Gene mining, bioinformatics and functional genomics in human arthritis and inflammatory diseases ex vivo

✍ Scribed by Ashok R. Amin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 368 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0272-4391
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2299(200001)49:1<22::aid-ddr4>3.0.co;2-8

✦ Synopsis

Differential display of gene expression in normal and diseased cell/tissue has become an important component of gene mining. Human arthritis-affected tissue shows superinduction of inflammatory mediators and proteases involved in cell regulation, tissue modeling, and receptors/ligands involved in cell/matrix interactions. In the present study, we describe a method to identify novel regulatory proteases. This includes the RT-PCR analysis of conserved domains of proteases (gene mining), identification (by bioinformatics), and characterization (by ex vivo organ cultures) of TNFα convertase (TACE) known to process proTNFα to soluble TNFα. This enzyme is a potential target for pharmacological intervention of TNFα known to be involved in the pathophysiology of various diseases.