Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P62988 (Ubiquitin)
 4,326 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Ubiquitin is a small protein involved in many intracellular processes. We have previously shown that levels of ubiquitin change during the process of decidualisation in the human uterus at the beginning of pregnancy. Other workers have shown that the ubiquitin system may be essential for normal murine placental development. In this investigation we employed immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting techniques to study the distribution and abundance of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-protein conjugates within human placental specimens from throughout gestation. Trophoblast from two pathological conditions, ectopic pregnancy and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), was also investigated. Ubiquitin was detected within both the cytoplasm and nucleus of the cytotrophoblast layer only. Both monomeric and conjugated forms of ubiquitin were detected. The relative abundance of ubiquitin did not change through gestation or in the two disorders of pregnancy studied. Ubiquitin cross-reactive protein was not detected in the tissues of interest. This is the first report to demonstrate the cell-specific localisation of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-protein conjugates in the human cytotrophoblast and provides supportive evidence that ubiquitin may be important during placental development.
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PMID:Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-protein conjugates are present in human cytotrophoblast throughout gestation. 1174 19

Ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis by the 26S proteasome plays a pivotal role in cell cycle progression as well as in tumorigenesis. In this pathway, ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2), together with ubiquitin ligase (E3), transfers ubiquitin to the specific substrate protein(s); however, little is known about the potential contribution of E2 to tumorigenesis. In this study, we examined the expression levels of 17 E2 genes in 25 different human normal tissues and 24 human cancerous cell lines by using a quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR. Among the E2 gene family, the expression level of UbcH10 was extremely low in many of the normal tissues but prominent in the majority of cancerous cell lines. Intriguingly, UbcH10 was expressed at high levels in primary tumors derived from the lung, stomach, uterus, and bladder as compared with their corresponding normal tissues, suggesting that UbcH10 is involved in tumorigenesis or progression of the tumor. To further investigate a possible contribution of UbcH10 to malignant transformation and tumor cell proliferation, NIH3T3 cells were transfected with the expression plasmid encoding UbcH10, and stable transfectants were subsequently established. UbcH10-overexpressing cells exhibited an increased incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine, an enhanced growth rate, an increase in saturation density, and a promotion of colony formation in soft agar medium as compared with parental NIH3T3 cells and the control transfectants. Collectively, our present results provide the first evidence that UbcH10 is highly expressed in various human primary tumors and that UbcH10 has an ability to promote cell growth and malignant transformation.
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PMID:UbcH10 is the cancer-related E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme. 1287 22

Ubiquitin-specific protease 7 (USP7), a member of the deubiquitinating (DUB) enzyme family, regulates protein stability and has a well-characterized function in tumorigenesis. Given its critical role in growth and development, it was speculated to be involved in modulating processes in the female reproductive system but its exact role has not been elucidated. Decidualization is one of the key processes in pregnancy and aberrant decidualization is a cause of pregnancy failure. The uterine endometrium layer undergoes significant structural and functional changes during decidualization in preparation for and after embryo implantation. Here, we hypothesized that USP7 could be involved in mediating endometrial stromal cell (ESC) decidualization and set out to determine its function with a primary stromal cell culture. Using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques, we observed increased USP7 expression during uterine decidualization and found that it was predominantly localized to the decidual zone in the post-implantation uterus. Since the ovarian hormones, progesterone (P4) and estrogen (E2), function in promoting stroma decidualization, we investigated their relationship with USP7 expression and found that they exert minimal influence. Moreover, increased USP7 expression observed during deciduoma development was found to be independent of blastocyst attachment. Using a specific USP7 inhibitor, HBX19818, we demonstrated an additional novel role for USP7 in endometrial stroma decidualization in mice during early pregnancy. Our findings could potentially be applied towards future research and development in female infertility.
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PMID:Ubiquitin-specific protease 7 (USP7) is essential for endometrial stromal cell decidualization in mice. 3062 51