Multiple endocrine neoplasia 2B (MEN 2B) is an inherited syndrome of early onset endocrine tumors and developmental anomalies. The disease is caused primarily by a methionine to threonine substitution of residue 918 in the kinase domain of the RET receptor (2B-RET); however, the molecular mechanisms that lead to the disease phenotype are unclear. In this study, we show that the M918T mutation c...

Expression of poliovirus protein 2B in mammalian cells inhibits protein secretion and increases the susceptibility of the cells to hygromycin B, consistent with the increase in plasma membrane permeability seen during poliovirus infection (J. R. Doedens and K. Kirkegaard, EMBO J. 14, 894-907, 1995). We report here that expression of protein 2B of the closely related coxsackie B3 virus (CBV3) le...

Multiple transforming growth factors (TGFs) have been isolated from the serum-free conditioned media and acid-ethanol cell extracts of nontransformed AKR-2B and chemically transformed AKR-MCA mouse cells. The TGF activity was analyzed using Bio-Gel P-60 chromatography in 1 M acetic acid and tested for colony-stimulating activity in soft agar using AKR-2B, AKR-2B (clone 84A), NRK, and AKR-MCA ce...

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a multifactorial disease orphan of a cure. Regenerative medicine has been proposed as novel strategy for DM therapy. Human fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2b controls β-cell clusters via autocrine action, and human placental lactogen (hPL)-A increases functional β-cells. We hypothesized whether FGF-2b/hPL-A treatment induces β-cell differentiation from ducta...

Two novel alternatively spliced isoforms of the human two-pore-domain potassium channel TREK-2 were isolated from cDNA libraries of human kidney and fetal brain. The cDNAs of 2438 base pairs (bp) (TREK-2b) and 2559 bp (TREK-2c) encode proteins of 508 amino acids each. RT-PCR showed that TREK-2b is strongly expressed in kidney (primarily in the proximal tubule) and pancreas, whereas TREK-2c is a...

Prostate cancer bone metastases are characterized by their ability to induce osteoblastic lesions and local bone formation. It has been suggested that bone metastatic prostate cancer cells are osteomimetic and capable of expressing genes and proteins typically expressed by osteoblasts. The ability of preosteoblasts to differentiate and express osteoblastic genes depends on several pathways, inc...

Depressive disorders are among the most prevalent neuropsychiatric dysfunctions worldwide, with high rates of resistance to antidepressant treatment. Genetic factors clearly contribute to the manifestation of depression as well as to the response to antidepressants. Transgenic mouse models appear as seminal tools to disentangle this complex disorder. Here, we analyzed new key aspects of the phe...

For a given pseudo-Brewster angle phi(pB) of minimum reflectance |r(p)| of p-polarized light at a dielectric-conductor interface, the second-Brewster angle phi(2B) of minimum reflectance ratio |rho|=|r(p)|/|r(s)| of the p and s polarizations is determined for all possible values of the complex relative dielectric function epsilon that lead to the same phi(pB). The difference phi(2B)-phi(pB) is ...

Canine parvovirus 2 (CPV2) is a highly contagious and fatal disease of dogs, causing acute hemorrhagic enteritis and myocarditis. In this study, different mutant of CPV2 prevalent in India have been isolated in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells and characterized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction endonuclease (RE) mapping. The faecal samples from gastroenteritic dog suspect...

Human prostate cancer has a high predisposition to metastasize to bone, resulting in the formation of osteoblastic metastases. The mechanism through which prostate cancer cells promote osteoblastic lesions is undefined. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been implicated as a mediator of osteoblast activity. In the present study, we examined if prostate cancer cells promote osteoblast...