HLA-G is an immune checkpoint molecule with specific relevance in cancer immunotherapy. It was first identified in cytotrophoblasts, protecting the fetus from maternal rejection. HLA-G tissue expression is very restricted but induced in numerous malignant tumors such as glioblastoma, contributing to their immune escape. Hypoxia occurs during placenta and tumor development and was shown to activ...

OBJECTIVE To determine BRCA1 status in breast carcinoma patients of Pakistani origin. STUDY DESIGN Observational study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY The Oncology Clinics of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, between May 2005 and December 2009. METHODOLOGY Fifty three breast cancer patients based on clinical and laboratory diagnosis were recruited for this study. Moderate family his...

Eukaryotic gene expression requires the ordered association of numerous factors with precursor messenger RNAs (premRNAs)/messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to achieve efficiency and regulation. Here, we use the Balbiani ring (BR) genes to demonstrate the temporal and spatial association of the exon junction complex (EJC) core with gene-specific endogenous premRNAs and mRNAs. The EJC core components bind co...

We describe two different novel mutations in the PAX3 gene, detected in two families with cases of Waardenburg syndrome type I (WSI). The missense mutation detected in one family involved a single substitution in exon 2 (c.142 G > T) and was present both in the affected individual and in his clinically normal father. The mutation found in the second family consisted of a deletion of 13 bases, c...

background: tay-sachs disease (tsd), or gm2 gangliosidosis, is a lethal autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder, which is caused by a deficiency of beta-hexosaminidase a (hexa), resulting in lysosomal accumulation of gm2 ganglioside. the aim of this study was to identify the tsd-causing mutations in an iranian population. methods: in this study, we examined 31 patients for tsd-causing mu...

Splicing of small introns in lower eucaryotes can be distinguished from vertebrate splicing by the inability of such introns to be expanded and by the inability of splice site mutations to cause exon skipping-properties suggesting that the intron rather than the exon is the unit of recognition. Vertebrates do contain small introns. To see if they possess properties similar to small introns in l...

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a clinical term encompassing dementia characterized by the presence of two major phenotypes: 1) behavioral and personality disorder, and 2) language disorder, which includes primary progressive aphasia and semantic dementia. Recently, the gene for familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) with ubiquitin-positive, tau-negative inclusions (FTLD-U) linked t...

We report the identification of a female patient with the Xlinked recessive Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase [HPRTI deficiency). Cytogenetic and carrier studies revealed structurally normal chromosomes for this patient and her parents and demonstrated that this mutation arose through a de novo gametic event. Comparison of this patient's DNA with the DNA of her parent...

The export of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) is the final of several nuclear posttranscriptional steps of gene expression. The formation of export-competent mRNPs involves the recruitment of export factors that are assumed to facilitate transport of the mature mRNAs. Using in vitro splicing assays, we show that a core set of export factors, including ALYREF, UAP56 and DDX39, readily associate with the ...