AIMS Notch signalling is essential for blood vessel formation. During angiogenesis, the Notch ligand DLL4 on the leading tip cell activates Notch receptors on the adjacent stalk cells. DLL4-Notch signalling is impaired by the Notch ligand JAG1 in endothelial cells. The Delta/Serrate/Lag2 (DSL) domain of the Notch ligands binds to the EGF-like repeats 11-13 of the Notch receptor. This study aime...

The Notch signaling pathway is important for cellular differentiation. The current view is that the Notch receptor is cleaved intracellularly upon ligand activation. The intracellular Notch domain then translocates to the nucleus, binds to Suppressor of Hairless (RBP-Jk in mammals), and acts as a transactivator of Enhancer of Split (HES in mammals) gene expression. In this report we show that t...

The Drosophila Notch gene encodes a transmembrane receptor involved in the regulation of cell fate. It exerts its effect by lateral specification, inductive signaling and is also important for cell adhesion and axonal pathfinding. In this report we analyse the expression of the three mammalian Notch homologues during early mouse development by in situ hybridization. The Notch 1, 2 and 3 genes s...

Notch receptor signaling regulates cell growth and differentiation, and core components of Notch signaling pathways are conserved from Drosophila to humans. Fringe glycosyltransferases are crucial modulators of Notch signaling that act on epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like repeats in the Notch receptor extracellular domain. The substrate of Fringe is EGF-O-fucose and the transfer of fucose to N...

NOTCH activation plays oncogenic roles in acute T-lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL). However, whether NOTCH is oncogenic or tumor-suppressive in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is still controversial. Herein, the roles of NOTCH in AML are reviewed. AML cells express NOTCH and NOTCH ligands; however, cell-autonomous activation is not observed. Activating NOTCH1 mutations are rare in AML, unlike in T...

T HE study of the U wave and of its clinical significance depends upon its accurate recognition. Accurate identification of the U wave is also needed for a correct determination of the Q-T duration. This identification is sometimes difficult because of superposition and fusion of the T and U waves. The term "superposition" is applied to patterns in which these waves are only partially merged an...

There are multiple mechanisms by which cells evade TGF-β-mediated growth inhibitory effects. In this report, we describe a novel mechanism by which cells become resistant to TGF-β-mediated growth suppression. Although having all the components of the TGF-β signaling pathway, different cell lines, RL, HaCaT, and BJAB, have different sensitivities toward TGF-β-induced growth suppression. The TGF-...

The Drosophila glucoside xylosyltransferase Shams xylosylates Notch and inhibits Notch signaling in specific contexts including wing vein development. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying context-specificity of the shams phenotype is not known. Considering the role of Delta-Notch signaling in wing vein formation, we hypothesized that Shams might affect Delta-mediated Notch signaling in ...

T -cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive leukemia with a poor outcome. The majority of human T-ALL has gain-of-function (activating) mutations in Notch-1,1 implicating Notch-1 as a central component in the pathogenesis of T-ALL. Notch proteins are widely expressed transmembrane receptors involved in many cellular processes such as differentiation, proliferation, and apoptos...