Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027960 (mole)
 21,279 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Tumor-specific immunohistochemical markers are valuable in the differential diagnosis of malignant small round cell tumors (MSRCTs). The cone-rod homeobox-containing gene (CRX) is a transcription factor that is preferentially expressed in retinal photoreceptor cells. It has been shown that the CRX antibody is a good immunohistochemical marker to differentiate retinoblastoma from other intracranial MSRCTs. Outside of the central nervous system, however, the usefulness of CRX immunohistochemistry in establishing a diagnosis of metastatic retinoblastoma is uncertain, as the expression of CRX in primitive neuroectodermal tumor/Ewing sarcoma (PNET/ES), neuroblastoma, and other MSRCTs is unknown. Archival specimens from resections, core biopsies, and bone marrow biopsies of 41 neuroblastomas, 24 PNET/ES, 19 embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas, 17 alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas, 17 Wilms tumors, 14 desmoplastic small round cell tumors, 20 medulloblastomas, 9 pineal tumors, 17 melanocytic tumors (compound and Spitz nevi), and 8 retinoblastomas were immunostained for CRX. All retinoblastomas had strong diffuse nuclear immunoreactivity for CRX; 8 of the 20 medulloblastomas showed strong nuclear immunoreactivity either in occasional clusters of tumor cells or in rare single scattered tumor cells; 3 of the 9 pineal tumors showed strong nuclear immunoreactivity in approximately 40% to 50% of the tumor cells. Neuroblastomas, PNET/ES, embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas, alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas, Wilms tumors, desmoplastic small round cell tumors, and melanocytic tumors were all negative. Scant nonspecific cytoplasmic staining was observed in some tumors, mostly PNET/ES. These findings suggest that CRX is a useful marker to discriminate metastatic retinoblastoma from other, more common, MSRCTs of childhood.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical expression of CRX in extracranial malignant small round cell tumors. 2279 Aug 57

Bats comprise 20% of all mammalian species and display a number of characteristics, including true flight, echolocation, and a heightened ability to resist viral load that uniquely position this group for comparative genomic studies. Here we searched for evidence of genomic variation consistent with sensory rewiring through bat evolution. We focused on two species with divergent sensory preferences. Myotis davidii is a bat species that echolocates and possesses dim- but not daylight-adapted vision whereas the black flying fox (Pteropus alecto) has highly developed day vision but does not echolocate. Using the naked mole rat as a reference, we found five functional genes (CYP1A2, RBP3, GUCY2F, CRYBB1, and GRK7) encoding visual proteins that have degenerated into pseudogenes in M. davidii but not P. alecto. In a second approach genome-wide codon usage bias (CUB) was compared between the two bat species. This CUB ranking systematically enriched for vision-related (CLN8, RD3, IKZF1, LAMC3, CRX, SOX8, VAX2, HPS1, RHO, PRPH2, and SOX9) and hearing-related (TPRN, TMIE, SLC52A3, OTOF, WFS1, SOD1, TBX18, MAP1A, OTOS, GPX1, and USH1G) machinery in M. davidii but not P. alecto. All vision and hearing genes selectively enriched in M. davidii for which orthologs could be identified also were more biased in the echolocating M. lucifugus than the nonecholocating P. vampyrus. We suggest that the existence of codon bias in vision- and hearing-related genes in a species that has evolved echolocation implies CUB is part of evolution's toolkit to rewire sensory systems. We propose that the two genetic changes (pseudogene formation and CUB) collectively paint a picture of that incorporates a combination of destruction and gain-of-function. Together, they help explain how natural selection has reduced physiological costs associated with the development of a smaller eye poorly adapted to day vision but that also contribute to enhanced dim light vision and the hearing adaptations consonant with echolocation.
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PMID:Sensory rewiring in an echolocator: genome-wide modification of retinogenic and auditory genes in the bat Myotis davidii. 2509 39