Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P10721 (c-kit)
 6,575 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The proto-oncogene c-Kit, a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase, is an important regulator of cell growth whose constitutively active oncogenic counterpart, v-kit, induces sarcomas in cats. Mutations in murine c-kit that reduce the receptor tyrosine kinase activity cause deficiencies in the migration and proliferation of melanoblasts, hematopoietic stem cells, and primordial germ cells. We therefore investigated whether c-Kit regulates normal human melanocyte proliferation and plays a role in melanomas. We show that normal human melanocytes respond to mast cell growth factor (MGF), the Kit-ligand that stimulates phosphorylation of tyrosyl residues in c-Kit and induces sequential phosphorylation of tyrosyl residues in several other proteins. One of the phosphorylated intermediates in the signal transduction pathway was identified as an early response kinase (mitogen-activated protein [MAP] kinase). Dephosphorylation of a prominent 180-kDa protein suggests that MGF also activates a phosphotyrosine phosphatase. In contrast, MGF did not induce proliferation, the cascade of protein phosphorylations, or MAP kinase activation in the majority of cells cultured from primary nodular and metastatic melanomas that grow independently of exogenous factors. In the five out of eight human melanoma lines expressing c-kit mRNAs, c-Kit was not constitutively activated. Therefore, although c-Kit-kinase is a potent growth regulator of normal human melanocytes, its activity is not positively associated with malignant transformation.
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PMID:c-Kit-kinase induces a cascade of protein tyrosine phosphorylation in normal human melanocytes in response to mast cell growth factor and stimulates mitogen-activated protein kinase but is down-regulated in melanomas. 137 24

The c-kit proto-oncogene encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor, which is important for the normal development of hematopoietic cells, melanoblasts, and germ cells. Autophosphorylation of c-kit receptor on tyrosine creates binding sites for cellular src homology 2 (SH2)-containing signaling molecules. The discovery of phosphotyrosine phosphatases that contain SH2 domains suggests roles for these molecules in growth factor signaling pathways. We found that Syp, a phosphotyrosine phosphatase widely expressed in all the tissues in mammals, associates with c-kit receptor after activation with its ligand, steel factor, in the factor-dependent cell line, M07e. Both NH2-terminal and COOH-terminal SH2 domains of Syp, made as glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins, were able to bind to the activated c-kit receptor in vitro. Furthermore, Syp became marginally phosphorylated on tyrosine upon c-kit receptor activation, and tyrosine-phosphorylated Syp was found to be complexed with Grb2 in steel factor-stimulated M07e cells. Direct binding between Syp and Grb2 was also observed in vitro. Last, Ras and Raf interacts in vitro as a result of steel factor-stimulated Ras activation. These results suggest that Syp may be an important signaling component downstream of the c-kit receptor and involved in activation of the Ras signaling pathway in hematopoietic cells.
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PMID:The ubiquitously expressed Syp phosphatase interacts with c-kit and Grb2 in hematopoietic cells. 752 81