The researchers learned that the astonishing diversity
of cadherin in pink bollworm from India is caused by alternative splicing, a novel mechanism of resistance that allows a single DNA sequence to code for many variants of a protein.
He said that by collaborating with Indian scientists, «we discovered that the same
cadherin gene is associated with the resistance in India, but the mutations are different and much more numerous than the ones we found in lab - selected pink bollworm from Arizona.»
And in just eight individuals from India, we found 19
different cadherin variants that confer resistance.
«We found that the more hypoxic a tumour was, the
more cadherin - 22 there was in the area of the hypoxia,» he said.
To understand how these two different types of cells (the olfactory cells and supporting cells) are arranged in a unique mosaic pattern, the research group focused on the relationship
between cadherins and nectins (another type of adhesion molecule).
All cells in tissues adhere to each other using molecules
called cadherins which interact and connect cells of the same type together.
Researchers genetically engineered mice to
produce cadherin, a protein involved in learning that helps strengthen the brain's neural connections.
«If you can find a treatment or a drug that can
block cadherin - 22, you could potentially prevent cancer cells from moving, invading and metastasizing.»
Center cells lost the expression of octamer - binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) and
epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) faster than perimeter cells, which are critical to the development of heart tissue.
These findings suggest that the therapeutic protein was able to interact normally with its binding partners among the USH1 molecular complex (the
proteins cadherin 23, protocadherin 15, myosin VIIA and harmonin), as required for the mechanoelectrical transduction apparatus of the hair bundle to function correctly.
The groundbreaking study identified a protein, known
as cadherin - 22, as a potential factor in cancer metastasis, or spread, and showed that hindering it decreased the adhesion and invasion rate of breast and brain cancer cells by up to 90 per cent.
Dr. Menko, together with first author Caitlin Logan, MD, PhD, and second author Caitlin Bowen, was looking at a mouse that had been engineered to stop producing a key developmental protein called N -
cadherin just as the lens was beginning to form.
The study builds on more than a decade of research from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Massachusetts Medical School that in 2010 initially found the
neural cadherin (CDH2) gene on canine chromosome 7 appeared to coincide with an increased risk of OCD.
Their results demonstrated that interaction of different nectins between the olfactory cells and the supporting cells
recruited cadherins to the junctions between cells.
Nectins tend to bind heterophilically, meaning that they adhere more strongly to nectins of a different type, and have been shown to serve as recruiters
for cadherin molecules.
The Oncotarget study demonstrated that Brenner's antibody worked in animal models of tumors that
made cadherin - 11.
While it is unlikely that Celebrex could be used as a single agent against cancer because it would be too toxic at the level needed to
impair cadherin - 11, a Celebrex - related molecule works the same way, and may potentially be less toxic.
Dr. Islam's discovery was published [S. Islam, T. E. Carey, G. T. Wolf, M. J. Wheelock, and K. J. Johnson, «Expression of N -
Cadherin by human squamous carcinoma cells induces a scattered fibroblastic phenotype with disrupted cell - cell adhesion,» J. Cell Biol.
After completing his PhD, Dr. Islam decided to continue working on the molecular causes of cancer
involving cadherins.
Mutations that
disrupt cadherin block this binding, which leaves the insect unscathed by the Bt toxin.
Four genes, all with synaptic function, have the most case - only variation:
neuronal cadherin (CDH2), catenin alpha2 (CTNNA2), ataxin - 1 (ATXN1), and plasma glutamate carboxypeptidase (PGCP).
The accumulation of different amounts
of cadherins produced different levels of adhesiveness between cell junctions, resulting in a mosaic pattern.
Then they use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a 300 - nucleotide Alu insertion into an intron of H -
cadherin gene.
«Not only that, but the
more cadherin - 22 that there is in a tumour, the more advanced the cancer stage and the worse the prognosis is for the patients.»
As a doctoral student in the lab of Drs. Margaret Wheelock and Keith Johnson at the University of Toledo, Dr. Islam focused on identifying a link
between cadherins (a family of cell adhesion proteins) and tumorigenesis (start of cancer cell formation).
In the lab strains, the scientists had identified mutations in a gene encoding a protein
called cadherin.
11) Korswagen, R., Herman, M. and Clevers, H. Separate beta - catenins mediate Wnt signaling and
cadherin adhesion in C. elegans.
The group also assessed what happens when
different cadherins and different nectins are simultaneously expressed in cells.
After introducing
the cadherin - laden mice to cocaine multiple times, experts expected the rodents to crave the drug.
Not only did they show that N -
cadherin was necessary for creating the perfectly clear structure of the lens, they also observed that malformed lenses lacking N - cadherin began to attract immune cells to try to fix the damage.
«
Cadherin - 11 expression is required for tumors to grow.
The culprit in the condition, called aortic valve stenosis, is
cadherin - 11, a binding protein necessary for normal wound healing.