ONZIN Upregulation by Mutant p53 Contributes to Osteosarcoma Metastasis Through the CXCL5-MAPK Signaling Pathway.

Background/aims: Gain-of-function of mutant p53 is associated with a high rate of lung metastasis in osteosarcoma. To investigate the mechanism of mutant p53-induced osteosarcoma metastasis, expression array analysis was performed, comparing non-metastatic osteosarcomas from p53+/- mice with metastatic osteosarcomas from p53R172H/+ mice. Onzin (Plac8) was identified as one of the genes upregulated in p53R172H/+ mouse metastatic osteosarcomas.

High expression of PLA2G16 is associated with a better prognosis in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Background: PLA2G16 functions as a phosphatase in metabolism and its abnormal expression is closely associated with tumor progression. The aim of this study is to investigate the prognosis value of PLA2G16 in breast cancer.

Methods: A tissue microarray including 200 invasive ductal carcinoma specimens was constructed.

PLA2G16 promotes osteosarcoma metastasis and drug resistance via the MAPK pathway.

The prognosis of metastatic osteosarcoma is dismal and a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying disease progression is essential to improve treatment options and patient outcomes. We previously demonstrated Pla2g16 overexpression in mouse osteosarcoma contributes to metastasis phenotypes and increased expression of PLA2G16 is associated with metastasis and poor prognosis in human tumors. To further examine the mechanisms through which PLA2G16 contributes to human osteosarcoma metastasis and explore the potential of PLA2G16 as a therapeutic target in osteosarcoma, we generated a panel of human osteosarcoma cell lines expressing different levels of PLA2G16.

Coexpression of CXCR4 and MMP9 predicts lung metastasis and poor prognosis in resected osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma is a highly aggressive bone disease with a tendency to metastasize to the lung. The 5-year survival of patients with metastatic osteosarcoma is only 20 %. Many studies have demonstrated SDF-1/CXCR4 and MMP9 play important roles in the metastasis of malignant tumors, including osteosarcoma.

PLA2G16 Expression in Human Osteosarcoma Is Associated with Pulmonary Metastasis and Poor Prognosis.

Background: Osteosarcoma is the most frequent type of malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents and is associated with a high propensity for lung metastasis. Recent experiments have indicated that PLA2G16 contributes to osteosarcoma progression and metastasis in both mouse and human osteosarcoma cell lines. The aim of this study was to compare the expression of PLA2G16 in non-metastatic and metastatic osteosarcomas to determine whether PLA2G16 expression can serve as a biomarker of osteosarcoma prognosis and metastasis.

Mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in mammals.

The mitochondria-mediated caspase activation pathway is a major apoptotic pathway characterized by mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) and subsequent release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm to activate caspases. MOMP is regulated by the Bcl-2 family of proteins. This pathway plays important roles not only in normal development, maintenance of tissue homeostasis and the regulation of immune system, but also in human diseases such as immune disorders, neurodegeneration and cancer.

Efficient soluble expression of secreted matrix metalloproteinase 26 in Brevibacillus choshinensis.

Matrix metalloproteinase 26 (MMP-26) is a novel member of the matrix metalloproteinase family with minimal domain constitution and unknown physiological function. The three-dimensional (3D) structure of the enzyme also remains to be deciphered. Previous studies show that MMP-26 may be expressed in Escherichia coli (E.

Aluminum ammonium sulfate dodecahydrate purified from traditional Chinese medicinal herb Korean monkshood root is a potent matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases and key regulators for many physiological and pathological functions. The MMP inhibitors have been shown to modulate diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases. In this paper we tracked the MMP inhibitory activities of the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Korean Monkshood Root.

Ubiquitin-intein and SUMO2-intein fusion systems for enhanced protein production and purification.

Although most commonly used for protein production, expression of soluble and functional recombinant protein in Escherichia coli is still a major challenge. The development and application of fusion tags that can facilitate protein expression and solubility partly solve this problem, however, under most circumstance, the fusion tags have to be removed by proteases in order to use the proteins. Because the tag removal using proteases increases cost and introduces extra purification steps, it remains a significant problem that must be resolved before being widely used in industry production.

Human SUMO fusion systems enhance protein expression and solubility.

A major challenge associated with recombinant protein production in Escherichia coli is generation of large quantities of soluble, functional protein. Yeast SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier), has been shown to enhance heterologous protein expression and solubility as fusion tag, however, the effects of human SUMOs on protein expression have not been investigated. Here we describe the use of human SUMO1 and SUMO2 as a useful gene fusion technology.