Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are ubiquitously expressed enzymes implicated in several dominant and recessive disease phenotypes. The canonical function of ARSs is to couple an amino acid to a cognate transfer RNA (tRNA). We identified three novel disease-associated missense mutations in the alanyl-tRNA synthetase (AARS) gene in three families with dominant axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn schwannomatosis, germline SMARCB1 or LZTR1 mutations predispose to the development of multiple benign schwannomas. Besides these, other tumors may occur in schwannomatosis patients. We present a 45-year-old male patient who developed multiple schwannomas and in addition a malignant type 1 papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC1).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn schwannomatosis, germline SMARCB1 mutations predispose to the development of multiple schwannomas, but not vestibular schwannomas. Many of these are missense or splice-site mutations or in-frame deletions, which are presumed to result in the synthesis of altered SMARCB1 proteins. However, also nonsense and frameshift mutations, which are characteristic for rhabdoid tumors and are predicted to result in the absence of SMARCB1 protein via nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, have been reported in schwannomatosis patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGermline SMARCB1 mutations predispose in schwannomatosis patients to the development of multiple benign schwannomas and, in some cases, meningiomas. Here, we report on a 34-year-old female patient who developed multiple schwannomas at various locations and in addition a leiomyoma of the cervix uteri. She carried a c.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSchwannomatosis is a rare hereditary cancer syndrome in which patients develop multiple non-vestibular schwannomas. The chromatin remodelling gene SMARCB1 (also known as INI1, hSNF5, and BAF47) has been identified as a schwannomatosis predisposing gene, being involved in a subset of sporadic and familial cases. Recent studies have shown that SMARCB1 may also be involved in the development of multiple meningiomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with diabetes mellitus experience impaired wound healing, often resulting in chronic foot ulcers. Healing can be accelerated by application of growth factors like platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). We investigated the mitogenic responses, measured by 3[H]thymidine incorporation, of fibroblasts cultured from diabetic ulcers, non-diabetic ulcers, and non-lesional diabetic and age-matched controls, to recombinant human PDGF-AB, epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I).
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