The mechanism that initiates human parturition has been proposed to be functional progesterone withdrawal whereby the 116-kDa B isoform of the progesterone receptor (PR-B) switches in favor of the 94-kDa A isoform (PR-A) in reproductive tissues. Recently other PR isoforms, PR-S, PR-C, and PR-M generated from the same gene have been identified and partially characterized. Using immunohistochemic...

Previous studies from this laboratory have demonstrated that downregulation or the standard (1)44 isoform at the niRNA and protein level is associated with the acquisition of high metastatic ability within the Dunning R-3327 system of rat prostate cancers. Additional studies dem onstrated that transfection-induced enhanced expression of the standard < 1)44 isoform suppresses the metastatic abil...

The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a type III intermediate filament (IF) that highly expressed in astrocytes, neural stem cells, and gliomas. Gliomas are heterogeneous group of primary brain tumors arise from glia cells or rely on accurate diagnosis for prognosis treatment strategies. GFAP differentially between glioma subtypes and, therefore, often used as diagnostic marker. However...

In a previous study, evidence was provided for the presence of a novel plasma-membrane-associated neutral-pH-optimum alpha-L-fucosidase in rat sperm. In the present study, rat sperm alpha-L-fucosidase was characterized during epididymal maturation. The pH 7 activity optimum of alpha-L-fucosidase and its subunit composition (one or two closely spaced immunoreactive protein bands of about 53+/-2 ...

BACKGROUND The insulin receptor (IR) exists in two isoforms, A and B, and the isoform expression pattern is tissue-specific. The C-terminus of the insulin B chain is important for receptor binding and has been shown to contact the IR just adjacent to the region where the A and B isoforms differ. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of the C-terminus of the B chain in IR isofo...

Adenosine Deaminases Acting on RNA (ADARs) have been studied in many animal phyla, where they have been shown to deaminate specific adenosines into inosines in duplex mRNA regions. In Drosophila, two isoform classes are encoded, designated full-length (contains the editase domain) and truncated (lacks this domain). Much is known about the full-length isoform, which plays a major role in regulat...

The tumour suppressor Merlin, encoded by the gene NF2, is frequently mutated in the autosomal dominant disorder neurofibromatosis type II, characterised primarily by the development of schwannoma and other glial cell tumours. However, NF2 is expressed in virtually all analysed human and rodent organs, and its deletion in mice causes early embryonic lethality. Additionally, NF2 encodes for two m...

CTP synthase is an essential enzyme that plays a key role in energy metabolism. Several independent studies have demonstrated that CTP synthase can form an evolutionarily conserved subcellular structure termed cytoophidium. In budding yeast, there are two isoforms of CTP synthase and both isoforms localize in cytoophidium. However, little is known about the distribution of CTP synthase isoforms...