A 45-year-old man with no medical history presented with behavioral changes. He was withdrawn from his family and friends. Home and finances had fallen into disorder. He was disheveled and incontinent of urine and feces. He lacked insight into his cognitive decline. His skin was bronzed and the examination was notable only for upgoing plantar responses. Peroxisomal fatty acid profile was elevat...

Filopodia are slender cellular protrusions that dynamically extend and retract to facilitate directional cell migration, pathogen sensing, and cell-cell adhesion. Each filopodium contains a rigid and organized bundle of parallel actin filaments, which are elongated at filopodial tips by formins and Ena/VASP proteins. However, relatively little is known about how the actin filaments in the filop...

Actin filaments, with the aid of multiple accessory proteins, self-assemble into a variety of network patterns. We studied the organization and dynamics of the actin network in nonadhesive regions of cells bridging fibronectin-coated adhesive strips. The network was formed by actin nodes associated with and linked by myosin II and containing the formin disheveled-associated activator of morphog...

DEP (for Disheveled, EGL-10, Pleckstrin) homology domains are present in numerous signaling proteins, including many in the nervous system, but their function remains mostly elusive. We report that the DEP domain of a photoreceptor-specific signaling protein, RGS9 (for regulator of G-protein signaling 9), plays an essential role in RGS9 delivery to the intracellular compartment of its functioni...

The hypertrophic response of the heart has been recognized recently as the net result of activation of prohypertrophic and antihypertrophic pathways. Here we report the involvement of the Wnt/Frizzled pathway in the onset of cardiac hypertrophy development. Stimulation of the Wnt/Frizzled pathway activates the disheveled (Dvl) protein. Disheveled subsequently can inhibit glycogen synthase kinas...

In order to better understand the mechanisms by which chondrocytes respond to mechanical stimulation, ATDC5 mouse embryonic carcinoma cells were induced to differentiate into chondrocytes and then exposed to mechanical loading. To specifically elucidate the role of this pathway, the localization and expression of proteins involved in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway were observed. Chondrogen...

Signaling via the conserved WNT/beta-CATENIN pathway controls diverse developmental processes. To explore its potential role in the ovary, we investigated the expression of WNTs, frizzled (FZD) receptors and other pathway components in human cumulus cells obtained from oocytes collected for in vitro fertilization. Proteins were detected in cultured cells using immunofluorescence microscopy. Pro...

background: candida albicans is one of the most important opportunistic pathogens that suppress immunologic mechanisms of the host. it is speculated that structural and secretory proteins of c. albicans have immunomodulatory effects in cancer. objective: to evaluate the effects of c. albicans structural and secreted proteins on intratumoral cd4/cd8 ratio as well as the survival rate in balb/c t...

The recent article of Amjad Hussain [1] reminded me of the famous old physician from Mosul, Iraq, aHmad ibn aby al’ash`ath (dec 975 AD) [‘ash`ath means disheveled] who was also a great and wise teacher and the renowned author of several medical books. He described the physiology of the stomach in a live lion in his book “a l g A y w a a l m u g t a y” which he finished writing in April 959 AD a...

Wnt ligands and their downstream pathway components coordinate many developmental and cellular processes. In adults, they regulate tissue homeostasis through regulation of stem cells. Mechanistically, signal transduction through this pathway is complicated by pathway components having both positive and negative roles in signal propagation. Here we examine the positive role of GSK-3/Zw3 in promo...