Cancer is caused primarily by genomic alterations resulting in deregulation of gene regulatory circuits in key growth, apoptosis, or DNA repair pathways. Multiple genes associated with the initiation and development of tumors are also regulated at the level of mRNA decay, through the recruitment of RNA-binding proteins to AU-rich elements (AREs) located in their 3'-untranslated regions. One of these ARE-binding proteins, tristetraprolin (TTP; encoded by Zfp36), is consistently dysregulated in many human malignancies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAU-rich element (ARE)-mediated mRNA decay represents a key mechanism to avoid excessive production of inflammatory cytokines. Tristetraprolin (TTP, encoded by Zfp36) is a major ARE-binding protein, since Zfp36 mice develop a complex multiorgan inflammatory syndrome that shares many features with spondyloarthritis. The role of TTP in intestinal homeostasis is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccurate measurement of the mechanical properties of ultra-thin films with thicknesses typically below 100 nm is a challenging issue with an interest in many fields involving coating technologies, microelectronics, and MEMS. A bilayer curvature based method is developed for the simultaneous determination of the elastic mismatch strain and Young's modulus of ultra-thin films. The idea is to deposit the film or coating on very thin cantilevers in order to amplify the curvature compared to a traditional "Stoney" wafer curvature test, hence the terminology "micro-Stoney.
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