Vitamin D3 analogues are a first-line treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis, but so far, comparative clinical studies on calcipotriol and calcitriol ointment are sparse, and in particular no comparative studies are available on cell biological effects of these compounds in vivo. Using flow cytometric assessment, we investigated whether these compounds had different effects on the composition an...

Kinetin (N(6)-furfuryladenine) is a cytokinin growth factor having several anti-aging effects reported for human cells and fruit flies. We have observed that short-term culturing of human keratinocytes in the presence of 40 to 200 microM kinetin results in a significant inhibition of cell growth. Studies were undertaken to analyze the process of differentiation as a reason for growth inhibition...

Although human diseases of retrotransposition-derived etiology have been documented, retrotransposon RNA expression and the occurrence of retrotransposition events in the human oocyte are not studied. We investigated the RNA expression of L1 and HERV-K10 retrotransposons in human oocytes by RT-PCR analysis with designed primers. Using denucleated germinal vesicles (GVs), we detected RT-PCR prod...

Transposition of the non-specific repressor element, Modulator, from the R locus on chromosome 10 in maize, is enhanced by coupling with the K10 segment at a distance of at least 35 map units from R. There is no detectable interaction in the repulsion phase. The K10 effect appears to be relatively greater in the earlier somatic cell generations during ear development. The transposition rate als...

Stem cells are crucial for the formation and maintenance of tissues and organs. The role of stem cells in the pathogenesis of mosaic skin disorders remains unclear. To study the molecular and cellular basis of mosaicism, we established a mouse model for the autosomal-dominant skin blistering disorder, epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (MIM 113800), which is caused by mutations in either keratin K1 o...