OBJECTIVE: To examine mRNA expression of prostaglandin E2 receptor isoforms EP3-II, III and VI in lower uterine segment myometrium in the non-pregnant and pregnant state using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. METHODS: Myometrial samples were obtained at the time of cesarean delivery or hysterectomy. Pregnant subjects were categorised based on the presence ...

BACKGROUND: Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are pleiotropic members of the TGF-beta superfamily which regulate many biological processes during development and adult tissue homeostasis and are implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of human diseases. Their involvement in both normal and aberrant physiology creates a need for rapid, sensitive and ...

BACKGROUND: The mechanism that initiates human parturition has been proposed to be 'functional progesterone withdrawal' whereby the 116 kDa B-isoform of the progesterone receptor (PR-B) switches in favour of the 94 kDa A-isoform (PR-A) in reproductive tissues. Recently, other PR isoforms, PR-S, PR-C and PR-M generated from the same gene ...

Chemokines are extracellular mediators of complex regulatory circuits involved principally in cell-to-cell communication. Most studies to date of the essential chemokine Cxcl12 (Sdf-1) have focused on the ubiquitously expressed secreted isoforms alpha and beta. Here we show that, unlike these isoforms and all other known chemokines, the alternatively transcribed gamma ...

Hck is a phagocyte specific proto-oncogene of the Src family expressed as two isoforms, p59Hck and p61Hck. It plays a critical role in Bcr/Abl-chronic myeloid leukaemia and is able to transform fibroblasts in vitro. However, the tumourigenic activity of Hck and the respective oncogenic functions of Hck isoforms have not ...

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein implicated in neurodegenerative tauopathies. Alternative splicing of the tau gene (MAPT) generates six tau isoforms, distinguishable by the exclusion or inclusion of a repeat region of exon 10, which are referred to as 3-repeat (3R) and 4-repeat (4R) tau, respectively. We developed transgenic mouse models ...

Porcine corpora lutea (CL) fail to show a luteolytic response to prostaglandin-F-2alpha (PGF-2alpha) (ie, luteolytic sensitivity, or LS) until approximately day 13 of the estrous cycle. In view of the importance of protein kinase C (PRKC) in PGF-2alpha signal transduction, it was hypothesized that limiting levels of 1 or more ...

The human Arg (Abl2) nonreceptor tyrosine kinase has a role in cytoskeletal rearrangements by its C-terminal F-actin- and microtubule-binding sequences. We have previously identified Arg transcripts with different 5'- and 3'-ends, named respectively long and short 1A and 1B (1AL, 1AS, 1BL, 1BS) and long and short C-termini (CTL and ...

In human cancers, carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) contributes to maintain intracellular and extracellular pH under hypoxic conditions, but also influences regulation of cell proliferation and tumor progression. CaIX was previously indicated as an independent prognostic marker in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Very recently a CAIX alternative splicing isoform, generating ...

The recognition of pathogens by the innate immune system relies on a wide range of inhibitory and activating receptors. Some of these non-rearranging receptors belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) and in teleost fish the novel immune-type receptor (NITR) and the novel immunoglobulin-like transcript (NILT) have been reported. Here we ...

Peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD, EC 3.5.3.15) enzyme catalyzes the conversion of arginine residues to citrulline residues in the presence of calcium ion, which is an elaborate post-translational modification on the target protein. Recently, five isoforms have been identified in mammals. Among them, three isoforms (type I, II, III) are expressed in ...

POU5F1, which encodes a transcriptional factor, has two alternatively spliced transcripts, 1 and 2, as well as six pseudogenes. Transcript 1 is considered to be a key regulator of cellular pluripotency and self-renewal. The POU5F1 pseudogene, POU5F1P1 on 8q24, encodes a protein with 95% homology with the isoform 1 of ...

Palladin fulfils a crucial function as a molecular scaffold in organizing and stabilizing the actin cytoskeleton. At least four major palladin isoforms exist due to different promoter usage and alternative splicing: a 200-kDa isoform, a 140-kDa isoform, and two isoforms with a size of 90-92 kDa. Here, we describe their ...

BACKGROUND: 14-3-3 protein plays crucial roles in tumorigenesis, including the maintenance of cell cycle and DNA repair, the prevention of apoptosis, among others. In mammalian cells, seven 14-3-3 isoforms (beta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, gamma and sigma) have been identified and each of these seems to have distinct tissue localizations ...

An exhaustive real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) quantification method was used to determine 15 of the catalytically active human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) isoforms (1A1, 1A3, 1A4, 1A5, 1A6, 1A7, 1A8, 1A9, 1A10, 2B4, 2B7, 2B10, 2B11, 2B15, and 2B17). The specific primers for respective human UGTs were developed for differential ...

Siliceous spicules of sponges are morphologically diverse and provide good models for understanding the morphogenesis of biomineralized products. The silica deposition enzyme silicatein is a component of siliceous spicules of sponges and is thought to be the key molecule determining the morphology of spicules. Here, we focused on the silicateins ...

STAT4, a critical regulator of inflammation in vivo, can be expressed as two alternative splice forms, a full-length STAT4alpha, and a STAT4beta isoform lacking a C-terminal transactivation domain. Each isoform is sufficient to program Th1 development through both common and distinct subsets of target genes. However, the ability of these ...

The alpha1A voltage-dependent calcium-channel (Ca(v)2.1) gene, the causative gene for spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6), is transcribed into two major mRNA isoforms by alternative splicing at the intron 46-exon 47 boundary. One isoform has a stop codon upstream of the CAG repeat. The other "toxic isoform" has an alternatively spliced ...

Tachykinins are a family of neuropeptides, involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes occurring in the gastrointestinal tract. They act via three distinct types of receptors, tachykinin NK(1), NK(2), and NK(3) receptors, which belong to the family of G protein-coupled receptors. The aim of the present study was ...

Recent studies have shown that the sequence and timing of mechanical activation of myocardium vary across the ventricular wall. However, the contributions of variable expression of myofilament protein isoforms in mediating the timing of myocardial activation in ventricular systole are not well understood. To assess the functional consequences of transmural ...

Here we report the cloning and characterization of a novel PDE4D isoform (PDE4D11) identified in mouse brain cDNA. This novel isoform has a unique isoform-specific 5'-UTR and N-terminal sequence, whereas, downstream regulatory N-terminal and catalytic C-terminal regions are homologous to other long PDE4D isoforms (Ex2-15). In silico analysis of PDE4D11 ...

BACKGROUND: The discovery of molecular biomarkers is crucial to the diagnosis of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). METHODS: Proteins from pre-surgery serum samples of patients with HNSCC and healthy individuals were analyzed by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) using a 17 cm-long immobilized pH gradient gel strip (large gel). ...

Insulin receptor (IR) signaling is considered to be important in growth and development in addition to its major role in metabolic homeostasis. The metabolic role of insulin in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism is extensively studied. In contrast, the role of IR activation during embryogenesis is less understood. To address this, ...

Cyclooxygenase (COX) is a key enzyme in prostanoid synthesis. It exists in two isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2. COX-1 is referred to as a 'constitutive isoform', and is considered to be expressed in most tissues under basal conditions. In contrast, COX-2 is referred to as an 'inducible isoform', which is believed ...

A family of vacuolar protein sorting (Vps) proteins, which are components of mammalian retromer complex, has been studied in the mouse. Vps26a is known as a retromer component that plays an important role in embryonic development: however, its cell-type expression and precise role remain to be elucidated. In this study, ...

Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) has been recognized as an invariant internal control for various gene expression studies due to its classical housekeeping role in the glycolytic metabolism. However recently, this enzyme has been proven to be a multifunctional protein involved in diverse non-glycolytic activities. In the present study, two paralogue ...

The transcription factor Pax-5, is vital during B lymphocyte differentiation and is known to contribute to the oncogenesis of certain cancers. The Pax-5 locus generates multiple yet structurally related mRNA transcripts through the specific activation of alternative promoter regions and/or alternative splicing events which poses challenges in the study of ...

Abstract Background Mutations in SPG4 cause the most common form of autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia, a neurodegenerative disease characterized by weakness and spasticity of the lower limbs due to degeneration of the corticospinal tract. SPG4 encodes spastin, a microtubule-severing ATPase belonging to the AAA family. Two isoforms of spastin, ...

Throughout the CNS, small conductance Ca(2+)-activated potassium (SK) channels modulate firing frequency and neuronal excitability. We have identified a novel, shorter isoform of standard SK2 (SK2-std) in mouse brain which we named SK2-sh. SK2-sh is alternatively spliced at exon 3 and therefore lacks 140 amino acids, which include transmembrane domains ...

A 'locally acting' IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) isoform has been recently identified in the skeletal muscle and neural tissues where it accelerates injury repair. No information exist on the expression and function of IGF1 isoforms in the liver. We investigated IGF1 isoforms in rat hepatocytes and cholangiocytes and evaluated ...

Wnt proteins control cell fate and differentiation during development. Alterations of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway and changes in wnt gene expression are clearly associated with leukemia. The expression of human wnt13/wnt2b is complex as it involves alternative promoters and RNA splicing giving rise to Wnt13A, -B and -C mRNA isoforms, ...

BACKGROUND: NCAM is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily of cell adhesion molecules. While highly expressed on neuroblastoma cells, the relative contribution of the three major NCAM isoforms (120, 140, and 180 kDa) to neuroblastoma biology has not been investigated. METHODS: NCAM protein expression was measured in a neuroblastic tumor ...

Mussels of the genus Mytilus are widely used in environmental monitoring. They can develop a leukaemia-like disease, haemic neoplasia, which could be induced, in part, by environmental stressors. The molluscan p53 tumor suppressor gene family was previously shown to be involved in haemic neoplasia at the protein level. The purpose ...

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) is critical not only in the regulation of oxygen homeostasis but also in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune systems. We previously reported that T-cell receptor-mediated activation of T cells in mice leads to the expression of an alternative isoform of HIF-1alpha that inhibits activated T ...

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is a family of growth factors with essential and multiple roles during embryonic development. In mammals, three isoforms (TGF-beta1, TGF-beta2, TGF-beta3) have been described. In the nervous system, the presence of TGF-beta1 has remained undetectable in other structures than meninges and choroids plexus, while TGF-beta2 and ...

The Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene encodes dystrophin, which is a protein defective in DMD patients, as well as a number of shorter isoforms, which have been shown to be expressed in various non-muscle, primarily neural, tissues. As of yet, the physiological function of the various dystrophin isoforms is not ...

UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are major phase II drug metabolism enzymes that catalyze the glucuronidation of numerous endogenous and exogenous compounds. UGTs are divided into two families, UGT1 and UGT2, based on evolutionary divergence and homology. Nine UGT1A and seven UGT2B functional isoforms have been identified in humans. Glucuronidation occurs mainly in ...

Neuregulins (NRGs) are a family of growth factors which bind to the erbB family of tyrosine kinase receptors. The exact nature and interaction of specific NRG isoforms and erbB receptors that occur during the development of the nervous system have not been reported. In order to better understand the role ...

We have previously demonstrated a high level of stratifin, also known as 14-3-3 sigma in differentiated keratinocyte cell lysate and conditioned medium (CM). In this study, we asked the question of whether other 14-3-3 isoforms are expressed in human dermal fibroblasts, keratinocytes, intact dermal and epidermal layers of skin. In ...

The Dystrophin protein is encoded by a gene that, when mutated in humans, can cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease characterized by progressive muscle wasting. A number of Duchenne patients also exhibit poorly understood mental retardation, likely associated with loss of a brain-specific isoform. Furthermore, although Dystrophin isoforms and the ...

During mammalian programmed cell death, cleavage of the translation initiation factor 4G proteins (eIF4GI and eIF4GII) by caspase-3 induces the cap-independent synthesis of pro-apoptotic proteins. Apoptosis occurs naturally in the gonad to remove germ cells that are not selected to grow as oocytes and mature into eggs. Here, we describe ...

The CD45 tyrosine phosphatase is required for T cell development and function by virtue of its role as a positive regulator of src family kinase activity. In addition, recent data have highlighted that CD45 also acts as a negative regulator of Lck function by dephosphorylation of critical tyrosine residues. Lck ...

Spliced variants of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a small peptide with a critical role in metabolism and growth, have been identified in various vertebrate species. However, despite recent functional data in mammalian systems suggesting specific roles (e.g. in muscle formation) for their pro-peptides and/or E domains, their function remains ...

We have isolated cDNAs encoding PDE4A8 (phosphodiesterase 4 isoform A8), a new human cAMP-specific PDE4 isoform encoded by the PDE4A gene. PDE4A8 has a novel N-terminal region of 85 amino acids that differs from those of the related 'long' PDE4A4, PDE4A10 and PDE4A11 isoforms. The human PDE4A8 N-terminal region has ...

The Ig-ITIM family member PECAM-1 is expressed in vascular and endothelial cells, and its functions include suppression of mitochondria-dependent apoptosis. Previous studies have identified distinct PECAM-1 cytoplasmic domain splice variants at the mRNA, but not protein, level. Several relatively abundant mRNA isoforms lack exon 15 (Delta15) and would theoretically encode ...

TG-interacting factor (TGIF) is a homeobox transcriptional repressor that has been implicated in holoprosencephaly and various types of cancer, including leukemias. In this study, we provide the first detailed description of the TGIF locus characterizing 12 TGIF splice isoforms. These isoforms have similar open reading frames but different 5' untranslated ...

Mutations in the T-box transcription factor Tbx5 cause Holt-Oram syndrome, an autosomal dominant disease characterized by a wide spectrum of cardiac and upper limb defects with variable expressivity. Tbx5 haploinsufficiency has been suggested to be the underlying mechanism, and experimental models are consistent with a dosage-sensitive requirement for Tbx5 in ...

CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT) is a key regulatory enzyme in phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) biosynthesis by the Kennedy pathway. In mammals, there are two genes that encode the enzyme isoforms that catalyze this reaction: Pcyt1a for CCTalpha and Pcyt1b for CCTbeta. In mouse tissues two different CCTbeta variants named CCTbeta2 and CCTbeta3 have ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the expression of the genes that code for the isoforms of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and TGF-beta receptors (TBR) in mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from patients with osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Total RNA was extracted from primary cultures of MSC and quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was ...

Methylation of specific CG residues in the mammalian genome results in tissue-specific patterns of gene expression, which are critical for cell differentiation. Embryos that fail to establish and maintain proper DNA methylation patterns show severe developmental abnormalities as is the case of DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) -deficient embryos. Dnmt1 is ...