Novel method for highly multiplexed gene expression profiling of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) captured from the blood of women with metastatic breast cancer.

Background: Enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has proven clinical significance for monitoring patients with metastatic cancers. Multiplexed gene expression profiling of CTCs is a potential tool for assessing disease status and monitoring treatment response. The Parsortix technology enables the capture and harvest of CTCs from blood based on cell size and deformability.

Malignancy Assessment Using Gene Identification in Captured Cells Algorithm for the Prediction of Malignancy in Women With a Pelvic Mass.

Objective: To evaluate the detection of malignancy in women with a pelvic mass by using multiplexed gene expression analysis of cells captured from peripheral blood.

Methods: This was an IRB-approved, prospective clinical study. Eligible patients had a pelvic mass and were scheduled for surgery or biopsy.

Bridging the gap between theory and practice in elucidating modular gene regulatory sequence organisation within genomes.

Changes to promoter regions probably have been responsible for many morphological evolutionary transitions, especially in animals. This idea is becoming testable, as data from genome projects amass and enable bioinformaticians to conduct comparative sequence analyses and test for correlations between genotypic similarities or differences and phenotypic likeness or disparity. Although such practical pursuits have initiated some theoretical considerations, a conceptual framework for understanding promoter region evolution, potentially effecting morphological evolution, is only starting to emerge, predominantly resulting from computational research.

Atypical protein kinase C zeta: potential player in cell survival and cell migration of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most aggressive gynaecological cancers, thus understanding the different biological pathways involved in ovarian cancer progression is important in identifying potential therapeutic targets for the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential roles of Protein Kinase C Zeta (PRKCZ) in ovarian cancer. The atypical protein kinase C isoform, PRKCZ, is involved in the control of various signalling processes including cell proliferation, cell survival, and cell motility, all of which are important for cancer development and progression.

Non-molecular-clock-like evolution following viral origins in homo sapiens.

Researchers routinely adopt molecular clock assumptions in conducting sequence analyses to estimate dates for viral origins in humans. We used computational methods to examine the extent to which this practice can result in inaccurate 'retrodiction.' Failing to account for dynamic molecular evolution can affect greatly estimating index case dates, resulting in an overestimated age for the SARS-CoV-human infection, for instance.

hCDC4 variation in osteosarcoma.

The hCDC4 gene (also known as Fbw7 or Archipelago) encodes an F-box protein that is responsible for targeting cyclin E for Skp1-cullin-F box protein (SCF) ubiquitination and proteosomal degradation. Disruption of this pathway has been associated with chromosomal instability and aneuploidy in several cancer cell lines and primary tumors. This study aimed to examine whether hCDC4 mutations contribute to aneuploidy in osteosarcoma.