Cholangiocellular carcinoma (CC), the second most common primary liver cancer, is associated with a poor prognosis. It has been shown that CCs harbor alterations of a number of tumor-suppressor genes and oncogenes, yet key regulators for tumorigenesis remain unknown. Here we have generated a mouse model that develops CC with high penetrance using liver-specific targeted disruption of tumor supp...

DPC4/SMAD4 mutations are associated with aggressive pancreatic cancer. In this issue of Cell, Whittle et al. demonstrate that Runx3 expression combined with Dpc4/Smad4 status can predict the metastatic propensity of pancreatic tumors, providing valuable guidance for personalized therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND Fourteen-membered ring macrolides have been effective in reducing chronic airway inflammation and also preventing lung injury and fibrosis in bleomycin-challenged mice via anti-inflammatory effects. EM703 is a new derivative of erythromycin (EM) without the bactericidal effects. We investigated the anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects of EM703 in an experimental model of bleomy...

Background: During its latent infection, HSV-1 produces only a miRNA precursor called LAT, which encodes six distinct miRNAs. Recent studies have suggested that some of these miRNAs could target cellular mRNAs. One of the key cell signaling pathways that can be affected by HSV-1 is the TGF-β/Smad pathway. Herein, we investigated the potential role of the LAT as well as three LAT-derived miRNAs ...

Loss of E-cadherin (CDH1), Smad4, and p53 has been shown to play an integral role in gastric, intestinal, and breast cancer formation. Compound conditional knockoutmice for Smad4, p53, and E-cadherin were generated to define and compare the roles of these genes in gastric, intestinal, and breast cancer development by crossing with Pdx-1-Cre, Villin-Cre, and MMTV-Cre transgenic mice. Interesting...

Juvenile polyposis syndrome (JPS) is a rare autosomal dominant hereditary disorder, characterized by multiple juvenile polyps in the gastrointestinal tract and an increased risk of colorectal cancer. JPS is most frequently caused by mutations in the SMAD4 or BMPR1A genes. Herein, we report a child with juvenile polyposis syndrome (JPS) with a novel mutation in the SMAD4 gene. An 8-year-old boy ...

TGF-b is a potent inducer of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process involved in tumour invasion. TIF1c participates in TGF-b signalling. To understand the role of TIF1c in TGF-b signalling and its requirement for EMT, we analysed the TGF-b1 response of human mammary epithelial cell lines. A strong EMT increase was observed in TIF1c-silenced cells after TGF-b1 treatment, whereas S...

In the mammalian brain, neurogenesis continues only in few regions of the forebrain. The molecular signals governing neurogenesis in these unique neurogenic niches, however, are still ill defined. Here, we show that bone morphogenic protein (BMP)-mediated signaling is active in adult neural stem cells and is crucial to initiate the neurogenic lineage in the adult mouse subependymal zone. Condit...

Abstract Background Patients with small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (SINETs) frequently present lymph node and liver metastases at the time of diagnosis, but molecular changes that lead to progression these are largely unknown. Sequencing studies have only identified recurrent point mutations low frequencies CDKN1B being most common harboring heterozygous in less than 10% all tumors. Altho...

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β/Smad signaling plays an important role in colon cancer development, progression and metastasis. In this study we demonstrated that the microRNA-130a/301a/454 family is up-regulated in colon cancer tissues compared to paired adjacent normal mucosa, which share the same 3'-untranslational region (3'-UTR) binding seed sequence and are predicated to target Smad4. ...