CpG PatternFinder: a Windows-based utility program for easy and rapid identification of the CpG methylation status of DNA.

The bisulfite genomic sequencing technique is one of the most widely used techniques to study sequence-specific DNA methylation because of its unambiguous ability to reveal DNA methylation status to the order of a single nucleotide. One characteristic feature of the bisulfite genomic sequencing technique is that a number of sample sequence files will be produced from a single DNA sample. The PCR products of bisulfite-treated DNA samples cannot be sequenced directly because they are heterogeneous in nature; therefore they should be cloned into suitable plasmids and then sequenced.

Protein kinase Cepsilon interacts with signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3), phosphorylates Stat3Ser727, and regulates its constitutive activation in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men and ranks second only to lung cancer in cancer-related deaths. The management of locally advanced prostate cancer is difficult because the cancer often becomes hormone insensitive and unresponsive to current chemotherapeutic agents. Knowledge about the regulatory molecules involved in the transformation to androgen-independent prostate cancer is essential for the rational design of agents to prevent and treat prostate cancer.

Protein kinase Cepsilon interacts with Stat3 and regulates its activation that is essential for the development of skin cancer.

Protein kinase C (PKC) represents a large family of phosphatidylserine (PS)-dependent serine/threonine protein kinases. At least six PKC isoforms (alpha, delta, epsilon, eta, micro, and zeta) are expressed in epidermis. PKC is a major intracellular receptor for 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and is also activated by a variety of stress factors including ultraviolet radiation (UVR).

Hepatocellular carcinomas of the albumin SV40 T-antigen transgenic rat display fetal-like re-expression of lgf2 and deregulation of H19.

Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that one of the earliest events during hepatocarcinogenesis in the albumin SV40 T antigen (Alb SV40 T Ag) transgenic rat is the duplication of chromosome 1q3.7-4.3, a region which contains the imprinted and coordinately regulated genes Igf2 and H19.

Protein kinase C epsilon, which sensitizes skin to sun's UV radiation-induced cutaneous damage and development of squamous cell carcinomas, associates with Stat3.

Chronic exposure to UV radiation (UVR) is the major etiologic factor in the development of human skin cancers including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). We have shown that protein kinase C(epsilon) (PKC(epsilon)), a Ca(2+)-independent, phospholipid-dependent serine/threonine kinase, is an endogenous photosensitizer. PKC(epsilon) is among the six isoforms (alpha, delta, epsilon, eta, mu, and zeta) expressed in both mouse and human skin.

Protein kinase Cepsilon and development of squamous cell carcinoma, the nonmelanoma human skin cancer.

Protein kinase C (PKC) represents a large family of phosphatidylserine (PS)-dependent serine/threonine protein kinases. At least five PKC isoforms (alpha, delta, epsilon, eta, and zeta) are expressed in epidermal keratinocytes. PKC isoforms are differentially expressed in proliferative (basal layer) and nonproliferative compartments (spinous, granular, cornified layers), which exhibit divergence in their roles in the regulation of epidermal cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis.

Changes in the DNA methylation profile of the rat H19 gene upstream region during development and transgenic hepatocarcinogenesis and its role in the imprinted transcriptional regulation of the H19 gene.

Monoallelic expression of the imprinted H19 and insulin-like growth factor-2 (Igf2) genes depends on the hypomethylation of the maternal allele and hypermethylation of the paternal allele of the H19 upstream region. Previous studies from our laboratory on liver carcinogenesis in the F1 hybrid of Fischer 344 (F344) and Sprague-Dawley Alb SV40 T Ag transgenic rat (SD) strains revealed the biallelic expression of H19 in hepatomas. We undertook a comparative study of the DNA methylation status of the upstream region of H19 in fetal, adult, and neoplastic liver.

Biallelic expression of the H19 gene during spontaneous hepatocarcinogenesis in the albumin SV40 T antigen transgenic rat.

Previous studies in this laboratory have demonstrated that the earliest cytogenetic alteration in the development of hepatic neoplasms in a transgenic strain of rats bearing the albumin Simian virus 40 T antigen (Alb SV40 T Ag) construct was a duplication of the chromosome 1q4.1-1q4.2 band.