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)

Ras, a small GTP-binding protein, is required for functional receptor tyrosine kinase signaling. Ultimately, Ras alters the activity of specific nuclear transcription factors and regulates novel patterns of gene expression. Using a rat prolactin promoter construct in transient transfection experiments, we show that both oncogenic Ras and activated forms of Raf-1 kinase selectively stimulated the cellular rat prolactin promoter in GH4 rat pituitary cells. We also show that the Ras signal is completely blocked by an expression vector encoding a dominant-negative Raf kinase. Additionally, using a molecular genetic approach, we determined that inhibitory forms of p42 mitogen-activated protein kinase and an Ets-2 transcription factor interfere with both the Ras and the Raf activation of the rat prolactin promoter. These findings define a functional requirement for these signaling constituents in the activation of the prolactin gene, a cell-specific gene which marks the lactotroph pituitary cell type. Further, this analysis allowed us to order the components in the Ras signaling pathway as it impinges on regulation of prolactin gene transcription as Ras-->Raf kinase-->mitogen-activated protein kinase-->Ets. In contrast, we show that intact c-Jun expression inhibited the Ras-induced activation of the prolactin promoter, defining it as a negative regulator of this pathway, whereas c-Jun was able to enhance the Ras activation of an AP-1-driven promoter in GH4 cells. These data show that c-Jun is not the nuclear mediator of the Ras signal for the highly specialized, pituitary cell-specific prolactin cellular promoter. Thus, we have defined a model system which provides an ideal paradigm for studying Ras/Raf signaling pathways and their effects on neuroendocrine cell-specific gene regulation.
Mol Cell Biol 1994 Mar
PMID:Identification of the functional components of the Ras signaling pathway regulating pituitary cell-specific gene expression. 811 93

In the present study, we addressed the role of the c-jun proto-oncogene in the mitogenic response of human fibroblasts and primary acute myelogenous leukemia blasts to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). Our data indicate that TNF-alpha treatment of these cells is associated with transcriptional activation of c-jun, resulting in accumulation of c-jun mRNA and protein expression. In order to elucidate the role of c-Jun/AP-1 in TNF-mediated growth stimulation, the antisense (AS) technique was used. Uptake studies of oligonucleotides were performed with fibroblasts, demonstrating that incorporation of oligomers was maximal at 4 h. Oligodeoxynucleotides remained stable in these cells for up to 24 h. Treatment of fibroblasts with the AS oligonucleotide resulted in intracellular duplex formation followed by an efficient translation blockade of c-Jun/AP-1. In contrast, sense (S) and nonsense (NS) oligodeoxynucleotides failed to form intracellular duplexes and also did not interfere with translation of c-Jun/AP-1, suggesting specific elimination of c-Jun/AP-1 by the AS oligomer. Fibroblasts cultured in the presence of the AS oligonucleotide but not those cultured in the presence of the S or NS oligonucleotide failed to respond proliferatively to TNF-alpha. These findings could be confirmed by experiments with primary acute myelogenous leukemia blasts, which also demonstrated that TNF-induced growth stimulation required c-Jun/AP-1 function. Taken together, our results indicate that activation of c-Jun/AP-1 plays a pivotal role in the signaling cascade initiated by TNF, which leads to a proliferative response of its target cells.
Mol Cell Biol 1993 Jul
PMID:The mitogenic response to tumor necrosis factor alpha requires c-Jun/AP-1. 832 Dec 30

Neurons undergoing delayed neuronal death produced by hypoxia-ischaemia (HI) or status epilepticus (SE) showed a massive expression of c-Jun in their nuclei 24 h after the insult. With SE there was also a weaker induction of c-Fos and Jun B in dying neurons. SE induced in the presence of the NMDA antagonist MK-801 produced no delayed c-Jun expression in the hippocampus and nerve cell death did not occur in this region, although there was a delayed c-jun expression in the amygdala/piriform region, and cell death occurred in this area. Activation of central muscarinic receptors with pilocarpine, or block of D2 dopamine receptors with haloperidol, treatments which do not cause neuronal damage, strongly induced Fos and Jun B in hippocampal and striatal neurons, but only induced c-Jun very weakly. Thus, c-Jun may participate in the genetic cascade of events that produce programmed cell death in neurons.
Brain Res Mol Brain Res 1993 Jun
PMID:Is c-Jun involved in nerve cell death following status epilepticus and hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury? 832 31

Irradiation of cells with UV light triggers a genetic response, called the UV response, which results in induction of a set of genes containing AP-1-binding sites. The c-jun gene itself, which codes for AP-1-binding activity, is strongly (> 100-fold) and rapidly activated by UV. The UV induction of c-jun is mediated by two UV response elements consisting of AP-1-like sequences within its 5' control region. We have analyzed protein-DNA interactions in vivo at the c-jun promoter in noninduced and UV-irradiated HeLa cells. In vivo footprint analysis was performed by using dimethyl sulfate on intact cells and DNase I on lysolecithihin-permeabilized cells in conjunction with ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction to cover about 450 bp of the c-jun promoter, including the transcription start sites. We find that this region does not contain methylated cytosines and is thus a typical CpG island. In uninduced cells, in vivo protein-DNA interactions were localized to an AP-1-like sequence (nucleotides [nt] -71 to -64), a CCAAT box element (nt -91 to -87), two SP1 sequences (nt -115 to -110 and -123 to -118), a nuclear factor jun site (nt -140 to -132), and a second AP-1-like sequence (nt -190 to -183). These results indicate that complex protein-DNA interactions exist at the c-jun promoter prior to induction by an external stimulus. Surprisingly, after stimulation of c-jun expression by UV irradiation, all in vivo protein-DNA contacts remained essentially unchanged, including the two UV response elements located at the AP-1-like sequences. The UV-induced signalling cascade leads to phosphorylation of c-Jun on serines 63 and 73 (Y. Devary, R.A. Gottlieb, T. Smeal, and M. Karin, Cell 71:1081-1091, 1992). Taken together, these data suggest that modification of the transactivating domain of DNA-bound c-Jun or a closely related factor may trigger the rapid induction of the c-jun gene.
Mol Cell Biol 1993 Sep
PMID:In vivo protein-DNA interactions at the c-jun promoter: preformed complexes mediate the UV response. 835 96

The involvement of serine/threonine protein phosphatases in signaling pathways which modulate the activity of the transcription factor AP-1 was examined. Purified protein phosphatase types 1 (PP1) and 2A (PP2A) were microinjected into cell lines containing stably transfected lacZ marker genes under the control of an enhancer recognized by AP-1. Microinjection of PP2A potentiated serum-stimulated beta-galactosidase expression from the AP-1-regulated promoter. Similarly, transient expression of the PP2A catalytic subunit with c-Jun resulted in a synergistic transactivation of an AP-1-regulated reporter gene. PP2A, but not PP1, potentiated serum-induced c-Jun expression, which has been previously shown to be autoregulated by AP-1 itself. Consistent with these results, PP2A dephosphorylated c-Jun on negative regulatory sites in vitro, suggesting one possible direct mechanism for the effects of PP2A on AP-1 activity. Microinjection of PP2A had no effect on cyclic AMP (cAMP)-induced expression of a reporter gene containing a cAMP-regulated promoter, while PP1 injection abolished cAMP-induced gene expression. Taken together, these results suggest a specific role for PP2A in signal transduction pathways that regulate AP-1 activity and c-Jun expression.
Mol Cell Biol 1993 Apr
PMID:Protein phosphatase 2A potentiates activity of promoters containing AP-1-binding elements. 838 5

DNA topoisomerase II (topo II) is an essential nuclear enzyme which catalyzes the interconversions of various forms of DNA. As predicted from the human topo II cDNA, the enzyme contains a potential leucine zipper protein dimerization motif. We therefore tested whether topo II could enter protein-protein interactions with other better characterized leucine zipper-containing proteins and determined if these interactions could modify topo II enzymatic activity in vitro. By far Western analyses, a large C-terminal fragment of human topo II was shown to interact with the DNA binding and dimerization regions of either cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) or the activating transcription factor-2. The C-terminal topo II fragment also interacted with full-length c-Jun, but not with full-length c-Fos. Using CREB as a prototype, the effect of this interaction on various topo II catalytic activities was assessed in vitro. CREB, at a 1- to 10-fold molar excess relative to topo II, inhibited site-specific DNA cleavage activity on a 242-base pair fragment of the human alpha-glycoprotein hormone subunit gene promoter. Very high CREB concentrations (400-fold excess) apparently inhibited topo II DNA relaxation activity, but this result was likely a direct effect of CREB on the topology of the DNA substrate. More interestingly, a 10-fold molar excess of CREB stimulated topo II decatenation activity, the essential function of this enzyme in cell division. This stimulatory effect could also be elicited by c-Jun, which interacts with topo II, but not by c-Fos, which does not bind topo II in our in vitro assay. Since similar amounts of CREB reduced the abundance of topo II DNA cleavage products from the human alpha-CG promoter yet also stimulated decatenation activity, it can be concluded that either: 1) CREB stimulated the religation rate of topo II; or 2) CREB directed topo II to a new cleavage site present on the decatenation substrate but not present on the limited alpha-CG promoter. The structural requirements for topo II protein-protein interactions were also investigated. Site-directed mutations which destroyed the putative topo II leucine zipper did not disrupt topo II protein-protein interactions. Since the putative leucine zipper in topo II does not appear to mediate protein-protein interactions, we propose that an alternate as yet uncharacterized structure is involved in the association of topo II with itself and other regulatory proteins.
Mol Endocrinol 1993 Mar
PMID:Modification of DNA topoisomerase II activity via direct interactions with the cyclic adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate response element-binding protein and related transcription factors. 838 55

NGFI-A is an immediate-early gene that encodes a transcription factor whose DNA-binding domain is composed of three zinc fingers. To define the domains responsible for its transcriptional activity, a mutational analysis was conducted with an NGFI-A molecule in which the zinc fingers were replaced by the GAL4 DNA-binding domain. In a cotransfection assay, four activation domains were found within NGFI-A. Three of the activation domains are similar to those characterized previously: one contains a large number of acidic residues, another is enriched in proline and glutamine residues, and another has some sequence homology to a domain found in Krox-20. The fourth bears no resemblance to previously described activation domains. NGFI-A also contains an inhibitory domain whose removal resulted in a 15-fold increase in NGFI-A activity. This increase in activity occurred in all mammalian cell types tested but not in Drosophila S2 cells. Competition experiments in which increasing amounts of the inhibitory domain were cotransfected along with NGFI-A demonstrated a dose-dependent increase in NGFI-A activity. A point mutation within the inhibitory domain of the competitor (I293F) abolished this property. When the analogous mutation was introduced into native NGFI-A, a 17-fold increase in activity was observed. The inhibitory effect therefore appears to be the result of an interaction between this domain and a titratable cellular factor which is weakened by this mutation. Downmodulation of transcription factor activity through interaction with a cellular factor has been observed in several other systems, including the regulation of transcription factor E2F by retinoblastoma protein, and in studies of c-Jun.
Mol Cell Biol 1993 Nov
PMID:Transcriptional activity of the zinc finger protein NGFI-A is influenced by its interaction with a cellular factor. 841 79

Oncogenic Ras appears to act via protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent and PKC-independent pathways. In several systems, oncogenic Ras cooperates with c-Jun to activate gene transcription from promoters containing an AP-1 site by augmenting phosphorylation of the transcriptional activation domain of c-Jun. We have previously shown that oncogenic valine 12 Ras and PKA each separately activate the rat PRL (rPRL) promoter but together are mutually antagonistic. The goal of this study was to determine whether oncogenic Ras acts through PKC and c-Jun to activate transcription of an rPRL-luciferase reporter construct transiently transfected into GH4 rat pituitary cells. Our results show that phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA) activates rPRL promoter activity through PKC, and that TPA activation of PKC diminishes the Ras response in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, inhibition of PKC with staurosporine does not block the oncogenic Ras effect. Similarly, rPRL promoter activity in GH4 cells expressing oncogenic Ras fails to respond to TPA activation of PKC. Finally, cotransfection of a c-Jun expression vector results in inhibition of basal, TPA, and oncogenic Ras-stimulated activity of the rPRL promoter. Thus, we show that the mechanism of Ras signaling does not involve PKC, and that PKC does not signal via Ras. Taken together, these results verify that the Ras and PKC signaling pathways are separate and mutually antagonistic, and that c-Jun is not the nuclear mediator of either the Ras or PKC signal. These findings emphasize the possibility that the roles and/or functions of specific components in signaling pathways may be different in distinct cell types.
Mol Endocrinol 1993 Jul
PMID:The Ras and protein kinase C signaling pathways are functionally antagonistic in GH4 neuroendocrine cells. 841 16

Glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) are ligand-inducible transcription factors that contain several functional domains. We tested whether GR activity can be reconstituted using domains expressed in separate molecules. Hence, we developed a general approach in which proteins can be individually expressed but interact specifically through the leucine zippers of c-Jun and c-Fos fused to each protein. The GR was divided into two different fragments, one encoding the N-terminal trans-activation and DNA-binding domains and conferring constitutive activity to a glucocorticoid-responsive reporter gene, and one containing the C-terminal, ligand-binding domain. Coexpression of the trans-activation-DNA-binding domain and the ligand-binding domain fragments leads to reconstituted ligand-regulated GR activity that is completely dependent on the presence of compatible zippers. These results suggest that, in GRs and perhaps other members of the steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily, ligand-mediated function does not require that these domains be present in cis, but that they can also function in trans. This, together with the absence of interdomain dimerization signals, also suggests that these domains possibly evolved from separate genes.
Mol Endocrinol 1993 Jan
PMID:Reconstitution of ligand-mediated glucocorticoid receptor activity by trans-acting functional domains. 844 2

Serum induces the expression of a number of proteins with similar transcriptional properties, including those encoded by the proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun. This study employs a novel antisense rescue method to determine whether antisense-resistant genes (constructed by deletion of antisense RNA target sequences) can replace c-fos expression during serum-induced DNA synthesis. Immunoprecipitation studies and nuclease protection assays demonstrated that anti-fos RNA inhibited endogenous c-fos expression but did not inhibit expression of transfected antisense-resistant mutant c-fos genes. The results of nuclear-labelling and cellular-proliferation studies indicated that C terminally truncated Fos mutants, including FBR v-fos, could not rescue endogenous Fos, although full-length and minimally truncated c-fos expression vectors could restore serum-induced DNA synthesis in cells expressing anti-fos RNA. Overexpression of c-Jun protein (Jun) could not restore serum-induced DNA synthesis to cells expressing inducible anti-fos RNA despite equivalent transactivation of an AP-1 target gene. Thus, the antisense rescue method defines a specialized function for c-Fos protein which is distinct from the function(s) of Jun and/or transforming FBR v-Fos proteins.
Mol Cell Biol 1993 Jun
PMID:Antisense rescue defines specialized and generalized functional domains for c-Fos protein. 849 82


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