Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) is a marker for aggressive salivary gland carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) is associated with tumorigenesis and progression in diverse human cancers. The present study was aimed to investigate the clinical and prognostic significance of AEG-1 in salivary gland carcinomas (SGC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Real-time PCR and western blot analyses were employed to examine AEG-1 expression in two normal salivary gland tissues, eight SGC tissues of various clinical stages, and five pairs of primary SGC and adjacent salivary gland tissues from the same patient. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to examine AEG-1 protein expression in paraffin-embedded tissues from 141 SGC patients. Statistical analyses was applies to evaluate the diagnostic value and associations of AEG-1 expression with clinical parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>AEG-1 expression was evidently up-regulated in SGC tissues compared with that in the normal salivary gland tissues and in matched adjacent salivary gland tissues. AEG-1 protein level was positively correlated with clinical stage (<it>P </it>< 0.001), T classification (<it>P </it>= 0.008), N classification (<it>P </it>= 0.008) and M classifications (<it>P </it>= 0.006). Patients with higher AEG-1 expression had shorter overall survival time, whereas those with lower tumor AEG-1 expression had longer survival time.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that AEG-1 expression is associated with SGC progression and may represent a novel and valuable predictor for prognostic evaluation of SGC patients.</p

MethylC-analyzer: A comprehensive downstream pipeline for the analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation

DNA methylation is a crucial epigenetic modification involved in multiple biological processes and diseases. Current approaches for measuring genome-wide DNA methylation via bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq) include whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS), and enzymatic methyl-seq (EM-seq). The computational analysis tools available for BS-seq data include customized aligners for mapping bisulfite-converted reads and computational pipelines for downstream data analysis. Current post-alignment methylation tools are specialized for the interpretation of CG methylation, which is known to dominate mammalian genomes, however, non-CG methylation (CHG and CHH, where H refers to A, C, or T) is commonly observed in plants and fungi and is closely associated with gene regulation, transposon silencing, and plant development. Thus, we have developed a MethylC-analyzer to analyze and visualize post-alignment WGBS, RRBS, and EM-seq data focusing on CG. The tool is able to also analyze non-CG sites to enhance deciphering genomes of plants and fungi. By processing aligned data and gene location files, MethylC-analyzer generates a genome-wide view of methylation levels and methylation in user-specified genomic regions. The meta-plot, for example, allows the investigation of DNA methylation within specific genomic elements. Moreover, our tool identifies differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and investigates the enrichment of genomic features associated with variable methylation. MethylC-analyzer functionality is not limited to specific genomes, and we demonstrated its performance on both plant and human BS-seq data. MethylC-analyzer is a Python- and R-based program designed to perform comprehensive downstream analyses of methylation data, providing an intuitive analysis platform for scientists unfamiliar with DNA methylation analysis. It is available as either a standalone version for command-line uses or a graphical user interface (GUI) and is publicly accessible at https://github.com/RitataLU/MethylC-analyzer

1-Benzyl-2,3-dihydro­quinolin-4(1H)-one

In the title compound, C16H15NO, the two aromatic rings are approximately perpendicular; the carbonyl group is twisted out of the adjacent benzene ring by 14.8 (2)°. In the heterocyclic ring, the C atom linked to the carbonyl group and the C atom linked to the N atom have opposite deviations of 0.467 (5) and 0.184 (4) Å, respectively, from the plane of the benzene ring. The N atom lies approximately in the plane of the phenyl ring. There are no conventional hydrogen bonds; the packing of mol­ecules in the crystal structure is stabilized by van der Waals forces