Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P51532 (transcriptional activator)
 6,546 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The p53 tumor-suppressor protein functions as a transcriptional activator, and several p53-inducible genes that play a role in the induction of apoptosis in response to p53 have been described. We have identified a novel gene named PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) as a target for activation by p53. This gene encodes two BH3 domain-containing proteins (PUMA-alpha and PUMA-beta) that are induced in cells following p53 activation. PUMA-alpha and PUMA-beta show similar activities; they bind to Bcl-2, localize to the mitochondria to induce cytochrome c release, and activate the rapid induction of programmed cell death. Antisense inhibition of PUMA expression reduced the apoptotic response to p53, and PUMA is likely to play a role in mediating p53-induced cell death through the cytochrome c/Apaf-1-dependent pathway.
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PMID:PUMA, a novel proapoptotic gene, is induced by p53. 1146 92

Mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene occur in more than 50% of human cancers. In response to various cellular stresses, such as DNA damage, the p53 protein rapidly accumulates by posttranscriptional mechanism(s) and activates the expression of genes that play a major role in cellular responses leading to cell cycle arrest, DNA repair and apoptosis as a transcriptional activator. In particular, the induction of apoptosis is considered to be an important function in tumor suppression by p53. Recently, two BH3-only members of the Bcl-2 family, Noxa and PUMA, have been identified as p53 target genes. Furthermore, the analysis of mice doubly deficient in multidomain Bcl-2 family proteins, Bax and Bak, revealed that apoptosis induced by the BH3-only protein is completely dependent on Bax and Bak. More recently, it was demonstrated using gene knockout mice that Noxa and PUMA function as the effectors of p53-induced apoptosis. These analyses revealed that p53-induced apoptosis is regulated by these Bcl-2 family proteins. In this photogravure, the regulation of these Bcl-2 family proteins in p53-induced apoptosis was visualized by fluorescent protein fusion and immune fluorescence methods.
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PMID:Involvement of Bcl-2 family proteins in p53-induced apoptosis. 1611 88

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a transcriptional activator that promotes death or survival in neurons. The regulators and targets of HIF-1alpha-mediated death remain unclear. We found that prodeath effects of HIF-1 are not attributable to an imbalance in HIF-1alpha and HIF-1beta expression. Rather, the synergistic death caused by oxidative stress and by overexpression of an oxygen-resistant HIF-VP16 in neuroblasts was attributable to transcriptional upregulation of BH3-only prodeath proteins, PUMA or BNIP3. By contrast, overexpression of BNIP3 was not sufficient to potentiate oxidative death. As acidosis is known to activate BNIP3-mediated death, we examined other secondary stresses, such as oxidants or prolyl hydroxylase activity are necessary for exposing the prodeath functions of HIF in neurons. Antioxidants or prolyl hydroxylase inhibition prevented potentiation of death by HIF-1alpha. Together, these studies suggest that antioxidants and PHD inhibitors abrogate the ability of HIF-mediated transactivation of BH3-only proteins to potentiate oxidative death in normoxia. The findings offer strategies for minimizing the prodeath effects of HIF-1 in neurologic conditions associated with hypoxia and oxidative stress, such as stroke and spinal cord injury.
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PMID:Antioxidants, HIF prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors or short interfering RNAs to BNIP3 or PUMA, can prevent prodeath effects of the transcriptional activator, HIF-1alpha, in a mouse hippocampal neuronal line. 1877

The high mutation rate of HIV is linked to the generation of viruses expressing proteins with altered function whose impact on disease progression is unknown. We investigated how HIV-1 viruses lacking Env, Vpr, and Nef affect CD4(+) T cell survival. We found that in the absence of these proteins, HIV-1-infected CD4(+) primary T cells progress to the G(0) phase of the cell cycle and to cell death, indicating that viruses expressing inactive forms of these proteins can contribute to the CD4(+) T cell decline as the wild-type virus, suggesting that other HIV proteins are responsible for inducing apoptosis. Apoptosis in these cells is triggered by the alteration of the Egr1-PTEN-Akt (early growth response-1/phosphate and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10/Akt) and p53 pathways, which converge on the FOXO3a (Forkhead box transcription factor O class 3a) transcriptional activator. The FOXO3a target genes Fas ligand and TRAIL, involved in the extrinsic apoptotic pathway, and PUMA, Noxa, and Bim, which are part of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, were also up-regulated, indicating that HIV infection leads to apoptosis by the engagement of multiple apoptotic pathways. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Egr1 and FOXO3a resulted in reduced apoptosis in HIV-infected HeLa and CD4(+) T cells, providing further evidence for their critical role in HIV-induced apoptosis and G(0) arrest. We tested the possibility that Tat is responsible for the T cell apoptosis observed with these mutant viruses. The induction of Egr1 and FOXO3a and its target genes was observed in Jurkat cells transduced by Tat alone. Tat-dependent activation of the Egr1-PTEN-FOXO3a pathway provides a mechanism for HIV-1-associated CD4(+) T cell death.
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PMID:Tat-induced FOXO3a is a key mediator of apoptosis in HIV-1-infected human CD4+ T lymphocytes. 1905 Feb 64

A synthesized PEI-based gene delivery system, wherein PEI was crosslinked with sulfosuccinimidyl-4-(N-maleimidomethyl) cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (Sulfo-SMCC) conjugating trans-activating transcriptional activator (TAT), yielding PEI-SMCC-TAT (PST), a novel non-viral vector for apoptosis-related gene PUMA (p53 up regulated modulator of apoptosis), was designed and evaluated. Sulfo-SMCC is a commonly used heterobifunctional crosslinker and is soluble in water, making the crosslinking easier without organic reagent like DMSO or chloroform. The PST/pDNA nanoparticles were 171.9 nm at the optimal N/P ratio (50:1). DNA complexes of all the PST conjugation had much lower toxicity and exhibited enhancement in transfection efficiency in comparison with single PEI vector. The results also showed that the transfection efficiency of PST/pEGFP nanoparticles into malignant melanoma A375 cell increased, and PST carrying PUMA gene induced the apoptosis of A375 cells. It was suggested that PST could be a promising melanoma tumor-targeting nanovector, and have a good potential in clinical application.
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PMID:Delivery of PUMA Apoptosis Gene Using Polyethyleneimine-SMCC-TAT/DNA Nanoparticles: Biophysical Characterization and In Vitro Transfection Into Malignant Melanoma Cells. 2650 40

Female gametes are stored in the ovary in structures called primordial follicles, the supply of which is non-renewable. It is well established that DNA-damaging cancer treatments can deplete the ovarian reserve of primordial follicles, causing premature ovarian failure and infertility. The precise mechanisms underlying this chemotherapy-driven follicle loss are unclear, and this has limited the development of targeted ovarian-protective agents. To address this fundamental knowledge gap, we used gene deletion mouse models to examine the role of the DNA damage-induced pro-apoptotic protein, PUMA, and its transcriptional activator TAp63, in primordial follicle depletion caused by treatment with cyclophosphamide or cisplatin. Cyclophosphamide caused almost complete destruction of the primordial follicle pool in adult wild-type (WT) mice, and a significant destructive effect was also observed for cisplatin. In striking contrast, Puma-/- mice retained 100% of their primordial follicles following either genotoxic treatment. Furthermore, elimination of PUMA alone completely preserved fertility in cyclophosphamide-treated mice, indicating that oocytes rescued from DNA damage-induced death can repair themselves sufficiently to support reproductive function and offspring health. Primordial follicles were also protected in TAp63-/- mice following cisplatin treatment, but not cyclophosphamide, suggesting mechanistic differences in the induction of apoptosis and depletion of the ovarian reserve in response to these different chemotherapies. These studies identify PUMA as a crucial effector of apoptosis responsible for depletion of primordial follicles following exposure to cyclophosphamide or cisplatin, and this indicates that inhibition of PUMA may be an effective ovarian-protective strategy during cancer treatment in women.
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PMID:Loss of PUMA protects the ovarian reserve during DNA-damaging chemotherapy and preserves fertility. 2979 69