Fetal Leydig cells: What we know and what we don't.

During male fetal development, testosterone plays an essential role in the differentiation and maturation of the male reproductive system. Deficient fetal testosterone production can result in variations of sex differentiation that may cause infertility and even increased tumor incidence later in life. Fetal Leydig cells in the fetal testis are the major androgen source in mammals.

ZNF695, A Potential Prognostic Biomarker, Correlates with Im mune Infiltrates in Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Endoce rvical Adenocarcinoma: Bioinformatic Analysis and Experimental Verification.

Background: The role of Zinc Finger Protein 695 (ZNF695) is unclear in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma (CESC).

Objective: The objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis and experimental validation of ZNF695 in CESC.

Methods: The study investigated the expression of ZNF695 in both pan-cancer and CESC, utilizing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to assess its diagnostic value.

Pathway Genes in Ovarian Cancer: Clinical Significance and Associations with Immune Cell Infiltration.

Background: Activation of the signaling pathway is associated with tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate pathway gene functions and regulatory mechanisms in ovarian cancer (OC).

Methods: We conducted a bioinformatics analysis of publicly available datasets in order to identify potential -related mechanisms, associated genes, biological pathways, and their relation to immune function.

Canonical Wnt/β-catenin activity and differential epigenetic marks direct sexually dimorphic regulation of and in developing mouse gonads.

Members of the Iroquois B (IrxB) homeodomain cluster genes, specifically and , are crucial for heart, limb and bone development. Recently, we reported their importance for oocyte and follicle survival within the developing ovary. and expression begins after sex determination in the ovary but remains absent in the fetal testis.

Scarless Genome Editing of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells via Transient Puromycin Selection.

Genome-edited human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have broad applications in disease modeling, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine. We present and characterize a robust method for rapid, scarless introduction or correction of disease-associated variants in hPSCs using CRISPR/Cas9. Utilizing non-integrated plasmid vectors that express a puromycin N-acetyl-transferase (PAC) gene, whose expression and translation is linked to that of Cas9, we transiently select for cells based on their early levels of Cas9 protein.

CREB Signaling Is Involved in Rett Syndrome Pathogenesis.

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in the gene. To facilitate the study of cellular mechanisms in human cells, we established several human stem cell lines: human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line carrying the common T158M mutation ( ), hESC line expressing no MECP2 (), congenic pair of wild-type and mutant RTT patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line carrying the V247fs mutation (V247fs-WT and V247fs-MT), and iPSC line in which the V247fs mutation was corrected by CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing (V247fs-MT-correction). Detailed analyses of forebrain neurons differentiated from these human stem cell lines revealed genotype-dependent quantitative phenotypes in neurite growth, dendritic complexity, and mitochondrial function.