Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a potent neuropeptide that possesses both neurotrophic and neurodevelopmental effects. Recently, the Rit GTPase was found to be activated by a novel Galpha/cAMP/exchange protein activated by cyclic AMP (Epac)-dependent signaling pathway and required for PACAP-dependent cAMP response element-binding protein activation and neuronal dif...

The role of specific tyrosine autophosphorylation sites in the human insulin receptor kinase domain (Tyr1158, Tyr1162, and Tyr1163) was analyzed using in vitro mutagenesis to replace tyrosine residues individually or in combination. Each of the three single-Phe, the three possible double-Phe a triple-Phe and a triple-Ser mutant receptors, stably expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells, were co...

In this study, we aimed to determine VEGFR-2, EGFR and PDGFR-β tyrosine kinase inhibitory activities of some pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives previously synthesized and showed potent cytotoxic and apoptotic effects against several cancer cell lines by our group and to evaluate the relationships between inhibitory activities and binding properties of the active compounds by molecular docking...

Full length TrkC (TrkC-FL) is a receptor tyrosine kinase whose mRNA can be spliced to a truncated TrkC.T1 isoform lacking the kinase domain. Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) activates TrkC-FL to maintain motor neuron health and function and TrkC.T1 to produce neurotoxic TNF-α; hence resulting in opposing pathways. In mouse and human ALS spinal cord, the reduction of miR-128 that destabilizes TrkC.T1 mRNA ...

Smoking has been linked to male infertility by affecting the sperm epigenome and genome. In this study, we aimed determine possible changes in transcript levels of PGAM5 (the phosphoglycerate mutase family member 5), PTPRN2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase, N2-type receptor), TYRO3 (tyrosine protein kinase receptor) heavy smokers compared non-smokers, investigate their association with fundamental...

We found that a monokine induced by interferon-gamma (Mig, CXCL9), which belongs to the CXC chemokine subfamily, acts as a neurotrophic factor on PC12 cells and rat primary sympathetic neurons. PC12 cells were shown to express a single class of high affinity binding sites for Mig (670 receptors/cell, Kd = 2.9 nm). Mig induced neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Compariso...

Distinct point mutations in the RET proto-oncogene are the cause of the inherited multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 syndromes (MEN 2), and the congenital gut disorder Hirschsprung disease. The site and type of these mutations suggests that they have differing effects on the activity of the receptor tyrosine kinase encoded by RET. The normal function of the RET receptor tyrosine kinase has yet...

Immortalized brown adipocyte cell lines have been generated from fetuses of mice deficient in the insulin-like growth factor I receptor gene (IGF-IR(-/-)), as well as from fetuses of wild-type mice (IGF-IR(+/+)). These cell lines maintained the expression of adipogenic- and thermogenic-differentiation markers and show a multilocular fat droplets phenotype. IGF-IR(-/-) brown adipocytes lacked IG...

BACKGROUND Increasing evidence suggests that microRNAs are functionally involved in the initiation and maintenance of pain hypersensitivity, including chronic morphine analgesic tolerance, through the posttranscriptional regulation of pain-related genes. We have previously demonstrated that miR-219 regulates inflammatory pain in the spinal cord by targeting calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein ...