No proper rest in mitosis

No Rest for REST: REST/NRSF Regulation of Neurogenesis

Epigenetic strategies control the orderly acquisition and maintenance of neuronal traits. A complex network of transcriptional repressors and co-repressors mediates gene specificity for these strategies. In this issue of Cell, a study by Ballas and coworkers (Ballas et al., 2005) provides insight into the early lineage commitment events during neurogenesis. This study demonstrates that regulati...

No REST for fibroids.

G ood news: A long-awaited model for uterine fibroid tumor research is upon us (1). Historically, there has been a paucity of in vivo models for the study of fibroid tumors (i.e., leiomyomas), benign female pelvic organ tumors characterized by clonal proliferation of smooth muscle cells and expression of genes involved in fibrosis and extracellular matrix (ECM) production. This is staggering, c...

No time to rest.

No rest for fatigue researchers.

F atigue is the most important side effect of cancer and cancer treatment, according to a recent study of patients and professionals in major cancer centers across the United States. Led by David Cella, Ph.D., at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and Northwestern University's cancer center in Chicago, the study confirms not only that cancer-related fatigue is common but also that it affects pati...

NuMA is required for the proper completion of mitosis

NuMA is a 236-kD intranuclear protein that during mitosis is distributed into each daughter cell by association with the pericentrosomal domain of the spindle apparatus. The NuMA polypeptide consists of globular head and tail domains separated by a discontinuous 1500 amino acid coiled-coil spacer. Expression of human NuMA lacking its globular head domain results in cells that fail to undergo cy...