76 research outputs found

    Understanding TERT promoter mutations: a common path to immortality

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    Telomerase (TERT) activation is a fundamental step in tumorigenesis. By maintaining telomere length, telomerase relieves a main barrier on cellular lifespan, enabling limitless proliferation driven by oncogenes. The recently discovered, highly recurrent mutations in the promoter of TERT are found in over 50 cancer types, and are the most common mutation in many cancers. Transcriptional activation of TERT, via promoter mutation or other mechanisms, is the rate-limiting step in production of active telomerase. Although TERT is expressed in stem cells, it is naturally silenced upon differentiation. Thus, the presence of TERT promoter mutations may shed light on whether a particular tumor arose from a stem cell or more differentiated cell type. It is becoming clear that TERT mutations occur early during cellular transformation, and activate the TERT promoter by recruiting transcription factors that do not normally regulate TERT gene expression. This review highlights the fundamental and widespread role of TERT promoter mutations in tumorigenesis, including recent progress on their mechanism of transcriptional activation. These somatic promoter mutations, along with germline variation in the TERT locus also appear to have significant value as biomarkers of patient outcome. Understanding the precise molecular mechanism of TERT activation by promoter mutation and germline variation may inspire novel cancer cell-specific targeted therapies for a large number of cancer patients.Support was provided from a generous gift from the Dabbiere family(RJB,AM,JFC), the Hana Jabsheh Research Initiative (RJB,AM,JFC), and NIH grants NCI P50CA097257 (RJB,AM,JFC), P01CA118816-06 (RJB,AM,JFC), R01HG003008 (HTR), and R01CA163336 (JSS). Additional support was provided from the Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award (JSS), Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia SFRH/BD/88220/2012 (AXM), IF/00601/2012 (BMC), Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2—O Novo Norte) (BMC), Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (BMC), and Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (BMC).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter alterations across cancer types as detected by next-generation sequencing: A clinical and molecular analysis of 423 patients.

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    BACKGROUND: Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations that may affect telomerase activity have recently been described in human malignancies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical correlates of TERT promoter abnormalities in a large cohort of patients with diverse cancers. METHODS: This study analyzed TERT promoter alterations and clinical characteristics of 423 consecutive patients for whom molecular testing by next-generation sequencing was performed between August 2014 and July 2015. RESULTS: Of the 423 patients, 61 (14.4%) had TERT promoter mutations, and this placed TERT promoter alterations among the most prevalent aberrations after tumor protein 53 (TP53; 39%) and KRAS and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A/B (CDKN2A/B) alterations (15% each) in this population. TERT promoter alterations were more frequent in men (P = .031) and were associated with brain cancers (P = .001), skin cancers/melanoma (P = .001), and a higher number of aberrations (P = .0001). A co-alteration analysis found that TERT promoter alterations were significantly correlated with CDKN2A/B (P = .001) and BRAF abnormalities (P = .0003). Patients harboring TERT promoter alterations or TP53 or CDKN2A/B alterations and those with 4 or more alterations demonstrated shorter survival (hazard ratio for normal TERT promoters vs aberrant ones, 0.44; P = .017). However, only a higher number of alterations remained significant in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, TERT promoter alterations were among the most prevalent aberrations in this population, with very high rates in brain cancers (48% of patients) and melanomas (56% of patients). These aberrations frequently coexist with a high number of other aberrations, with the latter feature also significantly associated with poorer overall survival. Therapeutic options for targeting tumors with TERT promoter mutations are currently limited, although a variety of novel approaches are under development. Cancer 2018;124:1288-96. © 2017 American Cancer Society

    Effects of a recombinant gene expression on ColE1-like plasmid segregation in Escherichia coli

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Segregation of expression plasmids leads to loss of recombinant DNA from transformed bacterial cells due to the irregular distribution of plasmids between the daughter cells during cell division. Under non-selective conditions this segregational instability results in a heterogeneous population of cells, where the non-productive plasmid-free cells overgrow the plasmid-bearing cells thus decreasing the yield of recombinant protein. Amongst the factors affecting segregational plasmid instability are: the plasmid design, plasmid copy-number, host cell genotype, fermentation conditions etc. This study aims to investigate the influence of transcription and translation on the segregation of recombinant plasmids designed for constitutive gene expression in <it>Escherichia coli </it>LE392 at glucose-limited continuous cultivation. To this end a series of pBR322-based plasmids carrying a synthetic human interferon-gamma (hIFNγ) gene placed under the control of different regulatory elements (promoter and ribosome-binding sites) were used as a model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Bacterial growth and product formation kinetics of transformed <it>E. coli </it>LE392 cells cultivated continuously were described by a structured kinetic model proposed by Lee et al. (1985). The obtained results demonstrated that both transcription and translation efficiency strongly affected plasmid segregation. The segregation of plasmid having a deleted promoter did not exceed 5% after 190 h of cultivation. The observed high plasmid stability was not related with an increase in the plasmid copy-number. A reverse correlation between the yield of recombinant protein (as modulated by using different ribosome binding sites) and segregational plasmid stability (determined by the above model) was also observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Switching-off transcription of the hIFNγ gene has a stabilising effect on ColE1-like plasmids against segregation, which is not associated with an increase in the plasmid copy-number. The increased constitutive gene expression has a negative effect on segregational plasmid stability. A kinetic model proposed by Lee et al. (1985) was appropriate for description of <it>E. coli </it>cell growth and recombinant product formation in chemostat cultivations.</p

    The relationship between physical activity and sick-leave

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    Fysisk inaktivitet är ett globalt hälsoproblem och enligt forskning är det grunden till en stor del av folkhälsosjukdomarna vi drabbas av. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det fanns några signifikanta samband mellan fysisk aktivitet och sjukskrivning (&gt;14 dagar). Studieresultatet baserades på en enkätundersökning utförd på KMTI, Kurera.se och Facebook.com där totalt 82 personer deltog. Signifikanta samband mellan graden fysisk aktivitet och risken för sjukskrivning framkom i studien, där 77 procent av de fysiskt inaktiva respondenterna har varit eller är sjukskrivna. Detta kan jämföras med att bara 36 procent av de fysiskt aktiva har varit eller är sjukskrivna. Dock hittades inga signifikanta samband mellan graden fysisk aktivitet under sjukskrivningsperioden och antalet sjukskrivningsveckor

    Medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates biosynthesis in Pseudomonas putida mt-2 is enhanced by co-metabolism of glycerol/octanoate or fatty acids mixtures

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    International audienceThe synthesis of medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) by Pseudomonas putida mt-2 was investigated under nitrogen-rich then deficient conditions with glycerol/octanoate or long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) as carbon sources. When mixed, glycerol and octanoate were co-assimilated regardless of nitrogen availability but provided that glycerol uptake has been already triggered under non-limiting nutrient conditions. This concomitant consumption allowed to enhance mcl-PHAs accumulation (up to 57% of cell dry weight (CDW)) under both non-limiting and nitrogen deficient conditions. Octanoate then mostly drove anabolism of the polyester with 3-hydroxyoctanoate (3HO) synthesized as the main monomer (83%). If the preferred PHA precursor octanoate was supplied, glycerol was mainly involved in cell growth and/or maintenance but very little in PHA production even under nitrogen starvation. P. putida cells accumulated higher amounts of mcl-PHAs when grown on mixtures of LCFAs compared to LCFAs supplied as single substrate (25% and 9% of CDW, respectively). However, only a weak enrichment of the polyester was observed after transfer of cells in a fresh nitrogen-free medium containing the same combination of LCFAs. Some typical units within the polyester were related to the LCFAs ratio supplied in the medium indicating that tailor-made monomers could be synthesized
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