OBJECTIVES To explore the relationship between the MAPKs/TGF-β1/TRAF6 signaling pathway and atrial fibrosis in patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and its role in atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardiac surgery on the basis of our previous animal study of the MAPKs/TGF-β1/TRAF6 signaling pathway in atrial fibrosis. METHODS A total of 57 patients with RHD without a history of AF consent...

Stimulation of macrophages by a variety of agents causes activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Activation of MAPKs by lipopolysaccharide involves CD14 and Toll receptors. Subsequent steps still remain to be explored. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)-induced activation of MAPKs has been shown to involve the death domain proteins (TRADD, FADD, MADD) and TRAFs. Other mole...

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) form a closely related family of kinases that control critical pathways associated with cell growth and survival. Although MAPKs have been extensively characterized at the biochemical, cellular, and structural level, an integrated evolutionary understanding of how MAPKs differ from other closely related protein kinases is currently lacking. Here, we per...

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are evolutionarily conserved proteins that function as key signal transduction components in fungi, plants, and mammals. During interaction between phytopathogenic fungi and plants, fungal MAPKs help to promote mechanical and/or enzymatic penetration of host tissues, while plant MAPKs are required for activation of plant immunity. However, new insights ...

In the present study, we investigated the anti-nociceptive effect and the underlying mechanism of the analgesic-antitumor peptide (AGAP), a neurotoxin from the scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch. AGAP in doses of 0.2, 1 and 5 µg was injected intraplantarly (i.pl.) before formalin injection 10 min at the same site. The suppression by intraplantar injection of AGAP on formalin-induced spontaneous n...

9 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 10 1. Signal transduction 10 1.1. Signaling during cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis 10 1.2. Transcritional regulation of gene expression 11 2. Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) 11 2.1. ERK MAPKs 13 2.2. JNK MAPKs 15 2.3. p38 MAPKs 16 2.4. Transcriptional regulation by MAPKs 16 3. AP-1 transcription factor 17 3.1. AP-1 transcription factor family 17 3.2....

In this paper, we studied the signaling pathway used by hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF) to stimulate mitosis. We show, using H441 cells, that 1) HGF activates membrane-associated protein kinase C (PKC); the activity is transient and peaks within 30 min; 2) HGF activates p42/p44 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs); maximum activity in both is within 10 min; and 3) the...

We have previously shown that stretching cardiac myocytes evokes activation of protein kinase C (PKC), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and 90-kD ribosomal S6 kinase (p90rsk). To clarify the signal transduction pathways from external mechanical stress to nuclear gene expression in stretch-induced cardiac hypertrophy, we have elucidated protein kinase cascade of phosphorylation by exam...

Binding of ouabain to Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase activates tyrosine phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Src, and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in both cardiac myocytes and A7r5 cells. Here, we explored the roles of Src and the EGFR in the ouabain-invoked pathways that lead to the activation of MAPKs. Exposure of A7r5 and LLC-PK1 cells to ouabain caused a do...