Somatic and germline activating mutations of the ALK kinase receptor in neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma, a tumour derived from the peripheral sympathetic nervous system, is one of the most frequent solid tumours in childhood. It usually occurs sporadically but familial cases are observed, with a subset of cases occurring in association with congenital malformations of the neural crest being linked to germline mutations of the PHOX2B gene. Here we conducted genome-wide comparative genomic hybridization analysis on a large series of neuroblastomas. Copy number increase at the locus encoding the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase receptor was observed recurrently. One particularly informative case presented a high-level gene amplification that was strictly limited to ALK, indicating that this gene may contribute on its own to neuroblastoma development. Through subsequent direct sequencing of cell lines and primary tumour DNAs we identified somatic mutations of the ALK kinase domain that mainly clustered in two hotspots. Germline mutations were observed in two neuroblastoma families, indicating that ALK is a neuroblastoma predisposition gene. Mutated ALK proteins were overexpressed, hyperphosphorylated and showed constitutive kinase activity. The knockdown of ALK expression in ALK-mutated cells, but also in cell lines overexpressing a wild-type ALK, led to a marked decrease of cell proliferation. Altogether, these data identify ALK as a critical player in neuroblastoma development that may hence represent a very attractive therapeutic target in this disease that is still frequently fatal with current treatments.     

Comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of key genes and signaling pathways in glioma

The identification of specific survival-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) is a method for uncovering therapeutic approaches for various cancers, including glioma. However, the key target genes associated with the occurrence and development of gliomas remain unknown. In this study, we performed bioinformatics analysis on 17 GSE datasets and identified DEGs correlated with glioma. A total of 74 mutual-DEGs with downregulated expression in gliomas compared with that in normal brain tissues were found in 17 datasets. These DEGs were related to GABAergic synaptic transmission, chloride transmembrane transport, glutamate secretion, and gamma-aminobutyric acid signaling pathway. Gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor subunit gamma 2 (GABRG2) was identified as a hub gene in the protein-protein interaction network. GABRG2 exhibited lower expression in IDH wild-type astrocytoma than that in IDH mutant astrocytoma and indicated poor prognosis in glioma patients. GABRG2 may contribute to the progression of glioma by affecting GABA receptor-related pathways and is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of glioma.     

Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height

Most common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits, but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait. The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P?相似文献   

Somatic activation of the K-ras oncogene causes early onset lung cancer in mice

About 30% of human tumours carry ras gene mutations. Of the three genes in this family (composed of K-ras, N-ras and H-ras), K-ras is the most frequently mutated member in human tumours, including adenocarcinomas of the pancreas ( approximately 70-90% incidence), colon ( approximately 50%) and lung ( approximately 25-50%). To construct mouse tumour models involving K-ras, we used a new gene targeting procedure to create mouse strains carrying oncogenic alleles of K-ras that can be activated only on a spontaneous recombination event in the whole animal. Here we show that mice carrying these mutations were highly predisposed to a range of tumour types, predominantly early onset lung cancer. This model was further characterized by examining the effects of germline mutations in the tumour suppressor gene p53, which is known to be mutated along with K-ras in human tumours. This approach has several advantages over traditional transgenic strategies, including that it more closely recapitulates spontaneous oncogene activation as seen in human cancers.     

有氧运动对肺腺癌吉非替尼获得性耐药的影响

目的:分析不同强度有氧运动对肺腺癌吉非替尼获得性耐药的影响,并探讨其潜在机制及临床意义.方法:建立由吉非替尼诱导的肺腺癌耐药细胞系PC-9-GR.通过ROS相关指标试剂盒、Western blot及流式细胞术检测亲本细胞系PC-9与耐药细胞系PC-9-GR中ROS相关指标、缺氧诱导因子1(HIF-1)与乙醛脱氢酶1(A...     

基于低氧-免疫DNA甲基化标记在肺腺癌预后中的开发

为了探究缺氧和免疫联合分析DNA甲基化位点在肺癌预后中的作用,提高肺癌免疫治疗的有效性,本研究基于甲基化和转录组二维数据,构建了一个用于预后评估的风险评分模型．从TCGA数据库中下载了247个与缺氧、免疫状态相关的去冗余肺癌样本作为训练集．然后对低缺氧-强免疫状态的样本、高缺氧-弱免疫状态的样本进行了差异基因表达、甲基化位点和临床生存率分析．生存曲线分析显示,低缺氧状态-强免疫状态组中的肺腺癌患者的1、3、5年生存率均优于高缺氧状态-弱免疫状态组（log-rank检验,P<0.05、P<0.001、P<0.001）．使用LASSO回归构建的多基因预后模型包含9个甲基化位点,在肺腺癌测试数据集和验证数据集中均显示出良好的预后预测能力（AUC=0.83,0.80,0.82）．这9个甲基化位点分别分布在PEBP4、FLI1、HLA-DMB、MYO1F、ABCC2、AKNA、ETS1、CCR7和TXNRD1基因上．此外,我们从5年生存曲线中发现,在低缺氧-强免疫状态组中高表达的PEBP4、CCR7、FLI1、AKNA、HLA-DMB、MYO1F和低表达的ABCC2基因也可作为...     

氧化石墨烯对人肺腺癌细胞的毒性产生的剂量效应

氧化石墨烯(GO)具有比表面积大、亲水性、溶液分散性好等独特的理化性质,而日趋广泛应用在生物医学。目前,在其低剂量下暴露细胞的生物安全性方面的报道很少,本实验选取GO,并对其理化性质表征。制备成浓度为0μg/m L、2μg/m L、4μg/m L、8μg/m L、16μg/m L、32μg/m L使其暴露24 h在体外培养的人肺腺癌细胞A549,检测胞内超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、丙二醛(MDA)、过氧化氢酶(CAT的活性,以及胞内的蛋白含量,荧光染色检测细胞产生的活性氧(ROS)的含量。MTT检测24 h、48 h、72 h细胞活性。结果表明,GO暴露24 h,8μg/m L对A549的活性具有最高促进作用。胞内SOD、CAT活性显著升高,蛋白含量增加,胞内ROS、MDA的含量降低。结论是GO对A549细胞活性具有双重性,低浓度下下调细胞内ROS,降低GO对A549的氧化损伤,从而提升细胞活性;高浓度下对细胞产生氧化损伤,抑制细胞活性。     

Phospholipid flippase associates with cisplatin resistance in plasma membrane of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells

The fusion of the liposomes containing N-(7-nitro-2, 1, 3-benzoxadiazol-4-yl)-i ,2-hexadecanoylSn-glycero-3-1abeled phosphatidylethanolamine (NBD-PE) with A549 and A549/DDP cells was performed, and the activity of the phospholipid flippase in the plasma membrane of the cells was measured by fluorescence intensity change of NBDPE in the outer membrane. When A549 or A549/DDP cells containing N BD-PE were incubated at 37 C for 0, 30, 60 and 90 min, the fluorescence intensities in the outer membrane of the cells were 0%, 1.4%, 2.9% and 7.8% for A59cells, and 0%, 10.5 %, 15. 5 % and 18.3 % for A549/DDP cells respectively, demonstrating that the phospholipid flippase was distributed in the plasma membrane of As49 cells, but its activity in the drug-resistant A549/DDP cells was much higher than that in the A549 cells. When the A549/DDP cells were incubated with a multidrug resistance reverse agent, verapamil, for 60 min at 37C, the results showed that the NBD-PE in outer membrane decreased by 25.0% compared with the control's. Furthermore, when A549/DDP cells were incubated with 25 μmol/L cisplatin, which is a specific anticancer drug, the flippase activity decreased by 31.6%, and it further decreased with the increase of cisplatin concentration, suggesting that phospholipid flippase in the membrane might be related to the cisplatin-resistance of human lung adenocarcinoma cancer cells.     

Activation of Ki-ras2 gene in human colon and lung carcinomas by two different point mutations

Kirsten (Ki)-ras cDNA clones were prepared from human lung and colon carcinoma cell lines expressing an activated c-Ki-ras2 gene. DNA sequence analysis and transfection studies indicate that different point mutations at the same codon can activate the gene; that most human c-Ki-ras2 mRNA uses sequences from a fourth coding exon distinct from that of its viral counterpart; and that at least one cell line is functionally homozygous for the activated gene.     

Somatic stem cell niche tropism in Wolbachia

Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria found in the reproductive tissue of all major groups of arthropods. They are transmitted vertically from the female hosts to their offspring, in a pattern analogous to mitochondria inheritance. But Wolbachia phylogeny does not parallel that of the host, indicating that horizontal infectious transmission must also occur. Insect parasitoids are considered the most likely vectors, but the mechanism for horizontal transfer is largely unknown. Here we show that newly introduced Wolbachia cross several tissues and infect the germline of the adult Drosophila melanogaster female. Through investigation of bacterial migration patterns during the course of infection, we found that Wolbachia reach the germline through the somatic stem cell niche in the D. melanogaster germarium. In addition, our data suggest that Wolbachia are highly abundant in the somatic stem cell niche of long-term infected hosts, implying that this location may also contribute to efficient vertical transmission. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of an intracellular parasite displaying tropism for a stem cell niche.     

肺癌A549细胞COX-2与MMP-2表达的关系

目的:探讨肺癌A549细胞环氧化酶-2(COX-2)表达和基质金属蛋白酶-2(MMP-2)表达之间可能潜在的关系.方法:①用Western blot法检测对照组和干预组(5、10、15μg/mL脂多糖(LPS)干预12 h,10 μg/mL的LPS干预6、12、24 h)A549细胞MMP-2蛋白质表达;②用ELISA法检测对照组和干预组A549细胞培养上清液COX-2活性产物前列腺素E2(PGE2)及MMP-2的变化.结果:①在5、10、15μg/mL的LPS 12 h诱导下,肺癌A549细胞MMP-2蛋白表达及MMP-2和PGE2的分泌增加;②10 μg/mL的LPS干预肺癌A549细胞6、12、24 h后MMP-2蛋白表达及MMP-2和PGE2的分泌增加;③肺癌A549细胞PGE2与MMP-2正相关(r1=0.980,r2=0.975).结论:①肺癌A549细胞PGE2与MMP-2密切相关;②肺癌A549细胞可能通过激活肺癌A549细胞MMP-2,参与肺癌的侵袭与转移.     

Two-Party Authenticated Key Agreement in Certificateless Public Key Cryptography

0 Introduction To simplify the management of certificates of tradi- tional PKI, Shamir[1] proposed the identity-based public key cryptography (ID-PKC) in which the public key of each party is derived directly from certain aspects of its identity, for exam…