Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P04637 (p53)
 77,613 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The gene mutated in ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) patients, denoted ATM, encodes a putative protein or lipid kinase. To elucidate the functions of ATM, we disrupted the mouse ATM gene through homologous recombination in mice. Consistent with cellular defects of AT patients, the ATM-/- cells are hypersensitive to gamma-irradiation and defective in cell-cycle arrest following radiation, correlating with a defective up-regulation of p53. In addition, ATM-/- mouse thymocytes are more resistant to apoptosis induced by gamma-irradiation than normal thymocytes. ATM-/- fibroblasts are inefficient in G1 to S-phase progression following serum stimulation and senesce after only a few passages in culture. They have an increased constitutive level of p21CP1/WAF1. The ATM protein is therefore critical both for cellular responses to ionizing radiation and for normal cell-cycle progression. ATM+/- fibroblasts and thymocytes showed intermediately defective responses to irradiation but no growth defect, suggesting that the increased cancer risk of AT heterozygotes could be attributable to poor checkpoint function.
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PMID:Dual roles of ATM in the cellular response to radiation and in cell growth control. 884 91

The product of the ataxia-telangiectasia gene (ATM) was identified by using an antiserum developed to a peptide corresponding to the deduced amino acid sequence. The ATM protein is a single, high-molecular weight protein predominantly confined to the nucleus of human fibroblasts, but is present in both nuclear and microsomal fractions from human lymphoblast cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes. ATM protein levels and localization remain constant throughout all stages of the cell cycle. Truncated ATM protein was not detected in lymphoblasts from ataxia-telangiectasia patients homozygous for mutations leading to premature protein termination. Exposure of normal human cells to gamma-irradiation and the radiomimetic drug neocarzinostatin had no effect on ATM protein levels, in contrast to a noted rise in p53 levels over the same time interval. These findings are consistent with a role for the ATM protein in ensuring the fidelity of DNA repair and cell cycle regulation following genome damage.
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PMID:The ataxia-telangiectasia gene product, a constitutively expressed nuclear protein that is not up-regulated following genome damage. 905 Aug 66

The recently cloned gene (ATM) mutated in the human genetic disorder ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is involved in DNA damage response at different cell cycle checkpoints and also appears to have a wider role in signal transduction. Antibodies prepared against peptides from the predicted protein sequence detected a approximately 350 kDa protein corresponding to the open reading frame, which was absent in 13/23 A-T homozygotes. Subcellular fractionation, immunoelectronmicroscopy and immunofluorescence showed that the ATM protein is present in the nucleus and cytoplasmic vesicles. This distribution did not change after irradiation. We also provide evidence that ATM protein binds to p53 and this association is defective in A-T cells compatible with the defective p53 response in these cells. These results provide further support for a role for the ATM protein as a sensor of DNA damage and in a more general role in cell signalling, compatible with the broader phenotype of the syndrome.
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PMID:Cellular localisation of the ataxia-telangiectasia (ATM) gene product and discrimination between mutated and normal forms. 915 Mar 58

Advances have been made in unravelling the molecular chains of cause and effect that determine cellular responses to radiotherapy, including cell cycle arrest, DNA repair and apoptosis. To begin with, cells must have mechanisms that enable them to sense DNA damage. Little was known about this until recently, when a DNA-protein kinase (DNA-PK) system for detecting radiation-induced strand breaks was described. The ataxia telangiectasia (ATM) gene has amino acid sequence similarities to DNA-PK, raising the possibility that the ATM protein also functions in some way as a sensor of DNA damage. However, just knowing the DNA damage is present is not enough. Signals must be transmitted via afferent biochemical pathways to proteins, such as p53, that determine which cellular responses are activated. The responses include cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and DNA repair, all of which relate closely to loss of clonogenic capacity and the outcome of treatment in our patients.
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PMID:Molecular aspects of cellular responses to radiotherapy. 928 50

The autosomal recessive disorder ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) is highly pleiotropic. It is characterized by gradual loss of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, leading to progressive neuromotor deterioration, immunodeficiency, developmental defects in specific tissues, profound predisposition to malignancy and acute sensitivity to ionizing radiation. AT cells show chromosomal instability, premature senesence, radiosensitivity and defects in cell cycle checkpoints activated by ionizing radiation. Several radiation induced pathways that regulate the cell cycle seem to be defective in AT cells, at least one of which is mediated by TP53. Extensive characterization of the cellular defects of AT cells, together with the recent isolation of the ATM gene, has provided some insight into the possible physiological roles of the ATM protein. Several lines of evidence, including the nature of the agents that elicit the hypersensitivity of AT cells, point to the possibility of a defect in the response to damage induced by oxidative stress, which affects various cellular macromolecules. The ATM protein might have a role in activating defence mechanisms against oxidative stress. This hypothesis broadens the previous concept of the AT defect and explains several aspects of the AT phenotype that cannot be accounted for by defective processing of DNA damage.
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PMID:The ATM gene and protein: possible roles in genome surveillance, checkpoint controls and cellular defence against oxidative stress. 933 5

Gene mutations provide valuable clues to cellular metabolism. In humans such insights come mainly from genetic disorders. Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) and Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS) are two distinct but closely related, single gene disorders that highlight a complex junction of several signal transduction pathways. These pathways appear to control defense mechanisms against specific types of damage to cellular macromolecules, and probably regulate the processing of certain types of DNA damage or normal intermediates of DNA metabolism. A-T is characterized primarily by cerebellar degeneration, immunodeficiency, genome instability, clinical radiosensitivity, and cancer predisposition. NBS shares all these features except cerebellar deterioration. The cellular phenotypes of A-T and NBS are almost indistinguishable, however, and include chromosomal instability, radiosensitivity, and defects in cell cycle checkpoints normally induced by ionizing radiation. The recent identification of the gene responsible for A-T, ATM, has revealed its product to be a large, constitutively expressed phosphoprotein with a carboxy-terminal region similar to the catalytic domain of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI 3-kinases). ATM is a member of a family of proteins identified in various organisms, which share the PI 3-kinase domain and are involved in regulation of cell cycle progression and response to genotoxic agents. Some of these proteins, most notably the DNA-dependent protein kinase, have an associated protein kinase activity, and preliminary data indicate this activity in ATM as well. Mutations in A-T patients are null alleles that truncate or destabilize the ATM protein. Atm-deficient mice recapitulate the human phenotype with slower nervous-system degeneration. Two ATM interactors, c-Abl and p53, underscore its role in cellular responses to genotoxic stress. The complexity of ATM's structure and mode of action make it a paradigm of multifaceted signal transduction proteins involved in many physiological pathways via multiple protein-protein interactions. The as yet unknown NBS protein may be a component in an ATM-based complex, with a key role in sensing and processing specific DNA damage or intermediates and signaling their presence to the cell cycle machinery.
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PMID:Ataxia-telangiectasia and the Nijmegen breakage syndrome: related disorders but genes apart. 944 10

The gene mutated in the human genetic disorder ataxia-telangiectasia, ATM, is implicated in the response to radiation-induced DNA damage and to a more widespread signalling defect. The ATM protein is predominantly a nuclear protein where it interacts with p53 and c-Abl as part of a radiation signal transduction pathway(s). We describe here the cloning of full-length ATM cDNA in a baculovirus vector to produce recombinant protein. Expression of ATM, as a soluble protein, was observed by 36 h post-infection using immunoblotting with anti-ATM antibody. The presence of a hexahistidine tag on ATM was used as the basis for purification of the protein by affinity chromatography. The protein yield was only 20 ng/100 ml of infected cells, presumably because of the size of the protein and adverse effects on cell growth when overexpressed. ATM was found to have autophosphorylation activity in immunoprecipitates with antibodies directed against the hexahistidine tag sequence. These results demonstrate that ATM can be expressed inefficiently in baculovirus infected insect cells and the data suggest that it phosphorylates itself.
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PMID:Cloning and expression of the ataxia-telangiectasia gene in baculovirus. 953 98

Radiosensitivity is a major hallmark of the human genetic disorder ataxia telangiectasia. This hypersensitivity to ionizing radiation has been demonstrated in vivo after exposure of patients to therapeutic doses of radiation and in cells in culture. Clearly an understanding of the nature of the molecular defect in ataxia telangiectasia will be of considerable assistance in delineating additional pathways that determine cellular radiosensitivity/radioresistance. Furthermore, since patients with this syndrome are also predisposed to developing a number of leukaemias and lymphomas, the possible connection between radiosensitivity and cancer predisposition is of interest. Now that the gene (ATM) responsible for this genetic disease has been cloned and identified, progress is being made in determining the role of the ATM protein in mediating the effects of cellular exposure to ionizing radiation and other forms of redox stress. Proteins such as the product of the tumour suppressor gene p53 and the proto-oncogene c-Abl (a protein tyrosine kinase) have been shown to interact with ATM. Since several intermediate steps in both the p53 and c-Abl pathways, activated by ionizing radiation, are known it will be possible to map the position of ATM in these pathways and describe its mechanism of action. What are the clinical implications of understanding the molecular basis of the defect in ataxia telangiectasia (A-T)? As outlined above, since radiosensitivity is a universal characteristic of A-T, understanding the mechanism of action of ATM will provide additional information on radiation signalling in human cells. With this information it may be possible to sensitize tumour cells to radiation and thus increase the therapeutic benefit of radiotherapy. This might involve the use of small molecules that would interfere with the normal ATM-controlled pathways and thus sensitize cells to radiation or alternatively it might involve the efficient introduction of ATM anti-sense cDNA constructs into tumours to achieve the same end-point.
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PMID:Radiosensitivity and oxidative signalling in ataxia telangiectasia: an update. 968 57

The ATM protein, encoded by the gene responsible for the human genetic disorder ataxia telangiectasia (A-T), regulates several cellular responses to DNA breaks. ATM shares a phosphoinositide 3-kinase-related domain with several proteins, some of them protein kinases. A wortmannin-sensitive protein kinase activity was associated with endogenous or recombinant ATM and was abolished by structural ATM mutations. In vitro substrates included the translation repressor PHAS-I and the p53 protein. ATM phosphorylated p53 in vitro on a single residue, serine-15, which is phosphorylated in vivo in response to DNA damage. This activity was markedly enhanced within minutes after treatment of cells with a radiomimetic drug; the total amount of ATM remained unchanged. Various damage-induced responses may be activated by enhancement of the protein kinase activity of ATM.
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PMID:Enhanced phosphorylation of p53 by ATM in response to DNA damage. 973 14

The cloning of a full-length cDNA for the gene (ATM) mutated in the human genetic disorder ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) has been described recently. This cDNA, as well as a fragment representing a functional region from ATM, are capable of rescuing various aspects of the radiosensitive phenotype in A-T cells. We have subcloned full-length ATM cDNA in the opposite orientation in an EBV-based vector under the control of an inducible promoter to determine whether this anti-sense construct might sensitize control lymphoblastoid cells to ionizing radiation. The effectiveness of expression of this construct in control cells was monitored by loss of ATM protein which was evident over a period 6-12 h after induction. Under these conditions radiosensitivity was enhanced approximately threefold in control cells, approaching the degree of radiosensitivity observed in A-T cells. Expression of the anti-sense construct also increased the number of radiation-induced chromosomal breaks and led to the appearance of radioresistant DNA synthesis in these cells. Abrogation of the G1/S checkpoint was evident from the loss of the p53 response and that of its downstream effector, p21/WAF1, post-irradiation. The extent of accumulation of transfected cells in G2/M phase at 24 h post-irradiation was similar to that observed in A-T cells and the induction of stress-activated protein kinase by ionizing radiation was prevented by antisense ATM cDNA expression. These data demonstrate that full-length ATM anti-sense cDNA, by reducing the amount of ATM protein, is effective in imposing a series of known defects characteristic of the A-T phenotype. This inducible system provides an experimental model to further investigate mechanisms underlying radiosensitivity and cell cycle control.
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PMID:An anti-sense construct of full-length ATM cDNA imposes a radiosensitive phenotype on normal cells. 977 97


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