Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027651 (tumor)
 685,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Over the past decade a large number of studies have focused attention on the role of nucleosomes as negative and positive regulators of specific nuclear functions. Due to the lack of an analytical method to determine the higher order conformation of the nucleosomal arrays that encompass specific genetic loci (e.g., promoters, enhancers), research emphasis has mostly been centered on chromatin remodeling and histone posttranslational modifications. We have recently developed an agarose gel electrophoresis method that permits us to analyze the higher order structure of specific in vivo assembled chromatin fragments. After calibration using a well-defined in vitro system, we have been able to experimentally determine the size, shape, and conformational flexibility of the Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus long-terminal repeat promoter region in its repressed and activated states. These studies pave the way for widespread analyses of the higher order structure of specific, functionally important chromosomal loci, and in so doing enhance our understanding of the roles that the higher order structure of chromatin play in genome regulations.
Biopolymers 2003 Apr
PMID:Quantitative characterization of specific genomic promoters using agarose gel electrophoresis. 1266 80

The combination of synchrotron IR microspectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy has led to the identification of specific IR signatures of apoptosis and necrosis at a single cell level. Apoptosis was induced by treatment of Fas+ tumor cell lines with anti-Fas monoclonal antibodies. Detection of the early and late stages of apoptosis was performed using conjugated annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate (AV-FITC) and propidium iodide. Very early cellular changes were detected by IR before externalization of phosphatidylserine and AV-FITC labeling, and they were probably linked to DNA unwinding. The IR signals at 1044, 1177, and 1222 cm(-1), as well as an intensity variation in the CHx stretching region, are the main signature changes of early and late apoptosis, in line with the hypothesis of DNA fragmentation. The increased intensity of the CHx stretching bands of the lipids was observed only at an early stage of apoptosis. Changes in the relative intensity of CH3 and CH2 stretching accompany this increased intensity, suggesting changes in the relative amount and/or type of lipids concomitant with an increased lipid content. Finally, necrotic cells were characterized by marked changes in their chemical composition because several new vibrational features were observed.
Biopolymers 2003
PMID:Chemical heterogeneity in cell death: combined synchrotron IR and fluorescence microscopy studies of single apoptotic and necrotic cells. 1294 27

The fragile histidine triad (FHIT) tumor suppressor gene incorporates the common human chromosomal fragile site at 3p14.2. The structure and expression of the FHIT gene are frequently altered in many cancers. The tumor suppressor activity of the FHIT gene has been previously demonstrated as potentially involving apoptotic induction. Here, mitochondria are implicated as being involved in the apoptotic activity of the FHIT gene. A number of morphological and biochemical events, including the disruption of the inner mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Delta Psi(m)) and the release of apoptogenic cytochrome c protein into the cytoplasm, are characteristic features of the apoptotic program. The proapoptotic activity of the FHIT gene is studied by investigating the loss of Delta Psi(m) in mitochondria and translocation of cytochrome c. Synchronous luminescence (SL) spectroscopy is applied to measure mitochondrial incorporation of rhodamine 123 for direct analysis of alterations in the mitochondrial Delta Psi(m). The SL methodology is based on synchronous excitation in which the excitation and emission wavelengths are scanned simultaneously while a constant wavelength interval is maintained between the excitation and emission monochromators. An enhanced collapse of Delta Psi(m) in apoptotically induced FHIT expressing cells compared to FHIT negative cells is observed. The loss of Delta Psi(m) is greatly restricted in the presence of the apoptotic inhibitor, cyclosporin A. Cytoplasmic translocation of cytochrome c in the FHIT expressing cells as an early event in apoptosis is also demonstrated. It is concluded that Fhit protein expression maintained apoptotic function by altering the Delta Psi(m) and by enhancing cytochrome c efflux from the mitochondria.
Biopolymers 2004 Mar
PMID:Implication of mitochondrial involvement in apoptotic activity of fragile histidine triad gene: application of synchronous luminescence spectroscopy. 1499 69

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have generated a great deal of interest in the clinical field since experimental studies showed the involvement of these species in carcinogenesis. This paper reports the detection of ROS during the decomposition of H2O2 in the presence of samples obtained from tissues of 16 patients with rectal carcinoma (age 64 +/- 9 years) operated on in the Division of Surgical Oncology of Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin (Poland). The samples were cut from the middle of the resected tumors and from the colonic mucosa (10 cm distant from the tumor and free of disease); they were processed and the supernatants, representing the soluble fraction, were used for measurements. Various methods for measuring free radical activity of the examined samples were used, such as chemiluminescence, fluorescent probe 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein, spin trap 5,5-dimethyl-pyrroline-1-oxide and EPR, the spectrophotometrically examined formation of diformazan during reduction of the p-nitroblue tetrazolium salt, and bleaching of p-nitrosodimethylalanine. A statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) was noticed in mean chemiluminescence +/- standard error of the mean in the presence of the tumor samples (42.6 +/- 7.3) in comparison to the control samples (234.6 +/- 36.0). Significantly decreased generation of ROS from the decomposition of H2O2 in the presence of the tumor samples in comparison to the control samples was also observed when the above-mentioned methods were used. Tumor samples had significantly lower superoxide dismutase activity (33 +/- 4 U/mg protein) than controls (93 +/- 14 U/mg, P < 0.001), which should contribute to a lower capacity of endogenous H2O2 production and therefore less ROS generation upon H2O2 decomposition. We conclude that the tested samples have different redox properties; this supports a possible role of ROS activity during carcinogenesis. Moreover, we propose a new, simple, and sensitive chemiluminescent method, which might be effective in sample differentiation.
Biopolymers 2004 Aug 05
PMID:Decreased reactive oxygen generation during H2O2 decomposition in the presence of samples from human rectal cancer. 1522 20

Mutations in the Drg1/RTP/Rit42 gene are commonly identified in hereditary neuropathies of the motor and sensory systems. This gene was also identified as a p53 target gene and a differentiation-related, putative metastatic suppressor gene in human colon and prostate cancer. In this study, we show that the Rit42 protein is a microtubule-associated protein that localizes to the centrosomes and participates in the spindle checkpoint in a p53-dependent manner. When ectopically expressed and exposed to spindle inhibitors, Rit42 inhibited polyploidy in several p53-deficient tumor cell lines and increased the population of cells in mitotic arrest. Blocking endogenous Rit42 expression by small interfering RNA in normal human mammary epithelial cells resulted in the disappearance of astral microtubules, and dividing spindle fiber formation was rarely detected. Moreover, these cells underwent microtubule inhibitor-induced reduplication, leading to a polyploidy state. Our findings imply that Rit42 plays a role in the regulation of microtubule dynamics and the maintenance of euploidy.
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PMID:Function of Drg1/Rit42 in p53-dependent mitotic spindle checkpoint. 1524 72

The astins, a family of natural antitumor cyclopeptides, from the roots of Aster tataricus, consist of a 16-membered ring system containing uncoded amino acid residues. The backbone conformation, with a cis-3,4-dichlorinated proline residue, plays an important role in antineoplastic activity. The acyclic astins, on the other hand, do not show antitumor activity, suggesting that the cyclic nature of astins may be a key role in their biological properties. Although the antineoplastic activity of natural astins has been screened in vitro and in vivo, the mechanism of action has never been investigated. With the aim at elucidating the influence of conformational flexibility on biological activity, we have designed and synthesized several astin analogues containing either Aib and the nonproteinogenic Abu and (S)beta3-hPhe residues, able to modify the peptide backbone structure, or the peptide bond surrogate -SO2-NH-. Tested for their antitumor effect, our astin-related cyclopeptides are able to inhibit the growth of tumor cell lines, while the acyclic astins are inefficacious. The present work reports on the structure-activity study of a selected synthetic cyclotetrapeptide corresponding to the sequence c[Thr-Aib-(S)beta3-hPhePsi(CH2-SO2-NH)-Abu], synthesized by classical methods and characterized conformationally by two-dimensional NMR and molecular dynamics analyses.
Biopolymers 2004
PMID:Influence of conformational flexibility on biological activity in cyclic astin analogues. 1537 84

Previously reported results suggest that the analogue of the somatostatin des-AA1,2,5[D-Trp8,IAmp9]-somatostatin (CH-275) peptide bearing chelating agents able to coordinate radioactive metals could be used for scintigraphic imaging of tumor lesions overexpressing sstr1. An efficient synthetic procedure for the preparation of the somatostatin analogue CH-275 and its conjugate DTPAGlu-Gly-CH-275, bearing the chelating agent DTPAGlu (DTPAGlu=N,N-bis[2-[bis(carboxy-ethyl)amino]ethyl]-L-glutamic acid) on the N-terminus, by solid-phase peptide synthesis and 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) chemistry, is here reported. Rapid and efficient labeling of DTPAGlu-Gly-CH-275 was achieved by addition of 111In(III) to the compound. Typical yields were greater than 97% as determined by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) at specific activities in the range 4-9 GBq/micromol (100-250 Ci/mmol). A preliminary biological assay of the binding ability of 111In-DTPAGlu-Gly-CH-275 indicates, however, that the labeled compound does not display any specific interaction with somatostatin sstr1 receptors in the tested cell lines. To confirm this unexpected negative result, competition binding experiments were carried out, in which fixed tracer amounts of the 125I-labeled somatostatin-14 were incubated with the receptor-expressing cells in the presence of DTPAGlu-Gly-CH-275 or CH-275 at concentrations ranging from 10(-10) to 10(-3) M. While CH-275 shows a IC50 of 80 nM similar to that already found in displacement experiments on CHO-K1 sstr1-transfected cells, DTPAGlu-Gly-CH-275 displays instead very low or negligible affinity towards this receptor. The NMR solution characterization indicates that the presence of DTPAGlu does not influence the conformational and chemical features of the peptide moiety, thus suggesting that the loss in binding activity should be due to steric hindrance of either the chelating agent DTPAGlu or its indium complex.
Biopolymers 2004
PMID:Peptide-chelating agent conjugate for selective targeting of somatostatin receptor type 1: synthesis and characterization. 1552 34

Id proteins are dominant negative regulators of the helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcription factors and are important during development, especially by preventing cell differentiation while inducing cell proliferation. In contrast, they are poorly expressed in healthy adults but are found in several tumor types. The Id HLH motif is responsible for the inhibitory activity, whereas not much is known about the role of the N- and C-termini. In the presented work, synthetic peptides reproducing the HLH, the N-terminal region, and the C-terminal region of the Id proteins were characterized by CD. The four HLH sequences built highly stable helical conformations, whereas the N- and C-termini were unstructured, with the exception of an alanine-rich fragment preceding the Id4 HLH motif. Deletion of the loop connecting the two helices led to helix destabilization for all four Id HLH peptides. In addition, modifications of the amino acid composition within the hydrophobic face of the helices of the Id1 HLH peptide induced conformational changes, mostly associated with loss of helix content. Moreover, a fragment containing the helix-2 and the C-terminus of the Id1 protein did not show any helical character. Therefore, both the helix propensity and stability of the HLH domain were shown to be strongly dependent on favorable interhelical contacts. In contrast, it is suggested that the regions beyond this domain could rather play a destabilizing role, for example, by increasing the flexibility of the folded protein.
Biopolymers 2005
PMID:Synthesis and conformational properties of protein fragments based on the Id family of DNA-binding and cell-differentiation inhibitors. 1588 Jul 94

Lung cancer is usually fatal once it becomes metastatic. However, in order to develop metastases, a tumor usually invades the basal membrane and enters the vascular or lymphatic system. In this study, a three-dimensional artificial membrane using collagen type I, one of the main components of basal membranes, was established in order to investigate tumor cell invasion. Lung cancer cell line CALU-1 was seeded on this artificial membrane and cell invasion was studied using the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging technique. This approach allowed identification of tumor cells invading the collagen type I membrane by means of their infrared spectra and images. The mapping images obtained with FTIR microspectroscopy were validated with standard histological section analysis. The FTIR image produced using a single wavenumber at 1080 cm(-1), corresponding to PO2- groups in DNA from cells, correlated well with the histological section, which clearly revealed a cell layer and invading cells within the membrane. Furthermore, the peaks corresponding to amide A, I, and II in the spectra of the invading cells shifted compared to the noninvading cells, which may relate to the changes in conformation and/or heterogeneity in the phenotype of the cells. The data presented in this study demonstrate that FTIR microspectroscopy can be a fast and reliable technique to assess tumor invasion in vitro.
Biopolymers 2005 Aug 15
PMID:Study of tumor cell invasion by Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy. 1589 20

Regulatory, receptor-binding peptides are considered as the agents of choice for diagnostic imaging and therapy of cancers, because their receptors are overexpressed in various human cancer cells. It has been recently indicated that there is a putative role of NPY in breast tumors. The expression of the two best-investigated NPY receptor subtypes, Y1 and Y2, in breast tissue shows predominant occurrence of the Y1 receptor subtype in tumors, whereas Y2 receptors are found in nonproliferative tissue. To investigate the usefulness of NPY analogs for tumor diagnosis and therapy, we investigated the metabolic stability of receptor-selective NPY analogs in human blood plasma. NPY analogs were synthesized by Fmoc/t-Bu solid-phase strategy. Prior to the cleavage of peptides from the resin, they were labeled with 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (CF) either at the N-terminus or at the side chain of Lys4. For the metabolic stability study, the digestion of peptides was monitored by HPLC and the cleavage products were identified by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry. The data showed that full-length [Phe7, Pro34]NPY analogs, which show high binding affinity to Y1 receptors are enzymatically more stable than centrally truncated analogs, which show high binding affinity to Y2 receptors. Furthermore, the N-terminally CF-labeled Y1 and Y2 receptor-selective peptides were found to be enzymatically more resistant than their counterparts containing the CF label at Lys4 side chain.
Biopolymers 2007
PMID:Identification of neuropeptide Y cleavage products in human blood to improve metabolic stability. 1720 50


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