The activity of the exogenous, full-length insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF-2) P3 promoter is significantly up-regulated during the logarithmic growth phase but rapidly declines in confluent CaCo2 cells undergoing differentiation. Nuclear run-on assays confirmed cell density-dependent regulation of endogenous P3 promoter. To identify regulatory elements in the P3 promoter that may be required ...

BACKGROUND Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating muscle wasting disease caused by mutations in dystrophin, a muscle cytoskeletal protein. Utrophin is a homologue of dystrophin that can functionally compensate for its absence when expressed at increased levels in the myofibre, as shown by studies in dystrophin-deficient mice. Utrophin upregulation is therefore a promising therapeuti...

Orphan nuclear receptor ERRγ is a member of nuclear receptor superfamily that regulates several important cellular processes including hepatic glucose and alcohol metabolism. However, mechanistic understanding of transcriptional regulation of the ERRγ gene remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that activating transcription factor 6α (ATF6α), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-membrane-bound basi...

YY1 is a key transcription factor and plays different roles in various cancers. However, role and mechanism of YY1 in laryngeal cancer are still unknown. YY1 and MYCT1 mRNA and protein levels were detected by Real-time RT-PCR and Western Blot methods, respectively. Binding of YY1 to MYCT1 promoter was predicted and confirmed by bioinformatics and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, respective...

BACKGROUND Accumulating evidence suggests the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in tumor microenvironment may promote the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. METHODS The expression and promoter activity of lncTCF7 were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and luciferase reporte...

The prognosis of patients with metastatic gastric cancer, particularly peritoneal carcinomatosis, remains poor despite intensive interventions. Gene therapy and hyperthermia can be promising strategies for such advanced disease. The study was conducted to explore the possible effective therapeutic approach of suicide gene therapy with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) in combinatio...

We recently reported that (i) activation of the proinflammatory receptor, proteinase-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) caused the release of an important biomarker in preeclampsia, soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1, also known as sFlt-1) from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and (ii) that the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, resveratrol, is capa...

BACKGROUND High blood levels of soluble urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) are associated with poor outcomes in human immunodeficiency-1 (HIV-1) infected individuals. Research on the clinical value of suPAR in HIV-1 infection led to the development of the suPARnostic(R) assay for commercial use in 2006. The aim of this study was to: 1) Evaluate the prognostic value of the new suPA...

The aim of this work was to identify cis-regulatory sequences within the Chlamydomonas HSP70A promoter that mediate its stimulatory effect on the expression of downstream promoters. For this, we deleted/mutated the HSP70A promoter and, using a new assay, quantified its stimulatory effect. Our results indicate that the effect is mediated largely by heat shock elements and the TATA box.

OBJECTIVE We investigated the role of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced angiogenesis and vascular permeability and the underlying molecular mechanism of VEGF-induced endothelial MCP-1 expression in vitro and in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS We used an anti-MCP-1 neutralizing antibody for specific inhibition of MCP-1. VEGF increased tub...