PURPOSE Astrocytoma arises in the central nervous system as a tumor of great lethality, in part because of the invasive potential of the neoplastic cells that are able to release extracellular matrix-degrading enzymes. Furin convertase activates several precursor matrix metalloproteases involved in the breakdown of the extracellular matrix. In the present study inhibition of furin was achieved ...

The transcription factor PDX-1 (pancreatic duodenal homeobox-1) is required for normal pancreatic development and for the function of insulin-producing islet beta-cells in mammals. We have shown previously that glucose regulates insulin gene expression in part through the activation and translocation of PDX-1 from the nuclear periphery to the nucleoplasm. We have also found that PASK [PAS (Per-...

Diabetes mellitus type 1 is an autoimmune disease with high incidence in adolescents and young adults. A seductive approach overcomes normally obstacles treatment is cell-replacement therapy to endogenous insulin production. At the present, to get enough pancreatic endocrine cells (PECs) in cell transplantation, differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into IPCs is an interesting and pr...

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models are frequently used for translational cancer research, and are assumed to behave consistently as the tumor ages. However, growth rate constancy as a function of time is unclear. Notably, variable PDX growth rates over time might have implications for the interpretation of translational studies. We characterized four PDX models through several in vivo passa...

Islet neogenesis associated protein (INGAP) promotes the generation of new islet mass in adult animal models. It is not understood what factors control the expression of INGAP. In this study, factors that regulate the expression of INGAP promoter activity are reported. To determine factors that regulate INGAP expression, we previously cloned the promoter region for INGAP. Analysis of the INGAP ...

A homeodomain containing transcription factor PDX-1 can induce beta-cell-specific gene expressions in some non-beta-cells and may therefore be useful for future diabetes gene/cell therapy. Among the potential target organs or tissues for transcription factor-mediated induction of beta-cell-like differentiation are the intestinal epithelial cells. They have certain merits over other tissues and ...

UNLABELLED 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 knockout mice 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....

Pro-protein convertases such as furin are expressed in many human tumor lines and primary tumors. Furin processes stromelysin-3, membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) involved in tumor cell invasiveness, as well as growth factors such as transforming growth factor beta1. Evaluation of furin expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells exhibiting different invasive...

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models for cancer research have recently attracted considerable attention in both the academy and industry (Hidalgo et al., 2014; Wilding and Bodmer, 2014). PDX models have been developed from different tumor types including lung cancer to improve the drug development process. These models are used for pre-clinical drug evaluation and can be used for the predicti...

The patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model is emerging as a promising translational platform to duplicate the characteristics of tumours. However, few studies have reported detailed histological and genomic analyses for model fidelity and for factors affecting successful model establishment of gastric cancer. Here, we generated PDX tumours surgically-derived from 62 gastric cancer patients. Fift...