Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is a gamma(2) lymphotropic herpesvirus associated with Kaposi's sarcoma, a major neoplasm of AIDS patients, and with other AIDS-related neoplasms. The HHV-8 ORF 57 gene is conserved throughout the herpesvirus family and has a herpes simplex virus type 1 homologue, IE63 (also termed ICP27), which is an essential regulatory protein and acts at both transcriptional and ...

The cell nucleus is highly organized. Many nuclear functions are localized in discrete domains, suggesting that compartmentalization is an important aspect of the regulation and coordination of nuclear functions. We investigated the subnuclear distribution of the glucocorticoid receptor, a hormone-dependent transcription factor. By immunofluorescent labeling and confocal microscopy we found tha...

OBJECTIVE Apoptosis is a key feature of advanced atherosclerotic plaques. Attraction signals such as p43 released from apoptotic cells play a crucial role in the timely removal of the apoptotic remnants by recruiting fresh phagocytes. Here, we sought to determine whether p43 may link apoptosis to inflammation and plaque progression. METHODS AND RESULTS RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry showed t...

BACKGROUND Animal studies have suggested that apoptosis could play a significant role in the myocardial aging process. Although no information is available in humans, the paradigm that cardiomyocyte apoptosis is increased in the aged human heart has been widely propagated. Moreover, it is unknown whether gender differences may influence cardiomyocyte apoptosis. METHODS Cardiomyocyte apoptosis...

Genes critical for fertility are highly conserved in mammals. Interspecies DNA sequence variation, resulting in amino acid substitutions and post-transcriptional modifications, including alternative splicing, are a result of evolution and speciation. The mammalian follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) gene encodes distinct species-specific forms by alternative splicing. Skipping of exon ...

Rat hepatocytes in short-term monolayer cultures bound radiolabeled polymeric rat IgA but not IgG. The binding of 125I-IgA was inhibited equally well by unlabeled polymeric IgA and by antiserum to rat secretory component (SC). The antibody to SC, after specific purification and radiolabeling, was bound to hepatocytes as effectively as the IgA. These results indicate that SC acts as the receptor...

The extent of skeletal muscle hypertrophy in response to resistance training is highly variable in humans. The main objective of this study was to explain the nature of this variability. More specifically, we focused on the myogenic stem cell population, the satellite cell (SC) as a potential mediator of hypertrophy. Twenty-three males (aged 18-35 yrs) participated in 16 wk of progressive, whol...

In the article by Lee et al. (1), an alternative splicing of BCR-ABL is proposed as a mechanism for imatinib resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. This splicing (2), which inserts 35 bp between exons 8 and 9 of ABL (35INS), results in a truncated BCRABL protein that the authors compare dynamically with the native protein. We found their work very relevant, especially the findin...

Axonal injury to hypothalamic magnocellular vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) neurons causes degeneration of a substantial subpopulation of these neurons. In this study, we investigated the influence of osmolality on this injury-induced cell death. Normonatremic, chronically hypernatremic, and chronically hyponatremic rats received pituitary stalk compression (SC), which causes degeneration o...

U2 snRNA is an essential component of the splicing apparatus in eukaryotic cells. Three possible secondary structures for the highly conserved 5' half of U2 snRNA are consistent with U2 phylogenetic sequence variation. To distinguish among these models and to test the function of U2 structural elements, we made greater than 35 mutations in the yeast U2 snRNA gene. Some of the mutations were des...