0000000000597203
AUTHOR
Felice Amato
Extensive molecular analysis of patients bearing CFTR-related disorders.
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)–related disorders (CFTR-RDs) may present with pancreatic sufficiency, normal sweat test results, and better outcome. The detection rate of mutations is lower in CFTR-RD than in classic CF: mutations may be located in genes encoding proteins that interact with CFTR or support channel activity. We tested the whole CFTR coding regions in 99 CFTR-RD patients, looking for gene mutations in solute carrier (SLC) 26A and in epithelial Na channel (ENaC) in 33 patients who had unidentified mutations. CFTR analysis revealed 28 mutations, some of which are rare. Of these mutations, RT-PCR demonstrated that the novel 1525-1delG impairs exon 10 s…
Identificazionee caratterizzazione di mutazioni in regioni regolatorie del gene malattia della fibrosi cistica
Mutation epidemiology is crucial for cystic fibrosis (CF) diagnosis and counselling. ~6%-7% of alleles from CF patients do not bear mutations in the coding regions of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulator (CFTR) disease gene. In these patients, mutations may be present in non-coding, regulatory regions of the gene as i) intronic regions (particularly in high conserved sequences), ii) the promoter region or iii) the area at the 3’ of the gene, which is the target of microRNA regulation. We studied these regions by gene sequencing in a group of CF patients with one or both unidentified mutations after the analysis of CFTR coding regions, and in a group of CF patients with a different cl…
The Kelch protein NS1-BP interacts with alpha-enolase/MBP-1 and is involved in c-Myc gene transcriptional control
Alpha-enolase is a key glycolytic enzyme that plays a functional role in several physiological processes depending on the cellular localization. The enzyme is mainly localized in the cytoplasm whereas an alternative translated form, named MBP-1, is predominantly nuclear. The MBP-1 protein has been characterized as a c-Myc promoter binding protein that negatively controls transcription. In the present study, we identified the kelch protein NS1-BP as one of the alpha-enolase/MBP-1 partners by using a yeast two-hybrid screening. Although NS1-BP has been originally described as a protein mainly localized in the nucleus, we provide evidence that NS1-BP also interacts with actin in human cells, a…
MTHFR C677T allelic variant is not associated to plasma and cerebrospinal fluid homocysteine in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amiotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurological disorder with a multifactorial etiopathogenesis including excitotoxicity, intracellular calcium increase and mitochondrial damage together with oxidative stress and apoptosis. Overall, the relationship between homocysteine (Hcy), motoneuron death and ALS appears to be complex and still under investigation. It has been already shown that Hcy is elevated in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of ALS patients, although mechanisms of hyperhomocysteinemia have not been elucidated yet. MTHFR C677T variant is the most common genetic determinant of increased homocysteinemia, but no studies regarding the effect of this polymorphism in ALS patien…