Regulation of alpha 1-, beta 1-, and beta 2-adrenergic receptors in rat heart by norepinephrine.

Previous studies suggest that the desensitization and downregulation of beta 1-adrenergic receptors (beta 1-AR) in the failing heart are the result of the elevated plasma catecholamine levels associated with this disease. To examine norepinephrine (NE)-induced regulation of cardiac adrenergic receptors, rats were infused with l-NE (200 micrograms.kg-1.

Age-dependent alterations of c-fos and growth regulation in human fibroblasts expressing the HPV16 E6 protein.

Normal human cells in culture become senescent after a limited number of population doublings. Senescent cells display characteristic changes in gene expression, among which is a repression of the ability to induce the c-fos gene. We have proposed a two-stage model for cellular senescence in which the mortality stage 1 (M1) mechanism can be overcome by agents that bind both the product of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene (pRB)-like pocket proteins and p53.

Telomerase activity in human breast tumors.

Background: The activity of the ribonucleoprotein enzyme telomerase is not detected in normal somatic cells; thus, with each cell division, the ends of chromosomes consisting of the telomeric repeats TTAGGG progressively erode. The current model gaining support is that telomerase activity in germline and immortal cells maintains telomere length and thus compensates for the "end-replication problem."

Purpose: Our objective was to determine when telomerase activity is reactivated in the progression to malignant breast cancer and if knowledge of telomerase activity may be an indicator for the diagnosis and potential treatment of breast cancer.

Telomerase activity in human germline and embryonic tissues and cells.

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein that synthesizes telomere repeats onto chromosome ends and is involved in maintaining telomere length in germline tissues and in immortal and cancer cells. In the present study, the temporal regulation of expression of telomerase activity was examined in human germline and somatic tissues and cells during development. Telomerase activity was detected in fetal, newborn, and adult testes and ovaries, but not in mature spermatozoa or oocytes.

Telomerase activity in small-cell and non-small-cell lung cancers.

Background: Telomerase is an enzyme that adds hexameric TTAGGG nucleotide repeats onto the ends of vertebrate chromosomal DNAs (i.e., telomeres) to compensate for losses that occur with each round of DNA replication.

Spontaneous in vitro immortalization of breast epithelial cells from a patient with Li-Fraumeni syndrome.

Individuals with germ line mutations in the p53 gene, such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), have an increased occurrence of many types of cancer, including an unusually high incidence of breast cancer. This report documents that normal breast epithelial cells obtained from a patient with LFS (with a mutation at codon 133 of the p53 gene) spontaneously immortalized in cell culture while the breast stromal fibroblasts from this same patient did not. Spontaneous immortalization of human cells in vitro is an extremely rare event.

The frequency of immortalization of human fibroblasts and mammary epithelial cells transfected with SV40 large T-antigen.

SV40 T-antigen-expressing human cells generally have an extension of lifespan until a period called "crisis" begins. On rare occasions a clone of cells emerges from the population in crisis and gives rise to an immortalized cell line. The present study compares the frequency of immortalization of cells from two different human lineages, lung fibroblasts and mammary epithelial cells.