ABSTRACT
Background: Cancer/Testis Antigens [CTAs] are a subgroup of tumor-associated antigens which are expressed normally in germ line cells and trophoblast, and aberrantly in a variety of malignancies. One of the most important CTAs is Developmental Pluripotency Associated-2[DPPA2] with unknown biological function. Considering the importance of DPPA2 in developmental events and cancer, preparing a suitable platform to analyze DPPA2 roles in the cells seems to be necessary
Methods: In this study, the coding sequence of DPPA2 gene was amplified and cloned into the retroviral expression vector to produce recombinant retrovirus. The viral particles were transducted to Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma [ESCC] cell line [KYSE-30 cells] and the stable transducted cells were confirmed for ectopic expression of DPPA2 gene by real-time PCR
Results: According to the critical characteristics of retroviral expression system such as stable and long time expression of interested gene and also being safe due to deletion of retroviral pathogenic genes, this system was used to induce expression of DPPA2 gene and a valuable platform to analyze its biological function was prepared. Transduction results clearly showed efficient overexpression of the gene in target cells in protein level due to high level of GFP expression
Conclusion: Such strategies can be used to produce high levels of desired protein in target cells as a therapeutic target. The produced recombinant cells may present a valuable platform to analyze the effect of DPPA2 ectopic expression in target cells. Moreover, the introduction of its potential capacity into the mouse model to evaluate the tumorigenesis of these cancer cells in vivo leads to an understanding of the biological importance of DPPA2 in tumorigenesis. In addition, our purified protein can be used in a mouse model to produce specific antibody developing a reliable detection of DPPA2 existence in any biological fluid through ELISA system
ABSTRACT
Gastric cancer [GC] is regarded as the fifth most common cancer and the third cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Mechanism of GC pathogenesis is still unclear and relies on multiple factors, including environmental and genetic characteristics. One of the most important environmental factors of GC occurrence is infection with Helicobacter pylori that is classified as class one carcinogens. Dysregulation of several genes and pathways play an essential role during gastric carcinogenesis. Dysregulation of developmental pathways such as Wnt/Beta-catenin signaling, Hedgehog signaling, Hippo pathway, Notch signaling, nuclear factor-kB, and epidermal growth factor receptor have been found in GC. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, as an important process during embryogenesis and tumorigenesis, is supposed to play a role in initiation, invasion, metastasis, and progression of GC. Although surgery is the main therapeutic modality of the disease, the understanding of biological processes of cell signaling pathways may help to develop new therapeutic targets for GC
ABSTRACT
Background: Colorectal cancer [CRC] is a common cancer that results in outstanding morbidity and mortality worldwide. DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic events that is thought to occur during the early stages of oncogenic transformation especially in CRC. The aim of this study was to investigate whether hypermethylation of bone morphogenetic protein 3 [BMP3] in tissue samples is implicated in Iranian patients with CRC
Methods: From fresh frozen tissue samples of 30 patients with CRC, the DNA was isolated, treated with sodium bisulfite and analyzed by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for methylated or unmethylated promoter sequences of the BMP3 gene. Demographic characteristics of the patients including age, sex, tumor grade, location, stage, and TNM classification were evaluated and the relationship between hypermethylation of the gene and clinicopathological features was analyzed
Results: Methylation of the BMP3 promoter was often present in the DNA extracted from the tumoral tissues. A sensitivity of 56.66% and specificity of 93.3% were attained in the detection of colorectal neoplasia
Conclusion: We assumed that solely BMP3 methylation analysis in our population is not sufficient to select the gene as a screening biomarker and it should be considered in combination with other markers to screen for detection of colorectal cancer
ABSTRACT
As recent advancements in biology shows, the molecular machines specially proteins, RNA and complex molecules play the main role of the so called cell functionality. It means a very big part of the system biology is concerned with the interactions of such molecular components. Drug industries and research institutes are trying hard to better understand the concepts underlying these interactions and are highly dependent on the issues regarding these molecular elements. However the costs for such projects are so high and in many cases these projects will be funded by governments or profit making companies. With this in mind it has to be said that the techniques like stimulation are always a very good candidate to decrease such costs and to provide scientists with a bright future of the project results before undergoing costly experiments. However the costs involved projects that determine an approximation for the problem is not that much high but they are also costly. So it is of utmost importance to invent special techniques for the concept of stimulation that can also decrease the project costs and also predict much accurately. Since the system biology and proteomics as the study of the proteins and their functions are in the center of consideration for the purpose of drug discovery, understanding the cell functionalities and the underlying causes behind diseases; so we need advance software and algorithms that can predict the structure of the molecular components and to provide researchers with the computational tools to analyze such models. In this paper we make review of the importance of molecular modeling, its limitations and applications