* Activation of MAPK pathways and downstream transcription factors in 2-aminobiphenyl-induced apoptosis.
- 2-Aminobiphenyls (2-ABP) induces oxidative DNA damage and leads to apoptosis. The precise signaling pathways of inducing apoptosis in vitro are still unknown. This study provides insight into the relationship between 2-ABP-induced apoptosis and the activation of MAPK and downstream transcription factors using pharmacological inhibitors of ERK, p38, and JNK pathways. Results showed that 2-ABP induced the activation of ERK and JNK but not p38. The ERK/JNK pathways downstream transcription factors, c-Jun and ATF-2, were also activated by 2-ABP. The inhibitory effects of ERK inhibitor, U0126, on 2-ABP-induced caspase-3 activity were not detected. However, JNK inhibitor, SP600125, significantly attenuated the caspase-3 activity induced by 2-ABP. The expression of the transcription factors c-Jun and ATF-2 were decreased in 2-ABP treated cells in the presence of ERK/JNK inhibitors, suggesting that the expression of ERK/JNK pathways leads to the downstream activation of c-Jun and ATF-2. N-acetylcysteine, an ROS scavenger, inhibited 2-ABP-induced activation of ERK and JNK, the cell death and caspase-3 activity, which suggested that oxidative stress plays a crucial role in apoptosis through activation of caspase-3 in a ROS/JNK-dependent signaling cascade.
Overview of noun factor
The noun factor has 7 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (31) factor -- (anything that contributes causally to a result; "a number of factors determined
the outcome")
2. (8) component, constituent, element, factor, ingredient -- (an abstract part of something;
"jealousy was a component of his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition are melody
and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an
effective ingredient of a speech")
3. (4) divisor, factor -- (one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another
integer; "what are the 4 factors of 6?")
4. (1) agent, factor, broker -- (a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a
commission)
5. factor -- (any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when multiplied together)
6. factor -- (an independent variable in statistics)
7. gene, cistron, factor -- ((genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide
chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the
exons; it is considered a unit of heredity; "genes were formerly called factors")
Overview of verb factor
The verb factor has 3 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (2) factor, factor in, factor out -- (resolve into factors; "a quantum computer can factor the
number 15")
2. factor -- (be a contributing factor; "make things factor into a company's profitability")
3. factor, factor in, factor out -- (consider as relevant when making a decision; "You must factor
in the recent developments")
--- WordNet end ---