Survey for Activating Oncogenic Mutation Variants in Metazoan Germline Genes.

Most cancers present with mutations or amplifications in distinctive tumor promoter genes that activate principal cell-signaling cascades promoting cell proliferation, dedifferentiation, cell survival, and replicative immortality. Somatic mutations found in this these driver proto-oncogenes invariably result in constitutive activation of the encoded protein. A salient feature of the activating mutations observed throughout many thousands of clinical tumor specimens reveals these driver missense mutations are recurrent and restricted to just one or very few codons of the entire gene, suggesting they have been positively selected during the course of tumor development.

Neo-Darwinian Principles Exemplified in Cancer Genomics.

Within the last two decades, the advent of next-generation sequencing accompanied by single-cell technologies has enabled cancer researchers to study in detail mutations and other genetic aberrations that transpire during transformation of cells to a neoplastic state. This article covers the insights gained through these extensive studies where neo-Darwinian principles can be inferred to play roles throughout neoplastic transformation. The cells promoted during cancer development exhibit cancer hallmarks combined with the related enabling characteristics as outlined by Hanahan and Weinberg, analogous to natural selection and survival of the fittest.

Standard operating procedures for serum and plasma collection: early detection research network consensus statement standard operating procedure integration working group.

Specimen collection is an integral component of clinical research. Specimens from subjects with various stages of cancers or other conditions, as well as those without disease, are critical tools in the hunt for biomarkers, predictors, or tests that will detect serious diseases earlier or more readily than currently possible. Analytic methodologies evolve quickly.

Deletion of the NOT4 gene impairs hyphal development and pathogenicity in Candida albicans.

The Candida albicans NOT4 gene was disrupted in order to investigate the role of Not4p in growth, morphogenesis and pathogenicity. Heterozygote (NOT4/not4), null (not4/not4) and reconstructed heterozygote ([NOT4]/not4) strains of C. albicans, as well as CAF2-1, the parental strain, were grown under conditions that promote hyphal formation.