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)

Mammals survive starvation by activating proteolysis and lipolysis in many different tissues. These responses are triggered, at least in part, by changing hormonal and neural statuses during starvation. Pathways of proteolysis that are activated during starvation are surprisingly diverse, depending on tissue type and duration of starvation. The ubiquitin-proteasome system is primarily responsible for increased skeletal muscle protein breakdown during starvation. However, in most other tissues, lysosomal pathways of proteolysis are stimulated during fasting. Short-term starvation activates macroautophagy, whereas long-term starvation activates chaperone-mediated autophagy. Lipolysis also increases in response to starvation, and the breakdown of triacylglycerols provides free fatty acids to be used as an energy source by skeletal muscle and other tissues. In addition, glycerol released from triacylglycerols can be converted to glucose by hepatic gluconeogenesis. During long-term starvation, oxidation of free fatty acids by the liver leads to the production of ketone bodies that can be used for energy by skeletal muscle and brain. Tissues that cannot use ketone bodies for energy respond to these small molecules by activating chaperone-mediated autophagy. This is one form of interaction between proteolytic and lipolytic responses to starvation.
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PMID:Proteolytic and lipolytic responses to starvation. 1681 97

An investigation was carried out to examine the relationship between fractional muscle protein synthetic rate (FSR) and intramuscular glutamine concentration ({GLN}(i)) in rats that had a dietary intake which was deficient in both protein and energy. Young male rats (38 days old) were fed for 48 h on either 1) 25% of the ad lib intake of a 20% protein diet, or 2) glucose alone, sufficient to provide the same energy intake as in 1). In a separate study, 33 day old rats were starved completely for 48 h. Appropriate controls were included in both studies. Muscle FSR, which was reduced by 40% in both groups of energy restricted rats (P<0.001), was associated with a small increase in {GLN}(i) (P<0.05). Starvation produced a 60% reduction in FSR (P<0.01) and a 45% (P<0.05) reduction in {GLN}(i). It is concluded that reductions in muscle protein synthesis can occur by mechanisms independent of intramuscular glutamine concentration.
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PMID:The effect of severe dietary restriction on intramuscular glutamine concentrations and protein synthetic rate. 1683 6

Severe or chronic disease can lead to cachexia which involves weight loss and muscle wasting. Cancer cachexia contributes significantly to disease morbidity and mortality. Multiple studies have shown that the metabolic changes that occur with cancer cachexia are unique compared to that of starvation. Specifically, cancer patients seem to lose a larger proportion of skeletal muscle mass. There are three pathways that contribute to muscle protein degradation: the lysosomal system, cytosolic proteases and the ubiquitin (Ub)-proteasome pathway. The Ub-proteasome pathway seems to account for the majority of skeletal muscle degradation in cancer cachexia and is stimulated by several cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, interferon-gamma and proteolysis-inducing factor. Cachexia is particularly severe in pancreatic cancer and contributes significantly to the quality of life and mortality of these patients. Several factors contribute to weight loss in these patients, including alimentary obstruction, pain, depression, side effects of therapy and a high catabolic state. Although no single agent has proven to halt cachexia in these patients there has been some progress in the areas of nutrition with supplementation and pharmacological agents such as megesterol acetate, steroids and experimental trials targeting cytokines that stimulate the Ub-proteasome pathway.
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PMID:Mechanisms of skeletal muscle degradation and its therapy in cancer cachexia. 1745 54

During pathophysiological muscle wasting, a family of ubiquitin ligases, including muscle RING-finger protein-1 (MuRF1), has been proposed to trigger muscle protein degradation via ubiquitination. Here, we characterized skeletal muscles from wild-type (WT) and MuRF1 knockout (KO) mice under amino acid (AA) deprivation as a model for physiological protein degradation, where skeletal muscles altruistically waste themselves to provide AAs to other organs. When WT and MuRF1 KO mice were fed a diet lacking AA, MuRF1 KO mice were less susceptible to muscle wasting, for both myocardium and skeletal muscles. Under AA depletion, WT mice had reduced muscle protein synthesis, while MuRF1 KO mice maintained nonphysiologically elevated levels of skeletal muscle protein de novo synthesis. Consistent with a role of MuRF1 for muscle protein turnover during starvation, the concentrations of essential AAs, especially branched-chain AAs, in the blood plasma significantly decreased in MuRF1 KO mice under AA deprivation. To clarify the molecular roles of MuRF1 for muscle metabolism during wasting, we searched for MuRF1-associated proteins using pull-down assays and mass spectrometry. Muscle-type creatine kinase (M-CK), an essential enzyme for energy metabolism, was identified among the interacting proteins. Coexpression studies revealed that M-CK interacts with the central regions of MuRF1 including its B-box domain and that MuRF1 ubiquitinates M-CK, which triggers the degradation of M-CK via proteasomes. Consistent with MuRF1's role of adjusting CK activities in skeletal muscles by regulating its turnover in vivo, we found that CK levels were significantly higher in the MuRF1 KO mice than in WT mice. Glucocorticoid modulatory element binding protein-1 and 3-hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase, previously identified as potential MuRF1-interacting proteins, were also ubiquitinated MuRF1-dependently. Taken together, these data suggest that, in a multifaceted manner, MuRF1 participates in the regulation of AA metabolism, including the control of free AAs and their supply to other organs under catabolic conditions, and in the regulation of ATP synthesis under metabolic-stress conditions where MuRF1 expression is induced.
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PMID:Muscle RING-finger protein-1 (MuRF1) as a connector of muscle energy metabolism and protein synthesis. 1822 70

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has been shown to attenuate muscle atrophy in cancer, starvation and hyperthermia by downregulating the increased expression of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway leading to a reduction in protein degradation. In the current study EPA (0.5 g/kg) administered to septic mice completely attenuated the increased protein degradation in skeletal muscle by preventing the increase in both gene expression and protein concentration of the alpha- and beta-subunits of the 20S proteasome, as well as functional activity of the proteasome, as measured by the 'chymotrypsin-like' enzyme activity. These results suggest that muscle protein catabolism in sepsis is mediated by the same intracellular signalling pathways as found in other catabolic conditions.
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PMID:Downregulation of muscle protein degradation in sepsis by eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). 1870 14

On December 13th and 14th a group of scientists and clinicians met in Washington, DC, for the cachexia consensus conference. At the present time, there is no widely agreed upon operational definition of cachexia. The lack of a definition accepted by clinician and researchers has limited identification and treatment of cachectic patient as well as the development and approval of potential therapeutic agents. The definition that emerged is: "cachexia, is a complex metabolic syndrome associated with underlying illness and characterized by loss of muscle with or without loss of fat mass. The prominent clinical feature of cachexia is weight loss in adults (corrected for fluid retention) or growth failure in children (excluding endocrine disorders). Anorexia, inflammation, insulin resistance and increased muscle protein breakdown are frequently associated with cachexia. Cachexia is distinct from starvation, age-related loss of muscle mass, primary depression, malabsorption and hyperthyroidism and is associated with increased morbidity. While this definition has not been tested in epidemiological or intervention studies, a consensus operational definition provides an opportunity for increased research.
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PMID:Cachexia: a new definition. 1871 96

Overexpression of the transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha (PGC-1alpha), like exercise, increases mitochondrial content and inhibits muscle atrophy. To understand these actions, we tested whether PGC-1alpha or its close homolog, PGC-1beta, influences muscle protein turnover. In myotubes, overexpression of either coactivator increased protein content by decreasing overall protein degradation without altering protein synthesis rates. Elevated PGC-1alpha or PGC-1beta also prevented the acceleration of proteolysis induced by starvation or FoxO transcription factors and prevented the induction of autophagy and atrophy-specific ubiquitin ligases by a constitutively active FoxO3. In mouse muscles, overexpression of PGC-1beta (like PGC-1alpha) inhibited denervation atrophy, ubiquitin ligase induction, and transcription by NFkappaB. However, increasing muscle PGC-1alpha levels pharmacologically by treatment of mice with 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide 1-beta-D-ribofuranoside failed to block loss of muscle mass or induction of ubiquitin ligases upon denervation atrophy, although it prevented loss of mitochondria. This capacity of PGC-1alpha and PGC-1beta to inhibit FoxO3 and NFkappaB actions and proteolysis helps explain how exercise prevents muscle atrophy.
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PMID:Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha or 1beta overexpression inhibits muscle protein degradation, induction of ubiquitin ligases, and disuse atrophy. 2040 31

E3 ubiquitin ligases are central for the selection of proteins targeted for degradation by the ubiquitin proteasome pathway. In this study atrogin-1 (Fbox-32), a major E3 ligase in muscle, has been characterized in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The protein sequence is highly conserved between teleosts and mammals and is characterized by the presence of five conserved motifs related to the identification of protein targets. The genomic structure is conserved between teleosts and mammals and contains 9 exon and 8 introns. The phylogenetic relationship between atrogin-1 and two other closely related ubiquitin E3 ligases FBXO25 and MuRF1 showed atrogin-1 and FBXO25 grouped together with MuRF1 being more distant. The mRNAs were expressed in multiple tissues, atrogin-1 and MuRF1 were most abundant in white muscle and heart whereas FBXO25 had greatest expression in brain, white muscle and heart. The transcriptional modulation of these E3 ligases was examined in starved fish and fish following different immune stimulations. Expression of atrogin-1 and MuRF1 was increased following food deprivation, implementing these two genes in degradation of muscle protein during starvation. During viral infection atrogin-1 expression was not altered, whereas it was increased following stimulation with LPS, indicating an onset of catabolic processes during inflammatory responses.
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PMID:Ubiquitin E3 ligase atrogin-1 (Fbox-32) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar): sequence analysis, genomic structure and modulation of expression. 2072 61

Muscle growth is determined primarily by the balance between protein synthesis and degradation. When rates of protein synthesis are similar between individuals, protein degradation is critical in explaining differences in growth efficiency. Studies in mammals showed that muscle atrophy results from increased protein breakdown, and is associated with activation of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, including induction of the muscle-specific ubiquitin protein ligase, MuRF1. Animals lacking MuRF1 are resistant to muscle atrophy. In fish, little is known about the role of the proteasome/MuRF pathway in muscle degradation. The objectives of this study were to: 1) clone and characterize MuRF genes in rainbow trout; and 2) determine expression of MuRF genes in association with starvation- and vitellogenesis-induced muscle atrophy in rainbow trout. We have identified full-length cDNA sequences for three MuRF genes (MuRF1, MuRF2, and MuRF3). These genes encode proteins with typical MuRF structural domains, including a RING-finger, a B-box and a Leucine-rich coiled-coil domain. RT-PCR analysis showed that MuRF genes are predominantly expressed in muscle and heart tissues. Real time PCR analysis revealed that expression of all MuRF genes is up-regulated during starvation and MuRF3 is up-regulated in vitellogenesis-associated muscle degradation. These results suggest that MuRF genes have an important role in fish muscle protein degradation. Further studies are warranted to assess the potential use of MuRF genes as tools to monitor fish muscle growth and degradation.
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PMID:Molecular characterization of the MuRF genes in rainbow trout: Potential role in muscle degradation. 2114 12

The varied reactions of the host to infection, inflammation, or trauma are collectively known as the acute-phase response and encompass a wide range of pathophysiological responses such as pyrexia, leukocytosis, hormone alterations, and muscle protein depletion combining to minimize tissue damage while enhancing the repair process. The mechanism for stimulation of hepatic production of acute-phase proteins is by proinflammatory cytokines. The functions of positive acute-phase proteins (APP) are regarded as important in optimization and trapping of microorganism and their products, in activating the complement system, in binding cellular remnants like nuclear fractions, in neutralizing enzymes, scavenging free hemoglobin and radicals, and in modulating the host's immune response. APP can be used as diagnostic tool in many diseases like bovine respiratory syncytial virus, prostate cancer, bronchopneumonia, multiple myeloma, mastitis, Streptococcus suis infection, starvation, or lymphatic neoplasia. Thus, acute-phase proteins may provide an alternative means of monitoring animal health.
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PMID:Acute-phase proteins: As diagnostic tool. 2143 Sep 62


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