Brane-world Kaluza-Klein reductions and Branes on the Brane

We present a systematic study of a new type of consistent ``Brane-world Kaluza-Klein Reduction,'' which describe fully non-linear deformations of co-dimension one objects that arise as solutions of a large class of gauged supergravity theories in diverse dimensions, and whose world-volume theories are described by ungauged supergravities with one half of the original supersymmetry. In addition, we provide oxidations of these Ansatze which are in general related to sphere compactified higher dimensional string theory or M-theory. Within each class we also provide explicit solutions of brane configurations localised on the world-brane. We show that at the Cauchy horizon (in the transverse dimension of the consistently Kaluza-Klein reduced world-brane) there is a curvature singularity for any configuration with a non-null Riemann curvature or a non-vanishing Ricci scalar that lives in the world-brane. Since the massive Kaluza-Klein modes can be consistently decoupled, they cannot participate in regulating these singularities.Comment: latex, 30 page

A Novel Porcine In Vitro Model of the Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier with Strong Barrier Function

Epithelial cells of the plexus choroideus form the structural basis of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). In vitro models of the BCSFB presenting characteristics of a functional barrier are of significant scientific interest as tools for examination of BCSFB function. Due to a lack of suitable cell lines as in vitro models, primary porcine plexus epithelial cells were subjected to a series of selective cultivation steps until a stable continuous subcultivatable epithelial cell line (PCP-R) was established. PCP-R cells grow in a regular polygonal pattern with a doubling time of 28–36 h. At a cell number of 1.5×105 in a 24-well plate confluence is reached in 56–72 h. Cells are cytokeratin positive and chromosomal analysis revealed 56 chromosomes at peak (84th subculture). Employing reverse transcription PCR mRNA expression of several transporters and components of cell junctions could be detected. The latter includes tight junction components like Claudin-1 and -3, ZO-1, and Occludin, and the adherens junction protein E-cadherin. Cellular localization studies of ZO-1, Occludin and Claudin-1 by immunofluorescence and morphological analysis by electron microscopy demonstrated formation of a dense tight junction structure. Importantly, when grown on cell culture inserts PCP-R developed typical characteristics of a functional BCSFB including high transepithelial electrical resistance above 600 Ω×cm2 as well as low permeability for macromolecules. In summary, our data suggest the PCP-R cell line as a suitable in vitro model of the porcine BCSFB

Cyclin L1 (CCNL1) gene alterations in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

We evaluated the expression and amplification of cyclin L1 (CCNL1) gene, a potential oncogene localised in the commonly amplified 3q25–28 region, in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Overexpression was observed in 55 out of 96 cases (57%) and amplification in nine out of 35 tumours (26%) with no relationships to the clinico-pathological parameters. The Cyclin L1 antibody we developed labels nuclear speckles in tumour cells compatible with a role for CCNL1 in RNA splicing

Differential splicing using whole-transcript microarrays

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The latest generation of Affymetrix microarrays are designed to interrogate expression over the entire length of every locus, thus giving the opportunity to study alternative splicing genome-wide. The Exon 1.0 ST (sense target) platform, with versions for Human, Mouse and Rat, is designed primarily to probe every known or predicted exon. The smaller Gene 1.0 ST array is designed as an expression microarray but still interrogates expression with probes along the full length of each well-characterized transcript. We explore the possibility of using the Gene 1.0 ST platform to identify differential splicing events.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose a strategy to score differential splicing by using the auxiliary information from fitting the statistical model, RMA (robust multichip analysis). RMA partitions the probe-level data into probe effects and expression levels, operating robustly so that if a small number of probes behave differently than the rest, they are downweighted in the fitting step. We argue that adjacent poorly fitting probes for a given sample can be evidence of <it>differential </it>splicing and have designed a statistic to search for this behaviour. Using a public tissue panel dataset, we show many examples of tissue-specific alternative splicing. Furthermore, we show that evidence for putative alternative splicing has a strong correspondence between the Gene 1.0 ST and Exon 1.0 ST platforms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We propose a new approach, FIRMAGene, to search for differentially spliced genes using the Gene 1.0 ST platform. Such an analysis complements the search for differential expression. We validate the method by illustrating several known examples and we note some of the challenges in interpreting the probe-level data.</p> <p>Software implementing our methods is freely available as an <monospace>R</monospace> package.</p

Apoptosis of human melanoma cells induced by inhibition of B-RAFV600E involves preferential splicing of bimS

Bim is known to be critical in killing of melanoma cells by inhibition of the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway. However, the potential role of the most potent apoptosis-inducing isoform of Bim, BimS, remains largely unappreciated. Here, we show that inhibition of the mutant B-RAFV600E triggers preferential splicing to produce BimS, which is particularly important in induction of apoptosis in B-RAFV600E melanoma cells. Although the specific B-RAFV600E inhibitor PLX4720 upregulates all three major isoforms of Bim, BimEL, BimL, and BimS, at the protein and mRNA levels in B-RAFV600E melanoma cells, the increase in the ratios of BimS mRNA to BimEL and BimL mRNA indicates that it favours BimS splicing. Consistently, enforced expression of B-RAFV600E in wild-type B-RAF melanoma cells and melanocytes inhibits BimS expression. The splicing factor SRp55 appears necessary for the increase in BimS splicing, as SRp55 is upregulated, and its inhibition by small interfering RNA blocks induction of BimS and apoptosis induced by PLX4720. The PLX4720-induced, SRp55-mediated increase in BimS splicing is also mirrored in freshly isolated B-RAFV600E melanoma cells. These results identify a key mechanism for induction of apoptosis by PLX4720, and are instructive for sensitizing melanoma cells to B-RAFV600E inhibitors

Expansion-enhanced super-resolution radial fluctuations enable nanoscale molecular profiling of pathology specimens

Expansion microscopy physically enlarges biological specimens to achieve nanoscale resolution using diffraction-limited microscopy systems1. However, optimal performance is usually reached using laser-based systems (for example, confocal microscopy), restricting its broad applicability in clinical pathology, as most centres have access only to light-emitting diode (LED)-based widefield systems. As a possible alternative, a computational method for image resolution enhancement, namely, super-resolution radial fluctuations (SRRF)2,3, has recently been developed. However, this method has not been explored in pathology specimens to date, because on its own, it does not achieve sufficient resolution for routine clinical use. Here, we report expansion-enhanced super-resolution radial fluctuations (ExSRRF), a simple, robust, scalable and accessible workflow that provides a resolution of up to 25 nm using LED-based widefield microscopy. ExSRRF enables molecular profiling of subcellular structures from archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues in complex clinical and experimental specimens, including ischaemic, degenerative, neoplastic, genetic and immune-mediated disorders. Furthermore, as examples of its potential application to experimental and clinical pathology, we show that ExSRRF can be used to identify and quantify classical features of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the murine ischaemic kidney and diagnostic ultrastructural features in human kidney biopsies.</p

Caspase-dependent proteolytic cleavage of STAT3alpha in ES cells, in mammary glands undergoing forced involution and in breast cancer cell lines.

BACKGROUND: The STAT (Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription) transcription factor family mediates cellular responses to a wide range of cytokines. Activated STATs (particularly STAT3) are found in a range of cancers. Further, STAT3 has anti-apoptotic functions in a range of tumour cell lines. After observing a proteolytic cleavage in STAT3alpha close to a potential apoptotic caspase protease cleavage site we investigated whether STAT3alpha might be a caspase substrate. METHODS: STAT3alpha status was investigated in vitro in several cell systems:- HM-1 murine embryonic stem (ES) cells following various interventions; IOUD2 murine ES cells following induction to differentiate along neural or adipocyte lineages; and in a number of breast cancer cell lines. STAT3alpha status was also analysed in vivo in wild type murine mammary glands undergoing controlled, forced involution. RESULTS: Immunoblotting for STAT3alpha in HM-1 ES cell extracts detected amino and carboxy terminal species of approximately 48 kDa and 43 kDa respectively--which could be diminished dose-dependently by cell treatment with the nitric oxide (NO) donor drug sodium nitroprusside (SNP). UV irradiation of HM-1 ES cells triggered the STAT3alpha cleavage (close to a potential caspase protease cleavage site). Interestingly, the pan-caspase inhibitor z-Val-Ala-DL-Asp-fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-FMK) and the JAK2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor AG490 both inhibited cleavage dose-dependently, and cleavage was significantly lower in a heterozygous JAK2 knockout ES cell clone. STAT3alpha cleavage also occurred in vivo in normal murine mammary glands undergoing forced involution, coinciding with a pulse of phosphorylation of residue Y705 on full-length STAT3alpha. Cleavage also occurred during IOUD2 ES cell differentiation (most strikingly along the neural lineage) and in several human breast cancer cell lines, correlating strongly with Y705 phosphorylation. CONCLUSION: This study documents a proteolytic cleavage of STAT3alpha into 48 kDa amino and 43 kDa carboxyl terminal fragments in a range of cell types. STAT3alpha cleavage occurs close to a potential caspase site, and can be inhibited dose-dependently by SNP, AG490 and z-VAD-FMK. The cleavage seems to be caspase-dependent and requires the phosphorylation of STAT3alpha at the Y705 residue. This highly regulated STAT3alpha cleavage may play an important role in modulating STAT3 transcriptional activity.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Disturbed Expression of Splicing Factors in Renal Cancer Affects Alternative Splicing of Apoptosis Regulators, Oncogenes, and Tumor Suppressors

BACKGROUND: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of renal cancer. One of the processes disturbed in this cancer type is alternative splicing, although phenomena underlying these disturbances remain unknown. Alternative splicing consists of selective removal of introns and joining of residual exons of the primary transcript, to produce mRNA molecules of different sequence. Splicing aberrations may lead to tumoral transformation due to synthesis of impaired splice variants with oncogenic potential. In this paper we hypothesized that disturbed alternative splicing in ccRCC may result from improper expression of splicing factors, mediators of splicing reactions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using real-time PCR and Western-blot analysis we analyzed expression of seven splicing factors belonging to SR proteins family (SF2/ASF, SC35, SRp20, SRp75, SRp40, SRp55 and 9G8), and one non-SR factor, hnRNP A1 (heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1) in 38 pairs of tumor-control ccRCC samples. Moreover, we analyzed splicing patterns of five genes involved in carcinogenesis and partially regulated by analyzed splicing factors: RON, CEACAM1, Rac1, Caspase-9, and GLI1. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We found that the mRNA expression of splicing factors was disturbed in tumors when compared to paired controls, similarly as levels of SF2/ASF and hnRNP A1 proteins. The correlation coefficients between expression levels of specific splicing factors were increased in tumor samples. Moreover, alternative splicing of five analyzed genes was also disturbed in ccRCC samples and splicing pattern of two of them, Caspase-9 and CEACAM1 correlated with expression of SF2/ASF in tumors. We conclude that disturbed expression of splicing factors in ccRCC may possibly lead to impaired alternative splicing of genes regulating tumor growth and this way contribute to the process of carcinogenesis