Extracellular matrix remodelling in the endometrium and its possible relevance to the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
(49/75781)
Essential features of endometrial physiology involve the extracellular matrix (ECM). In the pathogenesis of endometriosis, interactions of endometriosis cells with ECM can be postulated. Two systems of secreted proteases in the endometrium, the plasmin(ogen) activator/inhibitor and the matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors were examined in cell cultures of uterine endometrial cells from women with and without endometriosis. Soluble urokinase receptor secretion is increased, and mRNA transcription of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 (TIMP-2) is upregulated by progestin in endometriosis. These findings are compatible with an altered ECM turnover in the endometrium of these patients that may explain a higher invasive potential of retrogradely menstruated endometrial fragments. (+info)
Endometriosis: a dysfunction and disease of the archimetra.
(50/75781)
Endometriosis is considered primarily a disease of the endometrial-subendometrial unit or archimetra. The clinical picture of endometriosis characterises this disease as a hyperactivation of genuine archimetrial functions such as proliferation, inflammatory defence and peristalsis. While the aetiology of the disease remains to be elucidated, a key event appears to consist in the local production of extraovarian oestrogen by a pathological expression of the P450 aromatase. The starting event may consist in a hyperactivity of the endometrial inflammatory defence, a hyperactivity of the endometrial oxytocin/oxytocin receptor system or in the pathological expression of the P450 aromatase system itself. Regardless of which of these levels the starting event is localized in, they influence each other on both the level of the archimetra and the endometriotic lesions. Locally elevated oestrogen levels inevitably up-regulate the endometrial oxytocin mRNA and increased levels of oxytocin result in uterine hyperperistalsis, increased transtubal seeding of endometrial tissue fragments and finally subfertility and infertility by impairment of the uterine mechanism of rapid and sustained sperm transport. Locally increased levels of oestrogen lead, on both the level of the endometrial-subendometrial unit and the endometriotic lesion, to processes of hyperproliferation. These processes result, on the level of the uterus, in an infiltrative growth of elements of the archimetra into the neometra and, on the level of the endometriotic lesion, in infiltrative endometriosis. There is circumstantial evidence that trauma might be an important initial event that induces the specific biochemical and cellular responses of the archimetra. This model is able to explain both the pleiomorphic appearance of endometriosis and the, up until now, enigmatic infertility associated with mild and moderate endometriosis. (+info)
Retrotransposons transcribed preferentially in proximal tubules of salt-hypertensive rats.
(51/75781)
BACKGROUND: The kidney is considered to play an important etiologic role in salt-sensitive hypertension. The aim of the present study was to isolate genes whose expression differs between the kidneys of salt-hypertensive and control rats using an mRNA differential display method. METHODS: Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) and control salt-resistant rats (DR) were fed a 0.3% or 8% NaCl diet. Renal RNA was amplified by RNA arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (RAP-PCR) and compared among DR 0.3%, DR 8%, DS 0.3%, and DS 8%. Gene expression and localization were examined by Northern blotting, RNase protection assay, and in situ hybridization. Full-length nucleotide sequence was determined by screening a DS rat kidney cDNA library. RESULTS: We identified one differentially displayed clone, and its expression was greater in DS than DR, which was not affected by salt loading. The sequence was 90% homologous to the 3'-noncoding region of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha7 subunit gene. Its expression was kidney-specific, and was localized in the proximal tubules. The transcript level was markedly increased precedent to the development of hypertension. Its expression was also high in other salt-sensitive rats, and low in normotensive Sprague-Dawley and Wistar rats. The full-length cDNA contained elements homologous to the retroviral pol gene, a primer binding site sequence for reverse transcriptase, and long-terminal repeats. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that the newly identified transcripts (REPT1) belong to a novel retrotransposon family, which showed unique strain-, age-, tissue-, and cell type-specific expression pattern. (+info)
Evolutionary analysis of TATA-less proximal promoter function.
(52/75781)
Many molecular studies describe how components of the proximal promoter affect transcriptional processes. However, these studies do not account for the likely effects of distant enhancers or chromatin structure, and thus it is difficult to conclude that the sequence variation in proximal promoters acts to modulate transcription in the natural context of the whole genome. This problem, the biological importance of proximal promoter sequence variation, can be addressed using a combination of molecular and evolutionary analyses. Provided here are molecular and evolutionary analyses of the variation in promoter function and sequence within and between populations of Fundulus heteroclitus for the lactate dehydrogenase-B (Ldh-B) proximal promoter. Approximately one third of the Ldh-B proximal promoter contains interspersed regions that are functionally important: (1) they bind transcription factors in vivo, (2) they effect a change in transcription as assayed by transient transfection into two different fish cell lines, and (3) they bind purified transcription factors in vitro. Evolutionary analyses that compare sequence variation in these functional regions versus the nonfunctional regions indicate that the changes in the Ldh-B proximal promoter sequences are due to directional selection. Thus, the Ldh-B proximal promoter sequence variations that affect transcriptional processes constitute a phenotypic change that is subject to natural selection, suggesting that proximal promoter sequence variation affects transcription in the natural context of the whole genome. (+info)
Cloning and characterization of the promoter region of human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene.
(53/75781)
Activation of telomerase is one of the rate-limiting steps in human cell immortalization and carcinogenesis Human telomerase is composed of at least two protein subunits and an RNA component. Regulation of expression of the catalytic subunit, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), is suggested as the major determinant of the enzymatic activity. We report here the cloning and characterization of the 5'-regulatory region of the hTERT gene. The highly GC-rich content of the 5' end of the hTERT cDNA spans to the 5'-flanking region and intron 1, making a CpG island. A 1.7-kb DNA fragment encompassing the hTERT gene promoter was placed upstream of the luciferase reporter gene and transiently transfected into human cell lines of fibroblastic and epithelial origins that differed in their expression of the endogenous hTERT gene. Endogenous hTERT-expressing cells, but not nonexpressing cells, showed high levels of luciferase activity, suggesting that the regulation of hTERT gene expression occurs mainly at the transcriptional level. Additional luciferase assays using a series of constructs containing unidirectionally deleted fragments revealed that a 59-bp region (-208 to -150) is required for the maximal promoter activity. The region contains a potential Myc oncoprotein binding site (E-box), and cotransfection of a c-myc expression plasmid markedly enhanced the promoter activity, suggesting a role of the Myc protein in telomerase activation. Identification of the regulatory regions of the hTERT promoter sequence will be essential in understanding the molecular mechanisms of positive and negative regulation of telomerase. (+info)
Overexpression of the receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility (RHAMM) characterizes the malignant clone in multiple myeloma: identification of three distinct RHAMM variants.
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The receptor for hyaluronan (HA)-mediated motility (RHAMM) controls motility by malignant cells in myeloma and is abnormally expressed on the surface of most malignant B and plasma cells in blood or bone marrow (BM) of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). RHAMM cDNA was cloned and sequenced from the malignant B and plasma cells comprising the myeloma B lineage hierarchy. Three distinct RHAMM gene products, RHAMMFL, RHAMM-48, and RHAMM-147, were cloned from MM B and plasma cells. RHAMMFL was 99% homologous to the published sequence of RHAMM. RHAMM-48 and RHAMM-147 variants align with RHAMMFL, but are characterized by sequence deletions of 48 bp (16 amino acids [aa]) and 147 bp (49 aa), respectively. The relative frequency of these RHAMM transcripts in MM plasma cells was determined by cloning of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) products amplified from MM plasma cells. Of 115 randomly picked clones, 49% were RHAMMFL, 47% were RHAMM-48, and 4% were RHAMM-147. All of the detected RHAMM variants contain exon 4, which is alternatively spliced in murine RHAMM, and had only a single copy of the exon 8 repeat sequence detected in murine RHAMM. RT-PCR analysis of sorted blood or BM cells from 22 MM patients showed that overexpression of RHAMM variants is characteristic of MM B cells and BM plasma cells in all patients tested. RHAMM also appeared to be overexpressed in B lymphoma and B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells. In B cells from normal donors, RHAMMFL was only weakly detectable in resting B cells from five of eight normal donors or in chronically activated B cells from three patients with Crohn's disease. RHAMM-48 was detectable in B cells from one of eight normal donors, but was undetectable in B cells of three donors with Crohn's disease. RHAMM-147 was undetectable in normal and Crohn's disease B cells. In situ RT-PCR was used to determine the number of individual cells with aggregate RHAMM transcripts. For six patients, 29% of BM plasma cells and 12% of MM B cells had detectable RHAMM transcripts, while for five normal donors, only 1. 2% of B cells expressed RHAMM transcripts. This work suggests that RHAMMFL, RHAMM-48, and RHAMM-147 splice variants are overexpressed in MM and other B lymphocyte malignancies relative to resting or in vivo-activated B cells, raising the possibility that RHAMM and its variants may contribute to the malignant process in B-cell malignancies such as lymphoma, CLL, and MM. (+info)
Activation and repression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) transcription by RB binding proteins.
(55/75781)
The Cdk inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1) is a negative regulator of the cell cycle, although its expression is induced by a number of mitogens that promote cell proliferation. We have found that E2F1 and E2F3, transcription factors that activate genes required for cell cycle progression, are strong activators of the p21 promoter. In contrast, HBP1 (HMG-box protein-1), a novel retinoblastoma protein-binding protein, can repress the p21 promoter and inhibit induction of p21 expression by E2F. Both E2Fs and HBP1 regulate p21 transcription through cis-acting elements located between nucleotides -119 to +16 of the p21 promoter and the DNA binding domains of each of these proteins are required for activity. Sequences between -119 and -60 basepairs containing four Sp1 consensus elements and two noncanonical E2F binding sites are of major importance for E2F activation, although E2F1 and E2F3 differ in the extent of their ability to activate expression when this segment is deleted. The opposing effects of E2Fs and HBP1 on p21 promoter activity suggest that interplay between these factors may determine the level of p21 transcription in vivo. (+info)
The identification of ferritin in the nucleus of K562 cells, and investigation of a possible role in the transcriptional regulation of adult beta-globin gene expression.
(56/75781)
We studied the subcellular distribution of ferritin in K562 cells by immunofluorescence techniques and have made a reappraisal of a direct binding interaction between ferritin and the proximal promoter region of the human beta-globin gene, as previously mentioned in the literature. Confocal microscopy indicates that ferritin, the iron-storage protein, is present in the nucleus of K562 cells, in addition to its expected cytoplasmic localisation. The stain distribution suggests that it is not directly associated with the nuclear matrix. Using a gel mobility shift assay, a protein that cross-reacts with monoclonal ferritin antibodies competitively binds to a double-stranded oligonucleotide spanning the region situated 150 base pairs upstream from the beta-globin transcription start site. Despite this antibody cross-reactivity, the protein is unlike cytosolic ferritin as it appears to be highly sensitive to both temperature and freeze-thaw cycles, and UV-crosslinking experiments indicate that the molecular mass of the protein factor lies between 90 and 100 kDa. In conclusion, while the intranuclear location of ferritin is described in the present study, ferritin is not in direct contact with the beta-globin promoter region. (+info)