Transcriptional repressor Snail is a master regulator of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), yet the epigenetic mechanism governing Snail to induce EMT is not well understood. Here, we report that in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), elevated levels of the ubiquitin E3 ligase Ring1B and Snail, along with elevated monoubiquitination of H2A at K119 (H2AK119Ub1), are highly correlated ...

Intertidal snail-trematode communities in southern Thailand were examined before and after the South Asia tsunami. Infection rates and species diversity of cercaria in the host snail Cerithidea in tidal zones did not change significantly from one year before to one month after the tsunami. However, the host snails C. quadrata, C. alata and C. obtusa disappeared from greatly damaged sites. It is...

Delaminated neuroblasts in Drosophila function as stem cells during embryonic central nervous system development. They go through repeated asymmetric divisions to generate multiple ganglion mother cells, which divide only once more to produce postmitotic neurons. Snail, a zinc-finger transcriptional repressor, is a pan-neural protein, based on its extensive expression in neuroblasts. Previous r...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is considered to be one of the major molecular mechanisms inducing tumor invasion and metastasis. The loss of epithelial cell polarity is a hallmark of the EMT process. Epithelial markers such as Claudin are lost in EMT. Snail is a major transcription factor governing EMT. Recent studies about the mechanism of tumor invasion and m...

background: in this study the haemolymph components of infected and none infected lymnaea gedrosiana with xiphidiocercaria larvae was compared. methods: five hundred fifty lymnaea snails were collected from ilam and mazandaran prov­inces, iran, during 2008-2009. the snails were transported to the lab at tehran university of medi­cal sciences and their cercarial sheddings were studied. haemolmyp...

Patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria (IH) and genetic hypercalciuric stone-forming (GHS) rats, an animal model of IH, are both characterized by normal serum Ca, hypercalciuria, Ca nephrolithiasis, reduced renal Ca reabsorption, and increased bone resorption. Serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)(2)D] levels are elevated or normal in IH and are normal in GHS rats. In GHS rats, vitamin D rec...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the expression of the cell adhesion molecules E-cadherin and N-cadherin and the transcription factor Snail in invasive ductal breast carcinomas and to determine their relationships with clinicopathological features. METHODS Immunohistochemistry was used to examine E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Snail protein expression in 132 invasive breast carcinomas. RESULTS The expres...

In a genomewide anoikis suppression screen for metastasis genes, we previously identified the neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase TrkB. In mouse xenografts, activated TrkB caused highly invasive and metastatic tumors. Here, we describe that TrkB also induces a strong morphological transformation, resembling epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This required TrkB kinase activity, a functio...

The environment, the on-going global climate change and the ecology of animal species determine the localisation of habitats and the geographical distribution of the various species in nature. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of such changes on snail species not only of interest to naturalists but also of importance to human and animal health. The spatial distribution of freshwa...

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a normal developmental process, is known to play a crucial role in tumor progression. Molecules involved in this process, such as the E-cadherin repressor Snail, facilitate migration and invasion of carcinoma cells. A growing number of studies addressing the expression of Snail in clinical samples have been reported and are discussed in this review. A to...