Publications by authors named "Rebecca L Ferguson"

Article Synopsis
  • PORCN is known to be important for Wnt signaling, but inhibiting it doesn't have the same effects as knocking down WNT4 in certain breast cancer cells, indicating a specific interaction between the two.
  • Researchers overexpressed WNT4 and WNT3A in different cancer cell lines to investigate how Wnt secretion and activity depend on PORCN and another protein called WLS, finding that WLS is essential for Wnt secretion, while WNT4's secretion did not depend on PORCN.
  • Interestingly, WNT4 showed no paracrine signaling (activity when signaling molecules affect nearby cells) across the models tested, suggesting that both WNT4 and WNT
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Centrosomes are the major microtubule-organizing centers in animal cells and regulate formation of a bipolar mitotic spindle. Aberrant centrosome number causes chromosome mis-segregation, and has been implicated in genomic instability and tumor development. Previous studies have demonstrated a role for the DNA replication factors MCM5 and Orc1 in preventing centrosome reduplication.

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Cyclin E-Cdk2 is known to regulate both DNA replication and centrosome duplication during the G1-S transition in the cell cycle, and disruption of centrosomes results in a G1 arrest in some cell types. Localization of cyclin E on centrosomes is mediated by a 20 amino acid domain termed the centrosomal localization sequence (CLS), and expression of the GFP-tagged CLS displaces both cyclin E and cyclin A from the centrosome. In asynchronous cells, CLS expression inhibits the incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) into DNA, an effect proposed to reflect a G1 arrest.

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Centrosomes are the primary microtubule-organizing centers in animal cells and are required for bipolar spindle assembly during mitosis. Amplification of centrosome number is commonly observed in human cancer cells and might contribute to genomic instability. Cyclin E-Cdk2 has been implicated in regulating centrosome duplication both in Xenopus embryos and extracts and in mammalian cells.

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