Loss of p16Ink4a confers susceptibility to metastatic melanoma in mice.

CDKN2A (INK4a/ARF) is frequently disrupted in various types of human cancer, and germline mutations of this locus can confer susceptibility to melanoma and other tumours. However, because CDKN2A encodes two distinct cell cycle inhibitory proteins, p16INK4a and p14ARF (p19Arf in mice), the mechanism of tumour suppression by CDKN2A has remained controversial. Genetic disruption of Cdkn2a(p19Arf) (hereafter Arf) alone predisposes mice to tumorigenesis, demonstrating that Arf is a tumour-suppressor gene in mice. We mutated mice specifically in Cdkn2a(p16Ink4a) (hereafter Ink4a). Here we demonstrate that these mice, designated Ink4a*/*, do not show a significant predisposition to spontaneous tumour formation within 17 months. Embryo fibroblasts derived from them proliferate normally, are mortal, and are not transformed by oncogenic HRAS. The very mild phenotype of the Ink4a*/* mice implies that the very strong phenotypes of the original Ink4a/ArfDelta2,3 mice were primarily or solely due to loss of Arf. However, Ink4a*/Delta2,3 mice that are deficient for Ink4a and heterozygous for Arf spontaneously develop a wide spectrum of tumours, including melanoma. Treatment of these mice with the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) results in an increased incidence of melanoma, with frequent metastases. Our results show that, in the mouse, Ink4a is a tumour-suppressor gene that, when lost, can recapitulate the tumour predisposition seen in humans.     

p15Ink4b is a critical tumour suppressor in the absence of p16Ink4a

The CDKN2b-CDKN2a locus on chromosome 9p21 in human (chromosome 4 in mouse) is frequently lost in cancer. The locus encodes three cell cycle inhibitory proteins: p15INK4b encoded by CDKN2b, p16INK4a encoded by CDKN2a and p14ARF (p19Arf in mice) encoded by an alternative reading frame of CDKN2a (ref. 1). Whereas the tumour suppressor functions for p16INK4a and p14ARF have been firmly established, the role of p15INK4b remains ambiguous. However, many 9p21 deletions also remove CDKN2b, so we hypothesized a synergistic effect of the combined deficiency for p15INK4b, p14ARF and p16INK4a. Here we report that mice deficient for all three open reading frames (Cdkn2ab-/-) are more tumour-prone and develop a wider spectrum of tumours than Cdkn2a mutant mice, with a preponderance of skin tumours and soft tissue sarcomas (for example, mesothelioma) frequently composed of mixed cell types and often showing biphasic differentiation. Cdkn2ab-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) are substantially more sensitive to oncogenic transformation than Cdkn2a mutant MEFs. Under conditions of stress, p15Ink4b protein levels are significantly elevated in MEFs deficient for p16Ink4a. Our data indicate that p15Ink4b can fulfil a critical backup function for p16Ink4a and provide an explanation for the frequent loss of the complete CDKN2b-CDKN2a locus in human tumours.     

Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders

Advanced age is the main risk factor for most chronic diseases and functional deficits in humans, but the fundamental mechanisms that drive ageing remain largely unknown, impeding the development of interventions that might delay or prevent age-related disorders and maximize healthy lifespan. Cellular senescence, which halts the proliferation of damaged or dysfunctional cells, is an important mechanism to constrain the malignant progression of tumour cells. Senescent cells accumulate in various tissues and organs with ageing and have been hypothesized to disrupt tissue structure and function because of the components they secrete. However, whether senescent cells are causally implicated in age-related dysfunction and whether their removal is beneficial has remained unknown. To address these fundamental questions, we made use of a biomarker for senescence, p16(Ink4a), to design a novel transgene, INK-ATTAC, for inducible elimination of p16(Ink4a)-positive senescent cells upon administration of a drug. Here we show that in the BubR1 progeroid mouse background, INK-ATTAC removes p16(Ink4a)-positive senescent cells upon drug treatment. In tissues--such as adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and eye--in which p16(Ink4a) contributes to the acquisition of age-related pathologies, life-long removal of p16(Ink4a)-expressing cells delayed onset of these phenotypes. Furthermore, late-life clearance attenuated progression of already established age-related disorders. These data indicate that cellular senescence is causally implicated in generating age-related phenotypes and that removal of senescent cells can prevent or delay tissue dysfunction and extend healthspan.     

Long-term haematopoietic reconstitution by Trp53-/-p16Ink4a-/-p19Arf-/- multipotent progenitors

Haematopoiesis is maintained by a hierarchical system where haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) give rise to multipotent progenitors, which in turn differentiate into all types of mature blood cells. HSCs maintain themselves for the lifetime of the organism because of their ability to self-renew. However, multipotent progenitors lack the ability to self-renew, therefore their mitotic capacity and expansion potential are limited and they are destined to eventually stop proliferating after a finite number of cell divisions. The molecular mechanisms that limit the proliferation capacity of multipotent progenitors and other more mature progenitors are not fully understood. Here we show that bone marrow cells from mice deficient in three genes genetically downstream of Bmi1--p16Ink4a, p19Arf and Trp53 (triple mutant mice; p16Ink4a and p19Arf are alternative reading frames of the same gene (also called Cdkn2a) that encode different proteins)--have an approximately 10-fold increase in cells able to reconstitute the blood long term. This increase is associated with the acquisition of long-term reconstitution capacity by cells of the phenotype c-kit+Sca-1+Flt3+CD150-CD48-Lin-, which defines multipotent progenitors in wild-type mice. The pattern of triple mutant multipotent progenitor response to growth factors resembles that of wild-type multipotent progenitors but not wild-type HSCs. These results demonstrate that p16Ink4a/p19Arf and Trp53 have a central role in limiting the expansion potential of multipotent progenitors. These pathways are commonly repressed in cancer, suggesting a mechanism by which early progenitor cells could gain the ability to self-renew and become malignant with further oncogenic mutations.     

Stem-cell ageing modified by the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16INK4a

Stem-cell ageing is thought to contribute to altered tissue maintenance and repair. Older humans experience increased bone marrow failure and poorer haematologic tolerance of cytotoxic injury. Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in older mice have decreased per-cell repopulating activity, self-renewal and homing abilities, myeloid skewing of differentiation, and increased apoptosis with stress. Here we report that the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16INK4a, the level of which was previously noted to increase in other cell types with age, accumulates and modulates specific age-associated HSC functions. Notably, in the absence of p16INK4a, HSC repopulating defects and apoptosis were mitigated, improving the stress tolerance of cells and the survival of animals in successive transplants, a stem-cell-autonomous tissue regeneration model. Inhibition of p16INK4a may ameliorate the physiological impact of ageing on stem cells and thereby improve injury repair in aged tissue.     

Increasing p16INK4a expression decreases forebrain progenitors and neurogenesis during ageing

Mammalian ageing is associated with reduced regenerative capacity in tissues that contain stem cells. It has been proposed that this is at least partially caused by the senescence of progenitors with age; however, it has not yet been tested whether genes associated with senescence functionally contribute to physiological declines in progenitor activity. Here we show that progenitor proliferation in the subventricular zone and neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb, as well as multipotent progenitor frequency and self-renewal potential, all decline with age in the mouse forebrain. These declines in progenitor frequency and function correlate with increased expression of p16INK4a, which encodes a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor linked to senescence. Ageing p16INK4a-deficient mice showed a significantly smaller decline in subventricular zone proliferation, olfactory bulb neurogenesis, and the frequency and self-renewal potential of multipotent progenitors. p16INK4a deficiency did not detectably affect progenitor function in the dentate gyrus or enteric nervous system, indicating regional differences in the response of neural progenitors to increased p16INK4a expression during ageing. Declining subventricular zone progenitor function and olfactory bulb neurogenesis during ageing are thus caused partly by increasing p16INK4a expression.     

Interplay of p53 and DNA-repair protein XRCC4 in tumorigenesis, genomic stability and development

XRCC4 is a non-homologous end-joining protein employed in DNA double strand break repair and in V(D)J recombination. In mice, XRCC4-deficiency causes a pleiotropic phenotype, which includes embryonic lethality and massive neuronal apoptosis. When DNA damage is not repaired, activation of the cell cycle checkpoint protein p53 can lead to apoptosis. Here we show that p53-deficiency rescues several aspects of the XRCC4-deficient phenotype, including embryonic lethality, neuronal apoptosis, and impaired cellular proliferation. However, there was no significant rescue of impaired V(D)J recombination or lymphocyte development. Although p53-deficiency allowed postnatal survival of XRCC4-deficient mice, they routinely succumbed to pro-B-cell lymphomas which had chromosomal translocations linking amplified c-myc oncogene and IgH locus sequences. Moreover, even XRCC4-deficient embryonic fibroblasts exhibited marked genomic instability including chromosomal translocations. Our findings support a crucial role for the non-homologous end-joining pathway as a caretaker of the mammalian genome, a role required both for normal development and for suppression of tumours.     

自同构群阶为16p的有限幂零群

给出自同构群阶为16p(p为奇素数)的有限幂零群的完全分类.     

大学英语四、六级统考改革之我见

教育部关于改革大学英语四、六级统考的方案,引起高校各有关人士的关注。笔者通过对部分高校有关领导、教师及学生的问卷调查,比照历年出版的教学大纲所设定的教学目标,反思统考实施十多年来对高校及师生的教学实践所起的导向作用,进而探讨分析了统考继续存在的利弊,并对如何更合理地借鉴这一考试机制,推出适应社会需要的考核体系提出了建议。     

毛冠鹿p16^INK4基因第二外显子序列分析

采用PCR扩增技术首次克隆毛冠鹿p16^INK4基因第二外显子，DNA杂交和序列分析发现，在307个碱基的第二外显子中仅有5个碱基的差异，同源性达98．4％，p16^INK4基因的第二外显子是高度保守的区域，在其功能中起重要作用。     

自同构群阶为16p3(P为奇素数)的有限幂零群

利用有限幂零群G的自同构群Aut(G)的阶来刻画群G的构造.在刻画的过程中,本文先通过某些有限P-群Q的自同构群Aut(Q)的阶来确定了群Q的结构,然后根据幂零群的性质:G可分解为它的所有Sylpi(G)(i=1,…,n)的直积,通过分类讨论的Aut(P1)阶,从而给出了自同构群阶为16p3(p为奇素数)的有限幂零群的...     

16-19世纪马铃薯在中国的传播

马铃薯在明末引进中土,随即成为皇家的珍馐。乾隆中叶后,人口增加,急需增加粮食产量,再加上户口管理放松,农民有了迁徙自由,马铃薯才得以向全国推广。马铃薯在各地引种后,很快融入本地风土,形成很多别名,彼此混淆。厘清其名称演变,可以使马铃薯引进推广的过程更加清晰。     

原发性子宫内膜癌与p16基因突变及蛋白表达关系的研究

目的研究p16蛋白表达与原发性子宫内膜癌发生发展的关系和p16基因缺失突变及点突变在原发性子宫内膜癌发生发展中的地位.方法利用免疫组织化学方法、聚合酶链反应和聚合酶链反应-单链构象多态性分析技术,分别检测正常子宫内膜组织、子宫内膜癌前病变组织及原发性子宫内膜癌组织,观察p16蛋白和p16基因缺失突变及点突变.结果1)p16蛋白阳性表达率在正常子宫内膜组织和子宫内膜癌前病变组织中表达率分别为92.78%和90.00%,两者相比无差异性;在原发性子宫内膜癌组织中为66.67%,明显低于正常子宫组织及癌前病变组织;2)在42例原发性性子宫内膜癌组织中有14例发生p16基因缺失突变,4例发生了p16基因点突变,突变率为分别为33.33%和9.6%,正常子宫颈组织和子宫内膜癌前病变组织未发现p16基因缺失突变和点突变.结论1)在原发性子宫内膜癌发生发展过程中,p16蛋白的表达在高分化癌明显低于低分化癌,表明p16蛋白缺乏与子宫颈细胞增殖失控及分化不良紧密相关.2)原发性子宫内膜癌存在p16基因点突变,以低分化癌多见,但不是较频繁的事件;原发性子宫内膜癌存在p16基因缺失突变,以低分化癌多见,是较频繁的事件.3)p16蛋白表达与p16基因突变的相关性未被发现.     

复杂离子Tc~(16+)3p~6 3d~9,3p~5 3d~(10),3p~6 3d~8 4p组态原子参数的计算

用多组态自洽场方法,结合我们提出的半经验拟合公式,计算了高离化态类钻Tc~(16+)离子3p~63d~9,3p~53d~(10),3p~63d~84p组态的能级、波长和振子强度,并与实验符合得较好。