Department of Medical Biology and Central Electron Microscope Laboratory, Medical School, University of Pécs, Hungary.
Signal Transduction Research Group, János Szentágothai Research Centre, Pécs, Hungary.
FEBS Open Bio. 2023 May;13(5):818-832. doi: 10.1002/2211-5463.13602. Epub 2023 Apr 2.
Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) stimulates adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion from the pituitary gland and is an essential regulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Isoforms of CRF receptor are known to mediate the effects of urocortin stress ligands on the regulation of stress responses, anxiety, and feeding behavior; however, urocortin stress ligands also influence cell proliferation. In view of the tumor-promoting capacity of prolonged stress, here we investigated (a) the effect of urocortin on cell proliferative signaling via extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, (b) the expression and cellular distribution of the specific CRF receptor isoforms, and (c) the intracellular localization of phosphorylated ERK1/2 in HeLa cells. Stimulation of cell proliferation was observed in the presence of 10 nm urocortin. Our data also suggest that MAP kinase MEK, the transcription factors E2F-1 and p53, and PKB/Akt are involved in this process. These findings may have therapeutic relevance for the targeted treatment of various malignancies.
促肾上腺皮质激素释放因子(CRF)刺激垂体分泌促肾上腺皮质激素(ACTH),是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺皮质轴的重要调节因子。已知 CRF 受体的同工型介导尿皮质素应激配体对调节应激反应、焦虑和摄食行为的影响;然而,尿皮质素应激配体也影响细胞增殖。鉴于长期应激具有促进肿瘤的能力,我们在此研究了(a)尿皮质素通过细胞外信号调节激酶 1/2 对细胞增殖信号的影响,(b)特定 CRF 受体同工型的表达和细胞分布,以及(c)磷酸化 ERK1/2 在 HeLa 细胞中的细胞内定位。在存在 10nm 尿皮质素的情况下观察到细胞增殖的刺激。我们的数据还表明,MAP 激酶 MEK、转录因子 E2F-1 和 p53 以及 PKB/Akt 参与了这一过程。这些发现可能对各种恶性肿瘤的靶向治疗具有重要意义。