The homolog of the five SH3-domain protein (HOFI/SH3PXD2B) regulates lamellipodia formation and cell spreading.

Motility of normal and transformed cells within and across tissues requires specialized subcellular structures, e.g. membrane ruffles, lamellipodia and podosomes, which are generated by dynamic rearrangements of the actin cytoskeleton.

Urothelial cells produce hydrogen peroxide through the activation of Duox1.

Hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) has important messenger and effector functions in the plant and animal kingdom. Phagocytes produce H(2)O(2) to kill pathogens, and epithelial cells of large airways have also been reported to produce H(2)O(2) for signaling and host defense purposes. In this report, we show for the first time that urothelial cells produce H(2)O(2) in response to a calcium signal.

Molecular and functional characterization of Hv1 proton channel in human granulocytes.

Voltage-gated proton current (I(Hv)) has been characterized in several cell types, but the majority of the data was collected in phagocytes, especially in human granulocytes. The prevailing view about the role of I(Hv) in phagocytes is that it is an essential supporter of the intense and sustained activity of Nox2 (the core enzyme of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase complex) during respiratory burst. Recently H(v)1, a voltage-gated proton channel, was cloned, and leukocytes from H(v)1 knockout mice display impaired respiratory burst.

Peroxidasin is secreted and incorporated into the extracellular matrix of myofibroblasts and fibrotic kidney.

Mammalian peroxidases are heme-containing enzymes that serve diverse biological roles, such as host defense and hormone biosynthesis. A mammalian homolog of Drosophila peroxidasin belongs to the peroxidase family; however, its function is currently unknown. In this study, we show that peroxidasin is present in the endoplasmic reticulum of human primary pulmonary and dermal fibroblasts, and the expression of this protein is increased during transforming growth factor-beta1-induced myofibroblast differentiation.

Mechanisms of angiotensin II-mediated regulation of aldosterone synthase expression in H295R human adrenocortical and rat adrenal glomerulosa cells.

In adrenal zona glomerulosa cells angiotensin II (Ang II) is a key regulator of steroidogenesis. Our purpose was to compare the mechanisms of Ang II-induced changes in the expression level of early transcription factors NR4A1 (NGFIB) and NR4A2 (Nurr1) genes, and the CYP11B2 gene encoding aldosterone synthase in H295R human adrenocortical tumor cells and in primary rat adrenal glomerulosa cells. Real-time PCR studies have demonstrated that Ang II increased the expression levels of NR4A1 and NR4A2 in H295R cells within 1 h after stimulation, which persisted up to 6 h; whereas in rat adrenal glomerulosa cells the kinetics of the expression of these genes were more rapid and transient.

Detection of hydrogen peroxide by lactoperoxidase-mediated dityrosine formation.

The aim of this work was to study the dityrosine-forming activity of lactoperoxidase (LPO) and its potential application for measuring hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). It was observed that LPO was able to form dityrosine at low H2O2 concentrations. Since dityrosine concentration could be measured in a simple fluorimetric reaction, this activity of the enzyme was utilized for the measurement of H2O2 production in different systems.