BACKGROUND TMPRSS2:ERG fusions are promising prostate cancer biomarkers. Because they can occur in multiple forms in a single cancer specimen, we developed a quantitative PCR test that detects both type III and type VI TMPRSS2:ERG fusions. The assay is quantified from a standard curve determined with a plasmid-cloned type III TMPRSS2:ERG fusion target. METHODS We collected expressed prostatic...

BACKGROUND Human and animal prion diseases are under genetic control, but apart from PRNP (the gene that encodes the prion protein), we understand little about human susceptibility to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions, the causal agent of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). METHODS We did a genome-wide association study of the risk of vCJD and tested for replication of our f...

In this report, we investigated the transforming properties of retinoic acid receptor beta (RAR beta). The v-erbA protein, which is the viral oncogenic homologue of the thyroid hormone receptor, was replaced by either the complete RAR beta (beta R) or a hepatitis B virus pre-S-RAR beta (H beta R) hybrid product in an avian erythroblastosis virus-based vector. In chicken hematopoietic cells, the...

Renal cell carcinoma is a rare but serious malignancy. Since a reduction in the level of retinoic acid receptor beta 2 (RARbeta2) expression in cancer cells due in part to histone hypoacetylation which is controlled by histone deacetylase (HD), the study on the interaction between cellular retinoic acid-binding proteins II (CRABP II), which is proposed to have its potential influence on retinoi...

Identity Other names: BAG-1, HAP, HAP46, RAP46 HGNC (Hugo): BAG1 Location: 9p13.3 DNA/RNA Description Centromere to telomerase orientation; 7 exons. Transcription 5 alternative transcripts; 1079 nucleotides mRNA. Protein Description Three isoforms generated by alternative translation initiation; 50kDa (BAG-1L), 46kDa (BAG-1M) and 36kDa (BAG-1S)(Yang et al., 1998). Each BAG-1 isoform contains a ...

To determine the hypermethylation status of the promoter regions of tumour suppressor genes in breast tissues from healthy women and identify the determinants of these epigenetic changes. Questionnaires and breast tissues were collected from healthy women without a history of cancer and undergoing reduction mammoplasty (N= 141). Methylation for p16(INK4), BRCA1, ERalpha and RAR-beta promoter re...

Most lung cancer cell lines do not express retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-beta in response to all-trans retinoic acid (RA) because of a defect in RARbeta gene transcription(RA-refractory cells). Here we investigated mechanisms of RA refractoriness in 14 lung cancer cell lines. Eleven cell lines were found to be RA refractory, and in the other three cell lines, RARbeta levels increased with RA tre...

PURPOSE High myopia or pathological myopia is a common refractive error. Individuals with high myopia are subject to increased risk of serious eye complications. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated the role for heritability in ocular growth and in the development of high myopia. Retinoic acid and retinoic acid receptors play important roles in ocular development and in experimentally induced...

Retinoic acid regulation of one member of the human class I alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene family was demonstrated, suggesting that the retinol dehydrogenase function of ADH may play a regulatory role in the biosynthetic pathway for retinoic acid. Promoter activity of human ADH3, but not ADH1 or ADH2, was shown to be activated by retinoic acid in transient transfection assays of Hep3B human h...

Ag-doped nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (Ag:HAp-NPs) (Ca10-xAgx(PO4)6(OH)2, xAg = 0.05, 0.2, and 0.3) with antibacterial properties are of great interest in the development of new products. Coprecipitation method is a promising route for obtaining nanocrystalline Ag:HAp with antibacterial properties. X-ray diffraction identified HAp as an unique crystalline phase in each sample. T...