Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P51812 (mitogen-activated protein)
 10,636 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The activation of natural killer (NK) cells and induction of cytotoxicity are complex processes whose molecular mechanisms have not been clearly elucidated. Stimulation of the NKL human NK cell line with interleukin-2 (IL-2) or protein-bound polysaccharide K (PSK) leads to sustained growth and cytolytic activity in comparison to unstimulated NKL cells. Our previous results shown that IL-2 and PSK regulate different nuclear transcription factors in NKL cells, and that the signal transduction pathway used by these inducers is different. To determine the molecular basis for the different action of IL-2 and PSK, we investigated the upstream effects generated in human NKL cells by IL-2 and PSK on protein kinase C (PKC) isoenzymes and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). Here we report the profile of unstimulated NKL cells as: PKCbeta>PKCalpha>PKCdelta =PKCepsilon. The PKCeta form was not expressed. The effects of PSK and IL-2 on these isoenzymes were different. IL-2 increased the expression of PKCalpha, PKCdelta and PKCepsilon, whereas PSK decreased the expression of PKCalpha, and also increased PKCdelta and PKCepsilon to higher levels than did IL-2. In MAPK expression we found that unstimulated NKL cells have the following profile: ERK2>ERK6>p38gamma>p38beta>ERK1. ERK3, ERK3 rel, ERK5/ERK4 and p38delta were not expressed. IL-2 decreased the expression of ERK2, whereas PSK did not, and both agents increased the expression of ERK3. These results shown that PSK and IL-2 produce different variations in PKC isoenzymes and MAPK in NKL cells.
 ...
PMID:Different regulation of PKC isoenzymes and MAPK by PSK and IL-2 in the proliferative and cytotoxic activities of the NKL human natural killer cell line. 1253 41

We identified the protein components of a protein-bound polysaccharide (PSK) that are responsible for the biological function of this immunomodulator in its interaction with NKL cells, an NK-derived cell line previously known to be activated by this extract, obtained from the basidiomycete Coriolus versiocolor. In addition, we show that PSK protein interacts with NKL cells through a different receptor from that used by IL-2. This was deduced from the different molecular weights of the PSK/NKL and IL-2/NKL receptor complexes. We show that PSK is composed of a highly glycosylated 12-kDa protein. Protein-bound polysaccharide interacts in vitro with an NKL receptor of approximately 48 kDa, whereas IL-2 shows a similar interaction with NKL receptor proteins of approximately 64 and 75 kDa. Our results may explain why PSK and IL-2 use completely different intracellular routes for their biological activities in NKL cells-i.e., regulating different PKC isozymes, mitogen-activated protein kinases, and nuclear transcription factors.
 ...
PMID:Identification of the protein components of protein-bound polysaccharide (PSK) that interact with NKL cells. 1560 55

Interaction of the activating receptor NKG2D with its ligands is a major stimulatory pathway for cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells. Here, the signaling pathway involved after NKG2D ligation is examined. Either incubation of the NKG2D-bearing human NKL tumor cell line with K562 target cells or cross-linking with NKG2D mAb induced strong activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases. Selective inhibition of JNK MAP kinase with four different means of inhibition greatly reduced NKG2D-mediated cytotoxicity toward target cells and furthermore, blocked the movement of the microtubule organizing center (MTOC), granzyme B (a component of cytotoxic granules), and paxillin (a scaffold protein) to the immune synapse. NKG2D-induced activation of JNK kinase was also blocked by inhibitors of Src protein tyrosine kinases and phospholipase PLCgamma, upstream of JNK. Similarly, a second MAP kinase pathway through ERK was previously shown to be required for NK cell cytotoxicity. Thus, activation of two MAP kinase pathways is required for cytotoxic granule and MTOC polarization and for cytotoxicity of human NK cells when NKG2D is ligated.
 ...
PMID:JNK MAP kinase activation is required for MTOC and granule polarization in NKG2D-mediated NK cell cytotoxicity. 1828 25