中国人群中肿瘤坏死因子α-308 A/G基因多态和α2-巨球蛋白基因缺失多态与晚发性阿尔茨海默病无相关性

晚发性阿尔茨海默病 (LOAD)是老年痴呆中最常见的一种 ,它是一种病因复杂、由遗传因素和环境等其他因素共同作用引起的老年期疾病。服用非甾类抗炎类药物能延缓或防止LOAD的发病说明炎症反应可能参与LOAD病理 ,肿瘤坏死因子 (TNF)是炎症反应中主要的细胞因子 ,并且能增加 β 淀粉样肽 (Aβ)的产生说明其可能是LOAD的易感基因。α2 巨球蛋白 (A2M)是一种血清蛋白酶抑制剂 ,它是低密度脂蛋白受体相关蛋白 (LRP)主要的配体 ,并且能与Aβ结合并介导其降解和清除 ,说明它可能是另一个LOAD的易感基因。在 6 7名晚发性阿尔茨海默病人和 14 2名正常对照中比较了载脂蛋白E基因 (APOE)、TNF启动子区 (- 30 8A G)多态和A2M一 5bp核苷酸缺失 (I D)多态 (A2M 2 )与LOAD发病风险的关系。结果显示 ,APOEε4等位基因在AD病人组中显著高于对照组 (χ2=11 6 6 ,P <0 0 1) ,而TNF(- 30 8A G)多态和A2M缺失多态的基因型和等位基因在LOAD病人组和对照组中都无显著差别 (P >0 1)。按年龄和APOEε4等位基因分组同样无相关性 ,说明TNF 30 8A G位点的多态与A2M缺失不是中国人群的晚发性老年痴呆的风险因子     

Matrix metalloproteinases and angiogenesis

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of enzymes that proteolytically degrade various components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Angiogenesis is the process of forming new blood vessels from existing ones and requires degradation of the vascular basement membrane and remodeling of the ECM in order to allow endothelial cells to migrate and invade into the surrounding tissue. MMPs participate in this remodeling of basement membranes and ECM. However, it has become clear that MMPs contribute more to angiogenesis than just degrading ECM components. Specific MMPs have been shown to enhance angiogenesis by helping to detach pericytes from vessels undergoing angiogenesis, by releasing ECM-bound angiogenic growth factors, by exposing cryptic proangiogenic integrin binding sites in the ECM, by generating promigratory ECM component fragments, and by cleaving endothelial cell-cell adhesions. MMPs can also contribute negatively to angiogenesis through the generation of endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors by proteolytic cleavage of certain collagen chains and plasminogen and by modulating cell receptor signaling by cleaving off their ligand-binding domains. A number of inhibitors of MMPs that show antiangiogenic activity are already in early stages of clinical trials, primarily to treat cancer and cancer-associated angiogenesis. However, because of the multiple effects of MMPs on angiogenesis, careful testing of these MMP inhibitors is necessary to show that these compounds do not actually enhance angiogenesis.     

肿瘤干细胞及其耐药机制

肿瘤干细胞是存在于造血系统肿瘤和一些实体瘤中具有干细胞特性的细胞。肿瘤干细胞假说认为,经药物治疗后肿瘤复发和转移与肿瘤干细胞残存有密切关系。其原因可能是肿瘤干细胞高表达ABC转运蛋白和Bcl-2抗凋亡蛋白,同时其本身又具有一些干细胞特性。对肿瘤干细胞耐药机制的研究,将有助于发现新的肿瘤治疗靶点和更好的抗癌策略。     

YAP与干细胞及肿瘤

YAP蛋白作为Hippo信号通路中关键成分,在控制生物器官发育和调控细胞生长中起着十分重要的作用。鉴于YAP蛋白的促细胞生长功能以及过表达YAP或YAP上游调控基因失活将引发肿瘤,YAP因此被认为是原癌蛋白。最新的研究表明YAP在维持干细胞特性、抑制干细胞分化及促进成体细胞重编程中也起着十分重要的作用。可见YAP在干细胞和肿瘤细胞中都扮演着重要角色。因此更好地了解和研究YAP蛋白及其信号通路有助于更好地理解干细胞与肿瘤的关系,有助于干细胞治疗的安全应用以及特异性靶向肿瘤治疗药物的开发。     

Frequent overexpression of CADM1/IGSF4 in lung adenocarcinoma

We reported comprehensive screening for antigens (Ags) overexpressed on various carcinomas via isolation of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that may be therapeutic in a previous paper (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 7287-7292, 2008). Twenty-one distinct Ags highly expressed on several carcinomas were identified and 356 mAbs with unique sequences turned out to bind to one of the 21 Ags. Among them CADM1/IGSF4 which had been originally referred to as tumor suppressor lung cancer 1 (TSLC1) was included. Therefore we examined the expression of CADM1 in lung cancers in this study. Eight different anti CADM1 mAbs were used for immunohistochemical analysis of 29 fresh lung cancer specimens. Staining patterns were categorized to six groups based on the extent of positive staining and the localization of stained portions. While overexpression of CADM1 was observed on the cell surface of adenocarcinomas at a high frequency, around 60%, positive stainings were rarely observed on that of other lung carcinomas including squamous cell carcinomas. Moreover, some clones among the eight mAbs gave different staining patterns from those by the other clones against the same fresh specimen, suggesting presence of variant forms of CADM1 differentiated by mAbs.     

葡萄糖浓度对转人肿瘤坏死因子-α鱼腥藻IB02培养过程的影响

目的：通过在培养基中添加葡萄糖的方法,提高转基因鱼腥藻的产量和人肿瘤坏死因子（hTNF）-α的表达率。方法：在葡萄糖浓度为0～300mmol／L的范围内,进行了转hTNF-α鱼腥藻IB02的摇瓶混合营养培养,用比浊法和酶联免疫法测定转基因鱼腥藻的生长和hTNF-α的表达。结果：添加葡萄糖的藻液最高生长密度是未添加葡萄糖的3．5倍,且hTNFa的表达率也提高至4倍。结论：在各种葡萄糖浓度下,葡萄糖的利用都不明显。     

HBME-1在恶性上皮性间皮瘤的表达及其意义

目的　通过研究HBME 1在恶性上皮性间皮瘤 (MEM )的表达及其与DNA含量的关系 ,探讨HBME 1在MEM与转移性卵巢腺癌 (OA)和转移性结直肠腺癌 (CA)的鉴别诊断中的意义。方法　采用免疫组化SP法染色 ,观察MEM、OA和CA组织标本中HBME 1的表达 ;同时利用图象分析仪对MEM的细胞DNA含量进行定量分析。结果　HBME 1的表达在MEM与CA两组间的差异有显著性 (P <0 0 1) ,在MEM与OA两组间的差异无显著性 (P <0 0 5 ) ,但着色方式不同 ;在MEM中 ,HBME 1表达阳性组与阴性组之间的DNA含量差异无显著性 (P <0 0 5 )。结论　HBME 1的表达与否与MEM的DNA含量无关 ,HBME 1可作为MEM与CA鉴别的阳性标记物的参考指标 ,在MEM与OA的鉴别中也有一定参考价值。     

Identification and characterization of the retinoic acid response elements in the human RIG1 gene promoter

The expression of retinoic acid-induced gene 1 (RIG1), a class II tumor suppressor gene, is induced in cells treated with retinoids. RIG1 has been shown to express ubiquitously and the increased expression of this gene appears to suppress cell proliferation. Recent studies also demonstrated that this gene may play an important role in cell differentiation and the progression of cancer. In spite of the remarkable regulatory role of this protein, the molecular mechanism of RIG1 expression induced by retinoids remains to be clarified. The present study was designed to study the molecular mechanism underlying the all-trans retinoic acid (atRA)-mediated induction of RIG1 gene expression. Polymerase chain reaction was used to generate a total of 10 luciferase constructs that contain various fragments of the RIG1 5'-genomic region. These constructs were then transfected into human gastric cancer SC-M1 and breast cancer T47D cells for transactivation analysis. atRA exhibited a significant induction in luciferase activity only through the -4910/-5509 fragment of the 5'-genomic region of RIG1 gene relative to the translation initiation site. Further analysis of this promoter fragment indicated that the primary atRA response region is located in between -5048 and -5403 of the RIG1 gene. Within this region, a direct repeat sequence with five nucleotide spacing, 5'-TGACCTctattTGCCCT-3' (DR5, -5243/-5259), and an inverted repeat sequence with six nucleotide spacing, 5'-AGGCCAtggtaaTGGCCT-3' (IR6, -5323/-5340), were identified. Deletion and mutation of the DR5, but not the IR6 element, abolished the atRA-mediated activity. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with nuclear extract from atRA-treated cells indicated the binding of retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) heterodimers specifically to this response element. In addition to the functional DR5, the region contains many other potential sequence elements that are required to maximize the atRA-mediated induction. Taken together, we have identified and characterized the functional atRA response element that is responsible for the atRA-mediated induction of RIG1 gene.