Search results for "MOLECOLARE"

RNA mediated trans-activation: its therapeutic potential in anaplastic thyroid cancer

2014

RNA mediated trans-Activation is a proposed mechanism involved in the setting of the epigenetic state of chromatin. It has been studied first in Drosophila melanogaster where it seems that at least some transcribed loci are marked as transcriptionally active by their own transcripts. This effect acts in trans and in some cases could give rise to a transgenerational paramutational-like effect. This work studies RNA mediated trans-activation in the light of one of its possible applications, specifically its use as a therapeutic strategy for the incurable and highly aggressive ATC (anaplastic thyroid cancer). We explore the possibility to reactivate the Thyroid specific NIS (Natrium-Iodine sym…

Mitochondrial Proteomics: An Approach to Identify Cellular Stress Induced By Amyloid-Beta Peptide

2014

Mitochondria are dynamic ATP-generating organelle which contribute to many cellular functions including bioenergetic processes. intracellular calcium regulation, alteration of reduction-oxidation potential of cells, free radical scavenging, and activation of caspase-mediated celi death. Many lines of evidence suggest that mitochondria have a central role in ageing-related neurodegenerative diseases. Mitochondrial functions can be negatively affected by Amyloid Beta-peptide (ABeta), an important component in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, and ABeta can interact with mitochondria and cause mitochondrial dysfunction. One of the most accepted hypotheses for AD onset implicates that mito…

Role of hypoxia in pemetrexed-resistance of mesothelioma mediated by proton-coupled folate transporter, and preclinical activity of new anti-LDH comp…

2018

Introduction There are few effective therapies for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), which remains one of the most lethal cancers. We previously demonstrated that low expression of the PCFT transporter, both at mRNA and protein levels, is associated with shorter survival of MPM patients treated with pemetrexed (Giovannetti et al., 2017). Since hypoxia has also been associated to antifolate-resistance (Raz et al, 2014), this study was aimed at elucidating key factors in pemetrexed resistance and hypoxia that may contribute to the rational development of novel therapeutic interventions against mesothelioma. Methods The levels of PCFT and of the hypoxia marker carbonic anhydrase-IX were de…

Preliminary genetic characterisation of Southern Smooth Snake Coronella girondica (Serpentes, Colubridae) populations in Italy, with some considerati…

2022

The Southern smooth snake, Coronella girondica, is a small-sized colubrid found in Northwest Africa and Southwest Europe. Mitochondrial DNA-based studies showed that the species can be split into five clades: two from Northwest Africa (one Moroccan and one Tunisian-Algerian) and three from Europe (one in the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula, one in the south-east of Spain and one in the rest of the European range). With regards to Italy, to date, only two samples have been analysed both from the Province of Pisa, Tuscany, pointing at that fact that genetic characterisation of Italian populations is still lacking. Accordingly, we have increased the sampling coverage with 19 new samples fr…

Effetto combinato di cadmio e sulfonammidici sullo sviluppo degli embrioni di riccio di mare: un'indagine molecolare

2013

SEA URCHIN RESEARCH: MILESTONES, MEMORIES, AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

2017

The sea urchin eggs and embryos have been used for nearly two centuries as experimental models for classical and modern developmental biology. In the late 1870s, the ground-breaking observations independently obtained by Hertwig and Fol highlighted for the first time that a single sperm enters the oocyte and the male and female pronuclei fuse at fertilization.1 From that point on, the seminal studies of Boveri, Driesch, and Herbst allowed conceptualization of basic biological themes, such as the chromosome theory of heredity.2 In the first half of the twentieth century, the embryo manipulation experiments performed by Hörstadius and Runnström further advanced the field, introducing the conc…

Arti decorative tra scienza e restauro

2010

-

The Paracentrotus lividus metallothionein gene family: structure and expression.

2014

Metallothioneins are metal binding proteins that play a pivotal role in metal homeostasis and detoxification. Since their initial discovery, they have been extensively studied in a variety of organisms ranging from microbes to plants and animals. Organisms often possess multiple genes encoding metallothionein homologs with distinct properties, such as varying affinities for different metals, and in many cases different functions. Despite the plethora of available studies, very little information is known about sea urchin P. lividus MT (1, 2). We previously identified five Pl-MT embryonic cDNAs and we studied their induction after cadmium treatment (3). Now we studied their expression during…

cis-Regulation and chromatin dynamics of the hbox12 gene during the embryogenesis of Paracentrotus lividus.

2014

The GRN specifying the dorsal-ventral (D-V) axis of the sea urchin embryo is currently under investigation. An early input for D-V polarity is given by a redox gradient probably generated by an asymmetrical distribution of maternal mitochondria (1). Only on the future ventral side, the oxidizing environment induces the expression of the nodal gene, an essential regulator of D-V polarization (2). By contrast, on the future dorsal side, a reducing environment activates the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α) (3). The hbox12 transcription repressor is an early marker of the dorsal side of the embryo, in which it negatively regulates the expression of nodal (4, 5). Interestingly, by in silico ana…

Genome wide mapping of the MBF-1 binding sites during embryogenesis of the sea urchin reveals it is a chromatin organizer.

2015

The Zinc-finger MBF1 factor is a transcription activator involved in the expression of the early histone genes during development of the sea urchin embryo (1). The DNA-binding domain of MBF1 shares high sequence similarity with that of the CTCF chromatin organizer but, unexpectedly, extensive in silico analysis failed to identify the sea urchin CTCF ortholog (2, 3). This led us to speculate that MBF1 could have co-opted the function of CTCF during evolution of the echinoderms. To support this hypothesis, we performed the genome-wide MBF1-binding sites mapping in the P. lividus genome, by chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to next generation sequencing (ChIP-Seq). We observed that MBF1 bi…