets family. Thus, these hematopoietic factors, known to play critical roles during the early stages of B cell differentiation and to be involved in leukemia, might modulate TFPT (FB1) expression during hematopoiesis and/or leukemia development.
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PMID:Promoter analysis of TFPT (FB1), a molecular partner of TCF3 (E2A) in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 1170 47

In pro-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), expression of the E2A-HLF fusion gene as a result of t(17;19)(q22;p13) is associated with poor prognosis, hypercalcemia, and hemorrhagic complications. We previously reported that the E2A-HLF fusion protein protects interleukin-3 (IL-3)-dependent lymphoid cells from apoptosis caused by cytokine starvation. Here, we report that annexin II, a surface phospholipid-binding protein and one of the proposed causes of the hemorrhagic complications of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), is also implicated in t(17;19)+ ALL. Annexin II was expressed at high levels in APL cells and in each of 4 t(17;19)+ leukemia cell lines, and annexin II expression was induced by enforced expression of E2A-HLF in leukemia cells. In IL-3-dependent cells, we found that annexin II expression was regulated by IL-3 mainly by Ras pathways, including Ras/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathways. Moreover, E2A-HLF increased annexin II expression in IL-3-dependent cells in the absence of the cytokine. These findings indicate that E2A-HLF induces annexin II by substituting for cytokines that activate downstream pathways of Ras.
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PMID:Regulation of annexin II by cytokine-initiated signaling pathways and E2A-HLF oncoprotein. 1507 Jul 1

It has been well established that amino acid availability can control gene expression. Previous studies have shown that amino acid depletion induces transcription of the ATF3 (activation transcription factor 3) gene through an amino acid response element (AARE) located in its promoter. This event requires phosphorylation of activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2), a constitutive AARE-bound factor. To identify the signaling cascade leading to phosphorylation of ATF2 in response to amino acid starvation, we used an individual gene knockdown approach by small interfering RNA transfection. We identified the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) module MEKK1/MKK7/JNK2 as the pathway responsible for ATF2 phosphorylation on the threonine 69 (Thr69) and Thr71 residues. Then, we progressed backwards up the signal transduction pathway and showed that the GTPase Rac1/Cdc42 and the protein Galpha12 control the MAPK module, ATF2 phosphorylation, and AARE-dependent transcription. Taken together, our data reveal a new signaling pathway activated by amino acid starvation leading to ATF2 phosphorylation and subsequently positively affecting the transcription of amino acid-regulated genes.
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PMID:Identification of a novel amino acid response pathway triggering ATF2 phosphorylation in mammals. 1982 63

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) accounts for the most cancer incidences in children. We present here that autophagy is downregulated in pediatric B-ALL, suggesting a possible link between autophagy failure and pediatric B-ALL leukemogenesis. With a pediatric t(1;19) B-ALL xenograft mouse model, we show here that activation of autophagy by preventive administration of rapamycin improved the survival of leukemia animals by partial restoration of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, whereas treatment of the animals with rapamycin caused leukemia bone marrow cell-cycle arrest. Activation of autophagy in vitro or in vivo by rapamycin or starvation downregulated oncogenic fusion protein E2A/Pbx1. Furthermore, E2A/Pbx1 was found to be colocalized with autophagy marker LC3 in autolysosomes and with ubiquitin in response to autophagy stimuli, whereas autophagy or ubiquitination inhibitor blocked these colocalizations. Together, our data suggest a collaborative action between autophagy and ubiquitination in the degradation of E2A/Pbx1, thereby revealing a novel strategy for targeted preventive or treatment therapy on the pediatric ALL.
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PMID:Autophagy collaborates with ubiquitination to downregulate oncoprotein E2A/Pbx1 in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 2561 80