Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The gradual corneal thinning seen in keratoconus may be due to altered degradation of the corneal extracellular matrix. Studies have shown that human keratocytes produce matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and two proteins (28 kDa and 21 kDa) that are capable of inhibiting the activity of MMP-2. In the present study, the 28 kDa inhibitor from keratoconus keratocyte cultures has been characterized as it may be important to the elevated MMP-2 activity seen in these cultures. Biochemical analyses indicated that this keratoconus corneal inhibitor was similar to TIMP-1 from other sources. Oligonucleotides to the reported sequence of human tumor cell TIMP-1 were used for reverse-transcriptase PCR to generate a 700 bp clone of the 28 kDa inhibitor from keratoconus keratocyte cytoplasmic RNA. Sequence analysis verified that the clone was nearly identical to the reported human TIMP-1 with a single base substitution that did not affect the predicted amino acid sequence. In addition, protein translated from the clone corresponded to the expected size. This data suggests that the elevated levels of gelatinolytic activity in these keratoconus keratocyte cultures is not due to a primary alteration of the TIMP-1 molecule. Protein expression studies of the TIMP-1 clone are currently underway.
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PMID:Characterization of a human corneal metalloproteinase inhibitor (TIMP-1). 750 19

Membranous nephropathy, mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis and renal amyloidosis are common renal pathology in RA patients. However, IgA nephropathy and diffuse thinning of glomerular basement membrane are described as common and characteristic renal lesions in Japanese RA patients. Glomerular filtration rate may decrease significantly in active lupus nephritis, but renal plasma flow does not change or even increase. These findings seem to be characteristic of SLE patients with active renal disorders. Therefore, filtration fraction may be a useful clinical parameter to evaluate SLE patients. Scleroderma renal crisis(SRC) has been believed to be the most serious renal disorder in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Recently, the presence of an antibody to RNA polymerase has been associated with a high prevalence of SRC.
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PMID:[Renal disorders in patients with collagen vascular diseases]. 1007 13

Effective therapies are available that can stop or slow down the progression of HIV infection. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is a combination of antiretroviral drugs such as viral protease inhibitors or nucleoside-analogue reverse-transcriptase inhibitors. Among the side effects due to these drugs, lipodystrophy is a pathology characterized by fat wasting in face and limbs, accumulation of visceral fat, breast adiposity, cervical fat-pads, hyperlipidemia (hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia), insulin resistance, and lactic acidemia. The main clinical features include peripheral fat loss (presumed lipoatrophy in the face, limbs, and buttocks) and central fat accumulation (within the abdomen, breasts, and over the dorsocervical spine, so-called "buffalo hump"). Histopathological features disclose a peculiar type of involutional lipodystrophy. Skin biopsies generally show thinning of the subcutaneous fat, associated with fibrosis, lipogranuloma and sometimes vessel proliferation. There is still an open debate concerning the precise responsibility of HAART as well as the metabolic pathways and mechanisms that are involved in the onset of lipodystrophy. There is no proven therapy for any component of lipodystrophy syndrome.
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PMID:[Antiretroviral treatments-related lipodystrophy syndrome: clinico-pathological findings]. 1632 57