Mice deficient for the transcriptional coactivator BOB.1/OBF.1 show several defects in B cell differentiation. Numbers of immature transitional B cells in the bone marrow are reduced and fewer B cells reach the periphery. Furthermore, germinal center B cells are absent and marginal zone (MZ) B lymphocytes are markedly reduced. Increased levels of B cell apoptosis in these mice prompted us to an...

DNA replication stress is an inefficient DNA synthesis process that leads replication forks to progress slowly or stall. Two main factors that cause replication stress are alterations in pools of deoxyribonucleotide (dNTP) precursors required for DNA synthesis and changes in the activity of proteins required for synthesis of dNTPs. Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), containing regulatory hRRM1 and...

Depending on the cellular context, BCL2-like proteins promote mitochondrial fusion or fission. What determines which of these two opposing processes they promote has so far been unknown. Furthermore, the mechanisms through which BCL2-like proteins affect mitochondrial dynamics remain to be fully understood. The BCL2-like protein CED-9 of Caenorhabditis elegans has previously been shown to promo...

Numerous regulatory genes have G-rich regions that can potentially form quadruplex structures, possibly playing a role in transcription regulation. We studied a G-rich sequence in the BCL2 gene 176-bp upstream of the P1 promoter for G-quadruplex formation. Using circular dichroism (CD), thermal denaturation and dimethyl sulfate (DMS) footprinting, we found that a single-stranded oligonucleotide...

Alpha B crystallin was characterized as a negative prognostic factor in breast cancer. BCL2 has an antiapoptotic role and sustains cell survival in vitro, ironically BCL2 expression has been associated with a good prognosis of breast cancer patients. To investigate the significance of alpha B crystallin and BCL2 expression in breast cancer and the relationship between these proteins, we perform...

Genomic alterations and protein expression levels have been established as prognostic factors for survival in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In particular, double-hit DLBCL (DHL), which exhibits translocations in MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6, is known to be associated with a poor prognosis. However, the clinical significance of gene alterations and protein expression levels fo...

A number of anti-cancer strategies aim to target the mitochondrial apoptotic machinery to induce tumour cell death. Mitochondria play a key role as death amplifiers by releasing apoptogenic factors from the mitochondrial inter-membrane space into the cytosol. BCL2 proteins are known for their ability to regulate both mitochondrial physiology and cell death, and their deregulated expression ofte...

BACKGROUND Double-hit lymphomas (DHL) are rare high-grade neoplasms characterized by two translocations: one involving the gene MYC and another involving genes BCL2 or BCL6, whose diagnosis depends on cytogenetic examination. This research studied DHL and morphological and/or immunophenotypic factors associated with the detection of these translocations in a group of high-grade non-Hodgkin lymp...

OBJECTIVE Recent studies indicate that WT1 and Bcl2 protein are detected in melanocytic lesions of the skin. We examined, for the first time, WT1 and Bcl2 expression in a variety of conjunctival melanocytic lesions to evaluate their diagnostic utility compared with other melanocytic markers. METHODS Protein expression and localization of WT1 and Bcl2 were studied by means of immunolabeling an...