Unravelling the path from genotype to phenotype, as it is influenced by an organism's environment, is one of the central goals
in biology. Gene expression profiling by means of microarrays has become very prominent in this endeavour, although resources
exist only for relatively few model systems. As genomics has matured into a comparative research program, expression profiling
now also provides a powerful tool for non-traditional model systems to elucidate the molecular basis of complex traits. 相似文献
The potential role of the cell-of-origin in determining the tumor phenotype has been raised, but not adequately examined. We hypothesized that distinct cells-of-origin may play a role in determining ovarian tumor phenotype and outcome. Here we describe a new cell culture medium for in vitro culture of paired normal human ovarian (OV) and fallopian tube (FT) epithelial cells from donors without cancer. While these cells have been cultured individually for short periods of time, to our knowledge this is the first long-term culture of both cell types from the same donors. Through analysis of the gene expression profiles of the cultured OV/FT cells we identified a normal cell-of-origin gene signature that classified primary ovarian cancers into OV-like and FT-like subgroups; this classification correlated with significant differences in clinical outcomes. The identification of a prognostically significant gene expression signature derived solely from normal untransformed cells is consistent with the hypothesis that the normal cell-of-origin may be a source of ovarian tumor heterogeneity and the associated differences in tumor outcome. 相似文献
The olfactory bulb is one of the most vulnerable brain regions in age‐related proteinopathies. Proteinopathic stress is mitigated by the heat shock protein (Hsp) family of chaperones. Here, we describe age‐related decreases in Hsc70 in the olfactory bulb of the female rat and higher levels of Hsp70 and Hsp25 in middle and old age than at 2–4 months. To model proteotoxic and oxidative stress in the olfactory bulb, primary olfactory bulb cultures were treated with the proteasome inhibitors lactacystin and MG132 or the pro‐oxidant paraquat. Toxin‐induced increases were observed in Hsp70, Hsp25, and Hsp32. To determine the functional consequences of the increase in Hsp70, we attenuated Hsp70 activity with two mechanistically distinct inhibitors. The Hsp70 inhibitors greatly potentiated the toxicity of sublethal lactacystin or MG132 but not of paraquat. Although ubiquitinated protein levels were unchanged with aging in vivo or with sublethal MG132 in vitro, there was a large, synergistic increase in ubiquitinated proteins when proteasome and Hsp70 functions were simultaneously inhibited. Our study suggests that olfactory bulb cells rely heavily on Hsp70 chaperones to maintain homeostasis during mild proteotoxic, but not oxidative insults, and that Hsp70 prevents the accrual of ubiquitinated proteins in these cells.
The identification of mycobacteria is essential because tuberculosis (TB) and
mycobacteriosis are clinically indistinguishable and require different therapeutic
regimens. The traditional phenotypic method is time consuming and may last up to 60
days. Indeed, rapid, affordable, specific and easy-to-perform identification methods
are needed. We have previously described a polymerase chain reaction-based method
called a mycobacteria mobility shift assay (MMSA) that was designed for
Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) and nontuberculous mycobacteria
(NTM) species identification. The aim of this study was to assess the MMSA for the
identification of MTC and NTM clinical isolates and to compare its performance with
that of the PRA-hsp65 method. A total of 204 clinical isolates (102
NTM and 102 MTC) were identified by the MMSA and PRA-hsp65. For
isolates for which these methods gave discordant results, definitive species
identification was obtained by sequencing fragments of the 16S rRNA and
hsp65 genes. Both methods correctly identified all MTC isolates. Among
the NTM isolates, the MMSA alone assigned 94 (92.2%) to a complex or species, whereas
the PRA-hsp65 method assigned 100% to a species. A 91.5% agreement
was observed for the 94 NTM isolates identified by both methods. The MMSA provided
correct identification for 96.8% of the NTM isolates compared with 94.7% for
PRA-hsp65. The MMSA is a suitable auxiliary method for routine
use for the rapid identification of mycobacteria. 相似文献