Microprobe investigation of brittle segregates in aluminum MIG and TIG welds

Quantitative microprobe analysis of segregated particles in aluminum MIG /Metal Inert Gas/ and TIG /Tungsten Inert Gas/ welds indicated that there were about ten different kinds of particles, corresponding to ten different intermetallic compounds. Differences between MIG and TIG welds related to the individual cooling rates of these welds

Quantification of Alternative Splicing Variants of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase and Correlations with Telomerase Activity in Lung Cancer

Telomerase plays important roles in the development and progression of malignant tumors, and its activity is primarily determined by transcriptional regulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). Several mRNA alternative splicing variants (ASVs) for hTERT have been identified, but it remains unclear whether telomerase activity is directly associated with hTERT splicing transcripts. In this study, we developed novel real-time PCR protocols using molecular beacons and applied to lung carcinoma cell lines and cancerous tissues for quantification of telomerase activity and three essential hTERT deletion transcripts respectively. The results showed that lung carcinoma cell lines consistently demonstrated telomerase activity (14.22–31.43 TPG units per 100 cells) and various hTERT alternative splicing transcripts. For 165 lung cancer cases, telomerase activity showed significant correlation with tumor differentiation (poorly->moderately->well-differentiated, P<0.01) and with histotypes (combined small cell and squamous cell carcinoma>squamous cell carcinoma>adenosquamous carcinoma>adenocarcinoma, P<0.05). Although the overall hTERT transcripts were detected in all the samples, they were not associated with telomerase activity (r = 0.092, P = 0.24). Telomerase activity was significantly correlated with the transcriptional constituent ratio of α-deletion (r = -0.267, P = 0.026), β-deletion (r = -0.693, P = 0.0001) and γ-deletion (r = –0.614, P = 0.001). The positive rate and average constituent ratio of β-deletion transcripts (92.12%, 0.23) were higher than those of α-deletion (41.82%, 0.12) or γ-deletion (16.36%, 0.18) transcripts. The combined small-cell and squamous cell carcinomas expressed less deletion transcripts, especially β-deletion, than other histotypes, which might explain their higher telomerase activity. In conclusion, the molecular beacon-based real-time PCR protocols are rapid, sensitive and specific methods to quantify telomerase activity and hTERT ASVs. Telomerase activity may serve as a reliable and effective molecular marker to assist the evaluation of histological subtype and differentiation of lung carcinomas. Further studies on hTERT deletion splicing transcripts, rather than the overall hTERT transcripts, may improve our understanding of telomerase regulation

Combined Analysis of Murine and Human Microarrays and ChIP Analysis Reveals Genes Associated with the Ability of MYC To Maintain Tumorigenesis

The MYC oncogene has been implicated in the regulation of up to thousands of genes involved in many cellular programs including proliferation, growth, differentiation, self-renewal, and apoptosis. MYC is thought to induce cancer through an exaggerated effect on these physiologic programs. Which of these genes are responsible for the ability of MYC to initiate and/or maintain tumorigenesis is not clear. Previously, we have shown that upon brief MYC inactivation, some tumors undergo sustained regression. Here we demonstrate that upon MYC inactivation there are global permanent changes in gene expression detected by microarray analysis. By applying StepMiner analysis, we identified genes whose expression most strongly correlated with the ability of MYC to induce a neoplastic state. Notably, genes were identified that exhibited permanent changes in mRNA expression upon MYC inactivation. Importantly, permanent changes in gene expression could be shown by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to be associated with permanent changes in the ability of MYC to bind to the promoter regions. Our list of candidate genes associated with tumor maintenance was further refined by comparing our analysis with other published results to generate a gene signature associated with MYC-induced tumorigenesis in mice. To validate the role of gene signatures associated with MYC in human tumorigenesis, we examined the expression of human homologs in 273 published human lymphoma microarray datasets in Affymetrix U133A format. One large functional group of these genes included the ribosomal structural proteins. In addition, we identified a group of genes involved in a diverse array of cellular functions including: BZW2, H2AFY, SFRS3, NAP1L1, NOLA2, UBE2D2, CCNG1, LIFR, FABP3, and EDG1. Hence, through our analysis of gene expression in murine tumor models and human lymphomas, we have identified a novel gene signature correlated with the ability of MYC to maintain tumorigenesis

Insights into the evolution of mammalian telomerase: Platypus TERT shares similarities with genes of birds and other reptiles and localizes on sex chromosomes

Background The TERT gene encodes the catalytic subunit of the telomerase complex and is responsible for maintaining telomere length. Vertebrate telomerase has been studied in eutherian mammals, fish, and the chicken, but less attention has been paid to other vertebrates. The platypus occupies an important evolutionary position, providing unique insight into the evolution of mammalian genes. We report the cloning of a platypus TERT (OanTERT) ortholog, and provide a comparison with genes of other vertebrates. Results The OanTERT encodes a protein with a high sequence similarity to marsupial TERT and avian TERT. Like the TERT of sauropsids and marsupials, as well as that of sharks and echinoderms, OanTERT contains extended variable linkers in the N-terminal region suggesting that they were present already in basal vertebrates and lost independently in rayfinned fish and eutherian mammals. Several alternatively spliced OanTERT variants structurally similar to avian TERT variants were identified. Telomerase activity is expressed in all platypus tissues like that of cold-blooded animals and murine rodents. OanTERT was localized on pseudoautosomal regions of sex chromosomes X3/Y2, expanding the homology between human chromosome 5 and platypus sex chromosomes. Synteny analysis suggests that TERT co-localized with sex-linked genes in the last common mammalian ancestor. Interestingly, female platypuses express higher levels of telomerase in heart and liver tissues than do males. Conclusions OanTERT shares many features with TERT of the reptilian outgroup, suggesting that OanTERT represents the ancestral mammalian TERT. Features specific to TERT of eutherian mammals have, therefore, evolved more recently after the divergence of monotremes.Radmila Hrdličková, Jiří Nehyba, Shu Ly Lim, Frank Grützner, Henry R Bose J