| 1. |
- Murtola, Teemu, et al.
(författare)
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Low density lipoprotein : structure, dynamics, and interactions of apoB-100 with lipids
- 2011
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Ingår i: Soft Matter. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1744-683X .- 1744-6848. ; 7:18, s. 8135-8141
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) transports cholesterol in the bloodstream and plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases, in particular atherosclerosis. Despite its importance to health, the structure of LDL is not known in detail. This is worrying since the lack of LDL's structural information makes it more difficult to understand its function. In this work, we have combined experimental and theoretical data to construct LDL models comprised of the apoB-100 protein wrapped around a lipid droplet of about 20 nm in size. The models are considered by near-atomistic multi-microsecond simulations to unravel structural as well as dynamical properties of LDL, with particular attention paid to lipids and their interactions with the protein. We find that the distribution and the ordering of the lipids in the LDL particle are rather complex. The previously proposed 2- and 3- layer models turn out to be inadequate to describe the properties of the lipid droplet. At the surface of LDL, apoB-100 is found to interact favorably with cholesterol and its esters. The interactions of apoB-100 with core molecules, in particular cholesteryl esters, are rather frequent and arise from hydrophobic amino acids interacting with the ring of cholesteryl esters, and also in part from the rather loose packing of lipids at the surface of the lipoparticle. The loose packing may foster the function of transfer proteins, which transport lipids between lipoproteins. Finally, the comparison of the several apoB-100 models in our study suggests that the properties of lipids in LDL are rather insensitive to the conformation of apoB-100. Altogether, the findings pave the way for further studies of LDL to better understand the central steps in the emergence of atherosclerosis.
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| 2. |
- Vuorela, Mikko, et al.
(författare)
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Further evidence for the contribution of the RAD51C gene in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Breast cancer research and treatment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-7217 .- 0167-6806. ; 130:3, s. 1003-1010
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- RAD51C, a RAD51 paralogue involved in homologous recombination, is a recently established Fanconi anemia and breast cancer predisposing factor. In the initial report, RAD51C mutations were shown to confer a high risk for both breast and ovarian tumors, but most of the replication studies published so far have failed to identify any additional susceptibility alleles. Here, we report a full mutation screening of the RAD51C gene in 147 Finnish familial breast cancer cases and in 232 unselected ovarian cancer cases originating from Finland and Sweden. In addition, in order to resolve whether common RAD51C SNPs are risk factors for breast cancer, we genotyped five tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs12946522, rs304270, rs304283, rs17222691, and rs28363312, all located within the gene, from 993 Finnish breast cancer cases and 871 controls for cancer associated variants. Whereas, none of the studied common SNPs associated with breast cancer susceptibility, mutation analysis revealed two clearly pathogenic alterations. RAD51C c.-13_14del27 was observed in one familial breast cancer case and c.774delT in one unselected ovarian cancer case, thus confirming that RAD51C mutations are implicated in breast and ovarian cancer predisposition, although their overall frequency seems to be low. Independent identification of the very recently reported RAD51C c.774delT mutation in yet another patient originating from Sweden suggests that it might be a recurrent mutation in that population and should be studied further. The reliable estimation of the clinical implications of carrying a defective RAD51C allele still requires the identification of additional mutation positive families.
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