Extracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD3) is a secreted enzyme that uses superoxide anion as a substrate in a dismutase reaction that results in the formation of hydrogen peroxide. Both of these reactive oxygen species affect growth signaling in cells. Although SOD3 has growth-supporting characteristics, the expression of SOD3 is downregulated in epithelial cancer cells. In the current work, we...

Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the NF1 tumor suppressor gene. Neurofibromin is encoded by NF1 and functions as a negative regulator of Ras activity. NF1 patients develop renal artery stenosis and arterial occlusions resulting in cerebral and visceral infarcts. Further, NF1 patients develop vascular neurofibromas where tumor vessels are invested in a ...

Inappropriate activation of the renin angiotensin system (RAS) is a key contributor to the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. During RAS activation, infiltration of immune cells into the kidney exacerbates hypertension and renal injury. However, the mechanisms underpinning the accumulation of mononuclear cells in the kidney after RAS stimulation remain unclear. C-C motif chemokine 5 (CCL5)...

Immunization with radiation attenuated Plasmodium sporozoites (RAS) elicits sterile protective immunity against sporozoite challenge in murine models and in humans. Similarly to RAS, the genetically attenuated sporozoites (GAPs) named uis3(-), uis4(-) and P36p(-) have arrested growth during the liver stage development, and generate a powerful protective immune response in mice. We compared the ...

Recent guidelines for management of patients with chronic kidney disease recommend both lower optimal BP targets and agents that block the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) for specific additional BP-independent renoprotection. Although there are other compelling rationales to use RAS blockade in patients with chronic kidney disease, including its antihypertensive effectiveness and ability to coun...

Since the discovery of renin as a pressor substance in 1898, the renin-angiotensin (RAS) system has been extensively studied because it remains a prime candidate as a causative factor in the development and maintenance of hypertension. Indeed, some of the properties of the physiologically active component of the RAS, angiotensin II, include vasoconstriction, regulation of renal sodium and water...

Many articles have described the biochemistry of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Simply put, renin and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) produce angiotensin II, which affects the brain (increased thirst), the gut (increased salt absorption), the adrenals (aldosterone production), the kidneys (salt and water retention), the heart (increased cardiac output), and vascular smooth muscle (vaso...

Environmental agents such as radiation and chemicals are known to cause genetic damage. Alterations in a limited set of cellular genes called proto-oncogenes lead to unregulated proliferation and differentiation. We have studied the role of the ras gene family in carcinogenesis using two different animal models. In one case, thymic lymphomas were induced in mice by either gamma or neutron radia...

The Ras superfamily of guanosine-triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins regulates a diverse spectrum of intracellular processes involved in inflammation and fibrosis. Farnesythiosalicylic acid (FTS) is a unique and potent Ras inhibitor which decreased inflammation and fibrosis in experimentally induced liver cirrhosis and ameliorated inflammatory processes in systemic lupus erythematosus, neuritis...