Activating transcription factor-2 in survival mechanisms in head and neck carcinoma cells.

Background: Activating transcription factor-2 (ATF2) is associated with tumor progression but is not well studied in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Its effects in stress and its importance in other survival mechanisms were studied.

Methods: ATF2 expression and nuclear activation were confirmed in HNSCC.

Genomic comparison of invasive and rare non-invasive strains reveals Porphyromonas gingivalis genetic polymorphisms.

Background: Porphyromonas gingivalis strains are shown to invade human cells in vitro with different invasion efficiencies, varying by up to three orders of magnitude.

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that invasion-associated interstrain genomic polymorphisms are present in P. gingivalis and that putative invasion-associated genes can contribute to P.

Cultivation of Enterobacter hormaechei from human atherosclerotic tissue.

Aim: To determine whether culturable bacterial strains are present in human atheromatous tissue and to investigate their properties using culture, quantitative PCR, metagenomic screening, genomic and biochemical methods.

Methods: We analyzed femoral atherosclerotic plaque and five pairs of diseased and healthy arterial tissue for the presence of culturable bacteria using cell cultures and genomic analysis.

Results: Gram negative aerobic bacilli were cultivated from the plaque tissue.

Disordered osteoclast formation and function in a CD38 (ADP-ribosyl cyclase)-deficient mouse establishes an essential role for CD38 in bone resorption.

We have evaluated the role of the ADP-ribosyl cyclase, CD38, in bone remodeling, a process by which the skeleton is being renewed constantly through the coordinated activity of osteoclasts and osteoblasts. CD38 catalyzes the cyclization of its substrate, NAD+, to the Ca2+-releasing second messenger, cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPr). We have shown previously that CD38 is expressed both in osteoblasts and osteoclasts.

Transduction of TAT fusion proteins into osteoclasts and osteoblasts.

It has been difficult to transduce primary cultures of bone cells with proteins of interest. Here, we report the development and validation of a new technology for transduction of osteoblasts and osteoclasts with peptides and moderately sized proteins. Fusion proteins between TAT, an 11 amino acid Arg-rich sequence derived from the HIV protein, and either hemagglutinin or calcineurin Aalpha were synthesized and purified.