OBJECTIVES To define the pathogenesis of pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), by searching for highly expressed genes in primary synovial cells from patients with PVNS. METHODS A combination of subtraction cloning and Southern colony hybridisation was used to detect highly expressed genes in PVNS in comparison with rheumatoid synovial cells. Northern hybridisation was performed to confirm...

In the human the peptide Humanin is produced from the small Humanin gene which is embedded as a gene-within-a-gene in the 16S ribosomal molecule of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The peptide itself appears to be significant in the prevention of cell death in many tissues and improve cognition in animal models. By using simple data mining techniques, it is possible to show that 99.4% of the huma...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by overproduction of beta amyloid peptides in the brain with progressive loss of neuronal cells. The 42-aa form of the beta amyloid peptide (Abeta(42)) is implied as a major causative factor, because it is toxic to neurons and elicits inflammatory responses in the brain by activating microglial cells. Despite the overproduction of Abeta(42), AD brain ti...

Aging is influenced by endocrine pathways including the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF) axis. Mitochondrial function has also been linked to the aging process, but the relevant mitochondrial signals mediating the effects of mitochondria are poorly understood. Humanin is a novel signaling peptide that acts as a potent regulator of cellular stress responses and protects from ...

Humanin, a short bioactive peptide, inhibits cell death in a variety of cell-based death models through Humanin receptors in vitro. In vivo, Humanin ameliorates both muscarinic receptor antagonist-induced memory impairment in normal mice and memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD)-relevant mouse models including aged transgenic mice expressing a familial AD-linked gene. Recently, calmodul...

Humanin is a small secreted peptide that is encoded in the mitochondrial genome. Humanin and its analogues have a protective role in multiple age-related diseases including type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, through cytoprotective and neuroprotective effects both in vitro and in vivo. However, the humanin-mediated signaling pathways are not well understood. In this paper, we demonstrate t...

Humanin is a small endogenous antiapoptotic peptide, originally identified as protective against Alzheimer's disease, but subsequently also found on human endothelium as well as carotid artery plaques. Endothelial dysfunction is a precursor to the development of atherosclerotic plaques, which are characterized by a highly proinflammatory, reactive oxygen species, and apoptotic milieu. Previous ...

Abstract Transcriptomic screens of brain tumor (glioblastoma; GBM) parenchymal cells indicated supporting traits the GBM microenvironment, but largely excluded mitochondrially enriched gene-sets. Here, we show that a mitochondrial transcript contributes to therapy resistance. We inspected non-coding transcriptome human associated myeloid (GAM) and observed an upregulation ribosomal subunit MT-R...

Excitatory neurotoxicity has been implicated in many pathological situations and there is no effective treatment available. Humanin is a 24-aa peptide cloned from the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present study, excitatory toxicity was induced by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) in primarily cultured rat cortical neurons. MTT assessment, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release,...