Neurons undergoing apoptosis can be rescued by trophic factors that simultaneously increase the activity of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and decrease c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38. We identified a molecule, CEP-1347 (KT7515), that rescues motoneurons undergoing apoptosis and investigated its effect on ERK1 and JNK1 activity. Cultured rat embryonic motoneurons, in the abse...

Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury is often delayed and involves both apoptotic and immunoregulatory mechanisms. In this study, we used a neonatal model of hypoxia-ischemia to examine the effect of the mixed lineage kinase (MLK) inhibitor CEP-1347 on brain damage, apoptosis and inflammation. The tissue volume loss was reduced by 28% (p = 0.019) in CEP-1347-treated versus vehicle-treated rats and CEP...

We have identified a bis-ethylthiomethyl analog of K-252a, CEP-1347/KT-7515, that promotes neuronal survival in culture and in vivo. The neuronal survival properties of CEP-1347/KT-7515 may be related to its ability to inhibit the activation of c-jun N-terminal kinase, a key kinase in some forms of stress-induced neuronal death and perhaps apoptosis. There is evidence that the selective nigrost...

We have studied the mechanisms of auditory hair cell death after insults in vitro and in vivo. We show DNA fragmentation of hair cell nuclei after ototoxic drug and intense noise trauma. By using phospho-specific c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) and c-Jun antibodies in immunohistochemistry, we show that the JNK pathway, associated with stress, injury, and apoptosis, is activated in hair cells afte...

Transplantation of embryonic nigral tissue ameliorates functional deficiencies in Parkinson's disease (PD). A main constraint of neural grafting is the poor survival of dopaminergic neurones grafted into patients. Studies in rats indicated that many grafted neurones die by apoptosis. CEP-1347 is a mixed-lineage-kinase (MLK) inhibitor with neuroprotective action in several in vitro and in vivo m...

The activation of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is critical for naturally occurring neuronal cell death during development and may be important for the pathological neuronal cell death of neurodegenerative diseases. The small molecule inhibitor of the mixed-lineage kinase (MLK) family of kinases, CEP-1347, inhibits the activation of the JNK pathway and, consequently, the cell death ...

CEP-1347 is a potent inhibitor of the mixed lineage kinases (MLKs), a distinct family of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinases (MAPKKK). It blocks the activation of the c-Jun/JNK apoptotic pathway in neurons exposed to various stressors and attenuates neurodegeneration in animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD). Microglial activation may involve kinase pathways controlled by MLKs an...

Pancreatic caerulein-induced activation of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) has been reported, and JNK has been proposed as a mediator during induction of hyperstimulated pancreatitis. CEP-1347 has recently been described as a specific JNK inhibitor. We tested whether CEP-1347 inhibits caerulein-induced pancreatic JNK activation in isolated acini and in vivo. CEP-1347 dose dependently inhibite...

Fine needle kidney biopsy with subsequent analysis of the tissue core by light microscopy and immunhistology is currently the diagnostic gold standard in nephrology [1]. The addition of immunofluorescence and electron microscopic techniques into routine biopsy processing enabled a further refinement of the diagnostic categories used [2]. Despite recent developments in molecular biology most int...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) deprivation triggers metabolic changes in sympathetic neurons that precede cell death. Here, we investigate the role of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway in downregulating neuronal metabolism. We show that, in the presence of CEP-1347 (KT7515), a small molecule known to block cell death upstream of JNK, cellular metabolism is preserved in neurons deprived of NG...