results like other cancers, prostate cancer is caused by an accumulation of genetic alterations in a cell that drives it to malignant growth. specific genes and gene alterations have been suggested to play a role in its development and progression. aneuploidy, loss of heterozygosity, gene mutations, hypermethylation and inactivation of specific tumour suppressor genes such as gstpi, apc, mdr1, ...

Biomaterials that are similar to skeletal muscle extracellular matrix have been shown to augment regeneration in ischemic muscle. In this study, treatment with a collagen-based matrix stimulated molecular myogenesis in an mdx murine model of necrosis. Matrix-treated animals ran ≥ 40% further, demonstrating functional regeneration, and expressed increased levels of myogenic transcripts. By contr...

The chemokine-like receptor-1 (CMKLR1) is a G protein-coupled receptor that is activated by chemerin, a secreted plasma leukocyte attractant and adipokine. Previous studies identified that CMKLR1 is expressed in skeletal muscle in a stage-specific fashion during embryogenesis and in adult mice; however, its function in skeletal muscle remains unclear. Based on the established function of CMKLR1...

Previous work has indicated that signals from the neural tube, notochord, and surface ectoderm promote somitic myogenesis. Here, we show that somitic myogenesis is under negative regulation as well; BMP signaling serves to inhibit the activation of MyoD and Myf5 in Pax3-expressing cells. Furthermore, we show that the BMP antagonist Noggin is expressed within the dorsomedial lip of the dermomyot...

BACKGROUND Basic helix loop helix (bHLH) proteins play a critical role in the differentiation of not only striated muscle cells but also adipocytes, neuron cells and smooth muscle cells. Previous studies have established in vitro mouse mesangial cells (MCs) to maintain the differentiated smooth muscle phenotype. MATERIALS AND METHODS The purpose of the present study was to clone bHLH proteins...

Studies in vitro suggest that mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 4 (Map4k4) attenuates insulin signaling, but confirmation in vivo is lacking since Map4k4 knockout is lethal during embryogenesis. We thus generated mice with floxed Map4k4 alleles and a tamoxifen-inducible Cre/ERT2 recombinase under the control of the ubiquitin C promoter to induce whole-body Map4k4 deletion af...

Although proper tongue development is relevant to other structures in the craniofacial region, the molecular details of muscle development in tongue remain poorly understood. Here, we report that pregnant mice treated with retinoic acid (+RA) produce embryos with tongue malformation and a cleft palate. Histological analyses revealed that at E14.5, the tongues of +RA fetuses failed to descend an...