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)

Acrolein, a major component of cigarette smoke, an environmental pollutant and an endogenous lipid peroxidation product, has been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis. Although a link between vascular injury and acrolein has been indicated, the exact molecular mechanism of acrolein-induced toxicity to vasculature is unknown. In an effort to elucidate the molecular basis of acrolein-induced vascular toxicity, the possibility of the intracellular signaling system as one of the targets of acrolein-induced toxicity is investigated in the present study. Exposure of cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to different doses of acrolein not only causes cytotoxicity but also alters cellular morphology in a concentration and time-dependent manner. VSMCs exhibit cytotoxicity to a narrow concentration range of 5-10 microg/ml and display no toxicity to 2 microg/ml acrolein even after 24 h of exposure. Furthermore, exposure to acrolein results in activation of members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family and protein tyrosine kinases. The extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2), stress-activated protein kinases/c-jun NH2-terminal kinases (SAPK/JNK) and p38MAPK are effectively and transiently activated by acrolein in a concentration and time-dependent fashion. While all three MAPKs exhibit significant activation within 5 min of exposure to acrolein, maximum activation (ERK1/2 and p38MAPK) or close to maximum activation (SAPK/JNK) occurs on exposure to 5 microg/ml acrolein for 2 h. Acrolein-induced activation of MAPKs is further substantiated by the activation of transcription factors, c-jun and activator transcription factor-2 (ATF-2), by acrolein-activated SAPK/JNK and p38MAPK, respectively. Additionally several cellular proteins exhibit spectacular protein tyrosine phosphorylation, particularly in response to 2 and 5 microg/ml of acrolein. Interestingly, the acrolein-induced activation of MAPKs precedes acrolein-stimulated protein tyrosine phosphorylation, which occurs after 2 h of exposure to acrolein. However, the time course of maximum protein tyrosine phosphorylation profile corresponds to the peak activation profile of MAPKs. The activation of MAPKs and protein tyrosine phosphorylation by acrolein appears to be independent of acrolein-induced toxicity. VSMCs exposed to 2 microg/ml acrolein exhibit no toxicity but stimulates significant activation of MAPKs and protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Although acrolein-induced VSMC toxicity is not blocked by MAPK inhibitors, PD98059, an inhibitor of MAPK kinase and SB203580, an inhibitor of p38MAPK, eitheralone or in combination, each MAPK responds differently to the inhibitors. Most prominently, although SB203580, an inhibitor of both SAPK/JNK and p38MAPK, significantly inhibited acrolein-induced activation of p38MAPK, it also stimulated SAPK/JNK activation by acrolein alone and in combination with PD98059. These results provide the first evidence that the activation of both growth-regulated (ERK1/2) and stress-regulated (SAPK/JNK and p38MAPK) MAPKs as well as tyrosine kinases are involved in the mediation of acrolein-induced effects on VSMC, which may play a crucial role in vascular pathogenesis due to environmentally and endogenously produced acrolein.
Mol Cell Biochem 2002 Nov
PMID:Acrolein activates mitogen-activated protein kinase signal transduction pathways in rat vascular smooth muscle cells. 1248 75

1. The Src homology protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 is associated with cytoskeletal maintenance, cell division, and cell differentiation, but the role of SHP2 during central nervous system injury requires further definition. We therefore characterized the role of SHP2 during nitric oxide (NO)-induced programmed cell death (PCD). 2. Employing primary hippocampal neurons from mice with a dominant negative SHP2 mutant to render the phosphatase site of the SHP2 protein biologically inactive, but functionally capable of binding substrate, neuronal injury was evaluated by trypan blue, DNA fragmentation, membrane phosphatidyl serine (PS) exposure, mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase phosphorylation, and cysteine protease activity. NO was administered through the NO generators SIN-1 (300 microM) or NOC-9 (300 microM). 3. Following NO exposure, neuronal survival decreased from 89 +/- 3% in untreated controls to 37 +/- 2% in wild-type neurons and to 21 +/- 4% in SHP2 mutant neurons. In sister cultures following NO exposure, this increased susceptibility to neuronal injury paralleled enhanced genomic DNA degradation and membrane PS exposure with PCD induction increasing in SHP2 mutant neurons by approximately 42% during specified time periods when compared to wild-type neurons. Interestingly, modulation of the MAP kinase p38 appears to represent an initial level of neuronal protection employed by SHP2. In addition, both the rate and degree of caspase 1- and caspase 3-like activities in SHP2 mutant neurons were significantly increased over a 24-h course when compared to wild-type neurons. Inhibition of caspase 1- and caspase 3-like activities reversed the progression of neuronal PCD, suggesting that inhibition of cysteine protease activity is a downstream mechanism for SHP2 to afford neuronal protection. 4. Our work supports the premise that the tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 plays a dominant role during NO-induced PCD and may offer a potential molecular "checkpoint" against neurodegenerative disease.
Cell Mol Neurobiol 2003 Oct
PMID:The tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 modulates MAP kinase p38 and caspase 1 and 3 to foster neuronal survival. 1451 16

In severe asthma, cytokines and growth factors contribute to the proliferation of smooth muscle cells and blood vessels, and to the increased extracellular matrix deposition that constitutes the process of airway remodeling. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which regulates vascular permeability and angiogenesis, also modulates the function of nonendothelial cell types. In this study, we demonstrate that VEGF induces fibronectin secretion by human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. In addition, stimulation of ASM with VEGF activates ERK, but not p38MAPK, and fibronectin secretion is ERK dependent. Both ERK activation and fibronectin secretion appear to be mediated through the VEGF receptor flt-1, as evidenced by the effects of the flt-1-specific ligand placenta growth factor. Finally, we demonstrate that ASM cells constitutively secrete VEGF, which is increased in response to PDGF, transforming growth factor-beta, IL-1beta, and PGE(2). We conclude that ASM-derived VEGF, through modulation of the extracellular matrix, may play an important role in airway remodeling seen in asthma.
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 2004 Mar
PMID:Vascular endothelial growth factor-induced secretion of fibronectin is ERK dependent. 1463 11

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) prevents DNA replication and parthenogenesis in maturing oocytes. After the meiotic cell cycle in starfish eggs, MAPK activity is maintained until fertilization. When eggs are fertilized, inactivation of MAPK occurs, allowing development to proceed. Without fertilization, highly synchronous apoptosis of starfish eggs starts 10 h after germinal vesicle breakdown, which varies according to season and individual animals. For induction of the apoptosis, MAPK should be activated for a definite period, called the MAPK-dependent period, during which eggs develop competence to die, although the exact duration of the period was unclear. In this study, we show that the duration of the MAPK-dependent period was approximately 8 h. Membrane blebbing occurred approximately 2 h after the MAPK-dependent period. Surprisingly, when MAPK was inhibited by U0126 after the MAPK-dependent period, activation of caspase-3 occurred earlier than in the control eggs. Thus, inactivation of MAPK is a prerequisite for apoptosis. Also, even in the absence of the inhibitor, MAPK was inactivated spontaneously when eggs began to bleb, indicating that inactivation of MAPK after the MAPK-dependent period acts upstream of caspase-3. Inactivation of MAPK also resulted in the activation of p38MAPK, which may contribute to apoptotic body formation.
Mol Biol Cell 2004 Mar
PMID:Induction of apoptosis in starfish eggs requires spontaneous inactivation of MAPK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) followed by activation of p38MAPK. 1469 71

The effect of the lysophospholipid, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), on signaling and hypertrophy of neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes was examined. Myocytes express mRNA for all three G-protein-coupled LPA receptor subtypes (LPA(1)/Edg-2, LPA(2)/Edg-4, and LPA(3)/Edg-7) as indicated by RT-PCR analysis. LPA inhibits isoproterenol-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation with an IC(50) approximately 40 nM and promotes phosphorylation of ERK-1/2. LPA also elicits a small, slow onset, and activation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis with EC(50) approximately 400 nM, and stimulates a marked increase in the extent of Rho activation. Longer-term treatment with LPA induces a hypertrophic response in myocytes as indicated by increases in cell size, actin organization, ANF staining of the perinuclear region and activation of ANF promoter-luciferase gene expression. Pretreatment of myocytes with pertussis toxin (PTX) not only blocks the capacity of LPA to inhibit cyclic AMP formation and stimulate ERK phosphorylation, but also inhibits hypertrophic changes in cell morphology and ANF-luciferase gene expression. Neither phospholipase C nor Rho activation is PTX sensitive. The hypertrophic effects of LPA on myocytes are also inhibited by treatment with C3 exoenzyme or by transfection of plasmids expressing either C3 exoenzyme or dominant-negative Rho to block Rho function. Inhibition of ERK activation with PD98059 blocks LPA-induced hypertrophy while inhibitors of phospholipase C (U73122), PKC (GF109203X), or p38MAPK (SB203580) do not. These data suggest that LPA induces cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via a pathway different from the conventional G(q) pathway utilized by phenylephrine, endothelin, and PGF2 alpha and involving activation of a PTX-sensitive G(i)/ERK pathway in conjunction with activation of Rho-mediated signals.
J Mol Cell Cardiol 2004 Apr
PMID:Lysophosphatidic acid induces hypertrophy of neonatal cardiac myocytes via activation of Gi and Rho. 1508 6

Chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension results partly from proliferation of smooth muscle cells in small peripheral pulmonary arteries. Previously, we demonstrated that hypoxia modulates the proliferation of human peripheral pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) by induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and production of antiproliferative prostaglandins. The transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily plays a critical role in the regulation of pulmonary vascular remodeling, although to date an interaction with hypoxia has not been examined. We therefore investigated the pathways involved in the hypoxic induction of COX-2 in peripheral PASMCs and the contribution of TGF-beta1 and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4 in this response. In the present study, we demonstrate that hypoxia induces activation of p38MAPK, ERK1/2, and Akt in PASMCs and that these pathways are involved in the hypoxic regulation of COX-2. Whereas inhibition of p38(MAPK) or ERK1/2 activity suppressed hypoxic induction of COX-2, inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway enhanced hypoxic induction of COX-2. Furthermore, exogenous TGF-beta1 induced COX-2 mRNA and protein expression, and our findings demonstrate that release of TGF-beta1 by PASMCs during hypoxia contributes to the hypoxic induction of COX-2 via the p38MAPK pathway. In contrast, BMP-4 inhibited the hypoxic induction of COX-2 by an MAPK-independent pathway. Together, these findings suggest that the TGF-beta superfamily is part of an autocrine/paracrine system involved in the regulation of COX-2 expression in the distal pulmonary circulation, and this modulates hypoxia-induced pulmonary vascular cell proliferation.
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 2004 Nov
PMID:Differential effects of TGF-beta1 and BMP-4 on the hypoxic induction of cyclooxygenase-2 in human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. 1522 Jan 11

Several studies have shown antitumor activities of the melanoma differentiation-associated gene 7 (mda-7) and the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug sulindac when used as a monotherapies against a wide variety of human cancers. However, the combined effects of mda-7 and sulindac have not previously been tested. Therefore, we tested the antitumor activity of an adenoviral vector expressing mda-7 (Ad-mda7) in combination with sulindac against non-small cell lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. When treated with Ad-mda7 in combination with sulindac, human lung cancer cells (A549 and H1299) underwent growth suppression resulting in apoptosis. The growth inhibition induced by Ad-mda7 in combination with sulindac was significantly greater than that observed with Ad-mda7 or sulindac alone. Furthermore, the degree of growth inhibition induced using this combination was dose-dependent for sulindac. Treatment with Ad-mda7 in combination with sulindac had no growth inhibitory effects on human normal lung (CCD-16) fibroblasts. We then investigated the mechanism by which sulindac enhances Ad-mda7-mediated apoptosis. Sulindac increased expression of ectopic MDA-7 protein in tumor cells, thereby increasing the expression of downstream effectors RNA-dependent protein kinase, p38MAPK, caspase-9, and caspase-3 and enhancing apoptosis of non-small cell lung cancer cells. Pulse-chase experiments showed that the increased expression of MDA-7 protein in sulindac-treated cells was due to increased half-life of the MDA-7 protein. Finally, treatment of human lung tumor xenografts in nude mice with Ad-mda7 plus sulindac significantly suppressed growth (P = 0.001) compared with Ad-mda7 or sulindac alone. Our results show for the first time that combined treatment with Ad-mda7 plus sulindac enhances growth inhibition and apoptosis of human lung cancer cells. The increased antitumor activity observed with the combination treatment is a result of increased half-life of MDA-7 protein. Regulation of protein turnover is a heretofore-unrecognized mechanism of this nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
Mol Cancer Ther 2005 Feb
PMID:Sulindac enhances adenoviral vector expressing mda-7/IL-24-mediated apoptosis in human lung cancer. 1571

Amoebiasis caused by the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica is one of the leading parasitic causes of morbidity and mortality in the developing countries. Among the variety of virulence factors, an adherence lectin (Gal/GalNAc, 260 kDa) has been known to mediate colonization and subsequent host responses. It is a major cell surface antigen which is universally recognized by the immune sera of patients with amoebic liver abscess (ALA). The role of this lectin in cytolysis and phagocytosis of human colonic mucin glycoproteins has also been established. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the signal transduction events induced in response to Entamoeba histolytica derived Gal/GalNAc lectin in the target epithelial cells. We have attempted to define a pathway in target cells that could link this immunodominant antigen to a known biological pathway for target cell activation and triggering of subsequent disease pathology/parasite survival. Lectin stimulated cells showed immediate rise in (Ca2+)i concentration corresponding to 1517.31+/-16.3 nM (approximately) at 0-2 min. The intracellular calcium also extruded from the cells as was measured by increase in calcium green-1 fluorescence. Expression of several protein kinases was checked by western blotting to delineate the signaling pathway. Results showed that the expression of PLA2, PI3K, Ras p21, Ras GAP, ERK-MAPK, p38MAPK and PKC was significantly increased. Expression of Raf-1 and MEK-1 was also found to be significant, as determined by intensity analysis. Overall, it indicated activation of MAPKinase pathway which is implicated in a variety of cellular functions. On the basis of our observations it can be stated that there is a calcium mediated activation of PKC in target cells, by lectin, which inturn activates cyclic nucleotides and other protein kinases. These protein kinases further phosphorylated downstream signals in a sequential manner, thus leading to the activation of MAPKinase cascade. Activation of MAPK cascade, in our studies, is implicated in a variety of physiological cellular functions including apoptosis, proliferation, cytoskeleton rearrangements and permeability changes. However, future screening of the genes responsible for the transcription and translation of new proteins and their biological functions in response to lectin stimulation will prove useful in understanding this host-parasite relationship.
Mol Cell Biochem 2005 Jan
PMID:Activation of MAPK kinase pathway by Gal/GalNAc adherence lectin of E. histolytica: gateway to host response. 1572 42

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) has been implicated as a contributing risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about molecular mechanisms of cardiac PAI-1 gene expression. To elucidate these mechanisms, dominant negative mutants of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK), p38MAPK, apoptosis signal-regulating kinase-1 (ASK-1) and c-Jun were overexpressed in rat neonatal ventricular cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts by adenovirus vector to abrogate the activation of the corresponding endogenous proteins. One hundred nmol/l of angiotensin II significantly enhanced the JNK and p38MAPK activities of cardiomyocytes (2.3-fold and 1.9-fold, P < 0.05) and fibroblasts (3.2-fold and 2.5-fold, P < 0.05). At 3 h after stimulation, angiotensin II was found to have significantly increased PAI-1 mRNA, by 5.2-fold in cardiomyocytes and by 9.7-fold in fibroblasts. Dominant negative mutants of JNK, ASK-1 and c-Jun significantly inhibited PAI-1 mRNA expression and protein synthesis in both cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts, whereas a dominant negative mutant of p38MAPK did not change this expression. Moreover, a dominant negative mutant of JNK also significantly prevented the induction of PAI-1 mRNA expression by 100 nmol/l endothelin-1 and 10 micromol/l phenylephrine. In conclusion, G-protein-coupled receptor agonist-induced PAI-1 expression is partially mediated through JNK activation.
J Mol Cell Cardiol 2005 Apr
PMID:Role of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase in G-protein-coupled receptor agonist-induced cardiac plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 expression. 1580 35

Metastasis results from a sequence of selective events often involving interactions with elements of the tumor-specific physiological microenvironment. The low-serum component of this microenvironment confers increased motility and invasion in breast cancer cells by activating the Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1). The present study was undertaken to characterize the signal transduction mechanisms underlying this serum deprivation-dependent activation of both the NHE1 and the concomitant invasive characteristics such as leading edge pseudopodia development and penetration of matrigel in breast cancer cell lines representing different stages of metastatic progression. Using pharmacological and genetic manipulation together with transport and kinase activity assays, we observe that the activation of the NHE1 and subsequent invasion by serum deprivation in metastatic human breast cells is coordinated by a sequential RhoA/p160ROCK/p38MAPK signaling pathway gated by direct protein kinase A phosphorylation and inhibition of RhoA. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging of RhoA activity and immunofluorescence analysis of phospho-RhoA and NHE1 show that serum deprivation dynamically remodels the cell, forming long, leading edge pseudopodia and that this signal module is preferentially compartmentalized in these leading edge pseudopodia, suggesting a tight topographic relation of the signaling module to an invasion-specific cell structure.
Mol Biol Cell 2005 Jul
PMID:Protein kinase A gating of a pseudopodial-located RhoA/ROCK/p38/NHE1 signal module regulates invasion in breast cancer cell lines. 1584 33


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