Cellular Basis of Tissue Regeneration by Omentum

The omentum is a sheet-like tissue attached to the greater curvature of the stomach and contains secondary lymphoid organs called milky spots. The omentum has been used for its healing potential for over 100 years by transposing the omental pedicle to injured organs (omental transposition), but the mechanism by which omentum helps the healing process of damaged tissues is not well understood. Omental transposition promotes expansion of pancreatic islets, hepatocytes, embryonic kidney, and neurons. Omental cells (OCs) can be activated by foreign bodies in vivo. Once activated, they become a rich source for growth factors and express pluripotent stem cell markers. Moreover, OCs become engrafted in injured tissues suggesting that they might function as stem cells

IkB-α-specific transcript regulation by the C-terminal end of c-Rel

AbstractThe NF-kB family transcription factor c-Rel is a critical molecule for inducing expression of cytokine genes by T cells. Here, we report that a deletion of the C-terminal end, similar to the deletion in the highly oncogenic chicken v-Rel gene, renders c-Rel hyperactive toward cytokine gene promoters. At the same time, this mutation dramatically reduced c-Rel activity in induction of IkB-α mRNA expression. Moreover, ectopic expression of IkB-α, along with the C-terminal truncated c-Rel, abrogates hyperactivity of this mutant. IkB-α co-expression did not affect the function of wild-type c-Rel. The data demonstrate that the C-terminal end of c-Rel has specific activity for IkB-α mRNA expression and is dispensable for IL-2 gene expression