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Biomedical subjects

C M Crews

Publications and source records attributed to C M Crews.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Eponemycin analogues: syntheses and use as probes of angiogenesis.

Derivatives of the epoxy-beta-aminoketone containing natural product eponemycin have been prepared in order to study the molecular mode of action of this anti-angiogenic compound. Synthesis and use of a biotinylated dihydroeponemycin analogue demonstrated that dihydroeponemycin forms a covalent adduct with at least two intracellular proteins in human endothelial cells. Pretreatment of cells with a five equivalent excess of dihydroeponemycin precluded biotin-dihydroeponemycin binding indicating a specific interaction between natural product and the target proteins. This biotin-dihydroeponemycin derivative will prove useful in the purification and identification of eponemycin receptors.

Amides↗
PubMed1997

The anti-angiogenic agent fumagillin covalently binds and inhibits the methionine aminopeptidase, MetAP-2.

The inhibition of new blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) is an effective means of limiting both the size and metastasis of solid tumors. The leading anti-angiogenic compound, TNP-470, has proven to be effective in in vitro and in animal model studies, and is currently being tested in phase III antitumor clinical trials. Despite many detailed pharmacological studies, little is known of the molecular mode of action of TNP-470. Using a derivative of the TNP-470 parent compound, the fungal metabolite, fumagillin, we have purified a mammalian protein that is selectively and covalently bound by this natural product. This fumagillin binding protein was found to be a metalloprotease, methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP-2), that is highly conserved between human and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the absence of MetAP-1, a distantly related methionine aminopeptidase, MetAP-2 function is essential for vegetative growth in yeast. We demonstrate that fumagillin selectively inhibits the S. cerevisiae MetAP-2 protein in vivo. The binding is highly specific as judged by the failure of fumagillin to inhibit MetAP-1 in vivo. Hence, these results identify MetAP-2 as an important target of study in the analysis of the potent biological activities of fumagillin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Didemnin binds to the protein palmitoyl thioesterase responsible for infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.

The marine natural product didemnin B, currently in clinical trials as an antitumor agent, has several potent biological activities apparently mediated by distinct mechanisms. Our initial investigation of didemnin B resulted in the discovery of its GTP-dependent binding of the translation elongation factor EF1 alpha. This finding is consistent with the protein synthesis inhibitory activity of didemnin B observed at intermediate concentrations. To begin to dissect the mechanisms involved in the cytostatic and immunosuppressive activities of didemnin B, observed at low concentrations, additional didemnin-binding proteins were sought. Here we report the purification of a 36-kDa glycosylated didemnin-binding protein from bovine brain lysate. Cloning of the human cDNA encoding this protein revealed a strong sequence similarity with palmitoyl protein thioesterase (PPT), an enzyme that removes palmitate from H-Ras and the G alpha s subunits of heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins in vitro. Mutations in PPT have recently been shown to be responsible for infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, which is a severe brain disorder characterized by progressive loss of brain function and early death.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

GTP-dependent binding of the antiproliferative agent didemnin to elongation factor 1 alpha.

The marine natural product, didemnin B, is a 7-amino acid, cyclic depsipeptide that inhibits G1 cell cycle progression at nanomolar concentrations by undefined mechanisms. It has been reported to exhibit immunosuppressive activities in animals and is undergoing clinical trials as a potential antineoplastic drug. In addition, at higher concentrations, didemnin B has been shown to inhibit in vivo and in vitro protein synthesis. However, the mechanisms by which inhibition is achieved are unknown. To investigate didemnin's various modes of action, an affinity column was synthesized and used to purify didemnin-binding proteins. The major retained protein was the 49-kDa guanine nucleotide-binding elongation factor, EF-1 alpha, which was identified by peptide sequence analysis. Moreover, didemnin binds EF-1 alpha only in the presence of GTP but does not inhibit the GTPase activity of EF-1 alpha. Therefore, EF-1 alpha is likely to be the intracellular target responsible for didemnin B's ability to inhibit protein synthesis. Furthermore, this specificity of didemnin affinity for the GTP-bound conformation of a guanine nucleotide-binding protein with homology to the Ras superfamily suggests a possible mode of action for didemnin's antiproliferative activity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Raf-1 forms a stable complex with Mek1 and activates Mek1 by serine phosphorylation.

Recombinant Mek1 and Raf-1 proteins produced in Sf9 cells undergo a tight association both in vivo and in vitro, which apparently does not depend on additional factors or the kinase activity of Mek1 or Raf-1. The complex can be disrupted by two polyclonal antibodies raised against Raf-1 peptides. Coinfection with Raf-1 activates Mek1 > 150-fold, and coinfection with Raf-1 and Mek1 activates Erk1 approximately 90-fold. The activation of Mek1 by Raf-1 involves only serine phosphorylation, which is directly proportional to the extent of Mek1 activation. Phosphopeptide maps suggest a single Raf-1 phosphorylation site on mek1.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Reconstitution of the Raf-1-MEK-ERK signal transduction pathway in vitro.

Raf-1 is a serine/threonine kinase which is essential in cell growth and differentiation. Tyrosine kinase oncogenes and receptors and p21ras can activate Raf-1, and recent studies have suggested that Raf-1 functions upstream of MEK (MAP/ERK kinase), which phosphorylates and activates ERK. To determine whether or not Raf-1 directly activates MEK, we developed an in vitro assay with purified recombinant proteins. Epitope-tagged versions of Raf-1 and MEK and kinase-inactive mutants of each protein were expressed in Sf9 cells, and ERK1 was purified as a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein from bacteria. Raf-1 purified from Sf9 cells which had been coinfected with v-src or v-ras was able to phosphorylate kinase-active and kinase-inactive MEK. A kinase-inactive version of Raf-1 purified from cells that had been coinfected with v-src or v-ras was not able to phosphorylate MEK. Raf-1 phosphorylation of MEK activated it, as judged by its ability to stimulate the phosphorylation of myelin basic protein by glutathione S-transferase-ERK1. We conclude that MEK is a direct substrate of Raf-1 and that the activation of MEK by Raf-1 is due to phosphorylation by Raf-1, which is sufficient for MEK activation. We also tested the ability of protein kinase C to activate Raf-1 and found that, although protein kinase C phosphorylation of Raf-1 was able to stimulate its autokinase activity, it did not stimulate its ability to phosphorylate MEK.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

MEK2 is a kinase related to MEK1 and is differentially expressed in murine tissues.

MEK1 is a dual specificity kinase that phosphorylates and activates the Erk/MAP kinases Erk-1 and Erk-2 by phosphorylating them on threonine and tyrosine. We report the cloning of a second MEK-like complementary DNA, Mek2, which predicts a protein of a molecular weight of 44,500. The MEK2 protein bears substantial sequence homology to MEK1, except at its amino terminus, and at a proline-rich region insert between the conserved kinase subdomains 9 and 10. MEK1 and MEK2 are shown to be encoded by different genes and are located on murine chromosomes 9 and 10, respectively. Northern analysis indicates that Mek2 is expressed at low levels in adult mouse brain and heart tissue, and at higher levels in other tissues examined. Low expression levels of Mek2 in brain tissue are in contrast to the high levels of Mek1 expressed in brain. Mek2 is expressed at high levels in neonatal brain, however. Recombinant MEK2 produced in bacteria phosphorylates a kinase-inactive Erk-1 on tyrosine and threonine, whereas a kinase-inactive mutant MEK2 does not. These findings suggest that MEK2 is a member of a multigene family.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The primary structure of MEK, a protein kinase that phosphorylates the ERK gene product.

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, also known as extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs), are thought to act at an integration point for multiple biochemical signals because they are activated by a wide variety of extracellular signals, rapidly phosphorylated on threonine and tyrosine, and highly conserved. A critical protein kinase lies upstream of MAP kinase and stimulates the enzymatic activity of MAP kinase. The structure of this protein kinase, denoted MEK1, for MAP kinase or ERK kinase, was elucidated from a complementary DNA sequence and shown to be a protein of 393 amino acids (43,500 daltons) that is related most closely in size and sequence to the product encoded by the Schizosaccharomyces pombe byr1 gene. The MEK gene was highly expressed in murine brain, and the product expressed in bacteria phosphorylated the ERK gene product.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Phorbol ester stimulates a protein-tyrosine/threonine kinase that phosphorylates and activates the Erk-1 gene product.

The regulation of the Erk (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase) gene-encoded protein kinase activity by reversible phosphorylation has been reported to involve either an activator of autophosphorylation or an upstream protein kinase. In this communication we describe assays utilizing the Erk-1 protein fused to glutathione S-transferase that permit the identification of protein kinase(s) that phosphorylate and activate the myelin basic protein kinase activity encoded by the Erk-1 gene. A phorbol ester-stimulated protein kinase activity was identified that phosphorylated a kinase-negative Erk-1 gene product on tyrosine and threonine. The protein kinase phosphorylated and activated wild-type protein expressed in bacteria from 20- to 50-fold. The activation of the Erk-1-encoded myelin basic protein kinase required ATP and correlated directly with the degree of phosphorylation on the same amino acid residues previously shown to be phosphorylated in vivo. Conversion of the tyrosine site of phosphorylation to phenylalanine yielded an Erk-1 gene product that could not be activated. Similar results were obtained when the threonine site was mutated to valine. It is likely that the phorbol ester-stimulated protein-tyrosine/threonine kinase(s) is an up-stream target for multiple extracellular signals.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Purification of a murine protein-tyrosine/threonine kinase that phosphorylates and activates the Erk-1 gene product: relationship to the fission yeast byr1 gene product.

We report the purification to near homogeneity of a 45-kDa phorbol ester-stimulated protein kinase that phosphorylates and activates the Erk-1 gene product. This kinase, which we provisionally denote MEK for MAPK/Erk kinase, phosphorylated kinase-inactive Erk-1 protein primarily on a tyrosine residue and, to a lesser extent, on a threonine. We extend our previous results and show that two forms of purified MEK activated the myelin basic protein kinase encoded by Erk-1. MEK was inactivated by the serine/threonine phosphatase 2A but not by the protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B. Sequence analysis of peptides generated by trypsin digestion of MEK revealed similarity to the proteins encoded by the Schizosaccharomyces pombe byr1 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae STE7 genes. These data are discussed with regard to a possible signal transduction mechanism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Interleukin 2 stimulation of p70 S6 kinase activity is inhibited by the immunosuppressant rapamycin.

Binding of interleukin 2 (IL-2) to its receptor generates intracellular signals, including the activation of tyrosine and serine/threonine kinases. In this study the activation of the serine/threonine-specific ribosomal protein S6 kinases in response to IL-2 was analyzed in the murine T-cell line CTLL-20, a model system of IL-2-dependent proliferation. Two major classes of S6 kinases have been characterized: the 90-kDa (rsk) family and the 70-kDa family. In response to the addition of recombinant IL-2, total S6 kinase activity was increased. This S6 kinase activity could not be immunoprecipitated by an antiserum specific for S6 kinases of the 90-kDa family, exhibited a chromatographic behavior characteristic of 70-kDa S6 kinases, and was recognized by a 70-kDa S6 kinase-specific antiserum. Thus, IL-2 binding to its receptor induces specific activation of the 70-kDa family of S6 kinases. Rapamycin, a macrolide immunosuppressant that inhibits IL-2-dependent proliferation, inhibited IL-2-stimulated 70-kDa S6 kinase activity subsequent to early increases in tyrosine kinase activity. These findings imply that the targets of rapamycin include molecules involved in the activation of 70-kDa S6 kinases. These observations further suggest that S6 kinases of the 70-kDa family participate in signal transmission pathways subsequent to IL-2 binding to its receptor.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Erks: their fifteen minutes has arrived.

In conclusion, a multigene family (ERK) encoding protein kinases that have the capacity to convert tyrosine kinase signals to serine/threonine phosphorylation signals has been identified in animal and yeast cells. Protein kinases from this family have been shown to be phosphorylated on tyrosine and threonine in response to mitogens, as well as to have the capacity to autophosphorylate on these amino acid residues. In contrast, they apparently phosphorylate exogenous substrates on serine and/or threonine. Studies with cultured cells, Xenopus, and sea star oocytes have furthered our understanding of possible functions of Erks in vivo. These enzymes respond immediately to extracellular signals and are involved in G0-G1 transition (cultured cells), as well as in the M phase of oocyte maturation (Xenopus and sea star oocytes). Their usage of MAPs as substrates in vivo suggests a possible role of Erks in microtubule reorganization. ERK-encoded protein kinases use c-Jun, EGF receptor, and Raf-1 as potential substrates and can also reactivate dephosphorylated S6 kinase in vitro. Taken together, these data suggest that these enzymes play an important role in relaying the mitogenic signal by phosphorylating down-stream kinases and specific transcriptional factors, as well as having possible feedback function in the process of signal transduction. The results from the study of the yeast enzymes are pertinent to Erk activation in cells with nonmitogenic responses described above. In such cases, Erk protein kinases may act directly or indirectly on cyclins to arrest division and permit differentiation. The pathways influenced by ERK-like gene products in animal and yeast cells suggest that, depending on the downstream targets of substrates, transcriptional changes in a particular cell may occur to drive the cell cycle or, alternatively, withdrawal from the cell cycle may lead to specific differentiation events.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Mouse Erk-1 gene product is a serine/threonine protein kinase that has the potential to phosphorylate tyrosine.

Bacterial expression of mouse gene Erk-1 yielded an active kinase with the same substrate specificity shown for ERK1 protein purified from rat cells. Although rat gene ERK1 is believed to encode a serine/threonine kinase based on sequence data and known ERK1 substrate phosphorylation sites, bacterially-produced mouse Erk-1 (bt-Erk-1) autophosphorylated on tyrosine in addition to serine and threonine residues. The bt-Erk-1 protein also had the capacity to reactivate the ribosomal protein S6 kinase (S6KII). Furthermore, treatment of bt-Erk-1 with either serine/threonine-specific phosphatase 2A or tyrosine-specific phosphatase 1B significantly decreased its kinase activity. These findings predict that autophosphorylation may play an important role in Erk-1/ERK1 regulation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Sequence and expression of chicken and mouse rsk: homologs of Xenopus laevis ribosomal S6 kinase.

We have previously reported the isolation of cDNAs encoding two closely related Xenopus ribosomal S6 kinases, S6KII alpha and -beta (S. W. Jones, E. Erikson, J. Blenis, J. L. Maller, and R. L. Erikson, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:3377-3381, 1988). We report here the molecular cloning of one chicken and two mouse homologs of the Xenopus laevis cDNAs. As described for the Xenopus proteins, these cDNAs were found to predict polypeptides that contain two distinct kinase domains, of which one is most closely related to the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and the other is most closely related to the catalytic subunit of phosphorylase b kinase. The three predicted proteins were more than 79% identical to the Xenopus S6KII alpha protein. The chicken and one of the mouse cDNAs were, respectively, 3.7 and 3.1 kilobase pairs in length, predicted proteins of 752 and 724 amino acids with molecular weights of 84.4 and 81.6 kilodaltons, and hybridized to mRNAs in fibroblasts and tissues of approximately 3.6 and 3.4 kilobases (kb). The second mouse cDNA was approximately 6.1 kilobase pairs and was not full length but predicted the C-terminal 633 amino acids of a protein that is similar to the C-terminal portion of Xenopus S6KII alpha. This clone hybridized to mRNA transcripts of 7.6 and 3.4 kb. In vitro transcription and translation of the chicken and the mouse cDNAs that predict complete proteins produced major products with apparent molecular weights of 96 and 84 kilodaltons. Analysis of mRNA levels in chicken tissues showed significant quantities of the 3.6-kb transcript in small and large intestine, spleen, and bursa. Both mouse cDNA were similarly expressed at significant levels in intestine, thymus, and lung; however, the 7.6-kb mRNA was differentially and more highly expressed in heart and brain. The two mouse cDNAs represent two different S6 kinase genes, as shown by comparison of their protein sequences, mRNA transcript sizes, genomic organizations, and nucleic acid sequences. We propose that this family of genes be named rsk, for ribosomal S6 kinase.

Amino Acid Sequence↗