Publications by authors named "James N Wygant"

Considerable advances in understanding the mechanisms associated with anoikis resistance of normal and malignant epithelial cells have been made. However, little is still known about the pathways involved in anoikis resistance of non-epithelial cells such as fibroblasts and sarcomas. Our results show that Src activity contributes to anoikis resistance of human osteosarcoma SAOS-2 cells.

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Dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) is an acidic noncollagenous protein shown by gene ablations to be critical for the proper mineralization of bone and dentin. In the extracellular matrix of these tissues DMP1 is present as fragments representing the NH2-terminal (37 kDa) and COOH-terminal (57 kDa) portions of the cDNA-deduced amino acid sequence. During our separation of bone noncollagenous proteins, we observed a high molecular weight, DMP1-related component (designated DMP1-PG).

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Dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) and dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) are acidic proteins found in the extracellular matrices of bones and teeth. Recent data from gene knockouts, along with those of gene mutations, indicate that these two phosphoproteins are critical for bone and tooth development and/or maintenance. However, the precise functions of the two proteins have not been elucidated.

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Cloning and sequencing of the cDNA indicates that dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) is a precursor of both dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and dentin phosphoprotein (DPP). Dentin sialophosphoprotein must be proteolytically processed to form these two extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Numerous studies led us to conclude that DSP (and DSPP) are exclusively expressed by odontoblasts and preameloblasts.

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Dentin sialoprotein (DSP) is a glycoprotein accounting for 5-8% of the dentin non-collagenous proteins. The cDNA sequence predicts that rat DSP has 13 potential casein kinase phosphorylation sites and six potential N-linked glycosylation sites. However, its total phosphorylation level, as well as the nature and locations of the carbohydrate moieties, are unknown.

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Cell motility, growth, and proliferation are regulated by adhesion to the extracellular matrix. Detachment of adherent cells from extracellular matrix results in induction of apoptosis ("anoikis"). Transformed cells often show an anchorage-independent growth that enables them to acquire a motile, invasive phenotype.

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