人类指长比的研究进展

个体指长比形成于胚胎发育早期,男性低于女性,具有性别差异;食指与环指的指长比(2D∶4D)与雄性激素和精子数量成负相关,与雌性激素成正相关。指长比的形成和性腺的分化由HOXA和HOXD两组基因决定。研究表明:指长比与孤僻症、难语症、周期性偏头痛、免疫功能缺陷、口吃、心肌梗塞、乳腺癌等疾病具有相关性,提示:指长比可以作为提示某些疾病,如:指长比是心肌梗塞和乳腺癌等早期易感性的重要指标之一,对于疾病的早期预防与干预可能具有重要的价值。     

HOX家族及其在癌症中的研究进展

编码转录因子的同源异形盒(homeobox,HOX)基因在染色体上串联成簇排列,是生物发育中决定身体节段边界的重要基因.HOX在机体不同部位有相应的表达模式,同时HOX的表达也包含着成体细胞的位置信息.HOX基因在癌症发生发展中起重要作用,在白血病中的研究一直以来都受到关注,近年来HOX在肺癌、胃肠道肿瘤、前列腺癌、乳腺癌和卵巢癌等实体瘤中的研究也成为新的热点.HOX基因的表达调控、细胞学功能和转录活性的研究对阐明HOX在癌症中的作用具有重要意义.     

Regionalization and segmentation of the leech

Regionalization and segmentation of the leech body plan have been examined by numerous approaches over the years. A wealth of knowledge has accumulated regarding the normally invariant cell lineages of the leech and the degree of developmental plasticity that is possible in each cell line in early development and in neurogenesis. Homologues of genes that control regionalization and segmentation in Drosophila have been cloned from the leech and the expression patterns reveal conserved features with those in Drosophila and other organisms. Possible developmental functions of the en-class proteins in spatial and temporal modes of segment formation are discussed in light of leech and Drosophila development. Annelida and Arthropoda cell lineages of engrailed-class gene expression are compared in leech blast cell clones and crustacean parasegments. In addition, future directions for molecular analysis of segmentation of the leech are summarized. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Identification of Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common disease with serious consequences in mortality and cost. Here we aim to screen the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) as biomarkers for early diagnosis of AMI. The microarray data of AMI was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), including two independent types of research GSE66360 and GSE62646. The DEGs between control and processed samples were screened out by using limma package. Meanwhile, we performed functional analysis of GO terms and/or KEGG pathways to observe the enriched pathways of the DEGs. Finally, regression analysis of raw data was performed by using packet affyPLM in R language. Dataset GSE62646 contained 53 DEGs (FC log2>1 and P value <0.05) between first‐day samples from 28 STEMI patients and control samples from 14 patients without myocardial infarction history. There were 12 up‐regulated and 41 down‐regulated genes, 35 DEGs annotated. In GSE66360, a total of 3034 DEGs between 32 AMI patients and 38 healthy persons were obtained, including 1861 up‐regulated and 1173 down‐regulated DEGs. The comparison of the DEGs in two datasets revealed four common up‐regulated genes (EGR1, STAB1, SOCS3, TMEM176A). In enrichment analysis, STAB1, SOCS3, EGR1 involved in metabolic regulation and signaling pathways related to coronary artery disease with a characteristic change (P < 0.05). The DEGs, especially the four up‐regulated common genes, could serve as biomarkers for early diagnosis of AMI. Additionally, the relative biological pathways these DEGs enriched in might provide a good reference to explore the molecular expression mechanism of AMI. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 650–658, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evolution of echinoderms may not have required modification of the ancestral deuterostome HOX gene cluster: first report of PG4 and PG5 Hox orthologues in echinoderms

Is the extreme derivation of the echinoderm body plan reflected in a derived echinoderm Hox genotype? Building on previous work, we exploited the sequence conservation of the homeobox to isolate putative orthologues of several Hox genes from two asteroid echinoderms. The 5-peptide motif (LPNTK) diagnostic of PG4 Hox genes was identified immediately downstream of one of the partial homeodomains from Patiriella exigua. This constitutes the first unequivocal report of a PG4 Hox gene orthologue from an echinoderm. Subsequent screenings identified genes of both PG4 and PG4/5 in Asterias rubens. Although in echinoids only a single gene (PG4/5) occupies these two contiguous cluster positions, we conclude that the ancestral echinoderm must have had the complete deuterostome suite of medial Hox genes, including orthologues of both PG4 and PG4/5 (= PG5). The reported absence of PG4 in the HOX cluster of echinoids is therefore a derived state, and the ancestral echinoderm probably had a HOX cluster not dissimilar to that of other deuterostomes. Modification of the ancestral deuterostome Hox genotype may not have been required for evolution of the highly derived echinoderm body plan.