Rexinoids Induce Differential Gene Expression in Human Glioblastoma Cells and Protein-Protein Interactions in a Yeast Two-Hybrid System.

Rexinoids are compounds that bind to the rexinoid X receptor (RXR) to modulate gene expression and have been proposed as a new class of therapeutics to treat Alzheimer's disease. Different rexinoids will initiate downstream effects that can be quite marked even though such compounds can be structurally similar and have comparable RXR binding affinities. RXR can both homo- and heterodimerize, and these protein-protein interactions and subsequent transactivating potential lead to differential gene expression, depending on the RXR dimeric partner, additional cofactors recruited, and downstream transcription factors that are up- or downregulated.

Tools for Targeted Genome Engineering of Established Drosophila Cell Lines.

We describe an adaptation of φC31 integrase-mediated targeted cassette exchange for use in Drosophila cell lines. Single copies of an attP-bounded docking platform carrying a GFP-expression marker, with or without insulator elements flanking the attP sites, were inserted by P-element transformation into the Kc167 and Sg4 cell lines; each of the resulting docking-site lines carries a single mapped copy of one of the docking platforms. Vectors for targeted substitution contain a cloning cassette flanked by attB sites.

Injury response checkpoint and developmental timing in insects.

In insects, localized tissue injury often leads to global (organism-wide) delays in development and retarded metamorphosis. In Drosophila, for example, injuries to the larval imaginal discs can retard pupariation and prolong metamorphosis. Injuries induced by treatments such as radiation, mechanical damage and induction of localized cell death can trigger similar delays.

Tissue damage disrupts developmental progression and ecdysteroid biosynthesis in Drosophila.

In humans, chronic inflammation, severe injury, infection and disease can result in changes in steroid hormone titers and delayed onset of puberty; however the pathway by which this occurs remains largely unknown. Similarly, in insects injury to specific tissues can result in a global developmental delay (e.g.

Opposing interactions between Drosophila cut and the C/EBP encoded by slow border cells direct apical constriction and epithelial invagination.

Stage 10 of Drosophila oogenesis can be subdivided into stages 10A and 10B based on a change in the morphology of the centripetal follicle cells (FC) from a columnar to an apically constricted shape. This coordinated cell shape change drives epithelial cell sheet involution between the oocyte and nurse cell complex which patterns the operculum structure of the mature eggshell. We have shown previously that proper centripetal FC migration requires transient expression of the C/EBP encoded by slow border cells (slbo) at 10A, due in part to Notch activation followed by slbo autorepression (Levine et al.

Role for copper in the cellular and regulatory effects of heme-hemopexin.

Hemopexin (HPX) binds heme tightly, thus protecting cells from heme toxicity during hemolysis, trauma and ischemia-reperfusion injury. Heme uptake via endocytosis of heme-HPX followed by heme catabolism by heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) raises regulatory iron pools, thus linking heme metabolism with that of iron. Normal iron homeostasis requires copper-replete cells.

A dominant negative allele of the Drosophila leucine zipper protein Bunched blocks bunched function during tissue patterning.

The bunched (bun) gene encodes the Drosophila member of the TSC-22/GILZ family of leucine zipper transcriptional regulators. The bun locus encodes multiple BUN protein isoforms and has diverse roles during patterning of the eye, wing margin, dorsal notum and eggshell. Here we report the construction and activity of a dominant negative allele (BunDN) of the BUN-B isoform.

Ras signaling modulates activity of the ecdysone receptor EcR during cell migration in the Drosophila ovary.

Ecdysone Receptor (EcR) mediates effects of the hormone ecdysone during larval molts, pupal metamorphosis, and adult female oogenesis. In the ovary, egg chamber formation requires interactions between the somatic follicle cell (FC) epithelium and the germ line nurse cell/oocyte cyst. Previous work has shown EcR is required in the germ line for egg chamber maturation, and here we examine EcR requirements in the FC at late stages of oogenesis.

Workers' ignorance of retirement benefits.

Purpose: This study considered the extent of workers' unfamiliarity with retirement benefits, a problem that could compromise informed retirement planning.

Design And Methods: Among workers in the 1992 Health and Retirement Study, we examined the frequency of "don't know" responses to question series about employer pensions, health insurance, and Social Security.

Results: Eligible workers readily offered responses about the shared, public details of pension plans, but knowledge about personal pension wealth was lacking for one third of persons in defined benefit plans and for one fifth of those in defined contribution plans.