| 1. |
- Gallardo, Rodrigo, et al.
(författare)
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De novo design of a biologically active amyloid
- 2016
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Ingår i: Science. - : AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE. - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 354:6313, s. 720-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most human proteins possess amyloidogenic segments, but only about 30 are associated with amyloid-associated pathologies, and it remains unclear what determines amyloid toxicity. We designed vascin, a synthetic amyloid peptide, based on an amyloidogenic fragment of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), a protein that is not associated to amyloidosis. Vascin recapitulates key biophysical and biochemical characteristics of natural amyloids, penetrates cells, and seeds the aggregation of VEGFR2 through direct interaction. We found that amyloid toxicity is observed only in cells that both express VEGFR2 and are dependent on VEGFR2 activity for survival. Thus, amyloid toxicity here appears to be both protein-specific and conditional-determined by VEGFR2 loss of function in a biological context in which target protein function is essential.
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| 2. |
- Garcia-Dios, Diego A, et al.
(författare)
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High-throughput interrogation of PIK3CA, PTEN, KRAS, FBXW7 and TP53 mutations in primary endometrial carcinoma.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Gynecologic Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0090-8258 .- 1095-6859. ; 128:2, s. 327-334
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Endometrial cancer patients may benefit from systemic adjuvant chemotherapy, alone or in combination with targeted therapies. Prognostic and predictive markers are needed, however, to identify patients amenable for these therapies. METHODS: Primary endometrial tumors were genotyped for >100 hot spot mutations in genes potentially acting as prognostic or predictive markers. Mutations were correlated with tumor characteristics in a discovery cohort, replicated in independent cohorts and finally, confirmed in the overall population (n=1063). RESULTS: PIK3CA, PTEN and KRAS mutations were most frequently detected, respectively in 172 (16.2%), 164 (15.4%) and 161 (15.1%) tumors. Binary logistic regression revealed that PIK3CA mutations were more common in high-grade tumors (OR=2.03; P=0.001 for grade 2 and OR=1.89; P=0.012 for grade 3 compared to grade 1), whereas a positive TP53 status correlated with type II tumors (OR=11.92; P<0.001) and PTEN mutations with type I tumors (OR=19.58; P=0.003). Conversely, FBXW7 mutations correlated with positive lymph nodes (OR=3.38; P=0.045). When assessing the effects of individual hot spot mutations, the H1047R mutation in PIK3CA correlated with high tumor grade and reduced relapse-free survival (HR=2.18; P=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: Mutations in PIK3CA, TP53, PTEN and FBXW7 correlate with high tumor grade, endometrial cancer type and lymph node status, whereas PIK3CA H1047R mutations serve as prognostic markers for relapse-free survival in endometrial cancer patients.
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| 3. |
- Griffith, Obi L., et al.
(författare)
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ORegAnno : an open-access community-driven resource for regulatory annotation
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nucleic Acids Research. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-1048 .- 1362-4962. ; 36:Database issue, s. D107-D113
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ORegAnno is an open-source, open-access database and literature curation system for community-based annotation of experimentally identified DNA regulatory regions, transcription factor binding sites and regulatory variants. The current release comprises 30 145 records curated from 922 publications and describing regulatory sequences for over 3853 genes and 465 transcription factors from 19 species. A new feature called the publication queue allows users to input relevant papers from scientific literature as targets for annotation. The queue contains 4438 gene regulation papers entered by experts and another 54 351 identified by text-mining methods. Users can enter or check out papers from the queue for manual curation using a series of user-friendly annotation pages. A typical record entry consists of species, sequence type, sequence, target gene, binding factor, experimental outcome and one or more lines of experimental evidence. An evidence ontology was developed to describe and categorize these experiments. Records are cross-referenced to Ensembl or Entrez gene identifiers, PubMed and dbSNP and can be visualized in the Ensembl or UCSC genome browsers. All data are freely available through search pages, XML data dumps or web services at: http://www.oreganno.org.
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| 4. |
- Peetermans, Marijke, et al.
(författare)
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Plasminogen activation by staphylokinase enhances local spreading of S. aureus in skin infections.
- 2014
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Ingår i: BMC microbiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2180. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a frequent cause of skin and soft tissue infections. A unique feature of S. aureus is the combined presence of coagulases that trigger fibrin formation and of the plasminogen activator staphylokinase (SAK). Whereas the importance of fibrin generation for S. aureus virulence has been established, the role of SAK remains unclear.We studied the role of plasminogen activation by SAK in a skin infection model in mice and evaluated the impact of alpha-2-antiplasmin (¿2AP) deficiency on the spreading and proteolytic activity of S. aureus skin infections. The species-selectivity of SAK was overcome by adenoviral expression of human plasminogen. Bacterial spread and density was assessed non-invasively by imaging the bioluminescence of S. aureus Xen36.ResultsSAK-mediated plasmin activity increased the local invasiveness of S. aureus, leading to larger lesions with skin disruption as well as decreased bacterial clearance by the host. Even though fibrin and bacterial surfaces protected SAK-mediated plasmin activity from inhibition by ¿2AP, the deficiency of ¿2AP resulted in increased bacterial spreading. SAK-mediated plasmin also induced secondary activation of gelatinases, shown both in vitro and in lesions from the in vivo model.ConclusionSAK contributes to the phenotype of S. aureus skin infections by enhancing bacterial spreading as a result of fibrinolytic and proteolytic activation.
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| 5. |
- Van Den Eede, Filip, et al.
(författare)
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Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of corticotropin-releasing factor-binding protein gene in recurrent major depressive disorder.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Psychiatry Research. ; 153
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Corticotropin-releasingfactor-bindingprotein(CRF-BP) regulates the availability of freeCRFandisafunctional candidate gene for affective disorders. Previous research showed an association between polymorphisms in the CRF-BPgene and recurrent major depression(MDD) in a Swedish sample. The purpose of the current study was to re-evaluate the previous findings in an extended Swedish sample and in an independent Belgian sample of patients with recurrent MDD and in control samples. In total, 317 patients and 696 control individuals were included. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a deletionpolymorphismintheCRF-BP gene were genotyped and the haplotype block structure of the gene was assessed. Intheextended Swedish population, there was a trend towards an association between two SNPs and MDD. The subsequent gender analysis showed significant associations of three SNPs (CRF-BPs2T;CRF-BPs11TandCRF-BPs12C) and haplotype G_T_C_T_C with MDD in Swedish males. However, these findings did not withstand correction for multiple testing and there were nosignificant SNP or haplotype associations in the Belgian MDD sample. In conclusion, this study does not provide confirmatory evidence for a role of the CRF-BPgene in the vulnerability for MDD in general. The association between genetic CRF-BP variants and MDD may be sexually dimorphic, but this issue requires further investigation in a larger sample.
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| 6. |
- Van Den Eede, Filip, et al.
(författare)
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Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of corticotropin-releasing factor-binding protein gene in recurrent major depressive disorder
- 2007
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Ingår i: Psychiatry Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0165-1781 .- 1872-7123. ; 153:1, s. 17-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Corticotropin-releasing factor-binding protein (CRF-BP) regulates the availability of free CRF and is a functional candidate gene for affective disorders. Previous research showed an association between polymorphisms in the CRF-BP gene and recurrent major depression (MDD) in a Swedish sample. The purpose of the current study was to re-evaluate the previous findings in an extended Swedish sample and in an independent Belgian sample of patients with recurrent MDD and in control samples. In total, 317 patients and 696 control individuals were included. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a deletion polymorphism in the CRF-BP gene were genotyped and the haplotype block structure of the gene was assessed. In the extended Swedish population, there was a trend towards an association between two SNPs and MDD. The subsequent gender analysis showed significant associations of three SNPs (CRF-BPs2 T; CRF-BPs11 T and CRF-BPs12 C) and haplotype G_T_C_T_C with MDD in Swedish males. However, these findings did not withstand correction for multiple testing and there were no significant SNP or haplotype associations in the Belgian MDD sample. In conclusion, this study does not provide confirmatory evidence for a role of the CRF-BP gene in the vulnerability for MDD in general. The association between genetic CRF-BP variants and MDD may be sexually dimorphic, but this issue requires further investigation in a larger sample.
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