Angiogenesis in male breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Male breast cancer is a rare but aggressive and devastating disease. This disease presents at a later stage and in a more advanced fashion than its female counterpart. The immunophenotype also appears to be distinct when compared to female breast cancer. Angiogenesis plays a permissive role in the development of a solid tumor and provides an avenue for nutrient exchange and waste removal. Recent scrutiny of angiogenesis in female breast cancer has shown it to be of significant prognostic value. It was hypothesized that this holds true in invasive ductal carcinoma of the male breast. In the context of male breast cancer, we investigated the relationship of survival and other clinico-pathological variables to the microvascular density of the tumor tissue. METHODS: Seventy-five cases of primary male breast cancer were identified using the records of the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency over a period of 26 years. Forty-seven cases of invasive ductal carcinoma of the male breast had formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks that were suitable for this study. All cases were reviewed. Immunohistochemical staining was performed for the angiogenic markers (cluster designations 31 (CD31), 34 (CD34) and 105 (CD105), von Willebrand factor (VWF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)). Microvascular density (MVD) was determined using average, centre, and highest microvessel counts (AMC, CMC, and HMC, respectively). Statistical analyses compared differences in the distribution of survival times and times to relapse between levels of MVD, tumor size, node status and age at diagnosis. In addition, MVD values were compared within each marker, between each marker, and were also compared to clinico-pathological data. RESULTS: Advanced age and tumor size were related to shorter survival times. There were no statistically significant differences in distributions of survival times and times to relapse between levels of MVD variables. There was no significant difference in MVD between levels of the different clinico-pathological variables. MVD was strongly and significantly correlated between AMC, CMC and HMC for CD31, CD34, and CD105 (p < 0.01) and remained moderate to weak for VWF and VEGF. CONCLUSION: Microvascular density does not appear to be an independent prognostic factor in male breast cancer. However, the likelihood of death for men with breast cancer is increased in the presence of increased age at diagnosis and advanced tumor size. This is perhaps linked to inherent tumor vasculature, which is strongly related throughout a tumor section.     

Keratinolytic potential of Bacillus licheniformis RG1: structural and biochemical mechanism of feather degradation

Keratinolytic Bacillus licheniformis RG1 was used to study the mechanism of keratinolysis. Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that bacterial cells grew closely adhered to the barbules of feathers, completely degrading them within 24 h. Biochemical studies indicated that the Bacillus strain produced an extracellular protease, which had keratinolytic potential. The extracellular keratinolytic activity (425 U) was synergistically enhanced by the addition of intracellular disulfide reductases (1712 U). However, these enzymes alone (keratinase and disulfide reductase), without live bacterial cells, failed to degrade the feather. Complete feather degradation was obtained only when living bacterial cells were present, emphasizing that bacterial adhesion plays a key role during the degradation process. The bacterial cells probably provide a continuous supply of reductant to break disulfide bridges. In addition, sulfite detected in the extracellular broth during feather degradation indicated that sulfitolysis may also play a role in feather degradation by the bacterium.     

Determinants of pill failure in rural Bangladesh

The pill is the most popular family planning method in Bangladesh. However, the failure rate of this method in Matlab, a typical rural area, has been found to be very high. It is estimated that with the current level of failure of the pill and other temporary contraceptives in Matlab, it is unlikely that fertility in Bangladesh will come down to replacement level without a change in contraceptive method mix. It is, therefore, important to know the reasons for the high failure in pill use. Data for this study came from a case-control study in Matlab. A pill failure was considered a case, and no-failure was considered a control. The study included 167 cases and 167 controls. In addition, five focus group discussions were conducted to supplement the data collected from the cases and controls to gain a deeper understanding of pill failure. Results of the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data suggested that the following were the risk factors for pill failure: no mobility of women, poor knowledge of women about the effectiveness and consequences of drop-out from pill use, weak confidence in the pill, a gap between the use of subsequence pill cycles, delay in starting the pill after menstruation for the first use, not taking any measures consistently for missing the pill, and not following the arrow sign given on the pill cycle. Extensive training of field workers and pill users, covering the reasons for pill failure identified in this study and strong supervision of the work of field workers, is likely to reduce the rate of pill failure in Bangladesh. Also, information, education and communication services for users, and management of side-effects, may be helpful in reducing pill failure.     

Defective in cuticular ridges (DCR) of Arabidopsis thaliana, a gene associated with surface cutin formation, encodes a soluble diacylglycerol acyltransferase

A key step in the triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthetic pathway is the final acylation of diacylglycerol (DAG) by DAG acyltransferase. In silico analysis has revealed that the DCR (defective in cuticular ridges) (At5g23940) gene has a typical HX(4)D acyltransferase motif at the N-terminal end and a lipid binding motif VX(2)GF at the middle of the sequence. To understand the biochemical function, the gene was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and the purified recombinant protein was found to acylate DAG specifically in an acyl-CoA-dependent manner. Overexpression of At5g23940 in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae quadruple mutant deficient in DAG acyltransferases resulted in TAG accumulation. At5g23940 rescued the growth of this quadruple mutant in the oleate-containing medium, whereas empty vector control did not. Lipid particles were localized in the cytosol of At5g23940-transformed quadruple mutant cells, as observed by oil red O staining. There was an incorporation of 16-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid into TAG in At5g23940-transformed cells of quadruple mutant. Here we report a soluble acyl-CoA-dependent DAG acyltransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana. Taken together, these data suggest that a broad specific DAG acyltransferase may be involved in the cutin as well as in the TAG biosynthesis by supplying hydroxy fatty acid.     

Effect of 2-benzoxazolinone (BOA) on seedling growth and associated biochemical changes in mung bean (Phaseolus aureus)

BOA (2-benzoxazolinone) is a potent phytotoxin present in several graminaceous crops such as rye, maize and wheat. Due to its wide range of phytotoxicity, it is considered as a potential pesticide. A study was conducted to explore the impact of BOA on the radicle and plumule elongation of mung bean (Phaseolus aureus) and associated changes in the macromolecular content - proteins and carbohydrates - and activities of enzymes like amylases, proteases, polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases. BOA significantly reduced the radicle and plumule length of P. aureus, and the contents of proteins and carbohydrates in both root and leaf tissue. On the other hand, activities of hydrolytic enzymes - proteases, amylases, polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases - increased substantially in both root and leaf tissue of P. aureus upon BOA exposure. This indicated that BOA treatment induced stress in P. aureus and enhanced enzyme activities to counter the induced stress and continue the growth. In other words, BOA-induced stress altered the plant biochemical status and related enzyme activities resulting in increased metabolism that serves to provide protection against cellular injury. Such studies providing information about the biomolecular content and enzymatic activities in response to natural products serve as clues for furtherance of knowledge about the modes of action of natural compounds of commercial interest.     

Status, invasiveness and environmental threats of three tropical American invasive weeds (Parthenium hysterophorus L., Ageratum conyzoides L., Lantana camara L.) in India

Invasive weeds have threatened the integrity of ecosystems throughout the world. They affect not only the species diversity of native areas but also their biological integrity. In India, a number of invasive exotic weeds have been reported but some viz. Parthenium hysterophorus, Lantana camara and Ageratum conyzoides, especially those from tropical America are troublesome and have caused adverse ecological, economic and social impact. These weeds can be seen growing in different landscapes but are luxuriantly localized in unattended forests and cultivated areas. Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae, commonly known as congress grass) is perhaps the most troublesome and noxious weed of urban and rural India. Besides rapidly colonizing areas replacing the native vegetation, it is also known to cause a number of human health problems such as skin allergy, rhinitis and irritation to eyes of the residents in the vicinity. Likewise, it causes fodder scarcity in addition to being unpalatable and toxic to livestock. Lantana camara (Verbenaceae), another serious tropical American pest, has encroached upon large areas of land, especially the forests where it has virtually replaced the forest floor vegetation and reduced tree growth. Also because of its bushy and spreading type of growth it obstructs forest operations. The third weed, Ageratum conyzoides (Asteraceae, Billy goat weed) has invaded agricultural fields. It interferes with crops and causes yield reductions of major staple crops of India. When it invades rangeland areas, it out competes native grasses causing scarcity of fodder. These weeds have similar growth strategies such as fast growth rates, short life-cycles, greater reproductive potential, high competitive abilities and allelopathy that make them successful invaders of native habitats. Mechanical, chemical, biological and cultural control tactics have failed individually, though integrated approaches combining all these approaches along with community participation and proper land management have been relatively successful. This paper presents various aspects of biology, ecology, hazards and control measures of these weeds.     

Microbial keratinases and their prospective applications: an overview

Microbial keratinases have become biotechnologically important since they target the hydrolysis of highly rigid, strongly cross-linked structural polypeptide “keratin” recalcitrant to the commonly known proteolytic enzymes trypsin, pepsin and papain. These enzymes are largely produced in the presence of keratinous substrates in the form of hair, feather, wool, nail, horn etc. during their degradation. The complex mechanism of keratinolysis involves cooperative action of sulfitolytic and proteolytic systems. Keratinases are robust enzymes with a wide temperature and pH activity range and are largely serine or metallo proteases. Sequence homologies of keratinases indicate their relatedness to subtilisin family of serine proteases. They stand out among proteases since they attack the keratin residues and hence find application in developing cost-effective feather by-products for feed and fertilizers. Their application can also be extended to detergent and leather industries where they serve as specialty enzymes. Besides, they also find application in wool and silk cleaning; in the leather industry, better dehairing potential of these enzymes has led to the development of greener hair-saving dehairing technology and personal care products. Further, their prospective application in the challenging field of prion degradation would revolutionize the protease world in the near future.     

Secretory factors of human neuroblastoma (IMR-32) and human glioblastoma (U87MG) cell lines induce neurite outgrowths in PC12 cells

Neurite outgrowth is essential for the communication of the nervous system. The rat Pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells are commonly used in the neuronal cell study. It is well known that exogenous stimuli such as Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) induce neurite outgrowth. In the present study it has been investigated whether or not the conditioned medium from human neuroblastoma cell line (IMR-32) and human glioblastoma cell line (U87MG) may augment neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. PC12 were cultured with and without conditioned media of IMR-32 and U87MG. The result showed that both the conditioned media induce neurite outgrowth within 48 hr and stops further proliferation of PC12 cells. However no outgrowth was noted in PC12 cells incubated without conditioned medium. In conclusion, it is shown that both the conditioned media (IMR-32 and U87MG) have the potential to induce the neurite outgrowth in the PC12 cells.     

Changes in protein profile of pigeonpea genotypes in response to NaCl and boron stress

Two pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] genotypes, a salt tolerant Manak and a salt sensitive ICPL 88039 were subjected to stress treatment of 3 mM boron, 60 mM NaCl and boron + NaCl at the seedling stage. Radicle and plumule proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Boron treatment increased 28.3 kDa proteins in plumule and 38.3 and 51.9 kDa proteins in radicle of Manak, however, there was no specific protein in ICPL 88039 either in plumule or in radicle. In NaCl treatment 95.6 kDa proteins appeared in plumule and 67.5 kDa proteins in radicle of Manak. Conversely content of some proteins decreased by boron treatment alone or in combination with NaCl although they were present in the controls. Thus, 54.3 kDa protein disappeared in ICPL 88039 plumule, 68.4 kDa in Manak radicle and 28.1 kDa in ICPL 88039 radicle.