Human embryonic stem cells and human embryonal carcinoma cells have been studied extensively with respect to the transcription factors (OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG), epigenetic modulators and associated signalling pathways that either promote self-renewal or induce differentiation in these cells. The ACTIVIN/NODAL axis (SMAD2/3) of the TGFß signalling pathway coupled with FGF signalling maintains self...

The transcription factor Elf3, which is one of over 25 Ets family members, is expressed in a wide variety of carcinomas and has been shown to promote the transcription of many genes implicated in cancer. To understand how the Elf3 gene is regulated at the transcriptional level, we probed its 5'-flanking region, and we report here the identification of both proximal and distal regions that regul...

Changes in the neuronal content of neurofilament proteins occur in some neuropathological conditions, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms that control both the cell type specificity and the levels of expression of neurofilament genes. In addition to TATA and Sp1 elements, we report here the presence in the neurofilament light (NF-L) promoter region of other regulatory elements, n...

T-cell factor 3 (TCF3), a downstream effector of Wnt signaling in embryonic stem (ES) cells, plays an important role in pluripotent self-renewal and proliferation. Loss of TCF3 delays the differentiation of mouse ES cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of TCF3 on embryonal carcinoma (EC). The mouse F9 EC cell line and a tumor-bearing mouse model were used to evaluate t...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs) are the most common malignancy in young men aged 18-35 years. They are clinically and histologically subdivided into seminomas and non-seminomas. Cadherins are calcium-dependent transmembrane proteins of the group of adhesion proteins. They play a role in the stabilization of cell-cell contacts, the embryonic morphogenesis, in the ma...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-β/δ (PPARβ/δ) has important physiological functions in control of cell growth, lipid and glucose homeostasis, differentiation and inflammation. To investigate the role of PPARβ/δ in cancer, stable human testicular embryonal carcinoma cell lines were developed that constitutively express PPARβ/δ. Expression of PPARβ/δ caused enhanced activation of the r...

The int-2 gene, which encodes a member of the fibroblast growth factor family, is expressed at specific sites and times during mouse development. In certain embryonal carcinoma cell lines, multiple int-2 transcripts accumulate when the cells are induced to differentiate with retinoic acid and dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Nuclear run-on analyses indicate that the apparent induction of int-2 expression ...

Use of chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin is limited because of its toxicity. Therefore, efforts continue for the discovery of novel combination therapies with cisplatin to reduce its effective treatment dose. This study evaluates the potential of fisetin, a flavonoid, to increase cisplatin cytotoxicity in human embryonal carcinoma NT2/D1 cells. Addition of fisetin to cisplatin enhanced cisplatin ...

Necdin is a 325 amino acid residue protein encoded by a cDNA clone isolated from neurally differentiated embryonal carcinoma cells. In situ hybridization histochemistry revealed that necdin mRNA-containing cells in vivo coincided with postmitotic neurons in the mouse brain from early periods of neurogenesis until adulthood. To study the regulation of necdin gene expression, we have isolated and...

Expression of hst (k-FGF, FGF-4), a member of the fibroblast growth factor gene family, is restricted to early stages of developing embryos and to embryonal carcinoma cells. In F9, which is a prototype of embryonal carcinoma cells expressing hst, the expression of hst gene is positively regulated by a downstream octamer motif that functions as an enhancer. We have investigated, by chloramphenic...