Allele losses in the region 17q12-21 in familial breast and ovarian cancer involve the wild-type chromosome.

A predisposing gene for breast and ovarian cancer has recently been mapped to chromosome 17q12-21. If this gene is a tumour suppressor gene, allele losses would be expected in the tumours of affected family members and the losses should affect the wild-type chromosome, reflecting the need for inactivation of the wild-type allele at the predisposing locus. In four multiple case breast-ovarian cancer families, we have found that in each of nine tumours which showed allele losses, the losses were from the wild-type chromosome. This suggests that the putative 'breast-ovarian' cancer gene is indeed a tumour suppressor gene.     

The interaction of free radicals in protein and melanin

Résumé L'addition de mélanine au blanc d'uf frais diminue la concentration des radicaux libres due à la lumière de 366 mµ. Cela permet de supposer que la mélanine agit comme un capteur d'électrons.     

Efficiency of anthracene as a suspended scintillator for counting aqueous nickel-63 samples

Zusammenfassung Die Zählausbeute einer Anthrazenkristallsuspension als Szintillatormaterial wurde für die Betastrahlung des Ni-63-Isotops untersucht. Die Methode ist eine anpassungsfähige Ergänzung zur bekannten Flüssigkeitsszintillationsmessung.

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The authors are grateful to Dr.J. D. Punch of Medical College of Virginia for the use of his liquid scintillation spectrometer.     

α-Tocopherol (Vitamin E): Reduction of urethan-induced respiratory depression in mitochondria

Résumé La dépression induite par l'uréthane sur la respiration des mitochondries a été mesurée en présence de la vitamin E (-tocophérol). Ces agents furent utilisés in vitro et aussi injectés intrapéritonellement. Nos résultats montrent que l'apport de vitamine enraye la diminution de la respiration causée par l'uréthane. Ils attestent le rôle que joue l'uréthane dans la carcinogénèse et la necessité de poursuivre ces expériences sur une plus grande échelle.     

Human transforming growth factor-alpha causes precocious eyelid opening in newborn mice

Both murine and human epidermal growth factors (EGFs) are known to cause precocious opening of the eyelids in newborn mice. Another set of peptides that are structurally and functionally homologous to murine and human EGFs are the murine and human type-alpha transforming growth factors (TGF-alpha s), TGF-alpha s have been found in many cancer cells and it has been suggested that their autocrine action may play an important part in malignant transformation. In several in vitro systems murine and human TGF-alpha s are functionally interchangeable with murine and human EGFs. However, the in vivo activity of the TGF-alpha s has not been characterized, as only small amounts of these peptides were available until recently. The cloning of the gene for human TGF-alpha and its expression in Escherichia coli now allow us to demonstrate that human TGF-alpha is as active as murine EGF in promoting eyelid opening in newborn mice. Furthermore, we show in a dose-dependent eyelid opening assay that human EGF is as potent as its murine homologue with respect to this biological property.     

Why the genome does not congeal.

Since the genes in any given organism have evolved together to produce an adaptive phenotype, one might expect that rearrangement by chromosomal recombination would be maladaptive and thus wiped out by natural selection. This article reviews various theories that explain why, on the contrary, recombination is almost universal.