Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P10415 (Bcl-2)
 33,771 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A variant of human prostate PC3 cells, isolated from PC3 cells, was shown to be significantly resistant (> 10-fold) to several clinically active anticancer drugs, including VP-16 and cisplatin. Previous studies showed that resistance to these drugs was not due to expression of the mdr1 gene, or modifications in topoisomerases but may have resulted from high expressions of certain proto-oncogenes (Yamazaki et al. (1994) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1226, 89-96). Flow cytometry, DNA gel electrophoresis and northern blot analysis were used to further characterize drug responses in sensitive and resistant cells. Treatment of the sensitive PC3 cells with VP-16 and CDDP resulted in accumulation of cells in S and G2, and G1 and S phases, respectively, and caused significant degradation of the genomic DNA into internucleosomal sized DNA fragments, indicating apoptosis. In contrast, resistant PC3 cells showed little or no DNA fragmentation. Resistant PC3(R) cells expressed 2-3-fold more bcl2 protein than the parental PC3 cells, and overexpressed c-myc, c-jun and H-ras mRNA compared to sensitive cells. Treatment with VP-16 or CDDP significantly induced c-myc mRNA levels in sensitive PC3 cells. H-ras message was not affected by either VP-16 or CDDP treatment in PC3 cells. These studies, taken together, suggest that a differential susceptibility to apoptosis and chemosensitivity may be related to altered levels of bcl2 and/or oncogene overexpression in PC3(R) cells.
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PMID:Relationships between proto-oncogene expression and apoptosis induced by anticancer drugs in human prostate tumor cells. 782 30

Murine bone-marrow derived BAF3 cells, over-expressing the human Bcl-2 gene product, showed considerably delayed onset of apoptosis when deprived of IL-3. Such Bcl-2-BAF3 cells arrested rapidly in the G1 phase of the cell cycle upon IL-3 removal, then became refractory to IL-3 re-stimulation. The delay in IL-3 induced proliferation of Bcl-2 over-expressing cells was due to down-regulation of a specific signalling pathway. In the refractory cells, IL-3 was able to stimulate protein tyrosine phosphorylation and c-myc mRNA accumulation, but not rapid Erk2 activation or cdc2 mRNA accumulation.
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PMID:Growth factor starvation of bcl-2 overexpressing murine bone marrow cells induced refractoriness to IL-3 stimulation of proliferation. 813 14

Vesnarinone is a positive inotropic agent used for treating congestive heart failure. We evaluated its ex vivo effects on myeloid leukemia cell lines and primary acute myelogenous leukemia cells. Vesnarinone inhibited the incorporation of radiolabeled thymidine by a myeloid cell line, HL60, in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 30 microg/mL. A maximum 40% suppression was seen at a concentration of 10 microg/mL. Determination of viable cell counts by trypan blue dye exclusion method demonstrated vesnarinone to be cytocidal for HL60 cells. Vesnarinone induced DNA fragmentation as detected by electrophresis in HL60 cells after 72-hour culture; this effect was not inhibited by G-CSF. The apoptosis induced by vesnarinone was also detected by the in situ end-labeling method. Northern blot analysis showed a reduction of c-myc mRNA expression in HL60 cells by vesnarinone. However, immunostaining assay showed no change in the expression of Fas and Bcl-2 proteins. We next examined the effect of vesnarinone on primary myeloid leukemia cells derived from 10 patients: 3 cases of M1, 2 of M2, 3 of M3, 1 of M4, and 1 of M6, by the French-American-British classification. Vesnarinone inhibited the incorporation of thymidine in all cells, with a mean suppression of 58.1%. DNA electrophoresis showed induction of DNA fragmentation in cultured cells with vesnarinone for 72 hours in 8 of the 10 patients with primary leukemia. However, bone marrow mononuclear cells from healthy controls showed no growth suppression or DNA fragmentation in response to vesnarinone. These results suggest that vesnarinone may be useful in treating myeloid leukemia.
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PMID:Vesnarinone exhibits antitumor effect against myeloid leukemia cells via apoptosis. 932 55

Human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) lines infected with a replication-defective Ad5CMV-p53 vector bearing a wild-type human p53 gene were used to examine alterations in the production of proteins implicated in regulating apoptosis. Because HNSCC lines express abundant levels of c-myc, and simultaneous expression of c-myc and p53 is known to trigger apoptosis in other cells, cooperation between these two genes was examined. Surprisingly, levels of c-myc mRNA and protein were rapidly and profoundly suppressed after infection with wild-type p53. Suppression of c-myc using antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (in the absence of p53) was sufficient to trigger apoptosis in Tu-138 cells, raising the possibility that the reduction of c-myc may be involved in at least one of the cell death pathways mediated by p53. Expression of a panel of Bcl-2 homology proteins was also examined in HNSCC lines undergoing p53-mediated apoptosis. No changes in Bcl-2, Bak, or Bcl-xS were found after p53 expression. Increased levels of the apoptosis-accelerating protein Bax were found in HNSCC lines after infection with Ad5CMV-p53. Induction of the apoptosis-inhibiting protein Bcl-xL was observed in Tu-167 cells and may account for the delayed onset of apoptosis in these cells. These studies suggest that multiple pathways may regulate apoptosis after transient overexpression of p53.
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PMID:Expression of apoptosis-related genes in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas undergoing p53-mediated programmed cell death. 1003 86

c-Myc has been documented to be both a positive and a negative signal for the induction of apoptosis. It is well known that overexpression of the c-myc gene induces apoptosis of normal cells, but the result of a reduction in its expression is not fully understood. We examined whether a reduction in c-myc expression would induce apoptosis in human liver cancer cells. Specifically, antisense and sense oligodeoxynucleotides (oligos) against the human c-myc mRNA were synthesized, mixed with a liposome reagent at various ratios, and were applied to the liver cancer-derived cell lines, HCC-T, HepG2, and PLC/PRF/5. To exclude effects resulting from using oligos, plasmid vectors expressing the full-length c-myc cDNA in both sense and antisense orientations under the control of the Cre/loxP system were generated. Monoclonal cell lines including these plasmid vectors were produced and Cre was supplied by adenovirus infection. Apoptosis was determined morphologically and c-Myc and Bcl-2 expression was examined by Western blotting. The antisense myc significantly inhibited the proliferation of the cells within two days, while neither the liposome reagent alone nor sense myc did so. Most of the cells were rounded up by the antisense-treatment and nuclear fragmentation and DNA ladder formation were detected after two days in antisense c-myc-treated cells. Antisense c-myc largely reduced c-Myc and partially Bcl-2 expression; overexpression of Bcl-2 partially rescued from apoptosis in HCC-T and HepG2 cells. These results suggest that the massive reduction in c-myc mRNA induces apoptosis in liver cancer cell lines and consequent decrease in Bcl-2 enhances the cell death. c-Myc reduction under the Cre/loxP switching system may be a useful tool for the clarification of c-myc-related cellular mechanisms in differentiation and proliferation.
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PMID:Reduction of c-myc expression by an antisense approach under Cre/loxP switching induces apoptosis in human liver cancer cells. 1138 22

Glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis is a well-recognized physiological regulator of T-cell number and function. Alisol B acetate, a triterpene from Alisma Plantago-aquatica, has a glucocorticoid-like structure, and may have a similar function like glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis in both vascular smooth muscle cell line (A7r5) and human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line (CEM cells). For exploring its mechanism, mitochondria membrane potential and apoptosis-related gene expression were discussed. Alisol B (10(-6)-10(-4) M) inhibited serum-stimulated DNA synthesis in a concentration-dependent manner (IC50) = 4.0 +/- 0.8 x 10(-6) M in A7r5 and 2.1 +/- 1.2 x 10(-6) M in CEM cells). The cell viability was reduced at 10(-4) M of alisol B. Similar results were seen in dexamethasone treatment (a synthetic glucocorticoid, 10(-6) M, 48 h). Apoptosis was induced after the cells were exposed to 10(-5)-10(-4) M alisol B or 10(-6) M dexamethasone for 48 h. The mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi(m)) was significantly reduced after the alisol B treatment, indicating that the mitochondria might play a role in the alisol B induced cell apoptosis. Alisol B (10(-5)-10(-4) M) increased the levels of c-myc and bax mRNA and proteins, but not on the anti-apoptotic proto-oncogene, bcl-2, in A7r5 and CEM cells. In contrast, dexamethasone (10(-6) M) treatment only caused significant increase in c-myc mRNA levels. These results suggest that the increased ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and the decreased mitochondrial membrane potential might be involved in the mechanisms of alisol B-induced cell apoptosis.
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PMID:Effect of alisol B acetate, a plant triterpene, on apoptosis in vascular smooth muscle cells and lymphocytes. 1142 34

Expression of protooncogenes bcl-2 and c-myc in cultured rabbit bronchial epithelial cell (BEC) was investigated in order to shed some light on genetic mechanisms underlying the protective antioxidant effect of pulmonary regulatory peptides, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). Effects of these peptides and heat stress (HS) on expression of these genes were also studied. Total RNA was extracted from BEC. Bcl-2 mRNA and c-myc mRNA were cloned with the method of RT-PCR. GAPDH mRNA was used as internal control. The products of RT-PCR were separated with electrophoresis in 2% agarose gels. A computer image treating system (Stratagene eagleeye II) was used to identify the specific band and evaluate the density. The product bands of target genes bcl-2 were checked with Southern blot and oligoneucleotides probe hybridyzation. The results show: (1) a low level of bcl-2 and c-myc gene transcription occur in BEC at the resting state; (2) both VIP and EGF could promote bcl-2 and c-myc transcription, but no significant change could be found in the HS group; (3) there was a close correlation between bcl-2 and c-myc transcription (r = 0.98. P < 0.01). The above results indicate that VIP and EGF can improve the antioxidant effect of BEC by upregulating bcl-2 gene expression potently modulated by c-myc protein.
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PMID:[Vasoactive intestinal peptide and epidermal growth factor upregulates bcl-2 gene expression in bronchial epithelial cells]. 1149 70

A therapeutic strategy that relies on the use of c-myc antisense in combination with a farnesyltransferase inhibitor, RPR-115135 (C31H29NO4), was studied in human cancer cell lines carrying different mutations (Ras, p53, myc amplification). Cell proliferation was strongly inhibited by the combination and was observed when c-myc oligo (at a concentration that down-regulates c-myc expression) was followed by RPR-115135. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated an accumulation in G0-G1 phase and a tendency to apoptosis (not detectable in cells treated with a single agent). Morphological examination and DNA fragmentation assays (filter binding and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay DNA fragmentation) confirmed the induction of apoptosis. Apoptosis was not p53- and/or p21(waf-1)-dependent, and the key effector was caspase activation. The combination induced Bax expression and Bcl-2 inhibition. Down-regulation of c-myc amplification carried out a specific role exclusively when Ras was mutated. Exposure of human proliferating lymphocytes to combination did not result in cytotoxicity, suggesting that mechanisms regulating c-myc gene expression during normal T cell proliferation might not be involved. Because of the high percentage of human tumors overexpressing c-myc mRNA and/or protein and, simultaneously, harboring oncogenic Ras mutants (i.e., colon cancers), interrupting the myc- and Ras-signaling pathway would be one of the major focuses on therapy of these types of tumors.
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PMID:c-myc down-regulation induces apoptosis in human cancer cell lines exposed to RPR-115135 (C31H29NO4), a non-peptidomimetic farnesyltransferase inhibitor. 1249 May 73

Here, we have studied the effects of chemically modified tetracyclines (CMTs) on apoptosis both at the level of the cytoplasmic proteolytic caspase cascade, and on Bcl-2 and c-myc mRNA expression in the J774 macrophage cell line. The results indicate that CMTs induce morphological changes consistent with apoptotic events, as clearly demonstrated both by the acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining, and by TUNEL and fragmentation ELISA assays. Furthermore, the analysis of the cell cycle by flow cytometry shows an evident apoptotic sub-G0G1 peak, without important modifications in the cell cycle distribution. CMTs induce programmed cell death (PCD) in a dose-dependent manner and CMT-8 is the strongest among them. CMT-1 and CMT-8 activate mainly caspase-8 as attested by the inhibitory effects of Z-VAD-fmk and Z-IEDT-fmk on CMT-induced apoptosis. Part of CMT-induced PCD is due to the activation of caspase-9, since it is reduced by the specific caspase-9 inhibitor, Z-LEHD-fmk. Besides, CMTs increase Bcl-2 and c-myc mRNA expression. Collectively, these data indicate that CMTs are potentially anti-tumour agents, since they strongly trigger apoptosis both activating the proteolytic system of the caspase family and modulating genes involved in PCD regulation.
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PMID:Chemically modified tetracyclines induce cytotoxic effects against J774 tumour cell line by activating the apoptotic pathway. 1253 35

Skeletal muscle atrophy is a common feature in alcoholism that affects up to two-thirds of alcohol misusers, and women appear to be particularly susceptible. There is also some evidence to suggest that malnutrition exacerbates the effects of alcohol on muscle. However, the mechanisms responsible for the myopathy remain elusive, and some studies suggest that acetaldehyde, rather than alcohol, is the principal pathogenic perturbant. Previous reports on rats dosed acutely with ethanol (<24 h) have suggested that increased proto-oncogene expression (i.e., c-myc) may be a causative process, possibly via activating preapoptotic or transcriptional pathways. We hypothesized that 1) increases in c-myc mRNA levels also occur in muscle exposed chronically to alcohol, 2) muscle of female rats is more sensitive than that from male rats, 3) raising acetaldehyde will also increase c-myc, 4) prior starvation will cause further increases in c-myc mRNA expression in response to ethanol, and 5) other genes involved in apoptosis (i.e., p53 and Bcl-2) would also be affected by alcohol. To test this, we measured c-myc mRNA levels in skeletal muscle of rats dosed either chronically (6-7 wk; ethanol as 35% of total dietary energy) or acutely (2.5 h; ethanol as 75 mmol/kg body wt ip) with ethanol. All experiments were carried out in male Wistar rats (approximately 0.1-0.15 kg body wt) except the study that examined gender susceptibility in male and female rats. At the end of the studies, rats were killed, and c-myc, p53, and Bcl-2 mRNA was analyzed in skeletal muscle by RT-PCR with an endogenous internal standard, GAPDH. The results showed that 1) in male rats fed ethanol chronically, there were no increases in c-myc mRNA; 2) increases, however, occurred in c-myc mRNA in muscle from female rats fed ethanol chronically; 3) raising endogenous acetaldehyde with cyanamide increased c-myc mRNA in acute studies; 4) starvation per se increased c-myc mRNA levels and at 1 day potentiated the acute effects of ethanol, indicative of a sensitization response; 5) the only effect seen with p53 mRNA levels was a decrease in muscle of rats starved for 1 day compared with fed rats, and there was no statistically significant effect on Bcl-2 mRNA in any of the experimental conditions. The increases in c-myc may well represent a preapoptotic effect, or even a nonspecific cellular stress response to alcohol and/or acetaldehyde. These data are important in our understanding of a common muscle pathology induced by alcohol.
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PMID:Acute and chronic effects of alcohol exposure on skeletal muscle c-myc, p53, and Bcl-2 mRNA expression. 1287 71


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