MAP kinase activation occurs during meiotic maturation of oocytes from all animals, but the requirement for MAP kinase activation in reinitiation of meiosis appears to vary between different classes. In particular, it has become accepted that MAP kinase activation is necessary for progesterone-stimulated meiotic maturation of Xenopus oocytes, while this is clearly not the case in other systems....

Thapsigargin is a non-phorbol ester-type tumor promoter that elevates the intracellular Ca2+ (Ca(i)2+) levels by blocking the microsomal Ca2+ ATPase. At present, the consequence of this Ca(i)2+ increase and the nature of the tumorigenicity of thapsigargin still remain to be elucidated. Previously, we demonstrated that thapsigargin activates the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase via Ca(i)2+...

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascades are major signaling systems by which cells transduce extracellular cues into intracellular responses. In general, MAP kinases are activated by phosphorylation on tyrosine and threonine residues and inactivated by dephosphorylation. Therefore, MAP kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1), a dual-specificity protein tyrosine phosphatase that exhibits catalytic ...

Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) characterized by permeability edema is observed in severe insults such as bacteremia sepsis. Interleukin (IL)-8, which chemoattracts and activates neutrophils, has been suggested to play an important role in the production of ARDS. Therefore, the inhibition of IL-8 production is an important strategy for the treatment of ARDS. Recent studies have revea...

We previously reported that p70 S6 kinase takes part in bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4)-stimulated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) synthesis in osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells. Recently, we showed that BMP-4-induced osteocalcin synthesis is regulated by p44/p42 MAP kinase and p38 MAP kinase in these cells. In the present study, we investigated whether the MAP kinases are involved ...

Thapsigargin is a non-phorbol ester-type tumor promoter that elevates the intracellular Ca2@ (Ca@2') levels by blocking the microsomal Ca2@ ATPase. At present, the consequence of this Ca@2@ increase and the nature of the tumorigenicity of thapsigargin still remain to be elucidated. Previ ously, we demonstrated that thapsigargin activates the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase via Ca@2' but ...

Thapsigargin is a non-phorbol ester-type tumor promoter that elevates the intracellular Ca2@ (Ca@2') levels by blocking the microsomal Ca2@ ATPase. At present, the consequence of this Ca@2@ increase and the nature of the tumorigenicity of thapsigargin still remain to be elucidated. Previ ously, we demonstrated that thapsigargin activates the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase via Ca@2' but ...

The mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signal transduction pathway represents an important mechanism by which growth factors regulate cell function. Targets of the MAP kinase pathway are located within several cellular compartments. Signal transduction therefore requires the localization of MAP kinase in each sub-cellular compartment that contains physiologically relevant substrates. Here, ...