The repression mechanisms by the nuclear receptor corepressor (N-CoR) of steroid hormone receptor (SHR)-mediated transactivation were examined. Yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-N-CoR was distributed as intranuclear discrete dots, while coexpression of androgen receptor (AR), glucocorticoid receptor alpha, and estrogen receptor alpha ligand-dependently triggered redistribution of YFP-N-CoR. In f...

Characterizing the cortical representation of the body surface is fundamental to understanding the neural basis of human somatic sensation. Monkey studies benefited from the detailed somatotopic maps obtained from electrophysiology methods. Advances in noninvasive neuroimaging techniques now permit such questions to be probed in humans. The present study characterizes the detailed somatotopic r...

We have shown previously that chronic low-dose arsenic exposure induces malignant transformation of human skin keratinocyte HaCaT cells. In this study, we found that several isoforms of aldo-keto reductase 1C (AKR1C) were overexpressed in arsenic-exposed HaCaT cells. The AKR1C family of proteins are phase I drug-metabolizing enzymes involved in maintenance of steroid homeostasis, prostaglandin ...

Repression of mRNA translation is linked to the formation of specific cytosolic foci such as stress granules and processing bodies, which store or degrade mRNAs. In neurons, synaptic activity regulates translation at the post-synapse and this is important for plasticity. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor stimulation downregulates translation, and we speculate that this is linked to the forma...

Molecular and cellular responses to protracted ionizing radiation exposures are poorly understood. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, we studied the kinetics of DNA repair foci formation in normal human fibroblasts exposed to X-rays at a dose rate of 4.5 mGy/min for up to 6 h. We showed that both the number of γH2AX foci and their integral fluorescence intensity grew linearly with time of irr...

The activation of genetic constructs including the Drosophila hsp70 promoter with four and eight HSE sequences in the regulatory region has been described in human cells. The promoter was shown to be induced at lower temperatures compared to the human hsp70 promoter. The promoter activity increased after a 60-min heat shock already at 38 °C in human cells. The promoter activation was observed 2...

The Mre11/Rad50/NBS1 (MRN) protein complex and ATMIN protein mediate ATM kinase signaling in response to ionizing radiation (IR) and chromatin changes, respectively. NBS1 and ATMIN directly compete for ATM binding, but the molecular mechanism favoring either NBS1 or ATMIN in response to specific stimuli is enigmatic. Here, we identify the E3 ubiquitin ligase UBR5 as a key component of ATM activ...

It has been reported that cancer stem cells may contribute to glioma radioresistance through preferential activation of the DNA damage checkpoint response and an increase in DNA repair capacity. We have examined DNA repair in five stem and nonstem glioma cell lines. The population doubling time was significantly increased in stem compared with nonstem cells, and enhanced activation of Chk1 and ...