Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P20366 (substance P)
 21,176 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

JP05 (originally referred to as glucocorticoid-induced receptor gene or cDNA clone 4.2) designates a gene originally isolated from murine thymoma WEHI-7TG cells after being treated with glucocorticoids and forskolin. This gene is also induced by dexamethasone (a potent glucocorticoid receptor agonist) in isolated normal murine thymocytes. The predicted amino acid sequence was found to share significant similarity to the family of G-protein-coupled receptors, in particular to the tachykinin receptors NK-1, NK-2 and NK-3, with which it has an overall identity of 32%, 31% and 33%, respectively. The results of the present in situ hybridization analysis reveal that JP05 mRNA containing cells are extensively distributed throughout the rostrocaudal extension of the brain and spinal cord. However, the vast majority of the areas with high to moderate levels of JP05 mRNA were localized in the forebrain, primarily within limbic system structures, the dorsal and ventral striatum and in some hypothalamic nuclei. These results are discussed in relation to the central nervous system distribution of glucocorticoid receptor-containing cells and to the tachykinin system.
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PMID:Distribution of a glucocorticoid-induced orphan receptor (JP05) mRNA in the central nervous system of the mouse. 967 27

Human thymomas are rare tumours which usually develop in the chest. The diagnosis via guided biopsy, the evaluation of the extent of the tumour and its boundaries with adjacent organs, the choice of the appropriate therapeutic option, and the assessment of response to treatment are usually made with computed tomography (CT) alone or in combination with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). More recently, radiopharmaceuticals and nuclear medicine procedures have been used increasingly in the imaging and functional characterization of benign and malignant thymic disorders. Two groups of radiopharmaceuticals have been used. The first includes several oncotropic tracers, such as 201Tl-chloride, 99mTc-sestamibi and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose, which are significantly concentrated in thymic tumours. Their uptake correlates with tumour grades and cellularity. The second class includes two radioligands: [(111)In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide (DTPA, diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid) and [(111)In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P, which bind to specific receptors. [(111)In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P binds to its receptors that are largely expressed in the thymus of patients with autoimmune diseases. [(111)In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide recognizes the somatostatin receptor subtype 2. In patients with active disease investigated in our institution [(111)In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide has been shown to concentrate in the majority of thymoma deposits. Conversely, it is not concentrated in adult patients with benign lymphofollicular thymic hyperplasia. This finding has had a significant impact on the management of patients with myasthenia gravis as it differentiates early-stage thymoma from benign hyperplasia, unlike CT and MRI, which often fail to distinguish between the two. In addition to its role in diagnostic imaging, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy also enables us to select patients with advanced or metastatic thymoma unresponsive to conventional therapies, who might benefit from a somatostatin analogue-based treatment, serving thus as a link between diagnosis and therapy. In this article, we discuss and analyse the results of functional imaging with different radiopharmaceuticals, primarily those that we have obtained with [(111)In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide.
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PMID:Functional imaging of thymic disorders. 1057 58

Exchange of information occurs between cells of neuroendocrine and immune systems. Neuroendocrine hormones may modulate lymphoid cell activities, including proliferation and mitogenesis, and immune cells may produce neuropeptides as well. Neuropetide Y is synthesized in B-cell leukaemia lymphoblasts, while substance P immunoreactivity has been detected in neoplastic haematological samples of different types of leukaemias. The presence of receptors for neuropeptides on different animal and human lymphoid cell lines, as well as in several types of animal and human lymphoproliferative diseases has been demonstrated. Species variability in receptor distribution has been shown as well. Receptor expression in immune cells may be regulated by changes in microenvironmental conditions, it may also be related to the activation and/ or proliferation state of cells. Vasoactive intestinal peptides receptors have been detected in myeloma cells, while somatostatin receptors have been first detected in vitro on resting lymphocytes and cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage, and later on human activated lymphocytes and on lymphoblastic leukaemia cells. Somatostatin receptors have been found in biopsies from patients with malignant lymphomas. Tumor localization in non-Hodgkin lymphomas and Hodgkin's disease can be visualized by in vivo somatostatin receptor scintigraphy, contributing to establish the diagnosis and the stage of the disease. Recently. somatostatin receptors have been in vivo and in vitro detected in human thymic tumors. Although treatment of lymphoproliferative diseases with somatostatin analogs is a little explored field, partial remission was found in patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and a successful treatment with octreotide has been reported in patients with thymoma. Specific somatostatin receptors present in progenitors of immune cells are not expressed in the mature phenotype, while they can be detected in transformed cell lines. The possibility that this phenomenon is caused by oncogene expression cannot be ruled out. Moreover, preliminary data showed a developmental expression of somatostatin receptors in lymphoid cells, suggesting a potential role for neuropeptide receptors as differentiation markers. Although controlled studies are warranted to investigate the efficacy of the currently available analogs, somatostatinergic compounds may be of interest in the treatment of lymphoproliferative malignancies. A promising approach in refractory patients with somatostatin receptor positive malignant lymphomas may be radionuclide-targeted and cytotoxic analog therapy. These concepts increase the possibility of a wider antitumor treatment with ligands for neuroepeptide receptors than in established 'classic' neuroendocrine tumors.
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PMID:Neuroendocrine aspects of immunolymphoproliferative diseases. 1176 38

Human thymus of healthy subjects and patients affected by thymoma-associated Myastenia Gravis were studied in order to visualize and compare the morphological distributive pattern of four neuropeptides: vasoactive intestinal peptide, substance P, neuropeptide Y, and neurotensin. Based on our observations, we formulated hypotheses on their relations in neuro-immunomodulation under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Immuno-histochemical staining for neuropeptides was performed and morphological and morphometrical analyses were conducted on healthy and diseased thymus. In normal thymus, a specific distributive pattern was observed for the several neuropeptide-positive nerves in different thymus lobular zones. In particular substance P-positive fibers were observed in subcapsular zone, specifically located into parenchyma, where they represent the almost total amount of fibers; neurotensin-positive fibers were observed primarily located in parenchyma than perivascular site of several thymus lobular zones, and more abundant the cortico-medullary and medullary zones. Instead VIP- and NPY-positive fibers were widely distributed in perivascular and parenchymal sites of several thymus lobular zones. In thymoma, the distribution of neuropeptide-positive fibers was quantitatively reduced, while cells immunopositive to VIP and substance P were quantitatively increased and dispersed. Observation of the perivascular and parenchymal distribution of the analyzed neuropeptides suggests evidence that a regulatory function is performed by nerves and cells that secrete neuropeptide into the thymus. The alteration of neuropeptide patterns in thymoma suggests that these neurotransmitters play a role in autoimmune diseases such as Myastenia Gravis.
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PMID:Neuropeptides of human thymus in normal and pathological conditions. 2129 32