Nature|2000|Ridley A|44 citations
PMID: 10952292
A synthetic peptide fragment of thymosin beta-4, researched for wound healing and tissue repair.
BACKGROUND: Actin assembly on biological membranes is a poorly understood process. We have previously shown that phagosomal membranes could induce actin assembly in the presence of thymosin beta4 (an actin sequestering protein that inhibits nonspecif…
Chick embryo fibroblasts contain about 75-100 microM unpolymerized actin and at least four proteins which can bind actin monomers, actin depolymerizing factor (ADF), gelsolin, profilin, and thymosin beta4 (Tbeta4). Fibroblast extracts are analyzed by…
We review how motile cells regulate actin filament assembly at their leading edge. Activation of cell surface receptors generates signals (including activated Rho family GTPases) that converge on integrating proteins of the WASp family (WASp, N-WASP,…
Latrunculin A is used extensively as an agent to sequester monomeric actin in living cells. We hypothesize that additional activities of latrunculin A may be important for its biological activity. Our data are consistent with the formation of a 1:1 s…
We examined the conformational preferences of mutants of thymosin beta4, an actin monomer sequestering protein by NMR spectroscopy in 60% (v/v) trifluoroethanol. Under these conditions, the wild-type thymosin beta4 conformation consists of an alpha-h…
Thymosin-beta(4) (Tbeta(4)) binds actin monomers stoichiometrically and maintains the bulk of the actin monomer pool in metazoan cells. Tbeta(4) binding quenches the fluorescence of N-iodoacetyl-N'-(5-sulfo-1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine (AEDANS) conjuga…
Loss of adherence to substrate can, by itself, induce apoptosis (anoikis) in epithelial cells, but does not do so in fibroblasts. To test the idea that adherence transmits signals that inhibit apoptosis even in fibroblasts, we took advantage of the g…
Jasplakinolide paradoxically stabilizes actin filaments in vitro, but in vivo it can disrupt actin filaments and induce polymerization of monomeric actin into amorphous masses. A detailed analysis of the effects of jasplakinolide on the kinetics of a…
The current study focuses on the molecular mechanisms responsible for actin assembly on a defined membrane surface: the phagosome. Mature phagosomes were surrounded by filamentous actin in vivo in two different cell types. Fluorescence microscopy was…
In this study, the effects of bone marrow endothelial cell conditioned medium (BMEC-CM) on hematopoietic progenitors and the expression of cytokines mRNA of BMEC were investigated. BMEC-CM was ultrafiltrated in Centriprep-10, an ultrafiltering concen…
INTRODUCTION: Wound healing is a complex process involving interactions among a variety of different cell types. The normal wound repair process consists of three phases--inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling that occur in a predictable series…
The possibility that glucocorticoids upregulate the expression of anti-inflammatory mediators is an exciting prospect for therapy in inflammatory diseases, because these molecules could give the therapeutic benefits of steroids without toxic side eff…
When human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) differentiate into capillary-like tubes, there is a five-fold upregulation of the mRNA for thymosin beta4 (Tbeta4) (Grant et al. J Cell Sci 1995; 108: 3685-94 [1]) and this endogenous expression pla…
Angiogenesis is an essential step in the repair process that occurs after injury. In this study, we investigated whether the angiogenic thymic peptide thymosin beta4 (Tbeta4) enhanced wound healing in a rat full thickness wound model. Addition of Tbe…
As many antitumor drugs can kill tumors through the induction of apoptosis, the effect of these drugs presumably would be enhanced if they were used in combination with other drugs that interact with apoptotic processes. To clarify the biological eve…
We present here a study on the epitopic structure and the immunochemical characteristics of thymosin beta10 (Tbeta10), a 43 aminoacid peptide involved in important cellular mechanisms, by using the epitope mapping Multipin method. Octapeptides overla…
Thymosin beta4 is a major actin-sequestering peptide widely distributed in mammalian tissues, including the nervous system. In the present study, we analyse the expression of thymosin beta4 in normal and kainate-treated rat forebrain. In untreated an…
Profilin II dimers bind the (GP5)3 peptide derived from VASP with an affinity of approximately 0.5 microM. The resulting profilin II-peptide complex overcomes the combined capacity of thymosin beta4 and profilin II to inhibit actin nucleation and res…
The thymic-pituitary axis constitutes a bidirectional circuit where the ascending feedback loop is effected by thymic factors of epithelial origin. The aim of the present article is, first, to introduce the idea of an immune-neuroendocrine homeostati…