Endothelin-1 and protein kinase C co-expression in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is becoming one of the most important complications of diabetes at present. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and protein kinase C (PKC) are the two important proteins involved in the pathogenesis of DR. A clarification on the interaction between ET-1 and PKC has not yet been made. Here, the author used a new gene ontology technology to predict the molecular function of ET-1 and PKC in an episode of co-expression. With the use of the GoFigure server, the molecular function of ET-1 and PKC is predicted. According to this study, different pathways can be derived from ET-1 and PKC; however, ET-1-PKC produces the same pathway as PKC. This could mean that the interaction between ET-1 and PKC results in increased activity of the PKC pathway but does not generate any new pathway. This finding can be a good explanation for the co-expression between ET-1 and PKC in the pathogenesis of DR.
Wiwanitkit
Viroj
V
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. wviroj@pioneer.netserv.chula.ac.th
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000235:genetics*; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D019332:Endothelin-1; D011493:Protein Kinase C