Feijoa sellowiana derived natural Flavone exerts anti-cancer action displaying HDAC inhibitory activities.

Curative properties of some medicinal plants such as the Feijoa sellowiana Bert. (Myrtaceae), have been often claimed, although the corresponding molecular mechanism(s) remain elusive. We report here that the Feijoa acetonic extract exerts anti-cancer activities on solid and hematological cancer cells.

Bispyridinium dienes: histone deacetylase inhibitors with selective activities.

A novel synthetic route to the cyclostellettamines 1 using as the key step a microwave-mediated macrocyclic ring-closing metathesis of precursors bispyridinium dienes 10 followed by catalytic hydrogenation has been developed. The open-chain bispyridinium dienes 10 showed uniformly higher histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitory potency than the natural products. Diene 10b inhibited HDAC1 and was inactive on HDAC4, whereas 10a showed a weak inhibition of HDAC1 and a higher activity on HDAC4.

An autoregulatory loop directs the tissue-specific expression of p63 through a long-range evolutionarily conserved enhancer.

p63, a p53 family member, is essential for the development of various stratified epithelia and is one of the earliest markers of many ectodermal structures, including the epidermis, oral mucosa, apical ectodermal ridge, and mammary gland. Genetic regulatory mechanisms controlling p63 spatial expression during development have not yet been defined. Using a genomic approach, we identified an evolutionarily conserved cis-regulatory element, located 160 kb downstream of the first p63 exon, which functions as a keratinocyte-specific enhancer and is sufficient to recapitulate expression of the endogenous gene during mouse embryogenesis.

Requirement of the forkhead gene Foxe1, a target of sonic hedgehog signaling, in hair follicle morphogenesis.

The forkhead transcription factor FOXE1 is mutated in patients with Bamforth-Lazarus syndrome that exhibit hair follicle defects, suggesting a possible role for Foxe1 in hair follicle morphogenesis. Here, we report that Foxe1 is specifically expressed in the lower undifferentiated compartment of the hair follicle, at a time and site that parallel activation of the Shh signaling pathway. The Foxe1 protein is also expressed in human and mouse basal cell carcinoma in which hedgehog signaling is constitutively activated, whereas it is undetectable in normal epidermis and squamous cell carcinoma.