The molecular mechanism of how hepatocytes maintain cholesterol homeostasis has become much more transparent with the discovery of sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) in recent years. These membrane pr...The molecular mechanism of how hepatocytes maintain cholesterol homeostasis has become much more transparent with the discovery of sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) in recent years. These membrane proteins aremembers of the basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper (bHLHZip) family of transcription factors. They activate the expression of at least 30 genes involved in the synthesis of cholesterol and lipids. SREBPs are synthesized as precursor proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where they form a complex with another protein, SREBP cleavage activating protein (SCAP). The SCAP molecule contains a sterol sensory domain. In the presence of high cellular sterol concentrations SCAP confines SREBP to the ER. With low cellular concentrations, SCAP escorts SREBP to activation in the Golgi. There, SREBP undergoes two proteolytic cleavage steps to release the mature, biologically active transcription factor, nuclear SREBP (nSREBP). nSREBP translocates to the nucleus and binds to sterol response elements (SRE) in the promoter/enhancer regions of target genes. Additional transcription factors are required to activate transcription of these genes. Three different SREBPs are known, SREBPs-1a, -1c and -2. SREBP-1a and -1c are isoforms produced from a single gene by alternate splicing. SREBP-2 is encoded by a different gene and does not display any isoforms. It appears that SREBPs alone, in the sequence described above, can exert complete control over cholesterol synthesis, whereas many additional factors (hormones, cytokines, etc.) are required for complete control of lipid metabolism. Medicinal manipulation of the SREBP/SCAP system is expected to prove highly beneficial in the management of cholesterol-related disease.展开更多
Efficient functioning of the endoplasmic reticulum(ER) is very important for most cellular activities, such as protein folding and modification. The ER closely interacts with other organelles, including the Golgi body...Efficient functioning of the endoplasmic reticulum(ER) is very important for most cellular activities, such as protein folding and modification. The ER closely interacts with other organelles, including the Golgi body, endosome, membrane, and mitochondria, providing lipids and proteins for the repair of these organelles. ER stress can be induced by various abnormal materials in the cell. ER stress is a compensatory intracellular environment disorder that occurs during areaction. ER can sense the stress and respond to it through translational attenuation, upregulation of the genes for ER chaperones and related proteins, and degradation of unfolded proteins by a quality-control system, but excessive ER activation can cause cell death. The Pubmed and Web of Science databases were searched for full-text articles, and the terms "endoplasmic reticulum stress/unfolded protein response/gynecologic tumor cell apoptosis" were used as key words. Thirty-five studies of ER stress and unfolded protein response published from 2000 to 2016 were analyzed. Stress triggers apoptosis through a variety of signaling pathways. Increasing evidence has shown that the ER plays an important role in tumor cell diseases. The present review discusses the molecular mechanisms underlying unfolded protein response and its ability to promote survival and proliferation in gynecologic tumor cells.展开更多
文摘The molecular mechanism of how hepatocytes maintain cholesterol homeostasis has become much more transparent with the discovery of sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) in recent years. These membrane proteins aremembers of the basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper (bHLHZip) family of transcription factors. They activate the expression of at least 30 genes involved in the synthesis of cholesterol and lipids. SREBPs are synthesized as precursor proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where they form a complex with another protein, SREBP cleavage activating protein (SCAP). The SCAP molecule contains a sterol sensory domain. In the presence of high cellular sterol concentrations SCAP confines SREBP to the ER. With low cellular concentrations, SCAP escorts SREBP to activation in the Golgi. There, SREBP undergoes two proteolytic cleavage steps to release the mature, biologically active transcription factor, nuclear SREBP (nSREBP). nSREBP translocates to the nucleus and binds to sterol response elements (SRE) in the promoter/enhancer regions of target genes. Additional transcription factors are required to activate transcription of these genes. Three different SREBPs are known, SREBPs-1a, -1c and -2. SREBP-1a and -1c are isoforms produced from a single gene by alternate splicing. SREBP-2 is encoded by a different gene and does not display any isoforms. It appears that SREBPs alone, in the sequence described above, can exert complete control over cholesterol synthesis, whereas many additional factors (hormones, cytokines, etc.) are required for complete control of lipid metabolism. Medicinal manipulation of the SREBP/SCAP system is expected to prove highly beneficial in the management of cholesterol-related disease.
文摘Efficient functioning of the endoplasmic reticulum(ER) is very important for most cellular activities, such as protein folding and modification. The ER closely interacts with other organelles, including the Golgi body, endosome, membrane, and mitochondria, providing lipids and proteins for the repair of these organelles. ER stress can be induced by various abnormal materials in the cell. ER stress is a compensatory intracellular environment disorder that occurs during areaction. ER can sense the stress and respond to it through translational attenuation, upregulation of the genes for ER chaperones and related proteins, and degradation of unfolded proteins by a quality-control system, but excessive ER activation can cause cell death. The Pubmed and Web of Science databases were searched for full-text articles, and the terms "endoplasmic reticulum stress/unfolded protein response/gynecologic tumor cell apoptosis" were used as key words. Thirty-five studies of ER stress and unfolded protein response published from 2000 to 2016 were analyzed. Stress triggers apoptosis through a variety of signaling pathways. Increasing evidence has shown that the ER plays an important role in tumor cell diseases. The present review discusses the molecular mechanisms underlying unfolded protein response and its ability to promote survival and proliferation in gynecologic tumor cells.
