Reactive-blue-2 and Neoplasms

Pyrimidine nucleotides, including UTP, UDP and UDP-glucose, are important signaling molecules which activate G protein-coupled membrane receptors (GPCRs) of the P2Y family. Four distinct pyrimidine nucleotide-sensitive P2Y receptor subtypes have been cloned, P2Y2, P2Y4, P2Y6 and P2Y14. P2Y2 and P2Y4 receptors are activated by UTP (the P2Y2, and the rat but not the human P2Y4 receptor are also activated by ATP), the P2Y6 receptor is activated by UDP, and the P2Y14 receptor by UDP-glucose. Furthermore, non-P2Y GPCRs, the cysteinylleukotriene receptors (CysLT1R and CysLT2R) have been described to be activated by UDP in addition to activation by cysteinylleukotrienes. While P2Y2, P2Y4, and P2Y6 receptor activation results in stimulation of phospholipase C, the P2Y14 receptor is coupled to inhibition of adenylate cyclase. Derivatives and analogs of the physiological nucleotides UTP, UDP and ATP have been synthesized and evaluated in order to obtain enzymatically stable, subtype-selective agonists. The P2Y2 receptor agonists diuridine tetraphosphate (diquafosol) and the uracil-cytosine dinucleotide denufosol are currently undergoing clinical trials for dry eye disease, retinal detachment disease, upper respiratory tract symptoms, and cystic fibrosis, respectively. The first antagonists for P2Y2 and P2Y6 receptors that appear to be selective versus other P2Y receptor subtypes have recently been described. Selective antagonists for P2Y4 and P2Y14 receptors are still lacking. Uracil nucleotide-sensitive P2Y receptor subtypes may constitute future targets for the treatment of certain cancer types, vascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, and immunomodulatory intervention. They have also been proposed to play a role in neurodegenerative diseases. This article is an updated version of "P2-Pyrimidinergic Receptors and Their Ligands" by C. E. Müller published in Curr. Pharm. Des. 2002, 8, 2353-2369.

Topics: Bone and Bones; Cystic Fibrosis; Dry Eye Syndromes; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Inflammation; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Neoplasms; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Purinergic P2 Receptor Agonists; Purinergic P2 Receptor Antagonists; Uracil Nucleotides

The identification of self-renewing and multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs) in the mammalian brain holds promise for the treatment of neurological diseases and has yielded new insight into brain cancer. However, the complete repertoire of signaling pathways that governs the proliferation and self-renewal of NSCs, which we refer to as the 'ground state', remains largely uncharacterized. Although the candidate gene approach has uncovered vital pathways in NSC biology, so far only a few highly studied pathways have been investigated. Based on the intimate relationship between NSC self-renewal and neurosphere proliferation, we undertook a chemical genetic screen for inhibitors of neurosphere proliferation in order to probe the operational circuitry of the NSC. The screen recovered small molecules known to affect neurotransmission pathways previously thought to operate primarily in the mature central nervous system; these compounds also had potent inhibitory effects on cultures enriched for brain cancer stem cells. These results suggest that clinically approved neuromodulators may remodel the mature central nervous system and find application in the treatment of brain cancer.

Topics: Animals; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Mice; Molecular Structure; Neoplasms; Neurons; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stem Cells