News deserts in Europe : assessing risks for local and community media in the 27 EU member states

Published online: July 2023. Preliminary report - Literature review and methodologyThis preliminary report consists of a literature review of the existing research on EU countries regarding the state of local and community media, with the final aim of identifying the relevant theoretical and practical dimensions for understanding the phenomenon of “news deserts” in a European context. This report anticipates a wider study that will be published in January 2024 in the context of the project “Local Media for Democracy” (LM4D), which aims at supporting local, regional and community media in emerging ‘news deserts’ in Europe.The production and publication of this report is co-funded by the European Union as part of the Local Media for Democracy project. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union can be held responsible for them

Nuclear BAG-1 expression inhibits apoptosis in colorectal adenoma-derived epithelial cells

BAG-1 is an anti-apoptotic protein that is frequently deregulated in a variety of malignancies including colorectal cancer. There are three isoforms: BAG-1L is located in the nucleus, BAG-1M and BAG-1S are located both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. In colon cancer, the expression of nuclear BAG-1 is associated with poorer prognosis and is potentially a useful predictive factor for distant metastasis. However, the function of BAG-1 in colonic epithelial cells has not been studied. Having previously shown a predominant nuclear localisation of BAG-1 in adenoma-derived cell lines,1 we wanted to determine the function of nuclear BAG-1 in these non-tumourigenic cells, to identify whether nuclear BAG-1 was implicated in tumour progression in the colon. In the current report we established that nuclear BAG-1 inhibits apoptosis in a colorectal adenoma-derived cell line. We demonstrate that apoptosis induced by ?-radiation or the vitamin D analogue EB1089 in the non-tumourigenic human colorectal adenoma-derived S/RG/C2 cell line, was preceded by a decrease in nuclear and an increase in cytoplasmic BAG-1 expression. This change in subcellular localisation of BAG-1 was due to the redistribution of the BAG-1M isoform. In addition, we have shown that the maintenance of high nuclear BAG-1 through enforced expression of the nuclear localised BAG-1L isoform enhanced cellular survival after ?-radiation or exposure to EB1089. Furthermore the expression of cytoplasmic BAG-1S isoform fused with a nuclear localisation signal protected against ?-radiation induced apoptosis. This demonstrates that nuclear localisation of the BAG-1 protein confers a survival advantage in colorectal adenoma-derived cells and that nuclear BAG-1 could potentially be an important survival factor in colorectal carcinogenesi