Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0038362 (stomatitis)
 8,852 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The glucagonoma syndrome is characterized by a necrolytic migratory erythematous rash, angular stomatitis, painful glossitis, a normochromic normocytic anemia, mild diabetes mellitus, weight loss, a tendency to thrombosis, and neuropsychiatric disturbances. The diagnosis is made by finding a high plasma glucagon concentration in the absence of any other cause, such as renal failure or severe stress. A pancreatic alpha-cell tumor can be identified and stained by immunocytochemistry with glucagon antibodies. Optimal treatment is surgical removal, but approximately 50 percent of the tumors have metastasized by the time of diagnosis. Since the tumor is slow-growing, remission can be obtained by hepatic artery embolization to shrink hepatic secondaries or by shrinkage, in about 10 percent of patients, with the combination chemotherapeutic regimen of 5-fluorouracil and streptozotocin. The rash frequently responds to administration of zinc, a high-protein diet, and control of the diabetes with insulin. Alongside the alpha cell in the islets of Langerhans is the D-cell, which produces somatostatin and may well act physiologically as a paracrine inhibitor of glucagon release. A newly developed, long-acting somatostatin analogue, SMS 201-995, which the patient can self-administer as a subcutaneous injection, has proven effective in suppressing glucagon secretion from glucagonomas and, in some cases, causing remission of clinical symptoms.
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PMID:Glucagonoma syndrome. 288 77

Sphingomyelin synthases (SMS1 and 2) represent a class of enzymes that transfer a phosphocholine moiety from phosphatidylcholine onto ceramide thus producing sphingomyelin and diacylglycerol (DAG). SMS1 localizes at the Golgi while SMS2 localizes both at the Golgi and the plasma membrane. Previous studies from our laboratory showed that modulation of SMS1 and, to a lesser extent, of SMS2 affected the formation of DAG at the Golgi apparatus. As a consequence, down-regulation of SMS1 and SMS2 reduced the localization of the DAG-binding protein, protein kinase D (PKD), to the Golgi. Since PKD recruitment to the Golgi has been implicated in cellular secretion through the trans golgi network (TGN), the effect of down-regulation of SMSs on TGN-to-plasma membrane trafficking was studied. Down regulation of either SMS1 or SMS2 significantly retarded trafficking of the reporter protein vesicular stomatitis virus G protein tagged with GFP (VSVG-GFP) from the TGN to the cell surface. Inhibition of SMSs also induced tubular protrusions from the trans Golgi network reminiscent of inhibited TGN membrane fission. Since a recent study demonstrated the requirement of PKD activity for insulin secretion in beta cells, we tested the function of SMS in this model. Inhibition of SMS significantly reduced insulin secretion in rat INS-1 cells. Taken together these results provide the first direct evidence that both enzymes (SMS1 and 2) are capable of regulating TGN-mediated protein trafficking and secretion, functions that are compatible with PKD being a down-stream target for SMSs in the Golgi.
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PMID:Sphingomyelin synthases regulate protein trafficking and secretion. 2198 Mar 37