Systematic search for single nucleotide polymorphisms in the 5' flanking region of the human phosphodiesterase 3B gene: absence of evidence for major effects of identified polymorphisms on susceptibility to Japanese type 2 diabetes.

The activation of phosphodiesterase 3B (PDE3B) reduces free fatty acid output from adipocytes. A reduced PDE3B gene expression could lead to insulin resistance. To determine whether there are polymorphisms associated with type 2 diabetes in PDE3B gene promoter, this 5(') flanking region was isolated.

The role of insulin-like growth factor-II in cancer growth and progression evidenced by the use of ribozymes and prostate cancer progression models.

Towards understanding the IGF system during cancer growth and progression, progressive prostate cancer models, such as SV40 large T antigen immortalized human prostate epithelial cells (P69, M2182, M2205, and M12) and LNCaP sublines (C4, C4-2, and C4-2B4), were used. IGF-II mRNA levels progressively increase as prostate cancer cells become more tumorigenic and metastatic, suggesting that IGF-II contributes in part to prostate cancer progression. The role of IGF-II in cancer cell growth was evaluated in LNCaP, PC3, and M12 prostate cancer cell lines and MCF-7 breast cancer cell line by ribozyme/antisense strategies which were previously shown to suppress endogenous IGF-II expression and cell growth in PC-3 cells [Xu et al.