Cell shape changes exert specific effects on gene expression. It has been speculated that the cytoskeleton is responsible for converting changes in the cytoarchitecture to effects on gene transcription. However, the signal transduction pathways responsible for cytoskeletal-nuclear communication remained unknown. We now provide evidence that a variety of agents and conditions that depolymerize m...

The immunomodulatory effects of acute and chronic alcohol use are characterized by impaired antigen-specific immune activation and by increased susceptibility to infections due to alterations in innate immune responses and inflammatory mediator production. The central feature of cellular responses to inflammatory and stress signals is the activation of the nuclear regulatory kappa B/Rel family ...

Molecular cloning of the polypeptide component of the Rel-related human p75 nucleoprotein complex has revealed its identity with the 65-kDa (p65) subunit of NF-kappa B. Functional analyses of chimeric proteins composed of NF-kappa B p65 C-terminal sequences linked to the DNA-binding domain of the yeast GAL4 polypeptide have indicated that the final 101 amino acids of NF-kappa B p65 comprise a p...

Translocation-associated Notch homologue (TAN-1), a gene originally cloned from the translocation breakpoint of a human T cell leukemia carrying a 9:7(q34.3) translocation, encodes a protein belonging to the Notch/Lin-12/Glp-1 receptor family. These receptors mediate the specification of numerous cell fates during development in invertebrates and vertebrates. The intracellular portion of Notch/...

We have recently discovered bovine and human vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) express a novel constitutive Nuclear Factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B)/Rel-like activity (Lawrence, R., L.-J. Chang, U. Siebenlist, P. Bressler, and G.E. Sonenshein. 1994. J. Biol. Chem. 269:28913-28918), here termed SMC-Rel. Since cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection of human vascular SMCs has been implicated in aberrant SMC...