NotI linking/jumping clones of human chromosome 3: mapping of the TFRC, RAB7 and HAUSP genes to regions rearranged in leukemia and deleted in solid tumors

AbstractBy applying the `recognition mask' strategy to 300 mammalian sequences containing NotI sites we demonstrated that 5′ ends of genes are highly enriched in NotI sites. A NotI linking clone NL2-252 (D3S1678) containing transferrin receptor (TFRC) gene was used as an initial point for chromosomal jumping. One of the jumping clones, J21-045 traverses 210 kbp and links NL2-252 to NL26 (D3S1632), a NotI linking clone containing highly polymorphic sequences. The TFRC gene was mapped to 3q29, close to the telomeric marker D3S2344, by linkage analysis, a panel of hybrid cell lines, GeneBridge 4 panel and FISH. Clone NLM-007 (D3S4302) was found to contain ras-homologous gene RAB7. By FISH and a panel of hybrid cell lines this gene was mapped to 3q21. This region is of particular interest due to frequent rearrangements in different types of leukemia. Clone L2-081 (D3S4283) containing new member of ubiquitin-specific proteases (HAUSP gene) was localized in 3p21 inspiring further investigation of involvement of this gene in development of lung and renal carcinomas

Quercetin increases the efficacy of glioblastoma treatment compared to standard chemoradiotherapy by the suppression of PI-3-kinase-Akt pathway

The goal of the present study was to compare the efficacy of treatment with irradiation (IR), temozolomide, and quercetin, alone, or in combinations, on 2 glioblastoma cell lines, DBTRG-05 and U-251. Cell viability assay, flow cytometry analysis, colony formation assay, and Western blot analysis were used to compare the effects of treatment on the 2 cell lines. The greatest reduction in cell viability and colony formation was observed when cells were treated with a combination of the agents including quercetin. The treatment of cells with the combination of IR and quercetin was equal to the efficiency of the combination of IR and temozolomide in decreasing cell viability as well as colony formation. Quercetin alone, or in combination with IR, increased the cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP-1 showing an activated apoptosis and significantly reduced the level of phospho-Akt. Moreover, these treatments increased the levels of phospho-ERK, phospho-JNK, phospho-p38, and phospho-RAF1. Our data indicate that the supplementation of standard therapy with quercetin increases efficacy of treatment of experimental glioblastoma through synergism in the induction of apoptosis via the cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP-1 and by the suppression of the actitivation of Akt pathway

Biochemical Competition Makes Fatty-Acid beta-Oxidation Vulnerable to Substrate Overload

<p>Fatty-acid metabolism plays a key role in acquired and inborn metabolic diseases. To obtain insight into the network dynamics of fatty-acid beta-oxidation, we constructed a detailed computational model of the pathway and subjected it to a fat overload condition. The model contains reversible and saturable enzyme-kinetic equations and experimentally determined parameters for rat-liver enzymes. It was validated by adding palmitoyl CoA or palmitoyl carnitine to isolated rat-liver mitochondria: without refitting of measured parameters, the model correctly predicted the beta-oxidation flux as well as the time profiles of most acyl-carnitine concentrations. Subsequently, we simulated the condition of obesity by increasing the palmitoyl-CoA concentration. At a high concentration of palmitoyl CoA the beta-oxidation became overloaded: the flux dropped and metabolites accumulated. This behavior originated from the competition between acyl CoAs of different chain lengths for a set of acyl-CoA dehydrogenases with overlapping substrate specificity. This effectively induced competitive feedforward inhibition and thereby led to accumulation of CoA-ester intermediates and depletion of free CoA (CoASH). The mitochondrial [NAD(+)]/[NADH] ratio modulated the sensitivity to substrate overload, revealing a tight interplay between regulation of beta-oxidation and mitochondrial respiration.</p>