A defective retroviral vector encoding human interferon-alpha2 can transduce human leukemic cell lines.

Using the LXSN backbone, a defective retroviral vector (LISN) was constructed that encodes the human interferon (IFN)-alpha2 (hIFN-alpha2) gene and the neomycin resistance gene; the hIFN-alpha2 gene was cloned from human placental genomic DNA. High titers of the LISN retrovirus were produced by the amphotropic packaging cell line GP+envAM12. LISN is able to infect three human hematopoietic and leukemic cell lines: K562, LAMA-84, and TF-1.

Parental origin and mechanisms of formation of three cases of 12p tetrasomy.

Pallister-Killian syndrome is a clinically recognizable syndrome characterized by tissue-limited mosaicism for an extra 12p isochromosome. Very little is known about the underlying mechanism of this rare rearrangement. Microsatellite markers were studied from three fetuses with Pallister-Killian syndrome and their parents to determine the parent of origin and the cell division yielding the additional isochromosome.

Characterization of regions of chromosomes 12 and 16 involved in nephroblastoma tumorigenesis.

There are at least three loci involved in Wilms' tumor (WT) tumorigenesis: WT1 in 11p13, WT2 in 11p15.5, and WT3, as yet unmapped. A compilation of cytogenetic data published for 107 WT revealed that deletion of chromosome 16 and duplication of chromosome 12 occur as frequently as the well-documented 11p deletions.

Isolation of kidney complementary DNAs down-expressed in Wilms' tumor by a subtractive hybridization approach.

We applied a subtractive hybridization approach to isolate genes differentially expressed between mature kidney and Wilms' tumor. We constructed a complementary DNA library from a total mature kidney complementary DNA subtracted by an excess of mRNA from a Wilms' tumor, WAGR4, with a germline deletion of 11p13 and a somatic loss of alleles at 11p15. Six clones presenting a differential pattern of expression, positive with mRNA from the mature kidney and negative with mRNA from the Wilms' tumor WAGR4, were characterized.

Physical and genetic mapping of the dipeptidase gene DPEP1 to 16q24.3.

We report the subregional physical and genetic mapping on chromosome 16q of a cDNA clone selected as a potential tumor/growth suppressor sequence. By DNA sequencing and RNA expression pattern, this clone was identified as part of the renal dipeptidase gene (DPEP1). Using somatic cell hybrids carrying either different human chromosomes or chromosome 16 segments, we confirm and refine the physical mapping of DPEP1 to the chromosome 16 subregion q24.