A laminin-like adhesive protein concentrated in the synaptic cleft of the neuromuscular junction

A striking example of topographic specificity in synapse formation is the preferential reinnervation of original synaptic sites on denervated muscle fibres by regenerating motor axons. This specificity is mediated by the basal lamina of the synaptic cleft. A glycoprotein, s-laminin, has now been identified that is selectively associated with synaptic basal lamina and is recognized by motoneurons. Molecular cloning reveals that s-laminin is a novel homologue of laminin, a potent promoter of neurite outgrowth.     

Distinct classes of chromosomal rearrangements create oncogenic ETS gene fusions in prostate cancer

Recently, we identified recurrent gene fusions involving the 5' untranslated region of the androgen-regulated gene TMPRSS2 and the ETS (E26 transformation-specific) family genes ERG, ETV1 or ETV4 in most prostate cancers. Whereas TMPRSS2-ERG fusions are predominant, fewer TMPRSS2-ETV1 cases have been identified than expected on the basis of the frequency of high (outlier) expression of ETV1 (refs 3-13). Here we explore the mechanism of ETV1 outlier expression in human prostate tumours and prostate cancer cell lines. We identified previously unknown 5' fusion partners in prostate tumours with ETV1 outlier expression, including untranslated regions from a prostate-specific androgen-induced gene (SLC45A3) and an endogenous retroviral element (HERV-K_22q11.23), a prostate-specific androgen-repressed gene (C15orf21), and a strongly expressed housekeeping gene (HNRPA2B1). To study aberrant activation of ETV1, we identified two prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP and MDA-PCa 2B, that had ETV1 outlier expression. Through distinct mechanisms, the entire ETV1 locus (7p21) is rearranged to a 1.5-megabase prostate-specific region at 14q13.3-14q21.1 in both LNCaP cells (cryptic insertion) and MDA-PCa 2B cells (balanced translocation). Because the common factor of these rearrangements is aberrant ETV1 overexpression, we recapitulated this event in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating that ETV1 overexpression in benign prostate cells and in the mouse prostate confers neoplastic phenotypes. Identification of distinct classes of ETS gene rearrangements demonstrates that dormant oncogenes can be activated in prostate cancer by juxtaposition to tissue-specific or ubiquitously active genomic loci. Subversion of active genomic regulatory elements may serve as a more generalized mechanism for carcinoma development. Furthermore, the identification of androgen-repressed and insensitive 5' fusion partners may have implications for the anti-androgen treatment of advanced prostate cancer.     

Texture of the nano-crystalline AlN thin films and the growth conditions in DC magnetron sputtering

DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique has been used for the preparation of Al N thin fi lms. The deposition temperature and the fl ow ratio of N2/Ar were varied and subsequent dependency of the fi lms crystallites orientation/texture has been addressed. In general, deposited fi lms were found hexagonal polycrystalline with a(002) preferred orientation. The X-ray diffraction(XRD) data revealed that the fi lm crystallinity improves,with the increase of substrate temperature from 300 ℃to 500℃. The dropped in full width half maximum(FWHM) of the XRD rocking curve value further con fi rmed it. However, increasing substrate temperature above 500 ℃or reducing the nitrogen condition(from 60 to 30% in the environment) induced the growth of crystallites with(102) and(103) orientations. The rise of rocking curve FWHM for the corresponding conditions depicted that the fi lms texture quality deteriorated. A further con fi rmation of the variation in fi lm texture/orentation with the growth conditions has been obtained from the variation in FWHM values of a dominant E1(TO) mode in the Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectra and the E2(high) mode in Raman spectra. We have correlated the columnar structure in AFM surface analyses with the(002) or c-axis orientation as well. Spectroscopic ellipsometry of the samples have shown a higher refractive index at 500 ℃growth temperature.