N-Myc is a transcription factor that forms heterodimers with the protein Max and binds gene promoters by recognizing a DNA sequence, CACGTG, called E-box. The identification of N-myc target genes is an important step for understanding N-Myc biological functions in both physiological and pathological contexts. In this study, we describe the identification of N-Myc-responsive genes through chroma...

The aim of this study was to clarify the significance of DNA methylation alterations during lung carcinogenesis. Infinium assay was performed using 139 paired samples of non-cancerous lung tissue (N) and tumorous tissue (T) from a learning cohort of patients with lung adenocarcinomas (LADCs). Fifty paired N and T samples from a validation cohort were also analyzed. DNA methylation alterations o...

intoduction: acute myeloid leukemia (aml) is a heterogeneous group of hematologic malignancies with abundant changeability in the pathogenesis. dna methylation of cpg islands within the promoters of specific genes may play roles in tumor initiation and progression. secreted frizzled-related proteins (sfrps) are negative regulator of the wnt signaling pathway. in the present study, we examined t...

gastric cancer (gc) is the second most common cancer in the world and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. methylation of promoter cpg islands (cgis) belonging to tumor suppressor genes causes transcriptional silencing of their corresponding genes leading to carcinogenesis and other disorders. adenomatous polyposis coli (apc) a tumor suppressor gene is inactivated by methylation of prom...

objective: e-cadherin is widely down-regulated and tightly associated with tumor invasion and metastasis in multiple human cancer types. recent studies have shown that aberrant methylation of the e-cadherin gene promoter contributes to its silencing. however, information regarding epigenetic inactivation of e-cadherin in colorectal cancer is insufficient. herein, we correlate association of the...

Phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) N-methyltransferase activities were studied in rat heart sarcolemmal and sarcoplasmic reticular fractions after a single intraperitoneal injection of isoproterenol (0.5-5.0 mg/kg). Three active sites (I, II, and III) for PtdEtn N-methylation were assayed by measurement of [3H]methyl group incorporation from 0.055, 10, and 150 microM S-adenosyl-L-[methyl-3H]meth...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES ZAP-70 expression is a recognized prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The aim of this study was to analyze whether the methylation status of the ZAP-70 gene is associated with expression of the ZAP-70 protein. DESIGN AND METHODS Patients with CLL (n=87), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n=13), mantle cell leukemia (n=13) and splenic marginal zone ly...

Excessive fibroproliferation is a central hallmark of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic, progressive disorder that results in impaired gas exchange and respiratory failure. Fibroblasts are the key effector cells in IPF, and aberrant expression of multiple genes contributes to their excessive fibroproliferative phenotype. DNA methylation changes are critical to the development of ma...

PURPOSE Down-regulation of Laminin-5 (LN5)-encoding genes (LAMA3, LAMB3, and LAMC2) has been reported in various human cancers. However, the mechanism of inactivation was not clearly understood until recently. In this study, we investigated the loss of expression of three LN5-encoding genes in breast cancer cell lines and elucidated the mechanism of silencing of the genes in breast cancer cell ...

Increasing evidence shows that DNA methylation is involved in the development and progression of diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications. Previous studies conducted by our group have indicated that high glucose levels may induce the demethylation process of the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) gene promoter and increase the expression of CTGF in human glomerular mesangial cells. Base...