A sensitive cell-based assay for testing potency of botulinum neurotoxin type A.

Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is a biopharmaceutic widely used for the treatment of neu­rological diseases and in aesthetic medicine to achieve months-long paralysis of target muscles and glands. Large numbers of mice are used in the mouse bioassay (MBA) for various botulinum-related applications including batch release potency testing, antitoxin testing, countermeasure development, and basic research. BoNT/A intoxication causes severe suffering to the mice used for testing, and application-specific, non-animal alternatives are urgently needed.

Dvl proteins regulate SMAD1, AHR, mTOR, BRD7 protein expression while differentially regulating canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways in CML cell lines.

Dishevelled (Dvl) is a scaffold protein that transmits Wnt signals to downstream effector molecules via both canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways. Deregulated activation of Dvl proteins has been reported in various solid tumors. However, it is not clear which pathway and proteins are responsible for observed aberrant activities and their relevance in disease prognosis.

sFRP1 Expression Regulates Wnt Signaling in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia K562 Cells.

Background: Wnt signaling cascades play important roles in cell fate decisions and their deregulation has been documented in many diseases, including malignant tumors and leukemia. One mechanism of aberrant Wnt signaling is the silencing of Wnt inhibitors through epigenetic mechanisms. The sFRPs are one of the most studied Wnt inhibitors; and the sFRP1 loss is known in many hematological malignancies.

Secreted Wnt antagonists in leukemia: A road yet to be paved.

Wnt signaling has been a topic of research for many years for its diverse and fundamental functions in physiological (such as embryogenesis, organogenesis, proliferation, tissue repair and cellular differentiation) and pathological (carcinogenesis, congenital/genetic diseases, and tissue degeneration) processes. Wnt signaling pathway aberrations are associated with both solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Unregulated Wnt signaling observed in malignancies may be due to a wide spectrum of abnormalities, from mutations in the genes of key players to epigenetic modifications of Wnt antagonists.

Dishevelled proteins and CYLD reciprocally regulate each other in CML cell lines.

Dishevelled (Dvl) proteins are activated by Wnt pathway stimulation and have crucial roles in the regulation of β-catenin destruction complex. CYLD is a tumor suppressor and a deubiquitination enzyme. CYLD negatively regulates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by deubiquitinating Dvl proteins.

Forced expression of Wnt antagonists sFRP1 and WIF1 sensitizes chronic myeloid leukemia cells to tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a clonal myeloproliferative disorder that arises from the neoplastic transformation of the hematopoietic stem cell, in which the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has been demonstrated to play an important role in disease progression. However, the role of Wnt signaling antagonists in therapy resistance and disease progression has not been fully investigated. We aimed to study the effects of Wnt/β-catenin pathway antagonists-secreted frizzled-related protein 1 and Wnt inhibitory factor 1-on resistance toward tyrosine kinase inhibitors in chronic myeloid leukemia.

An In-House Method for Molecular Monitoring of BCR-ABL.

Objective: At present, there are a limited number of facilities in Turkey that can provide reliable real-time quantitative(RQ)-PCR BCR-ABL results. The present study aimed to test a cost-effective, in-house method of BCR-ABL quantification,including verification of the method by RQ-PCR validation tests.

Material And Methods: BCR-ABL and ABL target sequences were cloned into pJET1.