Autophagy plays an important role in the physiology and pathology of the liver. Several negative autophagy regulators have been discovered, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), mediated by activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Disabled-1 (Dab1) is one of the mediating adaptor factors of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutophagy is the primary intracellular degradation system, and it plays an important role in many biological and pathological processes. Studies of autophagy involvement in developmental processes are important for understanding various processes. Among them are fibrosis, degenerative diseases, cancer development, and metastasis formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelanoma is the most severe type of skin cancer and among the most malignant neoplasms in humans. With the growing incidence of melanoma, increased numbers of therapeutic options, and the potential to target specific proteins, understanding the basic mechanisms underlying the disease's progression and resistance to treatment has never been more important. LOXL3, SNAI1, and NES are key factors in melanoma genesis, regulating tumor growth, metastasis, and cellular differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSensorineural hearing loss can be caused by lesions to the inner ear during development. Understanding the events and signaling pathways that drive inner ear formation is crucial for determining the possible causes of congenital hearing loss. We have analyzed the innervation and expression of SOX2, JAGGED1, β-catenin (CTNNB1), and vitamin D receptor (VDR) in the inner ears of human conceptuses aged 5 to 10 weeks after fertilization (W) using immunohistochemistry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Fetal hypoxia due to placental dysfunction is the hallmark of fetal growth restriction (FGR). Preferential perfusion of the brain (brain-sparing effect), as a part of physiological placental cardiovascular compensatory mechanisms to hypoxia, in FGR was reported. Therefore, the correlation between vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) protein expression in the FGR placentas and newborns' early neurological outcome was examined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is defined as the urine backflow from the urinary bladder to the pyelo-caliceal system. In contrast, intrarenal reflux (IRR) is the backflow of urine from the renal calyces into the tubulointerstitial space. VURs, particularly those associated with IRR can result in reflux nephropathy when accompanied by urinary tract infection (UTI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSystemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. Although its pathogenesis is not fully understood, connexins (Cxs) and pannexins (Panx) could be involved in the process of fibrosis. We analyzed the protein expression of Cx37, Cx40, Cx43, and Panx1 in the gastric mucosa of patients with SSc and healthy volunteers, using immunofluorescence staining.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Previous work identified rare variants in DSTYK associated with human congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT). Here, we present a series of mouse and human studies to clarify the association, penetrance, and expressivity of DSTYK variants.
Methods: We phenotypically characterized Dstyk knockout mice of 3 separate inbred backgrounds and re-analyzed the original family segregating the DSTYK c.
Introduction: Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare genetic syndrome caused by a mutation in one of 26 different genes responsible for normal structure and/or function of primary cilia. The syndrome is characterized by multiorgan involvement with gradual onset of occurrence of clinical signs and symptoms resulting in great phenotypic variability and what is more important, often difficulties with establishing the timely diagnosis.
Case Report: We report a case of a one family with three members with BBS caused by a very rare mutation, a compound heterozygosity in gene.
We analyzed the expression of the serotonin receptors 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A, and 5-HT3A at four different stages of fetal lung development from 12 to 40 weeks of gestation, divided into four groups: the pseudoglandular stage (12-16th week of development; = 8), the canalicular stage (16th-26th week of development; = 7), the saccular stage (26th-36th week of development; = 5), and the alveolar stage (36th-40th week of development; = 5). The strongest expression of all three receptor types was found in the epithelium of the proximal airways during the pseudoglandular, canalicular, and saccular stages and in a vascular wall. 5-HT1A was also strongly expressed in the smooth muscle cells of the proximal airway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCarpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and Dupuytren's disease (DD) are fibrotic conditions that affect the connective tissue of the hand and limit its functionality. The exact molecular mechanism underlying the fibrosis is unknown, and only some profibrotic factors have been investigated. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the expression of FGF signaling pathway molecules associated with fibrotic changes in the palmar fascia and the flexor retinaculum of 15 CTS patients and both clinically affected and unaffected palmar fascia of 15 DD patients, using immunofluorescence techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLichen sclerosus (LS) is a progressive skin disease that is characterized by chronic inflammation of either genital or extragenital skin, and it disproportionately affects women. We analyzed the distribution of nerve fibers, vanilloid receptors, cell proliferation, mast cells and macrophages in genital and extragenital LS samples, as well as in healthy skin, by using immunohistochemistry. The total amount of intraepidermal nerve fibers was lower in LS samples compared to healthy controls, while the total amount of subepidermal nerve fibers and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) positive fibers was higher in genital LS samples compared to both extragenital LS and healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe expression pattern of the markers p19, Ki-67, MSX1, MSX2, PDL1, pRB, and CYCLINA2 was quantitatively and semiquantitatively analyzed in histologic sections of the developing and postnatal human eye at week 8, in retinoblastoma, and in various uveal melanomas post hoc studies by double immunofluorescence. The p19 immunoreactivity characterized retinal and/or choroidal cells in healthy and tumor tissues: expression was lower in the postnatal retina than in the developing retina and retinoblastoma, whereas it was high in epithelioid melanomas. Ki67 expression was high in the developing eye, retinoblastoma, and choroidal melanomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To describe the parenchymal defects in kidneys with intrarenal reflux (IRR) diagnosed using contrast-enhanced voiding urosonography (ceVUS) and Tc-DMSA scintigraphy (DMSA scan).
Materials And Methods: A group of 186 uretero-renal units (URUs) was analyzed using ceVUS and DMSA scans: 47 without vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) (group A) and 139 with VURs, comprising 73 VURs without (group B), and 66 with IRR (group C). VURs included non-dilating (grades I-II), mildly non-dilating (grade III), and non-dilating (grades IV-V) grades.
During human kidney development, cells of the proximal nephron gradually differentiate into podocytes and parietal epithelial cells (PECs). Podocytes are terminally differentiated cells that play a key role in both normal and pathological kidney function. Therefore, the potential of podocytes to regenerate or be replaced by other cell populations (PECs) is of great interest for the possible treatment of kidney diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe expression pattern of Connexins (Cx) 37, 40, 43, 45 and Pannexin 1 (Pnx1) was analyzed immunohistochemically, as well as semi-quantitatively and quantitatively in histological sections of developing 8th- to 12th-week human eyes and postnatal healthy eye, in retinoblastoma and different uveal melanomas. Expressions of both Cx37 and Cx43 increased during development but diminished in the postnatal period, being higher in the retina than in the choroid. Cx37 was highly expressed in the choroid of retinoblastoma, and Cx43 in epitheloid melanoma, while they were both increasingly expressed in mixoid melanoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPannexins are transmembrane glycoproteins that constitute channels involved in purinergic signaling through ATP release from cells in various physiological and pathological processes. In this study, the distribution of Panx1 expression in different cell populations of healthy postnatal human kidneys and during human embryonic and early fetal development was investigated by double immunohistochemistry. In addition, the glomerular and tubular expression of Panx1 was examined in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and the control group, and renal Panx1 expression was correlated with serum creatinine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated DAB1-protein deficiency in the inner-ear development of in comparison to humans and wild-type (wt) mice by immunofluorescence for the expression of connexins (Cxs) and the pannexin Panx1. The spatial and temporal dynamics of Cx26, Cx32, Cx37, Cx40, Cx43, Cx45, and Panx1 were determined in the sixth and eighth weeks of human development and at the corresponding mouse embryonic E13.5 and E15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to investigate the spatio-temporal expression of possible CAKUT candidate genes , , and , as well as and during human kidney development. Human fetal kidney tissue was stained with antibodies and analyzed by fluorescence microscopy and RT-PCR. Quantification of positive cells was assessed by calculation of area percentage and counting cells in nephron structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe expression of 5-HT (serotonin) receptors (sr) was analyzed in the spinal cord and ganglia of 15 human conceptuses (5-10-weeks), and in the 9-week fetus with spina bifida. We used immunohistochemical method to detect sr-positive, apoptotic (caspase-3) and proliferating (Ki-67) cells, double immunofluorescence for co-localization with protein gene peptide (pgp) 9.5 and GFAP, as well as semiquantification and statistical measurements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: One of the main causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the world is IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Since kidney is a key player in vitamin D metabolism, we investigated the expression of renal vitamin D receptors (VDR) and metabolizing enzymes in IgA nephropathy patients (IgAN-P).
Methods: The sample included twelve IgAN-P who underwent ultrasound-guided renal biopsies and five controls who underwent nephrectomy due to clear renal carcinoma.
This study aimed to explore morphology changes in the kidneys of ( mice, as well as expression patterns of reelin, NOTCH2, LC3B, and cleaved caspase3 (CASP3) proteins, as potential determinants of normal kidney formation and function. We assumed that functional inactivation may cause disorder in a wide spectrum of congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT). Animals were sacrificed at postnatal days P4, P11, and P14.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe spatiotemporal expression of α-tubulin, inversin and dishevelled-1 (DVL-1) proteins associated with the Wnt-signaling pathway, and primary cilia morphology were analyzed in developing kidneys (14th-38th developmental weeks), healthy postnatal (1.5- and 7-years old) and pathologically changed human kidneys, including multicystic dysplastic kidneys (MCDK), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type (CNF). The analysis was performed by double immunofluorescence, electron microscopy, semiquantitative and statistical methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to analyze the incidence of intrarenal reflux (IRR) among vesicoureteral refluxes (VURs), diagnosed by contrast-enhanced voiding urosonography (ceVUS), to define VURs which are positive to IRR and their locations in the kidney. Seventy patients with VURs, including 103 uretero-renal units (URUs) with VURs of grades II-V (37 URUs were excluded because of renal anomalies or absence of VUR) were examined with ceVUS due to recurrent febrile UTI or first febrile UTI accompanied by abnormalities on renal ultrasonography. Patients were examined on GE Logiq S8 ultrasound machine, using second generation of ultrasound contrast agent.
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