The TGFβ family member NODAL, repeatedly required during embryonic development, has also been associated with tumour progression. Our aim was to clarify the controversy surrounding its involvement in melanoma tumour progression. We found that the deletion of the exon 2 in a metastatic melanoma cell line impairs its ability to form tumours and colonize distant tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe vault nanoparticle is a eukaryotic assembly consisting of 78 copies of the 99-kDa major vault protein. They generate two cup-shaped symmetrical halves, which in vivo enclose protein and RNA molecules. Overall, this assembly is mainly involved in pro-survival and cytoprotective functions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChanges in transcriptional regulation through cis-regulatory elements are thought to drive brain evolution. However, how this impacts the identity of primate cortical neurons is still unresolved. Here, we show that primate-specific cis-regulatory sequences upstream of the Dbx1 gene promote human-like expression in the mouse embryonic cerebral cortex, and this imparts cell identity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCajal-Retzius (CR) cells are essential for cortical development and lamination. These pioneer neurons arise from distinct progenitor sources, including the cortical hem and the ventral pallium at pallium-subpallium boundary (PSB). CXCR4, the canonical receptor for the chemokine CXCL12, controls the superficial location of hem-derived CR cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Insulin Receptor (InR) in Drosophila presents features conserved in its mammalian counterparts. InR is required for growth; it is expressed in the central and embryonic nervous system and modulates the time of differentiation of the eye photoreceptor without altering cell fate. We show that the InR is required for the formation of the peripheral nervous system during larval development and more particularly for the formation of sensory organ precursors (SOPs) on the fly notum and scutellum.
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