Proteasome inhibition rapidly exacerbates photoinhibition and impedes recovery during high light stress in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Background: Proteasomes remove regulatory proteins in eukaryotic cells, and control a variety of plant processes. Proteasomes are localized to the cytosol and nuclear, but their role in plant biology has recently been extended to chloroplasts, where it regulates TOC complex. This is turn controls the import of nuclear-encoded chloroplastic proteins, which remodels the chloroplast proteome and facilitates proper developmental transitions.

Paclitaxel induces programmed cell death in MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cells.

The ability of paclitaxel, one of the most active chemotherapeutic agents against breast cancer, to induce programmed cell death in hormone-independent MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cells was assessed. Treatment of MDA-MB-468 cells led to growth inhibition, high-molecular-weight and oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation, and apoptosis-associated morphological changes after either 3- or 24-h exposure to paclitaxel concentrations >/=10 nM. Additionally, cleavage products of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and lamin B1, two proteins that are cleaved early in the execution phase of programmed cell death, were detected.

Growth inhibition of hormone-responsive and -resistant human breast cancer cells in culture by N1, N12-bis(ethyl)spermine.

Previous studies have documented differential sensitivity of human lung cancer and melanoma cell lines to the cytotoxic effects of N1, N12-bis(ethyl)spermine (BESpm). We show here that BESpm can significantly inhibit the growth of six human breast cancer cell lines with 50% inhibitory concentration in the microM range. The degree of inhibition does not correlate with estrogen receptor status.

Induction of jun gene family members by transforming growth factor alpha but not 17 beta-estradiol in human breast cancer cells.

To investigate whether estrogen treatment of hormone-responsive human breast cancer cells was associated with activation of members of the jun family of immediate early response genes, the expression of these oncogenes in human breast cancer cells was examined. 17 beta-Estradiol had little effect on expression of c-jun, jun B, jun D, or c-fos mRNA by MCF-7 cells over 12 h, although it stimulated c-myc expression 4-fold within 30 min. In contrast, several peptide growth factors, including transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha), rapidly and transiently induced expression of c-jun, jun B, and c-fos mRNA 4- to 10-fold over control.

Inherited p53 gene mutations in breast cancer.

Recent evidence has implicated germ-line mutations of the p53 gene as the cause of cancer susceptibility in the Li-Fraumeni syndrome, associated with the development of breast cancer and other neoplasms. Furthermore, somatic mutations of the p53 gene have been detected in a high percentage of non-familial breast cancers. We therefore sought to identify potential carriers of p53 gene mutations in a cohort of patients with early onset breast cancer.