Comparative bioinformatics analysis and abiotic stress responses of expansin proteins in Cucurbitaceae members: watermelon and melon

Protoplasma - Watermelon and melon are members of the Cucurbitaceae family including economically significant crops in the world. The expansin protein family, which is one of the members of the...     

A fluorescence-based high-throughput assay for antimicrotubule drugs

With the advent of combinatorial chemistry and the extensive libraries of potential drugs produced from it, there is a growing need for rapid sensitive, high-throughput screening for drug potency. Microtubules are important targets for anticancer agents, and new antimicrotubule compounds are of continued interest in drug development. The in vitro potency of antimicrotubule drugs may be evaluated by measuring the extent of tubulin assembly. The extent of polymerization is proportional to the turbidity of the solution, which usually has been measured as apparent absorption. The turbidity method has inherent problems that hinder its adaptation to a high-throughput format, such as a requirement for high protein concentrations and a high coefficient of variation. We present here a high-throughput assay for antimicrotubule activity in which fluorescence is used to monitor microtubule assembly. Both assembly-inhibiting and assembly-promoting compounds can be evaluated. The assay is rapid and easy to perform, and the data are reliable, with good accuracy and reproducibility.     

Clinical significance of miR-140-5p and miR-193b expression in patients with breast cancer and relationship to IGFBP5

The functional role of IGFBP5 in breast cancer is complicated. Experimental and bioinformatics studies have shown that IGFBP5 is targeted by miR-140-5p and miR-193b, although this has not yet been proven in clinical samples. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of miR-140-5p and miR-193b in breast cancer and adjacent normal tissue and assess its correlation with IGFBP5 and the clinicopathological characteristics of the tumors. IGFBP5 protein expression was analyzed immunohistochemically and IGFBP5, miR-140 and miR-193b mRNA expression levels were analyzed with real-time RT-PCR. Tumor tissue had higher miR-140-5p expression than adjacent normal tissue (p = 0.015). Samples with no immunohistochemical staining for IGFBP5 showed increased miR-140-5p expression (p = 0.009). miR-140-5p expression was elevated in invasive ductal carcinomas (p = 0.002), whereas basal-like tumors had decreased expression of miR-140-5p compared to other tumors (p = 0.008). Lymph node-positive samples showed an approximately 13-fold increase in miR-140-5p expression compared to lymph node-negative tissue (p = 0.049). These findings suggest that miR-140-5p, but not miR-193b, could be an important determinant of IGFBP5 expression and clinical phenotype in breast cancer patients. Further studies are needed to clarify the expressional regulation of IGFBP5 by miR-140-5p.     

Chronic Fluoride Exposure Has a Role in Etiology of Coronary Artery Ectasia: Sialic Acid/Glycosaminoglycan Ratio

The sialic acid/glycosaminoglycan ratio was determined in 35 coronary artery ectasia patients and 35 control subjects to determine the possible role of fluoride in the etiology of the disease. The coronary artery ectasia patients and controls were selected from subjects who underwent coronary angiography. The mean serum sialic acid level was significantly lower in patients with coronary artery ectasia (CAE) than in controls (340.3 ± 28.6 vs. 427.0 ± 15.9 μg/mL, respectively; p < 0.001). The mean serum glycosaminoglycan level was significantly higher in patients with CAE than in controls (5,013.1 ± 158.6 vs. 3,833.6 ± 237.1 μg/mL, respectively; p < 0.001). The sialic acid/glycosaminoglycan ratio in patients with coronary artery ectasia was significantly lower than in controls (0.068 ± 0.007 vs. 0.111 ± 0.005; p < 0.001). There was more than 38.7% reduction in this ratio in patients with CAE when compared with controls. We demonstrated that chronic fluoride exposure has an important role in pathogenesis of coronary artery ectasia.     

Interaction of the p53 DNA-binding domain with its n-terminal extension modulates the stability of the p53 tetramer

The tetrameric tumor suppressor p53 plays a pivotal role in the control of the cell cycle and provides a paradigm for an emerging class of oligomeric, multidomain proteins with structured and intrinsically disordered regions. Many of its biophysical and functional properties have been extrapolated from truncated variants, yet the exact structural and functional role of certain segments of the protein is unclear. We found from NMR and X-ray crystallography that the DNA-binding domain (DBD) of human p53, usually defined as residues 94-292, extends beyond these domain boundaries. Trp91, in the hinge region between the disordered proline-rich N-terminal domain and the DBD, folds back onto the latter and has a cation-π interaction with Arg174. These additional interactions increase the melting temperature of the DBD by up to 2 °C and inhibit aggregation of the p53 tetramer. They also modulate the dissociation of the p53 tetramer. The absence of the Trp91/Arg174 packing presumably allows nonnative DBD-DBD interactions that both nucleate aggregation and stabilize the interface. These data have important implications for studies of multidomain proteins in general, highlighting the fact that weak ordered-disordered domain interactions can modulate the properties of proteins of complex structure.     

Nucleo-cytoplasmic transport as a therapeutic target of cancer

Shuttling of specific proteins out of the nucleus is essential for the regulation of the cell cycle and proliferation of both normal and malignant tissues. Dysregulation of this fundamental process may affect many other important cellular processes such as tumor growth, inflammatory response, cell cycle, and apoptosis. It is known that XPO1 (Exportin-1/Chromosome Region Maintenance 1/CRM1) is the main mediator of nuclear export in many cell types. Nuclear proteins exported to the cytoplasm by XPO1 include the drug targets topoisomerase IIα (topo IIα) and BCR-ABL and tumor suppressor proteins such as Rb, APC, p53, p21, and p27. XPO1 can mediate cell proliferation through several pathways: (i) the sub-cellular localization of NES-containing oncogenes and tumor suppressor proteins, (ii) the control of the mitotic apparatus and chromosome segregation, and (iii) the maintenance of nuclear and chromosomal structures. The XPO1 protein is elevated in ovarian carcinoma, glioma, osteosarcoma, pancreatic and cervical cancer. There is a growing body of research indicating that XPO1 may have an important role as a prognostic marker in solid tumors. Because of this, nuclear export inhibition through XPO1 is a potential target for therapeutic intervention in many cancers. The best understood XPO1 inhibitors are the small molecule nuclear export inhibitors (NEIs; Leptomycin B and derivatives, ratjadones, PKF050-638, valtrate, ACA, CBS9106, selinexor/KPT-330, and verdinexor/KPT-335). Selinexor and verdinexor are orally bioavailable, highly potent, small molecules that are classified as Selective Inhibitors of Nuclear Export (SINE). KPT-330 is the only NEI currently in Phase I/II human clinical trials in hematological and solid cancers. Of all the potential targets in nuclear cytoplasmic transport, the nuclear export receptor XPO1 remains the best understood and most advanced therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer.     

XPO1 Inhibition Preferentially Disrupts the 3D Nuclear Organization of Telomeres in Tumor Cells

Previous work has shown that the three‐dimensional (3D) nuclear organization of telomeres is altered in cancer cells and the degree of alterations coincides with aggressiveness of disease. Nuclear pores are essential for spatial genome organization and gene regulation and XPO1 (exportin 1/CRM1) is the key nuclear export protein. The Selective Inhibitor of Nuclear Export (SINE) compounds developed by Karyopharm Therapeutics (KPT‐185, KPT‐330/selinexor, and KPT‐8602) inhibit XPO1 nuclear export function. In this study, we investigated whether XPO1 inhibition has downstream effects on the 3D nuclear organization of the genome. This was assessed by measuring the 3D telomeric architecture of normal and tumor cells in vitro and ex vivo. Our data demonstrate for the first time a rapid and preferential disruption of the 3D nuclear organization of telomeres in tumor cell lines and in primary cells ex vivo derived from treatment‐naïve newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. Normal primary cells in culture as well as healthy lymphocyte control cells from the same patients were minimally affected. Using both lymphoid and non‐lymphoid tumor cell lines, we found that the downstream effects on the 3D nuclear telomere structure are independent of tumor type. We conclude that the 3D nuclear organization of telomeres is a sensitive indicator of cellular response when treated with XPO1 inhibitors. J. Cell. Physiol. 231: 2711–2719, 2016. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Cellular Physiology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mitochondrial DNA common deletion is not associated with thyroid, breast and colorectal tumors in Turkish patients

Recently, efforts have been focused on mitochondrial DNA changes and their relation to human cancers. Among them, a 4977 bp deletion of mitochondrial DNA, named "common deletion", has been investigated in several types of tumors, with inconsistent results. In this study, we investigated the presence of the common deletion in tissues from 25 breast, 25 colorectal and 50 thyroid tumors and in the adjacent healthy tissues from Turkish patients. Samples from healthy volunteers were also evaluated for comparison. Two PCR-based methods were used for the detection of the common deletion. First, two pairs of primers were used to amplify wild-type and deleted mtDNA. Then, a highly sensitive nested-PCR was performed, to determine low amounts of deleted genomes. By the first method, wild-type mtDNAs were observed in all samples, but a deletion was observed in only six thyroid samples, by using the nested-PCR method. In conclusion, the mitochondrial common deletion was very rare in our study group and did not appear to be not related with cancer.