Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Doppler analysis of the uterine arteries is currently used for pre-eclampsia (PE) screening. PLAC1 is a trophoblast-specific gene, and it is known that in normal pregnancies, trophoblastic cells are released into the maternal circulation, where specific trophoblastic mRNA can be detected. In PE, as in women who eventually develop PE, an abnormal passage of fetal and placental cells is also present. In this study, we aimed to verify whether, in normal pregnancies, Doppler waveform of the uterine arteries correlates with PLAC1 mRNA concentrations. Thirteen cases of normal pregnancies at 37 weeks' gestation (23-41) were enrolled in the study. PLAC1 mRNA was extracted from 2 mL of blood by ABI PRISM 6100 nucleic acid Prep Station (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis was performed by a PE 5700 Sequence detection system. Bulk RNA from normal placental tissue was used as the reference curve, and the amount of PLAC1 mRNA in the study samples was then expressed as the "relative amount" of weight of placental tissue (ng/mL). The uterine arterial mean resistance index (RI) and presence/absence of a dicrote waveform were calculated by using a 5 MHz transabdominal probe (Tecnos, ESAOTE) at the uterine cervico-corporal junction. Doppler measurement was performed on the same day as blood collection. The median of the means of uterine arterial RI was 0.52 (0.39-0.68). RI of uterine arteries and PLAC1 mRNA were significantly correlated in a log-linear regression (R(2) = 0.483, P = 0.024). Our data support that in normal pregnancy, the passage of trophoblast material into the maternal circulation is correlated with the quantitative measurement of uterine hemodynamics.
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PMID:PLAC1 mRNA in maternal blood correlates with Doppler waveform in uterine arteries in normal pregnancies at the second and third trimester. 1710 2

Cancer-embryo antigens or developmentally restricted differentiation antigens (DRDAGs), such as PLAC1 (CT92) and developmental pluripotency associated-2 (DPPA2/CT100), are expressed in pluripotent embryonic cells. They are also recognized as cancer-testis antigens (CT) which are proteins normally expressed only in the human germ line but that are also present in a significant subset of malignant tumors. These antigens may prove to be markers of 'repopulating' cells with stem cell-like characteristics and could be critical targets for immunotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Our objective was to define the frequency of expression and immunogenicity of PLAC1 and DPPA2 in EOC and correlate expression with clinical outcome. One-step reverse transcriptase PCR was performed on 101 EOC samples and a panel of normal tissues. Expression of PLAC1 and DPPA2 in the EOC specimens was 21/101 (21%) and 31/101 (31%) respectively. In normal tissues, PLAC1 expression was restricted to the placenta while DPPA2 expression was restricted to the placenta and testis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were also performed on a subset of specimens. Humoral immunity was demonstrable in 2/12 serum samples from patients whose tumors expressed DPPA2. There was no demonstrable antibody response to PLAC1 in patients with PLAC1 positive tumors. The presence of PLAC1 and DPPA2 did not have a statistically significant effect on recurrence-free and overall survival. The tissue-restricted expression of PLAC1 and DPPA2, their expression in a significant proportion of EOC patients, and their potential to represent markers of stem cells make DRDAGs attractive targets for antigen-specific immunotherapy in EOC.
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PMID:Expression and serum immunoreactivity of developmentally restricted differentiation antigens in epithelial ovarian cancer. 1970