• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.185-191
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• 2008

Activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family, is an important cellular response that modulates the outcome of the cells which are exposed to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) or the genotoxic stress including DNA damaging agents. Although it is known that JNK is activated in response to genotoxic stress, neither the pathways to transduce signals to activate JNK nor the primary sensors of the cells that trigger the stress response have been identified. Here, we report that the receptor interacting protein (RIP), a key adaptor protein of TNF signaling, was required to activate JNK in the cells treated with certain DNA damaging agents such as adriamycin (Adr) and 1-${\beta}$-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) that cause slow and sustained activation, but it was not required when treated with N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and short wavelength UV, which causes quick and transient activation. Our findings revealed that this sustained JNK activation was not mediated by the TNF (tumor necrosis factor) receptor signaling, but it required a functional ATM (ataxia telangiectasia) activity. In addition, JNK inhibitor SP-600125 significantly blocked the Adr-induced cell death, but it did not affect the cell death induced by MNNG. These findings suggest that the sustained activation of JNK mediated by RIP plays an important role in the DNA damage-induced cell death, and that the duration of JNK activation relays a different stress response to determine the cell fate.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.11
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• pp.738-743
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• 2010

The c-Jun $NH_2$-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway participates in many physiological functions. In the current study we reported the cloning and characterization of five novel JNK2 transcript variants, which were designated as $JNK2\alpha3$, $JNK2\alpha4$, $JNK2\beta3$, $JNK2\gamma1$ and $JNK2\gamma2$, respectively. Among them, $JNK2\alpha4$ and $JNK2\gamma2$ are potential non-coding RNA because they contain pre-mature stop codons. Both $JNK2\alpha3$ and $JNK2\beta3$ contain an intact kinase domain, and both encode a protein product of 46 kDa, the same as those of $JNK2\alpha1$ and $JNK2\beta1$. $JNK2\gamma1$ contains a disrupted kinase domain and it showed a disable function. When over-expressed in mammalian cells, $JNK2\alpha3$ showed higher activity on AP-1 than that of $JNK2\beta3$ and $JNK2\gamma1$. Furthermore, $JNK2\alpha3$ and $JNK2\beta3$ showed different levels of substrate phosphorylation, although they both could promote the proliferation of 293T cells. Our results further demonstrate that JNK2 isoforms preferentially target different substrates and may regulate the expression of various target genes.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.179-186
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• 2022

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK3) play major role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cerebral ischemia and other Central Nervous System disorders. Since JNK3 is primarily stated in the brain and stimulated by stress-stimuli, this situation is conceivable that inhibiting JNK3 could be a possible treatment for the mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases. In this study drugs from Zinc15 database were screened to identify the JNK3 inhibitors by Molecular docking and Density functional theory approach. Molecular docking was done by Autodock vina and the ligands were selected based on the binding affinity. Our results identified top ten novel ligands as potential inhibitors against JNK3. Molecular docking revealed that Venetoclax, Fosaprepitant and Avapritinib exhibited better binding affinity and interacting with proposed binding site residues of JNK3. Density functional theory was used to compute the values for energy gap, lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). The results of Density functional theory study showed that Venetoclax, Fosaprepitant and Avapritinib serves as a lead compound for the development of JNK3 small molecule inhibitors.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.81-88
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• 2015

c-Jun N-terminal kinase-3 (JNK3) is a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family (MAPK), and plays an important role in neurological disorders. Therefore, identification of selective JNK3 inhibitor may contribute towards neuroprotection therapies. In this work, we performed hologram quantitative structure-activity relationship (HQSAR) on a series of thiophene trisubstituted derivatives. The best predictions were obtained for HQSAR model with $q^2=0.628$ and $r^2=0.986$. Statistical parameters from the generated QSAR models indicated the data is well fitted and have high predictive ability. HQSAR result showed that atom, bond and chirality descriptors play an important role in JNK3 activity and also shows that electronegative groups is highly favourble to enhance the biological activity. Our results could be useful to design novel and selective JNK3 inhibitors.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.165.3-166
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• 2003

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) plays essential roles in apoptosis and cell survival. Because apoptosis is promoted by blocking the MEK kinase1-mediated activation of JNK1, we tested whether JNK1 plays dual roles in apoptosis. We show here that JNK1 activity is differentially up-regulated in a two-tiered fashion by specific mechanisms during taxol- or ginsenoside Rh2-induced apoptosis. The early phase of JNK1 activation, but not apoptosis is prevented by expressing the dominant negative SEK1 mutant. (omitted)

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2002

Green tea has been recognized as a favorite beverage for centuries in Easter and Westers cultures. Recently, anti-tumor effects of green tea constituents have received increasing attention. However, the mechanism of catechin-mediated cytotoxicity against tumor cells remains to be elusive. To elucidate the mechanical insights of anti-tumor effects, (-)epigallocatechin-gallate(EGCG) of catechin was applied to human lung cancer A549 cells. (-)EGCG induced the death of A549 cells, which was revealed as apoptosis in DNA fragmentation assay. (-)EGCG induced the activation of caspase family cysteine proteases including capase-3, -8 and -9 proteases in A549 cells. Furthermore, (-)EGCG increased the phosphotransferase activity of c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1JNK 1), which further induced tole transcriptional activation of activating protein-1(AP-1) in A549 cells. We suggest that (-)EGCG-induced apotosis of A549 cells is mediated by signaling pathway involving caspase family cysteine protease, JNK1 and transcription factor, AP-1.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.545-551
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• 2009

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) affect the activation of activator protein-1 (AP-1), which plays an important role in regulating a range of cellular processes. However, the roles of these signaling factors on hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-induced cell death are unclear. This study examined the effects of $H_2O_2$ on the activation of MAPK and AP-1 by exposing the cells to $H_2O_2$ generated by either glucose oxidase or a bolus addition. Exposing BJAB or Jurkat cells to $H_2O_2$ affected the activities of MAPK differently according to the method of $H_2O_2$ exposure. $H_2O_2$ increased the AP-1-DNA binding activity in these cells, where continuously generated $H_2O_2$ led to an increase in mainly the c-Fos, FosB and c-Jun proteins. The c-Jun-$NH_2$-terminal kinase (JNK)-mediated activation of c-Jun was shown to be related to the $H_2O_2$-induced cell death. However, the suppression of $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress by either JNK inhibitor or c-Jun specific antisense transfection was temporary in the cells exposed to glucose oxidase but not to a bolus $H_2O_2$. This was associated with the disruption of death signaling according to the severe and prolonged depletion of reduced glutathione. Overall, these results suggest that $H_2O_2$ may decide differently the mode of cell death by affecting the intracellular redox state of thiol-containing antioxidants, and this depends more closely on the duration exposed to $H_2O_2$ than the concentration of this agent.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.376-381
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• 2016

Several lines of evidence have revealed that phosphorylation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) at Thr668 is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Okadaic acid (OA), a protein phosphatase-2A inhibitor, has been used in AD research models to increase tau phosphorylation and induce neuronal death. We previously showed that OA increased levels of APP and induced accumulation of APP in axonal swellings. In this study, we found that in OA-treated neurons, phosphorylation of APP at Thr668 increased and accumulated in axonal swellings by c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and not by Cdk5 or ERK/MAPK. These results suggest that JNK may be one of therapeutic targets for the treatment of AD.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.145-152
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• 2022

Colon rectal cancer is one of the frequently diagnosed cancers worldwide. In recent times the drug discovery for colon cancer is challenging because of their speedy metastasis and morality of these patients. C-jun N-terminal kinase signaling pathway controls the cell cycle survival and apoptosis. Evidence has shown that JNK1 promotes the tumor progression in various types of cancers like colon cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer. Recent study has shown that inhibiting, JNK1 pathway is identified as one of the important cascades in drug discovery. One of the recent approaches in the field of drug discovery is drug repurposing. In drug repurposing approach we have virtually screened ChEMBL dataset against JNK1 protein and their interactions have been studied through Molecular docking. Cross docking was performed with the top compounds to be more specific with JNK1 comparing the affinity with JNK2 and JNK3.The drugs which exhibited higher binding were subjected to Conceptual - Density functional theory. The results showed mainly Entrectinib and Exatecan showed better binding to the target.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2014

To investigate the alteration of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activity after myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) and further explore the effect of naloxone postconditioning on MIRI. Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham operation (sham, n=8); ischemia reperfusion (IR, n=8); IR+naloxone 0.5 mg/kg (Nal L, n=8); IR+naloxone 1.0 mg/kg (Nal M, n=8); IR+naloxone 2.0 mg/kg (Nal H, n=8). Pathological changes of myocardial tissue were visualized by HE staining. The expression of p-JNK, and the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes were investigated with Western blotting and the TUNEL assay, respectively. Irregular arrangement and aberrant structure of myocardial fibers, cardiomyocytes with granular or vacuolar degeneration, and inflammatory cells infiltrating the myocardial interstitial regions characterized MIRI in the IR group. Signs of myocardial injury and inflammatory infiltration were less prominent in the Nal-treated groups. The expression of p-JNK in the sham group and in all Nal-treated groups was significantly lower than that in the IR group (p<0.01). The apoptosis index of cardiomyocytes in the IR group was significantly higher than in the sham group (p<0.01). The apoptosis indices of cardiomyocytes in all Nal-treated groups were significantly reduced to 55.4%, 26.2%, and 27.6%, respectively, of the IR group (p<0.01). This study revealed that Naloxone postconditioning before reperfusion inhibits p-JNK expression and decreases cell apoptosis, thus alleviating MIRI.