Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P06889 (Mol)
 630,302 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Serine proteases are major granule constituents of mast cells, neutrophils, T cells and NK cells. The genes encoding these proteases are arranged in different loci. The mast cell chymase locus e.g. comprises at least one alpha-chymase, one cathepsin G, and two granzyme genes in almost all mammalian species investigated. However, in the gray, short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) this locus contains only two genes. Phylogenetic analyses place one of them clearly with the alpha-chymases, whereas the other gene is equally related to cathepsin G and the granzymes. To study the function of opossum chymase, and to explore the evolutionary origin of mast cell chymases, we have analyzed the cleavage specificity of this enzyme. The protease was expressed in mammalian cells and the extended substrate specificity was determined using a randomized phage-displayed nonapeptide library. A strong preference for the aromatic amino acids Trp over Phe and Tyr in the P1 position was observed. This is in contrast to human chymase and mouse mast cell protease-4, which prefer Phe over Tyr and Trp in this position. However, in most other positions this enzyme shows amino acid preferences very similar to human chymase and mouse mast cell protease-4, i.e. aliphatic amino acids in positions P4, P3, P2 and P1', and acidic amino acids (Glu and Asp) in the P2' position. The overall specificity of MC chymase thereby seems to have been conserved over almost 200 million years of mammalian evolution, indicating a strong selective pressure in maintaining this specificity and an important role for these enzymes in mast cell biology.
Mol Immunol 2008 Apr
PMID:Extended substrate specificity of opossum chymase--implications for the origin of mast cell chymases. 1802 36

Mast cell-derived chymase is implicated in myocardial fibrosis (MF), but the underlying mechanism of intracellular signaling remains unclear. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta1) is identified as the most important profibrotic cytokine, and Smad proteins are essential, but not exclusive downstream components of TGF-beta 1 signaling. Moreover, novel evidence indicates that there is a cross talk between Smad and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade. We investigated whether chymase activated TGF-beta 1/Smad pathway and its potential role in MF by evaluating cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) proliferation and collagen synthesis in neonatal rats. MTT assay and 3H-Proline incorporation revealed that chymase induced CFs proliferation and collagen synthesis in a dose-dependent manner. RT-PCR and Western blot assay demonstrated that chymase not only increased TGF-beta1 expression but also upregulated phosphorylated-Smad2/3 protein. Furthermore, pretreatment with TGF-beta 1 neutralizing antibody suppressed chymase-induced cell growth, collagen production, and Smad activation. In contrast, the blockade of angiotensin II receptor had no effects on chymase-induced production of TGF-beta 1 and profibrotic action. Additionally, the inhibition of MAPK signaling had no effect on Smad activation elicited by chymase. These results suggest that chymase can promote CFs proliferation and collagen synthesis via TGF-beta 1/Smad pathway rather than angiotensin II, which is implicated in the process of MF.
Mol Cell Biochem 2008 Mar
PMID:Chymase induces profibrotic response via transforming growth factor-beta 1/Smad activation in rat cardiac fibroblasts. 1805 96

Serglycin is a proteoglycan found in hematopoietic cells and endothelial cells. It has important functions related to formation of several types of storage granules. In connective tissue mast cells the covalently attached glycosaminoglycan is heparin, whereas mucosal mast cells and activated macrophages contain oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (type E). In mast cells, serglycin interact with histamine, chymase, tryptase and carboxypeptidase, in neutrophils with elastase, in cytotoxic T cells with granzyme B, in endothelial cells with tissue-type plasminogen activator and in macrophages with tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Serglycin is important for the retention of key inflammatory mediators inside storage granules and secretory vesicles. Serglycin can further modulate the activities of partner molecules in different ways after secretion from activated immune cells, through protection, transport, activation and interactions with substrates or target cells. Serglycin is a proteoglycan with important roles in inflammatory reactions.
Cell Mol Life Sci 2008 Apr
PMID:Serglycin--structure and biology. 1806 95

Interstitial Cajal-like Cells (ICLC) were recently recognized in a plethora of non-digestive organs. Here, we describe a cell type of rat mesentery sharing ultrastructural and immunohistochemical features with ICLC. Mesenteric ICLC were demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and further tested by light microscope immunohistochemistry. The cell described here fulfils the TEM diagnostic criteria accepted for ICLC: location in the connective interstitium; close vicinity to nerves, capillaries and other interstitial cells; characteristic long, moniliform cell processes; specialized cell-to-cell junctions; caveolae; mitochondria at 5-10% of cytoplasmic volume; rough endoplasmic reticulum at about 1-2%; intermediate and thin filaments, microtubules; undetectable thick filaments. The processes of this mesenteric ICLC were particularly long, with a mean length of 24.91 microm (10.27-50.83 micorm), and a convolution index of 2.32 (1.37-3.63) was calculated in order to measure their potential length. Mean distances versus main target cells of ICLC-nerve bundles, vessels, adipocytes and macrophages-were 110.69, 115.80, 205.07 and 34.65 nm, respectively. We also tested the expression of CD117/c-kit, CD34, vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin, nestin, NK-1, tryptase and chymase and the antigenic profile of the mesenteric ICLC was comparable if not identical with that recently observed in ICLC from other extra-digestive tissues. Due to the peculiar aspect of the mesenteric ICLC processes it can be hypothesized that these cells form a three-dimensional network within the mesentery that is at the same time resistant and deformable following stretches consequent to intestine movements, mainly avoiding blood vessels closure or controlling blood vessels rheology. It remains, however, to be established if and how such cells are connected with the archetypal enteric ICC.
J Cell Mol Med
PMID:Interstitial Cajal-like cells in rat mesentery: an ultrastructural and immunohistochemical approach. 1819 43

Endometritis is defined as an inflammation of the endometrial mucosa of the uterus. In endometritis large amounts of toxic mediators, including nitric oxide (NO) are released by inflammatory cells. As a consequence of nitric oxide-dependent injury, the cells respond by triggering protective mechanisms, by changing the endocannabinoid system (ECS) which comprises both CB(1) and CB(2) cannabinoid receptors and their endogenous ligands. The aim of our study was to seek out evidence for the presence of cannabinoid receptors in inflammatory endometrial tissue as well as for their potential role in endometrial inflammation. Our results showed a selective up-regulation of both transcription and expression of CB(2) receptors in biopsies from women affected by endometrial inflammation compared to healthy women. The experiments with the nitric oxide-donor S-Nitroso-L-Glutathione (GSNO) suggest that such a selective up-regulation may be related to the nitric oxide release occurring during endometrial inflammation. In addition, we demonstrated an increase in chymase expression, a marker of mast cells, in biopsies of women affected by endometritis. Therefore our results support the hypothesis that the up-regulation of CB(2) occurs mainly on mast cells and that it might tend to sensitize these cells to the anti-inflammatory effect exerted by endogenous cannabinoids by binding their receptor and thus preventing the mast cell degranulation and the release of pro-inflammatory mediators. In conclusion, we believe that the selective CB(2) up-regulation might play a role as a novel prognostic factor in endometrial inflammation.
J Cell Mol Med 2008 Apr
PMID:Selective CB2 up-regulation in women affected by endometrial inflammation. 1841 3

Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) and some of its analogues have shown great efficacy in the treatment of pain and inflammation. Adelmidrol - the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) of the di-amide derivative of azelaic acid - is one of these analogues. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of PEA and adelmidrol are hypothesized to be mediated, at least in part, by mast cell down-modulation. Mast cell mediators released at early stage of the inflammatory process drive the inflammatory reaction to chronicity as it happens in X-carrageenin-induced granulomatous tissue formation. In the present study, the choice of testing adelmidrol depends upon the physicochemical properties of the compound, i.e. the amphipatic feature, that make it more easily soluble than PEA. In this study, we investigated the effect of adelmidrol on granuloma formation induced by lambda-carrageenin-soaked sponge implant in rats. Our results show that the local administration of the compound under study significantly decreases weight and neo-angiogenesis in granulomatous tissue. The anti-inflammatory effect was due to the modulation of mast cells degranulation, as shown by histological analysis and by the inhibition of the release of several pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic enzymes (e.g. iNOS, chymase and metalloproteinase MMP-9), and mediators (e.g. nitric oxide and TNF-alpha). The results indicate that adelmidrol, given locally, may represent a potential therapeutic tool in controlling chronic inflammation.
J Cell Mol Med 2009 Jun
PMID:Adelmidrol, a palmitoylethanolamide analogue, reduces chronic inflammation in a carrageenin-granuloma model in rats. 1842 35

Mast cells are key effector cells of the allergic response. When stimulated by specific allergen through the high-affinity IgE receptors or through other stimuli, these cells release a number of potent mediators of inflammation. Amongst these are the serine proteases tryptase and chymase. In humans, tryptase is the most abundant mediator stored in mast cells. Chymase is present in more moderate amounts in a subpopulation of mast cells (MC(TC)). This subtype of mast cells predominates in connective tissue, whereas the other major subtype, the MC(T), predominates in mucosal tissue. Both proteases have been shown to act on specific extracellular proteins and peptides, as well as to alter the behavior of various cell types. Inhibitors of tryptase have been found to be efficacious in animal and human models of asthma, and both proteases are currently being investigated as potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Such pharmacological, physiological, and biochemical studies require the availability of purified tryptase and chymase. In this chapter, we shall describe procedures for the purification of tryptase and chymase from human tissues and provide protocols for monitoring purification and characterization of the final product. The preparation of recombinant proteases will not be covered, though some of the procedures described may be readily adapted for their purification from recombinant expression systems. The procedures described here have been developed for the purification of the human proteases and will require some modification if applied to purify mast cell proteases from the tissues of other species.
Methods Mol Med 2008
PMID:Purification and characterization of mast cell tryptase and chymase from human tissues. 1861 18

Mast cells make and secrete an abundance of peptidases, which are stored in such large amounts in granules that they comprise a high fraction of all cellular protein. Perhaps no other immune cell is so generously endowed with peptidases. For many years after the main peptidases were first described, they were best known as markers of degranulation, for they are released locally in response to mast cell stimulation and can be distributed systemically and detected in blood. The principal peptidases are tryptases, chymases, carboxypeptidase A3, and dipeptidylpeptidase I (cathepsin C). Numerous studies suggest that these enzymes are important and even critical for host defense and homeostasis. Endogenous and allergen or pathogen-associated targets have been identified. Belying the narrow notion of peptidases as proinflammatory, several of the peptidases limit inflammation and toxicity of endogenous peptides and venoms. The peptidases are interdependent, so that absence or inactivity of one enzyme can alter levels and activity of others. Mammalian mast cell peptidases--chymases and tryptases especially--vary remarkably in number, expression, biophysical properties, and specificity, perhaps because they hyper-evolved under pressure from the very pathogens they help to repel. Tryptase and chymase involvement in some pathologies stimulated development of therapeutic inhibitors for use in asthma, lung fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, ulcerative colitis, and cardiovascular diseases. While animal studies support the potential for mast cell peptidase inhibitors to mitigate certain diseases, other studies, as in mice lacking selected peptidases, predict roles in defense against bacteria and parasites and that systemic inactivation may impair host defense.
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2010 Mar
PMID:Mast cell peptidases: chameleons of innate immunity and host defense. 2015 78

Serine proteases form a large family of protein-cleaving enzymes that play an essential role in processes like blood coagulation, apoptosis and inflammation. Immune cells express a wide variety of serine proteases such as granzymes in cytotoxic lymphocytes, neutrophil elastase, cathepsin G and proteinase 3 in neutrophils and chymase and tryptase in mast cells. Regulation of proteolysis induced by these serine proteases is essential to prevent self-induced damage. Hence, there are specialized serine protease inhibitors, serpins, which are broadly distributed. Here, we discuss the function of human serine proteases in inflammation, apoptosis and tissue remodeling. Furthermore, we address their impact on development and progression of immune mediated-diseases. Understanding the mode of action of serine proteases will help to unravel molecular processes involved in immunological disorders and will facilitate the identification of new therapeutic targets.
Mol Immunol 2010 Jul
PMID:Serine proteases of the human immune system in health and disease. 2053 9

Pursuing an established research interest in our group, we built two models for synthetic HDL containing the natural cysteine mutants of apolipoprotein A-I, apolipoprotein A-I Milano (apoA-IM) and apolipoprotein A-I Paris (apoA-IP), both in their homodimeric form. Data on the structural and dynamic properties of such s-HDL are an essential preliminary step for the understanding of the biological activity of the two mutants. Furthermore, comparison between apoA-IM and apoA-IP allows evaluating the effects of the same mutation in a different position in the primary structure and to directly compare our findings with previously published models. We computed for 50 ns in explicit solvent the molecular dynamics of the two complexes and analyzed different properties as a function of time. The proposed s-HDL structures differ significantly from one another and from wild type apolipoprotein A-I. All features of the apoA-IM model are consistent with experimental data. The higher RMSF of apoA-IM has a counterpart in the finding that trypsin, matrix metalloproteases, and chymase degrade apoA-IM much faster than wild type apoA-I; the primary cutting site is correctly identified by molecular dynamics data on our model of apoA-IM-containing s-HDL. The few experimental data for apoA-IP prevent direct comparison with our findings.
J Mol Graph Model 2010 Nov
PMID:Structural and dynamic features of apolipoprotein A-I cysteine mutants, Milano and Paris, in synthetic HDL. 2086 95


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