objective: gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors, and have been ranked as the fourth leading cause of cancer death. tumor mesenchymal-like stem cells (tmscs) contribute to the aggressive behavior of glial tumors by providing a favorable microenvironment for the malignant cells. the aims of our study were to identify differential proteome of tmscs derived from low vs. high grade gliom...

Smooth muscle-22α (SM22α), encoded by transgelin (TAGLN), is expressed in mesenchymal lineage cells, including myofibroblasts and smooth muscle cells. It is an F-actin binding protein that regulates the organization of actin cytoskeleton, cellular contractility and motility. SM22α is crucial for the maintenance of smooth muscle cell phenotype and its function. SM22α is also expressed in the pro...

Signaling through platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α (PDGFRα) is required for alveolar septation and participates in alveolar regeneration after pneumonectomy. In both adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, bipotent pdgfrα-expressing progenitors expressing delta-like ligand-1 or sex-determining region Y box 9 (Sox9) may differentiate into either lipid storage cells or myofibroblasts. We ana...

Ranking as the fourth commonest cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) represents one of the leading causes of cancer death in China. One of the main reasons for the low survival rate is that neoplasms in esophagus are not detected until they have invaded into surrounding tissues or spread throughout the body at advanced stages. A better understanding of the malignant mechanism and e...

The use of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) differentiated toward a smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotype may provide an alternative for investigators interested in regenerating urinary tract organs such as the bladder where autologous smooth muscle cells cannot be used or are unavailable. In this study we measured the effects of good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant expansion followed by my...

BACKGROUND Transgelin-2 (TAGLN2) is a member of the calponin family of actin-bundling proteins that is involved in the regulation of cell morphology, motility, and cell transformation. Here, the clinical significance and potential function of TAGLN2 in malignant gliomas were investigated. METHODS Molecular and clinical data was obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Gene ontol...

The reduced expression in immortalized cells (REIC)/Dickkopf (Dkk)-3, a member of the Dkk gene family, is a tumor suppressor in a broad range of cancers. REIC/Dkk-3 transfected stable clones of mouse prostate cancer RM9 cells (RM9-REIC) and the empty vector-transfected control clone cells (RM9-EV) were established. Clones were used to evaluate the anti-cancer effects and a proteomics analysis o...

Increased blood glucose concentrations promote reactions between glucose and proteins to form advanced glycation end-products (AGE). Circulating AGE in the blood plasma can activate the receptor for advanced end-products (RAGE), which is present on both endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). RAGE exhibits a complex signaling that involves small G-proteins and mitogen activated pro...

Embryonic development is a highly coordinated set of processes that depend on hierarchies of signaling and gene regulatory networks, and the disruption of such networks may underlie many cases of chemically induced birth defects. The antiepileptic drug valproic acid (VPA) is a potent inducer of neural tube defects (NTDs) in human and mouse embryos. As with many other developmental toxicants how...

The role of smooth muscle endothelinB (ETB) receptors in regulating vascular function, blood pressure (BP), and neointimal remodeling has not been established. Selective knockout mice were generated to address the hypothesis that loss of smooth muscle ETB receptors would reduce BP, alter vascular contractility, and inhibit neointimal remodeling. ETB receptors were selectively deleted from smoot...