Search results for " Biologia"
showing 10 items of 700 documents
Novel deletion of the E3A ubiquitin protein ligase gene detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification in a patient with Angelman syndr…
2010
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurobehavioural disorder caused by failure of expression of the maternal copy of the imprinted domain located on 15q11-q13. There are different mechanisms leading to AS: maternal microdeletion, uniparental disomy, defects in a putative imprinting centre, mutations of the E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (UBE3A) gene. However, some of suspected cases of AS are still scored negative to all the latter mutations. Recently, it has been shown that a proportion of negative cases bear large deletions overlapping one or more exons of the UBE3A gene. These deletions are difficult to detect by conventional gene-scanning methods due to the masking effect by the non-delete…
Comparative multiplex dosage analysis in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 patients.
2013
We developed a new application of comparative multiplex dosage analysis (CMDA) for evaluation of the ataxin 2 gene. Expansions of the triplet CAG can cause spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2), a neurodegenerative disease with an autosomal-dominant mode of inheritance. Molecular diagnosis of SCA2 is routinely based on the use of conventional PCR to detect the CAG expansion. However, PCR does not amplify an allele with an expansion of many triplets (>80), which is typically found in infantile and juvenile forms of SCA2, thus leading to false negatives. We propose the analysis of the ATXN2 gene by CMDA to complement existing methods currently used for the detection of large expansions of the …
Contribution of Large Genomic Rearrangements in Italian Lynch Syndrome Patients: Characterization of a Novel Alu-Mediated Deletion
2012
Lynch syndrome is associated with germ-line mutations in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, mainlyMLH1andMSH2. Most of the mutations reported in these genes to date are point mutations, small deletions, and insertions. Large genomic rearrangements in the MMR genes predisposing to Lynch syndrome also occur, but the frequency varies depending on the population studied on average from 5 to 20%. The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of large rearrangements in theMLH1andMSH2genes in a well-characterised series of 63 unrelated Southern Italian Lynch syndrome patients who were negative for pathogenic point mutations in theMLH1,MSH2, andMSH6genes. We identified a large novel delet…
Fetuin-A is Associated to Serum Calcium and AHSG T256S Genotype but Not to Coronary Artery Calcification
2015
Vascular calcification has been recently associated to an increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. In few studies, Fetuin-A showed an association to coronary artery calcification (CAC), although the physiopathological mechanism underlying this association has not been fully established yet. Seventy-four patients with one or more cardiovascular risk factor and asymptomatic for coronary vasculopathy were included in the study. CAC was evaluated by Agatston score. Serum Fetuin-A levels were determined by ELISA. Molecular analysis of AHSG T256S gene variant (rs4918) was performed by PCR-RFLP. Serum Fetuin-A was correlated to serum calcium (r = 0,321; P = 0,018), but not to serum phosphorous…
PCSK9 rs11591147 R46L loss-of-function variant protects against liver damage in individuals with NAFLD
2020
Background and Aims: The proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) plays a key role in cholesterol homeostasis, and its inhibition represents an effective therapy to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. In this study, we examined the impact of the PCSK9 rs11591147 loss-of-function (LOF) variant on liver damage in a multicenter collection of patients at risk of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), in clinical samples and experimental models. Methods: We considered 1874 consecutive individuals at risk of NASH as determined by histology. The SNP rs11591147, encoding for the p.R46L variant of PCSK9, was genotyped by TaqMan assays. We also evaluated 1) PCSK9 mRNA…
Identification of calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) mRNA-expressing cells in normal and injured rat brain
2009
Calcium sensing receptor (CaSR), isolated for the first time from bovine and human parathyroid, is a G-protein-coupled receptors that has been involved in diverse physiological functions. At present a complete in vivo work on the identification of CaSR mRNA-expressing cells in the adult brain lacks and this investigation was undertaken in order to acquire more information on cell type expressing CaSR mRNA in the rat brain and to analyse for the first time its expression in different experimental models of brain injury. The expression of CaSR mRNAs was found mainly in scattered cells throughout almost all the brain regions. A double labeling analysis showed a colocalization of CaSR mRNA expr…
Yeast Chronological Lifespan: Longevity Regulatory Genes and Mechanisms
2022
S. cerevisiae plays a pivotal role as a model system in understanding the biochemistry and molecular biology of mammals including humans. A considerable portion of our knowledge on the genes and pathways involved in cellular growth, resistance to toxic agents, and death has in fact been generated using this model organism. The yeast chronological lifespan (CLS) is a paradigm to study age-dependent damage and longevity. In combination with powerful genetic screening and high throughput technologies, the CLS has allowed the identification of longevity genes and pathways but has also introduced a unicellular “test tube” model system to identify and study macromolecular and cellular damage lead…
Roles of the Core Components of the Mammalian miRISC in Chromatin Biology
2022
The Argonaute (AGO) and the Trinucleotide Repeat Containing 6 (TNRC6) family proteins are the core components of the mammalian microRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC), the machinery that mediates microRNA function in the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic miRISC-mediated post-transcriptional gene repression has been established as the canonical mechanism through which AGO and TNRC6 proteins operate. However, growing evidence points towards an additional mechanism through which AGO and TNRC6 regulate gene expression in the nucleus. While several mechanisms through which miRISC components function in the nucleus have been described, in this review we aim to summarize the major findings that have …
FIMic: design for ultimate 3D-integral microscopy of in-vivo biological samples
2018
In this work, Fourier integral microscope (FIMic), an ultimate design of 3D-integral microscopy, is presented. By placing a multiplexing microlens array at the aperture stop of the microscope objective of the host microscope, FIMic shows extended depth of field and enhanced lateral resolution in comparison with regular integral microscopy. As FIMic directly produces a set of orthographic views of the 3D-micrometer-sized sample, it is suitable for real-time imaging. Following regular integral-imaging reconstruction algorithms, a 2.75-fold enhanced depth of field and [Formula: see text]-time better spatial resolution in comparison with conventional integral microscopy is reported. Our claims …
Development of a three-dimensional cell culture system based on microfluidics for nuclear magnetic resonance and optical monitoring
2014
A new microfluidic cell culture device compatible with real-time nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is presented here. The intended application is the long-term monitoring of 3D cell cultures by several techniques. The system has been designed to fit inside commercially available NMR equipment to obtain maximum readout resolution when working with small samples. Moreover, the microfluidic device integrates a fibre-optic-based sensor to monitor parameters such as oxygen, pH, or temperature during NMR monitoring, and it also allows the use of optical microscopy techniques such as confocal fluorescence microscopy. This manuscript reports the initial trials culturing neurospheres inside the micro…