'Molecular scaffolding' found that maintains skin structure, organization

Jan. 16, 2014 — The human body is daily exposed to external assaults such as bacteria, ultraviolet light or chemical agents. Skin, the largest organ of the body, is the first line of defense against these agents. Skin performs this function thanks to the close connections established between its cells (e.g. adherens junctions). The loss of cell adhesion between these cells is related to inflammatory diseases and cancer, hence the special interest in this area of research over the past years.

A study by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), featured on the cover of the Journal of Cell Biology, shows how interactions between skin stem cells -- the cells responsible for the constant renewal of skin -- maintain the architecture of this organ. "We knew that these junctions were important in skin stem cells but the cellular components involved in their structure and function were not yet understood," says Mirna Perez-Moreno, head of the Epithelial Cellular Biology Group that led the study.

Using skin cells derived from mice, researchers have discovered that one of the key elements in the formation and stabilisation of these junctions are microtubules, tubular structures that are part of all cells and that serve as pillars to maintain their form and function.

"We have seen for the first time that skin stem-cell microtubules connect with cell-cell junctions to form velcro-like structures that hold the cells together," says Marta Shahbazi, a researcher on Perez-Moreno's team and the first author of the study.

The connection between these two cellular components -- microtubules and cell-cell junctions -- occurs via the interaction between the CLASP2 and p120 catenin proteins, linked to microtubules and cell junctions respectively.

"We found that the abscence of CLASP2 or p120 catenin in epidermal stem cells caused a loss of their adhesion, and therefore the structure of these cells," says Shahbazi.

"Our results will open up new paths for exploring how these proteins regulate skin physiology," says Perez-Moreno, adding that this knowledge will be "important for the possible development of future regenerative or anti cancer therapies."

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO), via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. M. N. Shahbazi, D. Megias, C. Epifano, A. Akhmanova, G. G. Gundersen, E. Fuchs, M. Perez-Moreno. CLASP2 interacts with p120-catenin and governs microtubule dynamics at adherens junctions. The Journal of Cell Biology, 2013; 203 (6): 1043 DOI: 10.1083/jcb.201306019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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University of Colorado researchers found that arise from stem cells of muscle invasion and another muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Published today in the journal stem cells University of Colorado Cancer Center Research create a dangerous, invasive bladder cancer precursor cells shows that muscle with non-invasive bladder cancer to create progenitor cells.

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Found that prophylactic mastectomy of Angelina Jolie, awareness occurred, without knowledge of the risk of breast cancer.

Were Angelina Jolie, preventive double mastectomy surgery, at the University of Maryland School of public health new research reveals Jolie and I's talk about awareness, even though most Americans are not when she published 5/2013 about the risks of breast cancer answer questions correctly heightened awareness about breast cancer.

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Found a way around the two human proteins to get 'jumping genes' affect

Elusive 'jumping genes' law, researchers at Johns Hopkins Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer found one type of DNA to replicate two human proteins used to themselves and by using new methods to catch the Center (home), to move from place to place. Explore new frontiers as described in issue 11/21 of the cell, but they understand colonization of new areas of work to limit the risks posed by a bit of volatility like the DNA of the human genome, cell-driven jumping genes while an arms race.

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Burkitt's Lymphoma of the NIH study found low-intensity therapy is very effective

Known as an excellent long term survival rate have of adult patients with burkitt's lymphoma cancer type-90% or more-treated with low intensity regimen, according to the discovery of a new clinical trial in below. Burkitt's lymphoma is the most aggressive type of lymphoma cancer begins in the cells of the immune system.

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Evidence of 3.5-billion-year-old bacterial ecosystems found in Australia

Nov. 12, 2013 — Reconstructing the rise of life during the period of Earth's history when it first evolved is challenging. Earth's oldest sedimentary rocks are not only rare, but also almost always altered by hydrothermal and tectonic activity. A new study from a team including Carnegie's Nora Noffke, a visiting investigator, and Robert Hazen revealed the well-preserved remnants of a complex ecosystem in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old sedimentary rock sequence in Australia.

Their work is published in Astrobiology.

The Pilbara district of Western Australia constitutes one of the famous geological regions that allow insight into the early evolution of life. Mound-like deposits created by ancient photosynthetic bacteria, called stromatolites, and microfossils of bacteria have been described by scientists in detail. However, a phenomenon called microbially induced sedimentary structures, or MISS, had not previously been seen in this region. These structures are formed from mats of microbial material, much like mats seen today on stagnant waters or in coastal flats.

The team included Noffke, Hazen, Daniel Christian of Old Dominion University, and David Wacey of the University of Western Australia. They described various MISS preserved in the region's Dresser Formation. Advanced chemical analyses point toward a biological origin of the material. The Dresser MISS fossils resemble strongly in form and preservation the MISS from several other younger rock samples, such as a 2.9 billion-year-old ecosystem Noffke and her colleagues found in South Africa.

"This work extends the geological record of MISS by almost 300 million years," said Noffke, who is also a professor at ODU. "Complex mat-forming microbial communities likely existed almost 3.5 billion years ago."

The team proposes that the sedimentary structures arose from the interactions of bacterial films with shoreline sediments from the region.

"The structures give a very clear signal on what the ancient conditions were, and what the bacteria composing the biofilms were able to do," Noffke said.

MISS are among the targets of Mars rovers, which search for similar formations on that planet's surface. Thus, the team's findings could have relevance for studies of our larger Solar System as well.

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FDA approved anti fatal form of the antidepressant battle study found lung

Anti use of antidepressant drugs small class Stanford University School of medicine, Stanford University Cancer Institute (home) of according to new research from researchers during the fight against a particularly deadly form of lung cancer, potentially effective displays. Medicines for human use by the United States food and Drug Administration already approved, so researchers can launch clinical trials to test their theories in patients soon has been.

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Protein Found in Blood Might Help Detect Lung Cancer Sooner: Report

Preliminary finding focused on non-small cell lung cancer, Chinese researchers say

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China to crack down on family planning fines after abuses found

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will crack down on penalties paid by families flouting strict family planning rules after a National Audit Office probe found $260 million in fines had been levied illegally, state media reported.

There has been growing public anger about the one-child policy, which was introduced in the late 1970s to prevent population growth spiralling out of control.

The policy covers 63 percent of China, although family planning rules have been loosened over the years to allow some couples to have a second child.

The audit office's investigation of 45 counties in nine provinces and municipalities from 2009-12 found 1.6 billion yuan ($260 million) in fines had been given out in contravention of the rules, Chinese newspapers said on Thursday.

The "social support fee" - the fine - is meant to go towards the government budget to compensate for resources and public services the child would use.

National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesman Mao Qunan said the fines are "a means to ensure the implementation of the one-child policy", according to the official Xinhua news agency.

His department is now pushing "related local family planning departments to rectify misconduct in the collection and management of such fines", the report said.

The ministry "will take effective measures to address problems uncovered from the auditing process and improve the system on the collection and management of fines", Xinhua said.

"The commission will tighten supervision and guide local family planning departments to publish information for public scrutiny," it said.

The audit office found that problems included inaccurate reports of the number of extra children parents had, fees not successfully collected and officials handing out higher fines than they should have.

However, the figure reported for the amount of fines illegally collected falls far short of the more than 16.5 billion yuan activists say provincial governments have failed to account for.

($1 = 6.1212 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)

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Protein Found in Blood Might Help Detect Lung Cancer Sooner: Report

TUESDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- A protein that can be detected using a noninvasive blood test might one day help aid in the early diagnosis of lung cancer, preliminary research suggests.

A study conducted by researchers in China found that people with lung cancer have high levels of the so-called "biomarker," isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH1). The investigators pointed out that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States and around the world, and diagnosing the disease sooner could help reduce its high mortality rate.

"This study is the first to report identification of IDH1 as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancers using a large number of clinical samples," Dr. Jie He, director of the laboratory of thoracic surgery at the Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, said in a news release from the American Association for Cancer Research.

"Lung cancer has a high mortality rate, mostly because of late diagnosis. With an increase in aging population, we are likely to see an increase in lung cancer incidence and a need for better biomarkers for early diagnosis. We have identified IDH1 as an effective plasma [blood] biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of [non-small cell lung cancer]," He continued, especially the type known as lung adenocarcinoma.

The study, published in the current issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research, involved blood samples collected from 943 patients with non-small cell lung cancers and 479 people who did not have lung cancer (the "control" group). None of the patients was diagnosed or treated for cancer in the three years before the study began.

The study found that the median IDH1 levels in patients with lung adenocarcinoma were 2.7 times higher than the healthy participants. The levels of this protein were also 2.2 times higher in those with squamous cell carcinoma, compared to the control group.

He's team noted that IDH1 can be detected in the blood of lung cancer patients with 76 percent sensitivity and 77 percent specificity. That means 24 percent of the tests would miss lung cancer, and 23 percent would diagnose lung cancer when it wasn't there. The researchers noted that when combined with current markers used to diagnose lung cancer, the sensitivity increased to 86 percent.

"Based on the present data, IDH1 can be used to detect stage 1 lung cancer; however, it is also possible that IDH1 could be used to detect precancer but further studies are required to address that possibility," added He.

"Our research also suggests IDH1 may be involved in the development of lung cancer, and it may be a good target for the treatment of [non-small cell lung cancer]," said He. The research team is currently studying what causes the increase of IDH1 in lung cancer patients and what the findings mean for patients.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about lung cancer.

Copyright c 2013?HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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MicroRNA molecule found to be potent tumor-suppressor in lung cancer

Sep. 16, 2013 — New research shows that microRNA-486 is a potent tumor-suppressor molecule in lung cancer, and that the it helps regulate the proliferation and migration of lung-cancer cells, and the induction of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, in those cells.

The preclinical study was led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC -- James). It found that microRNA-486 (miR-486) directly targets the insulin growth-factor pathway, which is important for cell survival and proliferation. Alternations in the pathway are believed to play an early role in tumor initiation and progression.

The researchers further found that miR-486 is itself regulated by the tumor-suppressor gene p53, the most frequently altered gene in human cancers, and that activity of miR-486 is partially dependent upon functional p53.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests that miR-486 might serve as a biomarker for lung-cancer patients who might respond to treatment with insulin-growth-factor inhibitors.

"It wasn't known whether miR-486 functioned as an oncogene or a tumor-suppressor gene in lung cancer," says co-corresponding author Patrick Nana-Sinkam, MD, associate professor of medicine and a researcher with the OSUCCC -- James Molecular Biology and Cancer Genetics Program.

"miR-486 appears to be a biomarker for lung cancer, but its mechanisms of action remain unclear," he says. "These findings show that miR-486 serves a tumor-suppressor function in lung cancer, and that miR-486 action is partially dependent on p53."

"This partial reliance of one tumor-suppressor on another was a surprise," says principal investigator and co-corresponding author Carlo M. Croce, MD, director of Ohio State's Human Cancer Genetics program and the John W. Wolfe Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at the OSUCCC -- James. "We don't know yet what implications, if any, this might have for the development of targeted therapies."

MicroRNAs are a class of short, non-coding RNAs that regulate the translation or degradation of messenger RNA and therefore the proteins that cells make. Research is showing that certain microRNAs are frequently dysregulated in cancer.

Nana-Sinkam and his colleagues examined lung-tumor samples from 81 patients with stage-1 nonsmall-cell lung cancer and tumor-cell lines. Analyses identified miR-486 as the most decreased of microRNAs in the cells, so the researchers chose it for further investigation.

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5 pieces of tsunami debris found so far

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Items ranging in size from a 164-foot shrimping vessel to a soccer ball have already made their way into North American waters following the March 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Environmentalists fear this is just the first wave of an estimated 1.5 million tons of debris that is in the ocean following the tsunami, much of which could land on U.S. shores.

Here's a look at some of the items that have already shown up, from biggest to smallest:

1. The 164-foot fishing vessel Ryou-Un Maru was in Hokkaido, Japan, and destined for the scrap heap when the tsunami dislodged it from its mooring. It drifted across the Pacific Ocean until the U.S. Coast Guard sank it in April 2012 in the Gulf of Alaska after determining it was a threat to shipping and the state's coastline.

2. Newport, Oregon, residents awoke Wednesday to find a 66-foot concrete and metal dock on the shore at Agate Beach along the central coast. The 165-ton dock was one of four that broke loose from the port of Misawa in the tsunami. Two other docks from Misawa are still missing.

3. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle was discovered inside a white container that washed up April 18 on Graham Island, off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It was traced back to its owner in Japan by its license plate.

4. Cleanup workers near Craig, Alaska, in late March found a basketball with the words "Kesen chu," short for Kesennuma Chugakko or Kesennuma Middle School. Kesennuma is a major fishing port that was hit hard by the tsunami. Officials with the Marine Conservation Alliance in Juneau said the basketball was being packaged Thursday to be returned to Japan, along with a care package for students at the school still living in temporary housing.

5. David Baxter, a radar technician from Kasilof, Alaska, found a soccer ball in April 2012 on an Alaska island 110 miles south of the mainland. With the help of his wife, Yumi, who is Japanese and reached out to a Japanese reporter, the ball was reunited with its owner, a teenager who lost all his possession in the tsunami. A volleyball believed to be from Japan was also found on the trip.