Price elasticity of demand for ready-to-drink sugar-sweetened beverages in Brazil.

The taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages is a policy that has been adopted in many countries worldwide, including Latin American, to reduce sugar consumption. However, little is known about how taxation on these products may affect their demand. The present study aims to estimate the price elasticity of demand for sugar-sweetened beverages in Brazil.

Serine 26 in Early Growth Response-1 Is Critical for Endothelial Proliferation, Migration, and Network Formation.

Background Vascular endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and network formation are key proangiogenic processes involving the prototypic immediate early gene product, Egr-1 (early growth response-1). Egr-1 undergoes phosphorylation at a conserved Ser26 but its function is completely unknown in endothelial cells or any other cell type. Methods and Results A CRISPR/Cas9 strategy was used to introduce a homozygous Ser26>Ala mutation into endogenous Egr-1 in human microvascular endothelial cells.

Truncated YY1 interacts with BASP1 through a 339KLK341 motif in YY1 and suppresses vascular smooth muscle cell growth and intimal hyperplasia after vascular injury.

Aims: In-stent restenosis and late stent thrombosis are complications associated with the use of metallic and drug-coated stents. Strategies that inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation without affecting endothelial cell (EC) growth would be helpful in reducing complications arising from percutaneous interventions. SMC hyperplasia is also a pathologic feature of graft stenosis and fistula failure.

Thermostable small-molecule inhibitor of angiogenesis and vascular permeability that suppresses a pERK-FosB/ΔFosB-VCAM-1 axis.

Vascular permeability and angiogenesis underpin neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. While anti-VEGF therapies are widely used clinically, many patients do not respond optimally, or at all, and small-molecule therapies are lacking. Here, we identified a dibenzoxazepinone BT2 that inhibits endothelial cell proliferation, migration, wound repair in vitro, network formation, and angiogenesis in mice bearing Matrigel plugs.

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1 phosphorylates early growth response-1 at serine 26.

Egr-1, an immediate-early gene product and master regulator was originally described as a phosphoprotein following its discovery in the 1980s. However specific residue(s) phosphorylated in Egr-1 remain elusive. Here we phosphorylated recombinant Egr-1 in vitro with ERK1 prior to mass spectrometry, which identified phosphorylation of Ser and Ser with the latter ∼12 times more abundant than Ser.

Developing Neolignans as Proangiogenic Agents: Stereoselective Total Syntheses and Preliminary Biological Evaluations of the Four Guaiacylglycerol 8--4'-Coniferyl Ethers.

Stereoselective total syntheses of the four stereoisomeric forms of guaiacylglycerol 8--4'-coniferyl ether, viz., compounds , -, , and -, have been established. The key step involves an Evans/Seebach auxiliary-controlled and syn-selective aldol process followed, in the reaction sequences leading to the anti-compounds, by a Mitsunobu reaction involving a benzylic alcohol residue.

DNAzyme targeting c-jun suppresses skin cancer growth.

Worldwide, one in three cancers is skin-related, with increasing incidence in many populations. Here, we demonstrate the capacity of a DNAzyme-targeting c-jun mRNA, Dz13, to inhibit growth of two common skin cancer types-basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas-in a therapeutic setting with established tumors. Dz13 inhibited tumor growth in both immunodeficient and immunocompetent syngeneic mice and reduced lung nodule formation in a model of metastasis.

Yin Yang-1 inhibits tumor cell growth and inhibits p21WAF1/Cip1 complex formation with cdk4 and cyclin D1.

The GLI-Krüppel zinc finger factor yin yang-1 (YY1) is a complex protein that regulates a variety of processes including transcription, proliferation, development and differentiation. YY1 inhibits cell growth in a cell type-specific manner. The role played by YY1 in its control of tumor cell growth is unclear and controversial.

Interplay between heme oxygenase-1 and the multifunctional transcription factor yin yang 1 in the inhibition of intimal hyperplasia.

Rationale: induction of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 protects against experimental atherosclerotic diseases, and certain pharmacological HO-1 inducers, like probucol, inhibit the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and, at the same time, promote the growth of endothelial cells in vivo and in vitro.

Objective: because such cell-specific effects are reminiscent of the action of the transcription factor Yin Yang (YY)1, we tested the hypothesis that there is a functional relationship between HO-1 and YY1.

Methods And Results: we report that probucol increases the number of YY1(+) cells in rat carotid artery following balloon injury at a time coinciding with increased HO-1 expression.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor increases leukocyte-endothelial interactions in human endothelial cells via promotion of expression of adhesion molecules.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) has been shown to promote leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions, although whether this occurs via an effect on endothelial cell function remains unclear. Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine the ability of MIF expressed by endothelial cells to promote leukocyte adhesion and to investigate the effect of exogenous MIF on leukocyte-endothelial interactions. Using small interfering RNA to inhibit HUVEC MIF production, we found that MIF deficiency reduced the ability of TNF-stimulated HUVECs to support leukocyte rolling and adhesion under flow conditions.

Phosphorylation and acetylation of histone H3 and autoregulation by early growth response 1 mediate interleukin 1beta induction of early growth response 1 transcription.

Objective: The transcription factor early growth response (EGR)-1 has been implicated as a key vascular phenotypic switch through its control of inducible transcription. EGR-1 autoregulation, and histone modification in the EGR-1 promoter, represent key mechanisms in EGR-1 control, but have not been explored.

Methods And Results: We demonstrate that EGR-1 regulates its own transcription and that this involves histone H3 phosphorylation and acetylation.

Angiotensin II-inducible platelet-derived growth factor-D transcription requires specific Ser/Thr residues in the second zinc finger region of Sp1.

Sp1, the first identified and cloned transcription factor, regulates gene expression via multiple mechanisms including direct protein-DNA interactions, protein-protein interactions, chromatin remodeling, and maintenance of methylation-free CpG islands. Sp1 is itself regulated at different levels, for example, by glycosylation, acetylation, and phosphorylation by kinases such as the atypical protein kinase C-zeta. Although Sp1 controls the basal and inducible regulation of many genes, the posttranslational processes regulating its function and their relevance to pathology are not well understood.

Yin Yang-1 inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell growth and intimal thickening by repressing p21WAF1/Cip1 transcription and p21WAF1/Cip1-Cdk4-cyclin D1 assembly.

Vascular injury initiates a cascade of phenotype-altering molecular events. Transcription factor function in this process, particularly that of negative regulators, is poorly understood. We demonstrate here that the forced expression of the injury-inducible GLI-Krüppel zinc finger protein Yin Yang-1 (YY1) inhibits neointima formation in human, rabbit and rat blood vessels.

Inducible platelet-derived growth factor D-chain expression by angiotensin II and hydrogen peroxide involves transcriptional regulation by Ets-1 and Sp1.

Platelet-derived growth factor D-chain (PDGF-D) is the newest member of the PDGF family of mitogens and chemoattractants expressed in a wide variety of cell types, including vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The molecular mechanisms regulating PDGF-D transcription are not known. Primer extension analysis mapped a single transcriptional start site to the ccAGCGC motif with several potential Ets motifs located upstream.

Ets-1 stimulates platelet-derived growth factor A-chain gene transcription and vascular smooth muscle cell growth via cooperative interactions with Sp1.

The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) family of ligands (composed of A-, B-, C-, and D-chains), potent mitogens, and chemoattractants for cells of mesenchymal origin has been implicated in numerous vascular pathologies involving smooth muscle cell (SMC) hyperplasia. Understanding the molecular mechanisms mediating PDGF transcription would provide new insights into strategies to control PDGF-dependent pathophysiologic processes. We demonstrated previously that PDGF-A expression is under the positive regulatory influence of Sp1, Sp3, and Egr-1 and is negatively controlled by GCF2, NF-1(X), and WT-1.

Regulation of inducible heparanase gene transcription in activated T cells by early growth response 1.

Cleavage of heparan sulfate by the beta-D-endoglucuronidase heparanase (HPSE) is a fundamental event in a number of important physiological processes including inflammation, wound healing, and angiogenesis. HPSE activity has also been directly correlated with pathological conditions such as tumor growth and metastasis and autoimmune disease. The tight regulation of HPSE expression and function is critical to ensure homeostasis of the normal physiological processes to which it contributes and to prevent imbalance toward pathological situations.

Blockade of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and intimal thickening after balloon injury by the sulfated oligosaccharide PI-88: phosphomannopentaose sulfate directly binds FGF-2, blocks cellular signaling, and inhibits proliferation.

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty is a frequently used interventional technique to reopen arteries that have narrowed because of atherosclerosis. Restenosis, or renarrowing of the artery shortly after angioplasty, is a major limitation to the success of the procedure and is due mainly to smooth muscle cell accumulation in the artery wall at the site of balloon injury. In the present study, we demonstrate that the antiangiogenic sulfated oligosaccharide, PI-88, inhibits primary vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and reduces intimal thickening 14 days after balloon angioplasty of rat and rabbit arteries.

Nucleic acid based strategies as potential therapeutic tools: mechanistic considerations and implications to restenosis.

The capacity of DNA to bind RNA via Watson-Crick base-pairing is fundamental to antisense oligonucleotide strategies to inhibit gene expression, and is a property that has been exploited by bioengineers in the generation of catalytic molecules such as ribozymes, ribozyme subtypes, and more recently DNAzymes. This review describes the evolution of these gene-specific agents and summarizes recent efforts to inhibit smooth muscle cell growth with these molecules as candidate therapeutic tools in restenosis.

NF1/X represses PDGF A-chain transcription by interacting with Sp1 and antagonizing Sp1 occupancy of the promoter.

The regulatory mechanisms mediating basal and inducible platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-A expression have been the focus of intense recent investigation, but repression of PDGF-A expression is largely unexplored. Here we isolated a nuclear factor that interacts with the proximal region of the PDGF-A promoter using bulk binding assays and chromatography techniques. Peptide mass fingerprint and supershift analysis revealed this DNA-binding protein to be NF1/X.

Induction of the transcriptional repressor Yin Yang-1 by vascular cell injury. Autocrine/paracrine role of endogenous fibroblast growth factor-2.

Yin Yang-1 (YY1) is a multifunctional transcription factor that can repress the expression of many growth factor, hormone, and cytokine genes implicated in atherogenesis. YY1 expression is activated in rat vascular smooth muscle cells shortly after injury. YY1 DNA binding activity paralleled elevated protein levels in the nucleus.

Sp1 phosphorylation regulates apoptosis via extracellular FasL-Fas engagement.

Apoptosis of smooth muscle cells (SMC) in atherosclerotic vessels can destabilize the atheromatus plaque and result in rupture, thrombosis, and sudden death. In efforts to understand the molecular processes regulating apoptosis in this cell type, we have defined a novel mechanism involving the ubiquitously expressed transcription factor Sp1. Subtypes of SMC expressing abundant levels of Sp1 produce the death agonist, Fas ligand (FasL) and undergo greater spontaneous apoptosis.

New DNA enzyme targeting Egr-1 mRNA inhibits vascular smooth muscle proliferation and regrowth after injury.

Early growth response factor-1 (Egr-1) binds to the promoters of many genes whose products influence cell movement and replication in the artery wall. Here we targeted Egr-1 using a new class of DNA-based enzyme that specifically cleaved Egr-1 mRNA, blocked induction of Egr-1 protein, and inhibited cell proliferation and wound repair in culture. The DNA enzyme also inhibited Egr-1 induction and neointima formation after balloon injury to the rat carotid artery wall.

Vascular smooth muscle cells express the transcriptional corepressor NAB2 in response to injury.

The early growth response 1 (Egr-1 or NGFI-A) gene product is a zinc finger protein transcription factor which has been implicated in the regulation of genes differentially expressed during the development of vascular disease. Egr-1 activity is regulated by alterations in the amount of protein, as well as protein-protein interactions with positive and negative transcriptional cofactors. NGFI-A-binding protein 2 (NAB2) is an example of a negative transcriptional cofactor capable of binding directly to Egr-1 and repressing Egr-1-mediated transcription.