A review and meta-analysis of cancer risks in relation to Portland cement exposure.

Workers engaged in the production of Portland cement may come into contact with potential occupational hazards, but existing epidemiological studies show wide variation in risk estimates for cancer incidence and mortality in relation to cement exposure. This report identified studies of cement workers and associations with cancer incidence and mortality in a systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic review according to the PRISMA guidelines was conducted to identify studies of Portland cement workers and cancer outcomes.

BCL-XL expression levels influence differential regional astrocytic susceptibility to 1,3-dinitrobenzene.

The selective vulnerability of brainstem astrocytes to 1,3-dinitrobenzene is mediated by a 10-fold lower threshold for opening of the cyclosporin A-inhibitable mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mtPTP). BCL-XL, BAX and BCL-2 are members of the BCL-2 protein family known to regulate both apoptotic and necrotic cell death signaling at the mtPTP. The levels at which these proteins are expressed relative to one another, where in the cell they are located and whether they are post-translational modified contributes greatly to the balance in active agonistic to active antagonistic BCL-2 proteins, and this critical balance has been hypothesized to dictate regional astrocytic susceptibility to DNB.

The interaction of DNA mismatch repair proteins with human exonuclease I.

Exonucleolytic degradation of DNA is an essential part of many DNA metabolic processes including DNA mismatch repair (MMR) and recombination. Human exonuclease I (hExoI) is a member of a family of conserved 5' --> 3' exonucleases, which are implicated in these processes by genetic studies. Here, we demonstrate that hExoI binds strongly to hMLH1, and we describe interaction regions between hExoI and the MMR proteins hMSH2, hMSH3, and hMLH1.

Characterization of the human Rad51 genomic locus and examination of tumors with 15q14-15 loss of heterozygosity (LOH).

Human Rad51 (hRad51) has been found to be associated with BRCA1, BRCA2, and p53 either directly or indirectly and is one of at least eight human genes that are members of the Escherichia coli RecA/Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad51 family thought to affect genomic stability through DNA recombination/repair processes. While inactivation of DNA mismatch repair clearly leads to instability of repeated sequences and to an increased risk for tumorigenesis, such a parallel for the RecA family members has not been reported. Recently, a high frequency of loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 15q14-15, near the genomic region containing hRad51, has been reported in human tumors (W.

Human exonuclease I interacts with the mismatch repair protein hMSH2.

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) plays a vital role in the faithful replication of DNA, and its inactivation leads to a mutator phenotype that has been associated with the common cancer susceptibility syndrome Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC). Here, we report on a novel human exonuclease (hExoI) that is related to the yeast exonuclease 1. The hExoI cDNA comprises 2541 bp, which code for a Mr 94,000 protein that appears to be highly expressed in testis tissue and at very low levels in other tissues.