Epithelial cells captured from ductal carcinoma in situ reveal a gene expression signature associated with progression to invasive breast cancer.

Breast cancer biomarkers that can precisely predict the risk of progression of non-invasive ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) lesions to invasive disease are lacking. The identification of molecular alterations that occur during the invasion process is crucial for the discovery of drivers of transition to invasive disease and, consequently, biomarkers with clinical utility. In this study, we explored differences in gene expression in mammary epithelial cells before and after the morphological manifestation of invasion, i.

Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast: morphological and molecular features implicated in progression.

The spread of mammographic screening programmes around the world, including in developing countries, has substantially contributed to the diagnosis of small non-palpable lesions, which has increased the detection rate of DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ). DCIS is heterogeneous in several ways, such as its clinical presentation, morphology and genomic profile. Excellent outcomes have been reported; however, many questions remain unanswered.

Toxoplasma gondii lysine acetyltransferase GCN5-A functions in the cellular response to alkaline stress and expression of cyst genes.

Parasitic protozoa such as the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii progress through their life cycle in response to stimuli in the environment or host organism. Very little is known about how proliferating tachyzoites reprogram their expressed genome in response to stresses that prompt development into latent bradyzoite cysts. We have previously linked histone acetylation with the expression of stage-specific genes, but the factors involved remain to be determined.

A decade of epigenetic research in Toxoplasma gondii.

In the past 10 years, the field of parasitology has witnessed an explosion of studies investigating gene regulation. In this review, we will describe recent advances largely stemming from the study of Toxoplasma gondii, a significant opportunistic pathogen and useful model for other apicomplexan protozoa. Surprising findings have emerged, including the discovery of a wealth of epigenetic machinery in these primitive eukaryotes, unusual histone variants, and a battery of plant-like transcription factors.

Antigenic variation in Giardia lamblia is regulated by RNA interference.

Giardia lamblia (also called Giardia intestinalis) is one of the most common intestinal parasites of humans. To evade the host's immune response, Giardia undergoes antigenic variation-a process that allows the parasite to develop chronic and recurrent infections. From a repertoire of approximately 190 variant-specific surface protein (VSP)-coding genes, Giardia expresses only one VSP on the surface of each parasite at a particular time, but spontaneously switches to a different VSP by unknown mechanisms.

Characterization of SNAREs determines the absence of a typical Golgi apparatus in the ancient eukaryote Giardia lamblia.

Giardia is a eukaryotic protozoal parasite with unusual characteristics, such as the absence of a morphologically evident Golgi apparatus. Although both constitutive and regulated pathways for protein secretion are evident in Giardia, little is known about the mechanisms involved in vesicular docking and fusion. In higher eukaryotes, soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) of the vesicle-associated membrane protein and syntaxin families play essential roles in these processes.

ORF-C4 from the early branching eukaryote Giardia lamblia displays characteristics of alpha-crystallin small heat-shock proteins.

Giardia lamblia is a medically important protozoan parasite with a basal position in the eukaryotic lineage and is an interesting model to explain the evolution of biochemical events in eukaryotic cells. G. lamblia trophozoites undergo significant changes in order to survive outside the intestine of their host by differentiating into infective cysts.

Active and passive mechanisms drive secretory granule biogenesis during differentiation of the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia.

The parasitic protozoan Giardia lamblia undergoes important changes to survive outside the intestine of its host by differentiating into infective cysts. During encystation, three cyst wall proteins (CWPs) are specifically expressed and concentrated within encystation-specific secretory vesicles (ESVs). ESVs are electron-dense secretory granules that transport CWPs before exocytosis and extracellular polymerization into a rigid cyst wall.