Retinitis pigmentosa affects 50,000-100,000 people in the United States and about 1.5 million people worldwide. Patients usually report impaired adaptation, night blindness, and loss of mid-peripheral visual field in adolescence. As the condition progresses, they lose far-peripheral visual field and eventually lose central vision as well. Some patients have become blind as early as age 30. The ...

The increase in specific cell types represents one hallmark of metazoan evolution. It is paralleled by the acquisition of multigene families, which often encode proteins of similar structure but distinct function. One such family is represented by the intermediate filament protein (IF) family. Its members form part of the cytoskeleton of most metazoan cells. Vertebrate IF are organised into fiv...

Different somatic motor neuron subpopulations show a differential vulnerability to degeneration in diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy and spinobulbar muscular atrophy. Studies in mutant superoxide dismutase 1 over-expressing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis model mice indicate that initiation of disease is intrinsic to motor neurons, while progression is promot...

We would like to clarify the key aspects of ongoing discussion (Bedoya-Reina and Schlisio, 2021Bedoya-Reina O.C. Schlisio S. Chromaffin cells with sympathoblast signature: too similar keep apart?.Cancer Cell. 2021; 39: 134-135Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar; Dong et al., 2020Dong R. Yang Zhan Y. Lai H.D. Ye C.J. Yao X.Y. Luo W.Q. Cheng X.M. Miao J.J. Wang J.F. al.Single-...

B lymphocytes (B cells) play a key role in type 1A diabetes (T1D) via antigen presentation to T cells, but our understanding of their mechanism of action is still evolving (1–6). Pathogenic B cells recognize autoantigens, indicated by T1D-predictive autoantibodies against insulin, GAD65, transmembrane tyrosine phosphatase (IA-2), and zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) (7). These autoantibodies are not t...

PURPOSE To determine alterations in expression of genes in herpes simples virus (HSV)-1 latently infected mouse trigeminal ganglia (TGs), after treatment with cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone. METHODS Scarified corneas of female BALB/c mice were inoculated with HSV-1 strain McKrae. Four weeks after inoculation, cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone were intravenously injected to induce HSV-1 r...

Many inherited retinal degenerations are characterized by an initial rapid period of rod photoreceptor death. Although we still do not understand the complete pathways leading to execution of apoptosis, their destruction is perhaps not surprising, because in most cases in which the gene mutation has been identified, it involves loss or compromise of function of rod-specific proteins. Therefore,...