Disease relevance of Btc

• Ninety percent pancreatectomy was performed in male Wistar rats and betacellulin (0.5 microg/g body weight) or saline was administered daily for 10 d starting immediately after pancreatectomy [1].

High impact information on Btc

• Betacellulin and activin A coordinately convert amylase-secreting pancreatic AR42J cells into insulin-secreting cells [2].
• These results indicate that, in neonatal STZ-treated rats, a combination of activin A and BTC promoted regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells and improved glucose metabolism in adults [3].
• In the present study, we used neonatal rats treated with streptozotocin (STZ) to investigate the effects of activin A and BTC on regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells [3].
• Treatment with activin A and BTC significantly increased the DNA synthesis in preexisting beta-cells, ductal cells, and delta-cells [3].
• Accordingly, the EGF receptor agonist betacellulin could replicate the effects of exendin 4 in the presence of elevated intracellular cAMP [4].

Biological context of Btc

• The cDNA encoding an entire open reading frame of rat betacellulin has been cloned from rat kidney [5].
• When the PDX-1(+) IEC-6 cells were kept in vitro, treatment with betacellulin could also confer insulin gene expression to them [6].
• AR and ER fully simulated LH-induced resumption of meiosis in vitro, whereas BTC was less effective [7].
• Betacellulin promotes growth of the gastrointestinal organs and effects a diuresis in normal rats [8].
• Plasma betacellulin levels were increased 8-fold compared to vehicle, whilst serum insulin, body weight and food intake were decreased by 32, 15 and 9%, respectively [8].

Anatomical context of Btc

• In the colon, BTC mRNA and protein were found produced in crypt and surface epithelium as well as in goblet cells [9].
• As a prelude to its expression and functional studies in rat models of gut damage/repair, we have cloned rat BTC and examined its expression in the gastrointestinal tract [9].
• BTC mRNA and protein were found expressed in the gastric surface and upper pit epithelium as well as in some cells of gastric glands [9].
• Betacellulin stimulated gastrointestinal growth, the increased responsiveness of the terminal ileum and colon suggesting therapeutic potential in disease conditions in which ileal or colonic re-growth is desirable [8].
• The EGF-GF ligands, EGF, transforming growth factor-alpha and betacellulin all stimulated DNA synthesis in microdissected stage I segments of rat testis seminiferous tubules in vitro, as revealed by 3H-thymidine incorporation and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling [10].

Associations of Btc with chemical compounds

• Activin A and betacellulin: effect on regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells in neonatal streptozotocin-treated rats [3].
• The numbers of islet cell-like cluster and bromodeoxy uridine/insulin double- positive cells in both islet cell-like cluster and islets were significantly higher in betacellulin-treated rats [1].
• Signaling by a variety of ligands including epidermal growth factor, betacellulin and neuregulin is mediated by the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases [11].
• The ARIP and ARIP/PDX-1 cells were treated with known growth and differentiation factors including hepatocyte growth factor, activin A, betacellulin, reg, INGAP, nicotinamide, and retinoic acid [12].

Other interactions of Btc

• In fact, overexpression of both Pdx-1 and Isl-1 in IEC-6 cells (Isl-YK-12, -14, and -15 cells) gave them the ability to express insulin without exposure to betacellulin [13].
• By examining the mechanism of differentiation in BYK cells, we found that another transcription factor, islet factor 1 (Isl-1) was newly expressed with the disappearance of Pax-6 expression in those cells after exposure to betacellulin [13].
• STAT3 is one of the potential downstream mediators for multiple growth factors acting on the pancreatic beta-cells, including betacellulin, hepatocyte growth factor, growth hormone, and heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor [14].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Btc

• The pancreatic insulin content and beta-cell mass in rats treated with activin A and BTC were significantly increased compared with the control group on day 8 and at 2 months [3].
• Molecular cloning and expression of rat betacellulin cDNA [5].
• Thirty days after pancreatectomy, the beta-cell mass was greater and the insulin content was significantly higher in betacellulin-treated rats than those in control rats [1].

References