Dermcidin exerts its oncogenic effects in breast cancer via modulation of ERBB signaling.

Background: We previously identified dermicidin (DCD), which encodes a growth and survival factor, as a gene amplified and overexpressed in a subset of breast tumors. Patients with DCD-positive breast cancer have worse prognostic features. We therefore searched for specific molecular signatures in DCD-positive breast carcinomas from patients and representative cell lines.

Canonical WNT signaling regulates development of bovine embryos to the blastocyst stage.

Objectives were to evaluate the role of canonical WNT signaling in development of the preimplantation embryo. Signaling was activated with 2-Amino-4-(3,4-(methylenedioxy)benzylamino)-6-(3-methoxyphenyl)pyrimidine (AMBMP) and inhibited with Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1). Treatment of bovine embryos with AMBMP at day 5 after insemination decreased development to the blastocyst stage at day 7 and reduced numbers of trophectoderm and inner cell mass cells.

Consequences of conceptus exposure to colony-stimulating factor 2 on survival, elongation, interferon-τ secretion, and gene expression.

Exposure of bovine conceptuses to colony-stimulating factor 2 (CSF2) from days 5 to 7 of development can increase the percentage of transferred conceptuses that develop to term. The purpose of this experiment was to understand the mechanism by which CSF2 increases embryonic and fetal survival. Conceptuses were produced in vitro in the presence or absence of 10  ng/ml CSF2 from days 5 to 7 after insemination, transferred into cows, and flushed from the uterus at day 15 of pregnancy.

Effects of resistance exercise combined with essential amino acid supplementation and energy deficit on markers of skeletal muscle atrophy and regeneration during bed rest and active recovery.

Spaceflight and bed rest (BR) lead to muscle atrophy. This study assessed the effect of essential amino acid (EAA) supplementation and resistance training with decreased energy intake on molecular changes in skeletal muscle after 28-day BR and 14-day recovery. Thirty-one men (31-55 years) subjected to an 8 ± 6% energy deficit were randomized to receive EAA without resistance training (AA, n = 7), or EAA 3 h after (RT, n = 12) or 5 min before (AART, n = 12) resistance training.

Repression of induced apoptosis in the 2-cell bovine embryo involves DNA methylation and histone deacetylation.

Apoptosis in the bovine embryo cannot be induced by activators of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway until the 8-16-cell stage. Depolarization of mitochondria with the decoupling agent carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) can activate caspase-3 in 2-cell embryos but DNA fragmentation does not occur. Here we hypothesized that the repression of apoptosis is caused by methylation of DNA and deacetylation of histones.

Age-associated decrease in contraction-induced activation of downstream targets of Akt/mTor signaling in skeletal muscle.

In this study, we investigated the effect of age on the association of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) with eukaryotic initiation factor 4G (eIF4G), as well as the activity of its binding protein (4E-BP1) and the activity of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) after a single bout of rat hindlimb muscle contractile activity elicited by high-frequency electrical stimulation (HFES) of the sciatic nerve. Tibialis anterior (TA) and plantaris (Pla) muscles from adult (Y; 6 mo old) and aged (O; 30 mo old) Fischer 344 x Brown Norway rats were collected immediately or 6 h after HFES. eIF4E-eIF4G association was elevated at 6 h of recovery in TA (1.

Angiotensin II reverses the inhibitory action produced by theca cells on bovine oocyte nuclear maturation.

The presence of prorenin, renin, angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme, angiotensin II (Ang II) and Ang II receptors in the ovary is suggestive of a functional ovarian renin-angiotensin system (RAS). In cattle, the expression of Ang II is greatest in large follicles, suggesting that it is important during follicular growth and maturation. The present study was designed to investigate the role of Ang II in bovine oocyte nuclear maturation.

Prostaglandin F2alpha- and FAS-activating antibody-induced regression of the corpus luteum involves caspase-8 and is defective in caspase-3 deficient mice.

We recently demonstrated that caspase-3 is important for apoptosis during spontaneous involution of the corpus luteum (CL). These studies tested if prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) or FAS regulated luteal regression, utilize a caspase-3 dependent pathway to execute luteal cell apoptosis, and if the two receptors work via independent or potentially shared intracellular signaling components/pathways to activate caspase-3. Wild-type (WT) or caspase-3 deficient female mice, 25-26 days old, were given 10 IU equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) intraperitoneally (IP) followed by 10 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) IP 46 h later to synchronize ovulation.

Caspase-3 is a pivotal mediator of apoptosis during regression of the ovarian corpus luteum.

Because caspase-3 is considered a primary executioner of apoptosis and has been implicated as a mediator of luteal regression, we hypothesized that corpora lutea (CL) derived from caspase-3 null mice would exhibit a delayed onset of apoptosis during luteal regression, when compared with CL derived from wild-type (WT) mice. To test this hypothesis, ovulation was synchronized in immature (postpartum d 24-27) WT and caspase-3-deficient female littermates by exogenous gonadotropins. Individual CL were isolated by manual dissection, 30 h after ovulation, and placed in organ culture dishes in the absence of serum and growth factors.