• 대한의생명과학회지
• /
• 제15권1호
• /
• pp.61-66
• /
• 2009

Leflunomide is an immunomodulatory agent used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Leflunomide known as a regulator of iNOS synthesis which largely decreases NO production in diverse cell type. However, the effect of leflunomide on chondrocyte is still poorly understood. In our previous studies, we have shown that direct production of Nitric oxide (NO) by treating chondrocytes with NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), causes apoptosis via p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in association with elevation of p53 protein level, caspase-3 activation. In this study, we characterized the molecular mechanism by which A77 1726 inhibit apoptosis. We found that A77 1726 inhibit NO-induced apoptosis as determined by MTT (Thiazolyl Blue Tetrazolium Bromide) assay and DNA fragmentation. The inhibition of apoptosis by A77 1726 was accompanied by increased PI-3 kinase and AKT activities. So, inhibition of phosphatidylinositol (PI)-3kinase with LY294002 rescued apoptosis. Triciribine, the specific inhibitor of AKT, also abolished anti-apoptotic effect. Our results indicate that A77 1726, the active metabolite of leflunomide, mediates NO-induced apoptosis in chondrocytes by modulating up-regulation of PI-3 kinase and AKT.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제40권3호
• /
• pp.432-438
• /
• 2007

V(D)J recombination, a site-specific gene rearrangement process occurring during the lymphocyte development, begins with DNA double strand breaks by two recombination activating gene products (RAG1/2) and finishes with the repair process by several proteins including DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK). In this report, we found that RAG2 was specifically phosphorylated by DNA-PK at the $365^{th}$ serine residue, and this phosphorylated RAG2 affected the V(D)J recombination activity in cells in the GFP expression-based assay. While the V(D)J recombination activity between wild-type RAG2 and mutant S365A RAG2 in the assay using a signal joint substrate was undistinguishable in DNA-PK deficient cells (M059J), the activity with wild-type RAG2 was largely increased in DNA-PK proficient cells (M059K) in comparison with mutant RAG2, suggesting that RAG2 phosphorylation by DNA-PK plays a crucial role in the signal joint formation during V(D)J recombination.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제51권5호
• /
• pp.249-254
• /
• 2018

Natural pterocarpan Medicarpin (Med) has been shown to have various beneficial biological roles, including inhibition of osteoclastogenesis, stimulation of bone regeneration and induction of apoptosis. However, the effect of the Med on lipolysis in adipocytes has not been reported. Here, we show the effect of Med on lipolysis in different mouse adipocytes and elucidate the underlying mechanism. We observed that Med treatment promoted release of glycerol in the media. Differentiated mouse brown adipose tissue cells were treated with Med. RNA-Seq analysis was performed to elucidate the effect of med and subsequently was confirmed by qRT-PCR and western blotting analyses. Med treatment increased both protein and gene expression levels of hormone-sensitive lipase (Hsl) and adipose triglyceride lipase (Atgl), which are two critical enzymes necessary for lipolysis. Mechanistic study showed that Med activates Protein Kinase A (PKA) and phosphorylates Hsl at PKA target position at $Serine^{660}$. Silencing of PKA gene by short interfering RNA attenuated the Med-induced increase in glycerol release and Hsl phosphorylation. The results unveil that Med boosts lipolysis via a PKA-dependent pathway in adipocytes and may provide a possible avenue of further research of Med mediated reduction of body fat.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• 제32권12호
• /
• pp.4352-4360
• /
• 2011

A four dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship analysis was applied to a series of 50 flavonoid inhibitors of $p56^{lck}$ protein tyrosine kinase by the molecular comparative electron topological method. It was found that the -log (IC50) values of the compounds were highly dependent on the topology, size and electrostatic character of the substituents at seven positions of the flavonoid scaffold in this study. Depending on the negative or positive charge of the groups correctly embedded in these substituents, three-dimensional bio-structure to increase or decrease -log (IC50) values in the training set of 39 compounds was predicted. The test set of 11 compounds was used to evaluate the predictivity of the model. To generate 4D-QSAR model, the defined function groups and pharmacophore used as topological descriptors in the calculation of activity were of sufficient statistical quality ($R^2$ = 0.72 and $Q^2$ = 0.69). Ligand docking approach by using Dock 6.0. These compounds include many flavonoid analogs, They were docked onto human families of p56lck PTKs retrieved from the Protein Data Bank, 1lkl.pdb.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• 제35권10호
• /
• pp.2985-2989
• /
• 2014

Autophagy is a self-digestion process in which intracellular structures are degraded in response to stress. Notably, prolonged autophagy leads to cell death. In this study, we investigated whether CX-4945, an orally available protein kinase 2 (CK2) inhibitor, induces autophagic cell death in human cervical cancer-derived HeLa cells and in human prostate cancer-derived LNCaP cells. CX-4945 treatment of both cell lines resulted in the formation of autophagosomes, in the conversion of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), and in down-regulation of the Akt-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase (S6K) signaling cascade. Thus, pharmacologic inhibition of CK2 by CX-4945 induced autophagic cell death in human cancer cells by down-regulating Akt-mTOR-S6K. These results suggest that autophagy-inducing agents have potential as anti-cancer drugs.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• 제19권1호
• /
• pp.124-130
• /
• 2005

Protein kinase CKII is composed of two catalytic (${\alpha}$ or ${\alpha}^{\prime}$) subunits and two regulatory (${\beta}$) subunits. The ${\beta}$ subunit mediates tetramer formation through ${\beta}-{\beta}$ homodimerization and ${\alpha}-{\beta}$ heterodimerization. In a previous study R26 and R75, point mutants of $CKII{\beta}$ defective in ${\beta}-{\beta}$ dimerization, were isolated. In the present work we characterized these $CKII{\beta}$ mutants in vitro. Purified R26 and R75 bound to $CKII{\alpha}$ but were defective in binding to $CKII{\beta}$. R75 stimulated the catalytic activity of CKII whereas R26 gave little stimulation, and poly-L-lysine increased the stimulation of catalytic activity by R26 or R75. Circular dichroism and intrinsic fluorescence data pointed to different conformational changes in R26 and R75. Molecular modeling of these mutants provides an explanation of the difference in their ability to interact with $CKII{\beta}$ and to activate $CKII{\alpha}$.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제40권1호
• /
• pp.130-134
• /
• 2007

Haptoglobin (Hp) is a glycoprotein that is produced by hepatic cells and secreted into the circulation. While studying the physiologic functions of Hp, we found that Hp synthesized in THP-1 monocytic cells was largely retained within cells, although Hp is considered a secretory protein. To investigate the molecular mechanism on Hp secretion in THP-1 cells, in the present study, we examined the effect of protein kinase C (PKC) on Hp secretion. When several inhibitors of PKC isoforms were tested, only Rottlerin, a specific inhibitor of PKC-$\delta$, completely blocked Hp secretion from cells to culture medium. To confirm the role of PKC-$\delta$ in Hp secretion, Hp-overexpressing COS7 cells were transiently transfected with a wild-type or a dominantnegative mutant of the PKC-$\delta$ gene. Mutant PKC-$\delta$ significantly inhibited Hp secretion, whereas the wild-type gene slightly increased Hp secretion. These results demonstrate that the PKC-$\delta$ signal is involved in Hp secretion.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제46권4호
• /
• pp.207-212
• /
• 2013

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of caffeine on lipid accumulation in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. Significant decreases in the accumulation of hepatic lipids, such as triglyceride (TG), and cholesterol were observed when HepG2 cells were treated with caffeine as indicated. Caffeine decreased the mRNA level of lipogenesis-associated genes (SREBP1c, SREBP2, FAS, SCD1, HMGR and LDLR). In contrast, mRNA level of CD36, which is responsible for lipid uptake and catabolism, was increased. Next, the effect of caffeine on AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway was examined. Phosphorylation of AMPK and acetyl-CoA carboxylase were evidently increased when the cells were treated with caffeine as indicated for 24 h. These effects were all reversed in the presence of compound C, an AMPK inhibitor. In summary, these data indicate that caffeine effectively depleted TG and cholesterol levels by inhibition of lipogenesis and stimulation of lipolysis through modulating AMPK-SREBP signaling pathways.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• 제37권1호
• /
• pp.21-26
• /
• 1999

Two novel calcium-binding proteins, named CAB-I and CAB-II, have been isolated from Streptomyces coelicolor. Purification of the calcium-binding proteins involved heat treatment, fractionation with ammonium sulfate, acid treatment, anion exchange and hydrophobic interaction column chromatography, FPLC gel filtration, and preparative isoelectric focusing. A chelex competitive assay and 45Ca autoradiography verified the calcium-binding ability of the proteins. The major band CAB-II has an apparent molecular weight of 26,000 determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and 340,000 determined by gel filtration. The isoelectric point of this molecule showed the acidic nature of the molecule. N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis shows homology to rat Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II (CAB-II) and yeast phosphoprotein phosphatase (CAB-I).

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• 제16권3호
• /
• pp.211-217
• /
• 2012

Recent studies have demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO) activates transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 1 (TRPV1) via S-nitrosylation of the channel protein. NO also modulates various cellular functions via activation of the soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC)/protein kinase G (PKG) pathway and the direct modification of proteins. Thus, in the present study, we investigated whether NO could indirectly modulate the activity of TRPV1 via a cGMP/PKG-dependent pathway in cultured rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. NO donors, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and S-nitro-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP), decreased capsaicin-evoked currents ($I_{cap}$). NO scavengers, hemoglobin and 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (CPTIO), prevented the inhibitory effect of SNP on $I_{cap}$. Membrane-permeable cGMP analogs, 8-bromoguanosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (8bromo-cGMP) and 8-(4chlorophenylthio)-guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-pCPT-cGMP), and the guanylyl cyclase stimulator YC-1 mimicked the effect of SNP on $I_{cap}$. The PKG inhibitor KT5823 prevented the inhibition of $I_{cap}$ by SNP. These results suggest that NO can downregulate the function of TRPV1 through activation of the cGMP/PKG pathway in peripheral sensory neurons.