Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P05412 (c-Jun)
 11,453 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The pathogenic role of anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) in vascular injury is debated. It was previously shown that many patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) have AECA that react with human kidney microvascular endothelial cells (EC). In addition, during active disease, renal endothelium strongly expresses the inflammatory molecules vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) and MHC class I-related antigen A (MICA). This study sought to determine whether AECA mediates this upregulation of VAP-1 and MICA and to define better the signaling pathways that are activated by these autoantibodies upon binding to EC in the kidney. Stimulation of human kidney microvascular EC with AECA IgG upregulated surface expression of MICA and VAP-1, elicited a rapid Ca2+ flux, induced high levels of the chemokines monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and granulocyte chemotactic protein-2, induced specific phosphorylation of stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK)/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and the transcription factors c-Jun and activating transcription factor-2, and activated NF-kappaB. Specific inhibitors of SAPK/JNK significantly reduced AECA-induced chemokine production and phosphorylation of c-Jun and activating transcription factor-2 and abrogated protein expression of MICA but not VAP-1. In kidney sections from patients with WG, infiltrating cells that expressed the ligand for MICA (NKG2D+) were identified, as were CD8+ and 32 gamma delta+ T cells. In conclusion, AECA may be involved in the pathogenesis of WG, and the SAPK/JNK pathway and the endothelial inflammatory protein VAP-1 may be novel therapeutic targets for vasculitis.
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PMID:Anti endothelial cell autoantibodies selectively activate SAPK/JNK signalling in Wegener's granulomatosis. 1772 31

The transcription factor c-Jun regulates the expression of genes involved in proliferation and inflammation in many cell types but its role in human renal disease is largely unclear. In the current study we investigated whether c-Jun activation is associated with human renal disease and if c-Jun activation regulates pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic genes in renal cells. Activation of c-Jun was quantified by scoring renal expression of phosphorylated c-Jun (pc-Jun) in control human renal tissue and in biopsies from patients with various renal diseases (diabetic nephropathy, focal glomerulosclerosis, hypertension, IgA nephropathy, membranous glomerulopathy, minimal change disease, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, acute rejection, and Wegener's granulomatosis); this was correlated with parameters of renal damage. Furthermore, we studied the functional role of c-Jun activation in human tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) stimulated with TGF-beta. Activated c-Jun was present in nuclei of glomerular and tubular cells in all human renal diseases, but only sporadically in controls. Across the diseases, the extent of pc-Jun expression correlated with the degree of focal glomerulosclerosis, interstitial fibrosis, cell proliferation, kidney injury molecule-1 (Kim-1) expression, macrophage accumulation, and impairment of renal function. In HK-2 cells, TGF-beta induced c-Jun activation after 1 h (+40%, p < 0.001) and 24 h (+160%, p < 0.001). The specific c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor SP600125 abolished c-Jun phosphorylation at all time points and blunted TGF-beta- or BSA-induced procollagen-1alpha 1 and MCP-1 gene expression in HK-2 cells. We conclude that in human renal disease, the transcription factor c-Jun is activated in glomerular and tubular cells. Activation of c-Jun may be involved in the regulation of inflammation and/or fibrosis in human renal disease.
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PMID:Glomerular and tubular induction of the transcription factor c-Jun in human renal disease. 1789 46