The proapoptotic factors Reaper, Hid, Grim, and Sickle regulate apoptosis in Drosophila by inhibiting the antiapoptotic factor DIAP1 (Drosophila inhibitor of apoptosis 1). Heat, UV light, x-rays, and developmental signals can all increase the proapoptotic factors, but the control of transcription of the diap1 gene is unclear. We show that in imaginal discs the single Drosophila STAT protein (ST...

Ionizing radiation exposure is associated with activation of certain immediate-early genes that function as transcription factors. These include members of jun or fos and early growth response (EGR) gene families. In particular, the functional role of EGR-1 in radiation-induced signaling is pivotal since the promoter of EGR-1 contains radiation inducible CArG DNA sequences. The Egr-1 gene belon...

The human neutrophil spontaneously undergoes apoptosis, but this type of cell death can be delayed or accelerated by a wide variety of agents. There are wide discrepancies in the literature regarding the expression of the Bcl-2 family of proteins in human neutrophils. Here, we show that A1, Mcl-1, Bcl-X(L), and Bad are major transcripts in human neutrophils and that levels of these transcripts ...

Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults and characterized by a poor prognosis. Glioma cells expressing O(6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) exhibit a higher level of resistance toward alkylating agents, including the standard of care chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide. Here, we demonstrate that long-term glioma cell lines (LTL) as well as glioma-initiating ce...

After glioma pathogenesis-related protein 1 (GLIPR1/Glipr1) was identified, the expression of GLIPR1 was shown to be down-regulated in human prostate cancer, owing in part to methylation in the regulatory region of this gene in prostate cancer cells. Additional studies showed that GLIPR1/Glipr1 expression is induced by DNA-damaging agents independent of p53. Functional analysis of GLIPR1 using ...

We found that MEK1 inhibitor PD184352 strikingly increased apoptosis induced by arsenic trioxide (ATO) in 21 of 25 patients with primary acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Isobologram analysis confirmed the synergistic (13 of 25 patients) or additive (8 of 25 patients) nature of this interaction. Moreover, we demonstrated that the p53-related gene p73 is a molecular target of the combined treatm...

Summary Calreticulin (CALR) is a highly conserved multi-function protein that primarily localizes within the lumen of endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It participates in various processes cells, including glycoprotein chaperoning, regulation Ca 2+ homeostasis, antigen processing and presentation for adaptive immune response, cell adhesion/migration, proliferation, immunogenic death, gene expression ...