MicroRNA-484 is more highly expressed in serum of early breast cancer patients compared to healthy volunteers.

Background: Previous studies have profiled breast cancer compared to normal breast tissue and identified differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs). These miRNAs are then assessed in serum of breast cancer patients compared to healthy volunteers. MiRNAs in serum however do not always reflect what is in tissue and important serum miRNAs may be missed.

Coexpression of redox partners increases the hydrocortisone (cortisol) production efficiency in CYP11B1 expressing fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Cytochromes P450 play a vital role in the steroid biosynthesis pathway of the adrenal gland. An example of an essential P450 cytochrome is the steroid 11beta-hydroxylase CYP11B1, which catalyses the conversion of 11-deoxycorticol to hydrocortisone. However, despite its high biotechnological potential, this enzyme has so far been unsuccessfully employed in present-day biotechnology due to a poor expression yield and inherent protein instability.

Efficient conversion of 11-deoxycortisol to cortisol (hydrocortisone) by recombinant fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Genetically engineered microorganisms are being increasingly used for the industrial production of complicated chemical compounds such as steroids; however, there have been few reports on the use of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe for this purpose. We previously have demonstrated that this yeast is a unique host for recombinant expression of human CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase), and here we report the functional production of human CYP11B1 (steroid 11beta-hydroxylase) in S. pombe using our new integration vector pCAD1.