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)

Previous investigations in our laboratory have demonstrated that both acute host starvation and polyamine depletion by means of the irreversible ODC-inhibitor (ODC = ornithine-decarboxylase) fluoro-methylornithine (DFMO) lead to pronounced growth retardation of rapidly proliferating tumors. The aim of this investigation was to elucidate how these different interventions affect cell kinetics and cell cycle phases in vivo. Adult nongrowing mice (C57Bl/J) bearing a poorly differentiated rapidly growing methylcholanthrene induced sarcoma were used. Combined measurements of bromodeoxyuridine incorporation into DNA and flow cytometric techniques were used. Starvation and DFMO treatment resulted in a prolonged cell cycle transit compared to freely fed animals. Tumor cells from DFMO-treated mice demonstrated an increased time for DNA synthesis and a relatively larger accumulation of cells in the G2M phase, whereas tumor cells from starved animals were accumulated in the G0G1 phase. The fractional cell loss of tumor cell during proliferation was calculated to be around 18% higher in DFMO-treated animals compared to starved and freely fed tumor-bearing mice. This study demonstrates that different mechanisms are involved in tumor growth suppression from substrate deficiency (starvation) and from inhibition of polyamine synthesis.
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PMID:Tumor cytokinetic effects of acute starvation versus polyamine depletion in tumor-bearing mice. 178 32

Growth of rats fed with a synthetic diet was studied under control conditions (arginine-rich), arginine starvation, and arginine starvation/refeeding. Hepatic polyamine concentrations and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC-)activity were determined for each population. In the livers of arginine-starved rats putrescine was decreased to half the control content within 8 days; upon refeeding, it returned to control levels within another 8 days. Spermidine content in liver tissue of arginine-starved rats remained rather stable for 7 days, but thereafter dropped to half the original value within two days. Refeeding for a period of 11 days was not enough to restore the spermidine content. The effects of arginine starvation/refeeding on spermine were very similar to those of spermidine. ODC specific activity, when correlated with growth, was higher in livers of arginine-starved rats than in control animals. Refeeding caused a decrease in ODC-activity although growth arrest was completely released. This apparent uncoupling of growth and ODC stimulation supports the theory that ODC in rat liver is regulated at three levels: first the growth-related component which is observed after stimulation by growth-hormone; second the known feed back control by polyamines, e.g. via antizyme; third the regulation at the level of the substrate supply which has been shown in this work. This is not a unique finding since very similar results have been obtained in previous experiments with the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila. A remarkable observation of these assays was that L-ornithine, when added to the arginine-free diet was not able to substitute for L-arginine in directing growth and growth related processes.
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PMID:Polyamine biosynthesis in arginine-starved and refed rats. 203 2

The total cellular mass of the small intestine is well controlled and can adapt, with hypo- or hyperplasia, to a wide variety of stimuli. Luminal nutrients, hormonal factors and pancreatic and biliary secretions have all been implicated in the regulation of intestinal mucosal growth. The polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) and the key enzyme controlling their synthesis (ornithine decarboxylase. ODC) are critical for many cell growth processes and appear to play important roles in intestinal growth. During intestinal adaptation in response to jejunectomy, lactation. pancreatic-biliary diversion, starvation-refeeding and feeding with kidney bean lectin, intestinal contents of ODC and polyamines are increased, paralleling increases in mucosal proliferative indices and DNA synthesis. With administration of the specific inhibitor of ODC (difluoromethylornithine, DFMO) the increase in ODC and polyamines is inhibited and intestinal growth is suppressed. In addition, the oral administration of exogenous polyamines results in precocious maturation of the neonatal rat intestine. These results suggest that the polyamines are important for intestinal growth.
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PMID:Polyamines in intestinal growth. 208 16

Starvation and difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) administration have profound affects on intestinal proliferation, ornithine decarboxylase activity, and tissue polyamine levels. Diamine oxidase activity may play a role in the regulation of proliferation, and the activity of this enzyme may be influenced by ornithine decarboxylase activity. To determine if diamine oxidase is influenced by starvation and DFM administration, ileal diamine oxidase activities were determined on mucosal homogenates from five groups of rats: fed control, starved for 48 h, fed group receiving DFMO, a starved/refed group, and a starved/refed group receiving DMFO. The homogenates from starved rats were found to have decreased ornithine decarboxylase activity and increased diamine oxidase activity when compared to control values. The homogenates from the DFMO group also were found to have decreased ODC activity however, mucosal diamine oxidase activity was also decreased. Refeeding produced a dramatic increase in ornithine decarboxylase activity and a minimal change in diamine oxidase activity. The preservation of diamine oxidase activity during starvation implies a need for the enzyme not related to mucosal proliferation or digestion. However, in the fed state, diamine oxidase activity may be more dependent on ornithine decarboxylase activity or its reaction product putrescine.
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PMID:Effects of starvation and difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) on diamine oxidase activity in rat ileum. 212 61

Wild-type Neurospora crassa grown in minimal medium was exposed to -difluormethyl ornithine (DFMO), a specific inhibitor of ornithine-decarboxylase (ODC-ase) activity. Protein-synthesis rates impaired by DFMO were restored by the addition of spermidine. The pattern on SDS-acrylamide gels displayed three newly synthesized polypeptides, p27, p31 and p99 after DFMO action in the absence of exogenous polyamine. The ODC-ase mutant (spe-1) grown in spermidine-supplemented medium did not show an induced polypeptide pattern. The lack of ODC-ase activity promotes the expression of p27- and p31-coding genes in both strains but transcription of p31 gene is shut-off after spermidine addition. Both transcripts are also accumulated after exposure to low cycloheximide doses or nutrient starvation. Another cycloheximide-inducible gene coding for p70 is also expressed under DFMO-treatment.
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PMID:Genes responsive to the alteration of polyamine biosynthesis in neurospora crassa. 213 6

Aminoimidazole carboxamide ribonucleoside (AIC-R), a purine precursor, has biphasic effects on the growth of Chinese hamster fibroblasts. At 200 microM AIC-R cell growth is almost completely arrested, while at 50 and 700 microM AIC-R cell growth is comparable to that observed in the absence of nucleoside. The growth inhibition produced by AIC-R is the consequence of inhibition of the orotate phosphoribosyltransferase-orotidylic decarboxylase (OPRT-ODC) reactions, as evidenced by a 87% reduction in the intracellular concentrations of UTP and CTP, accumulation of orotate in the medium, and restoration of normal growth by inclusion of 100 microM uridine in the medium. Inhibition of pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis at 200 microM AIC-R is associated with an 82% reduction in the intracellular concentration of PP-ribose-P and a 150% increase in the concentration of purine nucleotides. Restoration of cell growth to a normal rate at 700 microM AIC-R--a condition under which PP-ribose-P remains depressed and purine nucleotide concentrations are also depressed (40% of control)--and absence of toxicity at 50 microM AIC-R--a condition under which purine nucleotide concentrations are increased by 150% and PP-ribose-P concentration is normal--suggest that the inhibition of OPRT-ODC observed at 200 microM AIC-R is caused by the combination of the reduction in PP-ribose-P and increase in purine nucleotides. These studies provide a better understanding of the control of the OPRT-ODC reactions in the cell and provide additional insight into the basis of pyrimidine starvation induced by purine nucleosides.
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PMID:Aminoimidazole carboxamide ribonucleoside toxicity: a model for study of pyrimidine starvation. 616 28

Tissue polyamine levels are largely determined by the activity of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, EC 4.1.17), which catalyzes the conversion of ornithine to the diamine putrescine. The activity of the enzyme is primarily regulated by a negative feedback mechanism involving ODC antizyme (AZ). Our previous studies demonstrated that AZ synthesis is stimulated by the absence of amino acids, the levels of which are sensed by the mTOR complex containing TORC1, which is stimulated by amino acids and inhibited by their absence, and TORC2 the function of which is not well defined. Polyamines, which cause a +1 ribosomal frameshift during the translation of AZ mRNA are required to increase AZ synthesis in both the presence and absence of amino acids. Amino acid starvation increases TORC2 activity. We have demonstrated that mTORC2 activity is necessary for AZ synthesis in the absence of amino acids. Tuberous sclerosis protein (TSC), a negative regulator of mTOR function regulates the activities of both the TORC1 and TORC2. TSC2 knockdown increased mTORC1 activity with concomitant inhibition of mTORC2 activity eliminating AZ induction in the absence of amino acids as well as that induced by spermidine. Thus, these results clearly demonstrate that in addition to polyamines, mTORC2 activity is necessary for AZ synthesis. Moreover, our results support a role for mTORC2 in the synthesis of a specific protein, AZ, which regulates growth of intestinal epithelial cells.
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PMID:Interaction of polyamines and mTOR signaling in the synthesis of antizyme (AZ). 2609 26