In vitro gene manipulation of spinal muscular atrophy fibroblast cell line using gene-targeting fragment for restoration of SMN protein expression

WOS: 000369547400002PubMed ID: 26331341The reduced level of survival motor neuron (SMN) protein, caused by homozygous deletions in the SMN gene, led to a common neurodegenerative disorder known as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). In spite of extensive efforts to find a cure for SMA, there is currently no effective treatment available for this devastating disease. In this study, restoration of SMN expression through 'gene-targeting' method in SMA fibroblast cells was attempted. We designed a 2697-bp gene-targeting cassette; it consisted of an SMN1 open reading frame expressing 38 kD SMN protein and the upstream and downstream regions of exon 1 of SMN1 gene at the ends as the homology arms. SMA fibroblast cells were transfected by gene-targeting cassette using Lipofectamine LTX-PLUS reagent. Occurrence of homologous recombination in selected cells was investigated by PCR analysis. Increased expression of SMN protein was shown by real-time PCR and western blotting analysis. The immunofluorescence analysis results demonstrated that the number of SMN nuclear structures, Gems, was the same as or greater than the number of Gems found in normal fibroblasts. The results of this study indicate that gene-targeting methods do, in fact, present as an alternative for restoration of SMN expression in SMA patients-derived cells in vitro.Ege University Scientific Research Projects (APAK)Ege University [2012/TIP/033]We thank the Ege University Scientific Research Projects (APAK) for financial support (Grant Number 2012/TIP/033). We also express our sincere appreciation to Professor Dr Bahram Kazemi (Director of Medical Biotechnology Department, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences) for assistance in this study

Ponatinib regulates major signaling pathways in imatinib-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia cells

European Cancer Congress 2013 - 17th ECCO / 38th ESMO / 32nd ESTRO -- SEP 27-OCT 01, 2013 -- Amsterdam, NETHERLANDSWOS: 000326843605259European Conf Clin Oncol, European Soc Therapeut Radiol & Oncol, European Soc Med Oncol, European Soc Surg Oncol, European Assoc Canc Res, European Oncol Nursing Soc, European Soc Paediat Onco

human brain tumors

Background The Runx family proteins, including RUNX3, are tissue-restricted transcription factors and play role in neuronal development and tumorigenesis. RUNX3 has an important role in glioblastoma (GBM) tumorigenesis because of its promoter hypermethylation.Aim We aimed to evaluate the methylation-mediated expression regulation of RUNX3 gene in brain tumors.Patients and methods Cases of meningiomas WHO grade III (3), anaplastic astrocytomas (3), diffuse astrocytoma (3), and GBM (12) were recruited into this study. Real-time quantitative PCR was performed for analyses of DNA promoter methylation and analyses of methylation-mediated expression status of RUNX3 gene was performed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR.Results There was no significant difference between methylated and unmethylated quantitative ratio of RUNX3 gene promoter region and also no significant difference in relative ratio of RUNX3 gene expression in brain tumor groups. Methylated and unmethylated ratio in anaplastic astrocytoma, diffuse astrocytoma, GBM, meningioma (WHO grade III) and in all groups were; 1.44, 1.09, 1.51, 1.52 and 1.43, respectively. One allele was found methylated necessarily. No methylation was detected in one case of GBM group and one case of anaplastic astrocytoma group. There was no unmethylated promoter in one of the GBM cases. There were significant differences between relative ratio of RUNX3 gene expression and methylated/unmethylated ratio rates for all cases (p = 0.001) and GBM groups (p = 0.041).Conclusion This study overemphasized the RUNX3 gene importance in brain tumors, due to the existence of at least one methylated allele