Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0728731 (prematurity)
 7,134 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The purpose of this review is to give an update of the recent progress in research on erythropoietin (Epo), the hormone that regulates red blood cell production. Epo is a glycoprotein with a molecular mass of approx 30 kDa, which circulates in plasma of the human with 165 amino acids with three N-linked and one O-linked acidic oligosaccharide side chains in the molecule. Both the alpha (39% CHO) and beta (24% CHO) forms are available for clinical use, and there does not appear to be any difference in the pharmacokinetics of these two forms of Epo. Radioimmunoassays and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant (ELISA) assays are available in a kit form. Serum levels of Epo in normal human subjects range between 1 and 27 mmu/ml or approx 5 pmol/l. It seems clear that the cells in the adult mammalian kidney which produce Epo are the interstitial cells in the peritubular capillary bed and the perivenous hepatocytes in the liver. Expression of the human Epo gene sequences that direct expression in the kidney are located 6-14 kilobases 5' to the gene; whereas the sequences that control hepatocyte-specific expression are located within 0.7 KS to the 3'-flanking region and 0.5 KS to the 5'-flanking region. The signal transduction pathways postulated to be involved in the expression of Epo are: kinases A, G and C; both a constitutive factor and a second hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) located in the 5' end of an hypoxia inducible enhancer region of the Epo gene; and reactive oxygen species. The primary target cell in the bone marrow acted on by Epo is the colony-forming unit erythroid (CFU-E) which has the highest number of Epo receptors. It has been postulated that Epo decreases the rate which Epo-dependent progenitor cells undergo programed cell death (apoptosis). There are two major signal transduction pathways activated by the Epo receptor: the JAK2-STAT5 pathway and the ras pathway. Both pathways involve tyrosine phosphorylation. The approved clinical uses of Epo are the anemias associated with end-stage renal disease, cancer chemotherapeutic agents, and patients with HIV infection receiving AZT. Other anemias reported to respond to Epo therapy are anemia of prematurity, rheumatoid arthritis, and myelodysplasia. Other uses of Epo under investigation are in perioperative surgery and preoperative autologous blood donation.
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PMID:Erythropoietin: physiologic and pharmacologic aspects. 940 40

Twenty five years have passed since the first research efforts in Greece on human papillomavirus (HPV) performed by the Department of Clinical Virology at the University of Crete School of Medicine. HPV infection in the human cervix was initially evaluated in relation to the host mutational and transcriptional activation of the ras/raf genes pathway, p53 gene polymorphisms, neo-angiogenesis- related gene expression and G1/S phase transition. A series of epidemiological studies ensued, evaluating HPV infection in the ophthalmic pterygium, benign laryngeal tumors, parotid lesions, nasal polyposis, actinic keratosis, aborted material and non-genital cancers. The observed geographical variations of different HPV types within the Hellenic population indicated a higher prevalence of HPV 18 on the island of Crete compared to mainland Greece. Moreover, our research led to the investigation of the mother-to-infant HPV transmission via human breast milk and the detection of novel HPV types in juvenile recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. We also evaluated the presence of HPV in the respiratory tract of asymptomatic children and the relationship between maternal HPV infection and neonatal prematurity. Despite the introduction of the current prophylactic vaccines against HPV into clinical practice, HPV remains a challenging target for the next generation of researchers, as the war against HPV continues.
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PMID:Fighting against human papillomavirus: the 25-year old contribution of the University of Crete School of Medicine. 2577 90