Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042109 (urticaria)
 6,569 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The genetic bases for several human autoinflammatory syndromes have recently been identified, and the mutated proteins responsible for these diseases are rapidly being characterized. Here, we examine two of these newly identified proteins, pyrin (also called marenostrin, product of the familial Mediterranean fever locus, MEFV) and cryopyrin (product of the CAIS1 locus, and mutated in familial cold urticaria, Muckle Wells syndrome and chronic infantile neurological cutaneous and articular syndrome). Both pyrin and cryopyrin contain an N-terminal domain that encodes a death domain-related structure, now known as the pyrin domain, or PyD. We trace the molecular interactions mediated by these PyDs, examine the evolution of the family of molecules containing this domain, and discuss the function of PyD-containing proteins and their homologues. Synthesis of the available data indicates that both pyrin and cryopyrin interact via their PyDs with a common adaptor protein, ASC. ASC itself participates in at least three important cellular processes: apoptosis, recruitment and activation of pro-caspase-1 (with associated processing and secretion of IL-1beta), and activation of NF-kappaB (a transcription factor involved in both initiation and resolution of the inflammatory response). Through PyD:PyD interactions, pyrin and cryopyrin, as well as several related, but still uncharacterized PyD containing proteins, appear to modulate the activity of all three of these processes, each of which plays a crucial role in the inflammatory pathways that characterize the innate immune system.
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PMID:Fire and ICE: the role of pyrin domain-containing proteins in inflammation and apoptosis. 1237 36

Urticarial rash, one of the clinical manifestations characteristic of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS), is caused by a mutation in the gene encoding for NLRP3 (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeats containing family, pyrin domain containing 3). This intracellular pattern recognition receptor and its adaptor protein, called apoptosis associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-recruitment and activating domain (ASC), participate in the formation of a multi-protein complex termed the inflammasome. The inflammasome is responsible for activating caspase-1 in response to microbial and endogenous stimuli. From the analysis of cellular mechanisms of urticarial rash in CAPS, we have traced caspase-1 activated IL-1beta in CAPS to a surprising source: mast cells. Recently, two groups have generated gene-targeted mice that harbored Nlrp3 mutations. These mice had very severe phenotypes, with delayed growth and the development of dermatitis, but not urticaria. The reason for the differences in the skin manifestations observed with CAPS and these knock-in mice relates to the findings that the inflammasome also plays a role in contact hypersensitivity, and that IL-18, another cytokine involved with inflammasome-activation of caspase-1, may be a major player in dermatitis development.
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PMID:The inflammasome, an innate immunity guardian, participates in skin urticarial reactions and contact hypersensitivity. 2065 65