To investigate the protective effects of melatonin against high-LET ionizing radiation, V79 Chinese hamster cells were irradiated with 100 keV/microm carbon beam. Parallel experiments were performed with 200 kV X-rays. To avoid the impact from extra solvents, melatonin was dissolved directly in culture medium. Cells were cultured in melatonin medium for 1 hr before irradiation. Cell inactivatio...

Infection-driven inflammation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ~15-20% of human tumors. Expression of microRNA-155 (miR-155) is elevated during innate immune response and autoimmune disorders as well as in various malignancies. However, the molecular mechanisms providing miR-155 with its oncogenic properties remain unclear. We examined the effects of miR-155 overexpression and proinfl...

To investigate the effects of in vivo genomic DNA double-strand breaks on the efficiency and mechanisms of gene targeting in mouse embryonic stem cells, we have used a series of insertion and replacement vectors carrying two, one, or no genomic sites for the rare-cutting endonuclease I-SceI. These vectors were introduced into the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (hprt) gene to produce sub...

BACKGROUND The mechanical properties of cellular microenvironments play important roles in regulating cellular functions. Studies of the molecular response of endothelial cells to alterations in substrate stiffness could shed new light on the development of cardiovascular disease. Quantitative real-time PCR is a current technique that is widely used in gene expression assessment, and its accura...

We established rat embryonic stem (ES) cell lines from a double transgenic rat line which harbours CAG-GFP for ubiquitous expression of GFP in somatic cells and Acr3-EGFP for expression in sperm (green body and green sperm: GBGS rat). By injecting the GBGS rat ES cells into mouse blastocysts and transplanting them into pseudopregnant mice, rat spermatozoa were produced in mouse←rat ES chimeras....

The mutations responsible for several human neurodegenerative disorders are expansions of translated CAG repeats beyond a normal size range. To address the role of repeat context, we have introduced a 146-unit CAG repeat into the mouse hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase gene (Hprt). Mutant mice express a form of the HPRT protein that contains a long polyglutamine repeat. These mice develop ...

The survival rates of children treated for cancer have dramatically increased after the development of standardized multiple-modality treatment protocols. As a result, there is a rapidly growing population of pediatric cancer survivors in which the long-term genotoxic effects of chemotherapeutic intervention is unknown. To study the genotoxic effects of antineoplastic treatment in children, we ...