Small ORFs as New Regulators of Pri-miRNAs and miRNAs Expression in and .

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory non-coding RNAs, resulting from the cleavage of long primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs) in the nucleus by the Microprocessor complex generating precursors (pre-miRNAs) that are then exported to the cytoplasm and processed into mature miRNAs. Some miRNAs are hosted in pri-miRNAs annotated as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and defined as MIRHGs (for miRNA Host Genes). However, several lnc pri-miRNAs contain translatable small open reading frames (smORFs).

p27 controls autophagic vesicle trafficking in glucose-deprived cells via the regulation of ATAT1-mediated microtubule acetylation.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 (p27) has been involved in promoting autophagy and survival in conditions of metabolic stress. While the signaling cascade upstream of p27 leading to its cytoplasmic localization and autophagy induction has been extensively studied, how p27 stimulates the autophagic process remains unclear. Here, we investigated the mechanism by which p27 promotes autophagy upon glucose deprivation.

Ascorbic acid drives the differentiation of mesoderm-derived embryonic stem cells. Involvement of p38 MAPK/CREB and SVCT2 transporter.

Scope: Here we tested the hypothesis that ascorbic acid (AA) is a signaling molecule acting on stem cells via the differentiation of mesoderm derivatives, including myocytes, osteocytes, and adipocytes.

Material And Methods: Investigations used a murine embryonic stem cell line CGR8 able to differentiate into different cell types and treated or not with ascorbic acid. Differentiation was tracked mainly through cellular anatomy (including presence of beating cardiomyocytes) and expression of specific markers.

MSK1 triggers the expression of the INK4AB/ARF locus in oncogene-induced senescence.

The tumor suppressor proteins p15(INK4B), p16(INK4A), and p14(ARF), encoded by the INK4AB/ARF locus, are crucial regulators of cellular senescence. The locus is epigenetically silenced by the repressive Polycomb complexes in growing cells but is activated in response to oncogenic stress. Here we show that the mitogen- and stress-activated kinase (MSK1) is up-regulated after RAF1 oncogenic stress and that the phosphorylated (activated) form of MSK1 is significantly increased in the nucleus and recruited to the INK4AB/ARF locus.

Targeting of T/Tn antigens with a plant lectin to kill human leukemia cells by photochemotherapy.

Photochemotherapy is used both for solid tumors and in extracorporeal treatment of various hematologic disorders. Nevertheless, its development in oncology remains limited, because of the low selectivity of photosensitizers (PS) towards human tumor cells. To enhance PS efficiency, we recently covalently linked a porphyrin (TrMPyP) to a plant lectin (Morniga G), known to recognize with high affinity tumor-associated T and Tn antigens.