Involvement of the SCF complex in the control of Cdh1 degradation in S-phase.

The anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is a multisubunit ubiquitin ligase that acts as a key regulator in the progression through mitosis (when mostly in complex with Cdc20) and as a stabilizer of the G1 phase (when in complex with Cdh1). Cdh1 is an activator of APC/C, and it has previously been reported that it is capable of mediating its own degradation during Go and G1. Herein, we show that the SCF complex (Skp1/Cul1/F-box protein/Roc1) intervenes in the surveillance of Cdh1 cellular abundance in S-phase.

When protein destruction runs amok, malignancy is on the loose.

Ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis ensures that specific protein functions are turned off at the right time, in the right place, and in a unidirectional fashion. The high substrate specificity of the system is determined by a large family of ubiquitin ligases, which competes with the protein kinases to be the largest family of enzymes in mammals. Given the crucial function of the proteolytic machinery, altered degradation of cellular regulators contributes to the unchecked proliferation typical of cancer cells.

Induced down-regulation of neuropeptide Y-Y1 receptors delays initiation of kindling.

Neuropeptide Y appears to modulate epileptic seizures differentially according to the receptor subtypes involved. In the hippocampus, neuropeptide Y expression and release are enhanced in different models of epileptogenesis. On the contrary, the expression of Y1 receptors is decreased and it has been shown that activation of these receptors has pro-convulsant effects.

Neuropeptide Y delays hippocampal kindling in the rat.

Chronic intrahippocampal infusion of the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been shown to delay kindling epileptogenesis in the rat and several lines of evidence suggest that neuropeptide Y could mediate these inhibitory effects. Chronic infusion of BDNF leads to a sustained overexpression of neuropeptide Y in the hippocampus, which follows a time course similar to that of the suppressive effects of BDNF on kindling. In vivo, acute applications of neuropeptide Y or agonists of its receptors exert anticonvulsant properties, especially on seizures of hippocampal origin.