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 28,634 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In each menstrual cycle only very few follicles in the mammalian ovary undergo maturation and ovulation while most of the follicles degenerate in the process of atresia. Moreover, in the absence of pregnancy, the newly formed corpora lutea will degenerate and disappear in the process of luteolysis. Recent studies suggest that ovarian follicular atresia is associated with DNA fragmentation and degeneration of follicular cells, characteristics of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Apoptosis can be induced in vitro, in primary granulosa cell culture, by serum deprivation and by induction of a high intracellular level of cAMP. This induction of apoptosis can be blocked by fibroblast growth factor, suggesting that receptor-medicated activation of a tyrosine kinase can serve as a survival signal. Apoptosis can also be induced in immortalized steroidogenic granulosa cells, transformed by SV40 DNA and Ha-ras oncogene, by overexpression of the wild-type p53 tumor suppressor gene in cAMP-stimulated cells. Omitting the cAMP stimulus prevents the p53-induced apoptosis in these cells, suggesting cross-talk between p53 and c-AMP-generated signals in the induction of apoptosis. Steroidogenic activity in these cells, as well as in nontransformed granulosa cells, does not decline during apoptosis but is rather significantly elevated before total cell collapse occurs. Cytochemical studies using confocal laser microscopy, electron microscopy, and three-dimensional reconstruction reveal a specific reorganization pattern of proteasomes, the most abundant nonlysosomal protease, and of the steroidogenic organelles, such as mitochondria and lipid droplets, in the apoptotic cell. Our results suggest that compartmentalization of intracellular organelles during apoptosis permits proteolysis without interfering with steroidogenesis, characteristic of the differentiated phenotype of the granulosa cell. Moreover, cytoskeletal rearrangement may serve as a barrier between these cellular activities.
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PMID:Cross-talk between cAMP and p53-generated signals in induction of differentiation and apoptosis in steroidogenic granulosa cells. 873 10

Mammary gland involution is a physiological process in which the entire organ is remodeled through the process of apoptosis. Apoptosis of secretory alveolar cells is initiated at the time of weaning, followed by the collapse and disappearance of the entire lobuloalveolar compartment. While apoptotic figures were rare in mammary epithelium of lactating mice, their number increased after weaning and reached a maximum on day 3 of involution. Active cell death continued until day 5 after weaning and only little parenchyma remained on day 8, when remodeling of the gland was completed. Bax mRNA levels increased during the first day of involution independent of the presence or absence of p53. Bax protein was detected in an increasing number of cells after weaning, peaking at day 3 and decreasing thereafter. Low levels of bcl-x mRNA and protein were present during lactation, followed by a sharp increase during the first 2 days of involution. The bcl-xS splice variant of bcl-x can promote cell death, and bcl-xL has a protective function in cell culture. The ratio of bcl-xS versus bcl-xL remained stable in the virgin, pregnant and lactating gland. However, during the first 2 days of involution, bcl-xS expression increased six-fold more than bcl-xL. To further evaluate the role of Bcl-xS which was less abundant in the mammary cells than Bcl-xL, cotransfection studies were performed in cell culture. They confirmed that Bcl-xS protein can facilitate apoptosis even when Bcl-xL is present in excess. These findings point to a significant role for Bax and Bcl-xS in the regulation of apoptosis of secretory alveolar cells during involution.
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PMID:Bax and Bcl-xs are induced at the onset of apoptosis in involuting mammary epithelial cells. 879 58

In order to evaluate the alterations of nuclear p53 accumulation in early stage adenocarcinomas of the lung, nuclear p53 accumulation by small-sized peripheral adenocarcinomas of the lung was examined immunohistochemically. Peripheral adenocarcinomas of the lung, 2 cm or less in diameter, have been classified into two groups; one showing replacing growth of the pulmonary alveolar structure and the other showing non-replacing growth. The former group has been subdivided into three microscopic subtypes: type A, localized bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (LBAC); B, LBAC with foci of pulmonary alveolar structural collapse; and C, LBAC with foci of active fibroblastic proliferation. Type C is thought to be advanced carcinoma, which develops progressively from types A and B. Two of 32 (6%) types A and B carcinomas, 37 of 133 (28%) type C carcinomas and 14 of 35 (40%) non-replacement-type adenocarcinomas showed positive nuclear staining for p53. The positive staining frequency was significantly higher for type C than for types A and B (P < 0.05). These results suggest that nuclear p53 accumulation occurs in the transition from the early to advanced stages of replacement-type adenocarcinoma development and it may be a clinically useful indicator of the degree of tumor malignancy.
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PMID:Nuclear p53 accumulation by small-sized adenocarcinomas of the lung. 887 3

This article attempts to summarize the rapidly advancing field of apoptosis and its regulation, with particular reference to cancer. The long-recognized stereotyped morphology of apoptosis is seen to be the result of convergence of biochemical pathways on common effector mechanisms in which a major element is activation of cysteine proteases with a preference for cleavage at aspartate residues (caspases). The substrates of this reaction are widely dispersed in the nucleus, cytoplasm and cytoskeleton. Caspase activation is the end result of protean stimuli, physiological and pathological. Pathological stimuli include damage to cell membranes, mitochondrial function, DNA and possibly other critical intracellular organelles. Several, distinct agents are known that may be part of the signaling pathways that couple injury to these cellular components to apoptosis: ceramide, collapse of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, p53 activation. Other stimuli are signaled through cytokine receptors (such as fas/APO-1/CD 95 and TNFRI and II) or transcription factors (such as p53, IRF-1 and rb). The transduction of these stimuli into caspase activation is regulated by a large family of proteins (the bcl-2 family). Cancer and apoptosis are related in many ways. In particular, this article explores the possibility that defective apoptosis may permit the persistence of damaged, mutated cells that would otherwise have been deleted. The conditions that lead to this scenario appear to be tissue-specific.
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PMID:Apoptosis and carcinogenesis. 924 79

Many signals and external stimuli regulate the apoptosis activity by interaction with the genome. These stimuli include morphogenetic signals, physiological factors, and environmental influence. The signals mediate their effect on cells with suitable receptors, relevant signalling pathways, and competence to execute the apoptosis cascade. Apoptosis is triggered indirectly by deprivation of survival factors, or directly by intercellular cell death signalling factors, and also by unbalanced intracellular messenger molecules, which are, more or less, involved in regulation of both programmed cell death and survival. Several genes are involved in regulation of cell survival and apoptosis: bcl-2/bax, p53, c-myc and transcription factors such as cdk, c-myc, c-fos and c-jun. Apparently, apoptosis could be triggered by increased or inhibited gene expression as well as biochemical reactions without changed gene expression. The morphological changes during apoptosis reflect a cascade of genetic and biochemical reactions in the cell. In the signal transduction pathway both secondary messenger Ca2+, different kinases, and polyamines are involved. Cysteine proteases cleave cytoskeletal proteins, endonucleases divide DNA into fragments, and transglutaminases cross-link macromolecules. Degradative enzymes such as proteases, endonucleases and transglutaminases are activated during apoptosis, leading to cellular collapse and formation of vesicular apoptotic bodies. Both increased and inhibited apoptosis activity may have pathological consequences. New therapeutic strategies aim to counteract dysregulation of apoptosis in specific tissues by pharmacological intervention. Thus there is a need for identification of molecules and gene products involved in regulation of apoptosis activity and clarification of the conditions where this knowledge may be used.
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PMID:[Apoptosis: molecular aspects]. 941 94

Hypoxia is present in several areas of malignant tumours and is thought to result from an inadequate rate of tumour angiogenesis, vascular collapse, or both. The presence and extent of these hypoxic tumour microenvironments have recently been shown to influence tumour progression by regulating both tumour cell survival and the expression of key angiogenic molecules. Recent studies have suggested that mutations in the tumour suppressor gene, p53, may play an important role in regulating the adaptive response of tumour cells to hypoxia by enhancing their survival and release of proangiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor. It has even been suggested that hypoxia may select for the survival of the more malignant clones harbouring such genetic defects as mutations in p53. Recently, the transcription factor, NFkB, has also been implicated as a novel mediator of the effects of hypoxia and reoxygenation in tumour cells. This article reviews some of the molecular mechanisms subserving the responses of tumour cells to hypoxic stress, particularly the role and relation of NFkB and p53 in regulating this phenomenon.
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PMID:Response of tumour cells to hypoxia: role of p53 and NFkB. 971 87

Cancer is generally believed to arise from a single cell which has become 'initiated' by mutation of a few crucial genes, caused by random 'hits' in its DNA, a 'hit' being an error in DNA replication or a reaction of the DNA with free radicals or other chemical species of exogenous or endogenous origin. It is not obvious how the epidemiological data on cancer incidence can be interpreted within the framework of this paradigm. For example, it cannot account quantitatively for the age dependence of cancer incidence, or for the fact that the incidence of cancer in people with hereditary mutations in tumour suppressor genes is much lower than expected, or for the observation that while in some types of cancer, like colon and pancreas, certain highly oncogenic mutations, such as that of TP53, are prevalent, there is no significant increase in the incidence of these cancers in people who carry the mutations by heredity. It is argued here that although mutations in such genes appear to be of crucial importance in carcinogenesis they may not be the rate limiting events in common cancer. The epidemiological data are consistent with the hypothesis that the rate limiting processes involve large numbers of cells. Conceivably, the mutations directly underlying neoplastic transformation may be the result of a local collapse in the system of intercellular processes on which the stability of the normal genotype and phenotype depends, and thereby trigger a cascade of mutations, among them the highly oncogenic ones. This local collapse may be due to mutations of many different genes in many cells as well as to other factors affecting the integrity of tissue.
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PMID:The origin of oncogenic mutations: where is the primary damage? 1102 32

The tumour suppressor gene, p53, plays an important role in tumour development. Under low levels of oxygen (hypoxia), cells expressing wild-type p53 undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis), whereas cells expressing mutations in the p53 gene may survive and express angiogenic growth factors that stimulate tumour vascularization. Given that cells expressing mutations in the p53 gene have been observed in many forms of human tumour, it is important to understand how both wild-type and mutant cells react to hypoxic conditions. In this paper a mathematical model is presented to investigate the effects of alternating periods of hypoxia and normoxia (normal oxygen levels) on a population of wild-type and mutant p53 tumour cells. The model consists of three coupled ordinary differential equations that describe the densities of the two cell types and the oxygen concentration and, as such, may describe the growth of avascular tumours in vitro and/or in vivo. Numerical and analytical techniques are used to determine how changes in the system parameters influence the time at which mutant cells become dominant within the population. A feedback mechanism, which switches off the oxygen supply when the total cell density exceeds a threshold value, is introduced into the model to investigate the impact that vessel collapse (and the associated hypoxia) has on the time at which the mutant cells become dominant within vascular tumours growing in vivo. Using the model we can predict the time it takes for a subpopulation of mutant p53 tumour cells to become the dominant population within either an avascular tumour or a localized region of a vascular tumour. Based on independent experimental results, our model suggests that the mutant population becomes dominant more quickly in vivo than in vitro (12 days vs 17 days).
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PMID:Estimating the selective advantage of mutant p53 tumour cells to repeated rounds of hypoxia. 1114 80

The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) tegument protein VP22 has been utilised as a vehicle for trafficking proteins. It has a remarkable property of exiting the cell that is producing it and entering the neighbouring cells, which has been used to deliver therapeutic proteins, p53 and herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk). It has a complex pattern of expression and subcellular localisation. Functions of VP22 include intercellular transport, binding to and bundling of microfilaments, inducing cytoskeleton collapse, nuclear translocation during mitosis, and binding to chromatin and nuclear membrane. The regions of VP22 which contain each of these functions have not been characterised. Finding the region carrying the property of intercellular spread would facilitate enhancement of transport function. By constructing a series of deletion constructs of VP22 tagged by the green fluorescent protein (GFP) we have mapped the functions of VP22 to specific regions in the polypeptide as follows: intercellular transport - aa 81-195; binding and reorganisation of cytoskeleton - aa 159-267; nuclear targeting, inhibition of cytoskeleton collapse - aa 81-121; and nuclear targeting and facilitation of intercellular transport - aa 267-301. Separation of VP22 functions enables focus on the mechanism of VP22-mediated transport and improve the transportation efficiency of VP22.
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PMID:Mapping of herpes simplex virus-1 VP22 functional domains for inter- and subcellular protein targeting. 1152 52

The mechanisms underlying kainate (KA) neurotoxicity are still not well understood. We previously reported that KA-mediated neuronal damage in organotypic cultures of hippocampal slices was associated with p53 induction. Recently, both bax and caspase-3 have been demonstrated to be key components of the p53-dependent neuronal death pathway. Caspase activation has also been causally related to the release of mitochondrial cytochrome c (Cyto C) in the cytoplasm as a result of the collapse of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Deltapsi(M)) and the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mPTP). In the present study, we observed a rapid induction of bax in hippocampal slice cultures after KA treatment. In addition, the levels of Cyto C and caspase-3 were increased in the cytosol while the level of the caspase-9 precursor was decreased. There was also a complete reduction of Rhodamine 123 fluorescence after KA treatment, an indication of Deltapsi(M) dissipation. Furthermore, inhibition of mPTP opening by cyclosporin A partially prevented Cyto C release, caspase activation and neuronal death. These data suggest the involvement of bax, several caspases, as well as Cyto C release in KA-elicited neuronal death. Finally, inhibition of caspase-3 activity by z-VAD-fmk only partially protected neurons from KA toxicity, implying that multiple mechanisms may be involved in KA excitotoxicity.
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PMID:Kainate excitotoxicity in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures: evidence for multiple apoptotic pathways. 1159 11


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