Correlation between Pituitary Stalk Interruption Syndrome and Prokineticin Receptor 2 and Prokineticin 2 Mutations / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the correlation between pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) and prokineticin receptor 2 (PROKR2) and prokineticin 2 (RROK2) mutations.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>PROKR2 and RROK2 genotypes were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction analysis with exon-flanking primers and by automated sequencing techniques with peripheral blood DNA samples from 59 patients with PSIS.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of these 59 PSIS patients, 6 showed intragenic deletions at the PROKR2 locus. Of them, 5 patients exhibited intragenic subsititution of exon 2 (c.991G>A), and the remaining one patient exhibited intragenic subsititution of exon 2 (c.1057C>T). No PROK2 mutation was found in these PSIS patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PROKR2 may be the susceptibility gene of PSIS.</p>

Clinical Features of Pituitary Stalk Interruption Syndrome in 114 Cases / 中国医学科学院学报

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of pituitary stalk interruption syndrome(PSIS). Methods The clinical data including clinical manifestations,laboratory tests,and imaging findings of 114 PSIS patients in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Results Of these 114 PSIS patients,102 cases (89.4%) were male. The average age was 21.1?6.1 years. A history of breech delivery was documented in 91 cases (91.9%). Short stature was found in 89 cases (71.8%) and bone age delayed (6.1?5.1) years. Secondary sex characteristics were poor or undeveloped in most patients. The prevalence of deficiencies in growth hormone,gonadotropins,corticotropin,and thyrotropin were 100.0%,94.0%,84.2%,and 74.6%,respectively. Hyperprolactinemia was found in 28.1% of patients. Three or more pituitary hormone abnormalities were found in 105 cases(92.1%). Compared with the 5 cases with history of cephalic delivery,no difference were found in the aspects of height(t=0.297,P=0.634),penile length(t=1.205,P=0.882),testicular volume (U=99.000,P=0.348),growth hormone peak (U=89.000,P=0.186),adrenocorticotropic hormone peak(U=131.000,P=0.967),luteinizing hormone peak(U=98.500,P=0.582),thyroid-stimulating hormone (U=82.000,P=0.162),and the height of anterior pituitary (t=1.676,P=0.107) in the 53 cases with history of breech delivery. Conclusions The clinical manifestations,symptoms,hormone deficiencies were severe in our series. The condition severities were not remarkably different in patients with different delivery ways.

Construction of human Bcl-6 3'UTR reporter vector and expression vector and their functional assessment / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the direct regulation of miR-127 on Bcl-6 and the effect of Bcl-6 in rescuing miR-127-induced cell cycle and cell growth inhibition.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The 3'UTR and coding region of human bcl-6 gene were amplified by PCR and cloned into pcDNA3.0-Luc and pcDNA3.0-Flag vectors, respectively. Mutations were introduced into the seed sequences of the predicted miR-127 target sites within the Bcl-6 3'UTR using recombinant PCR. Luciferase assay was used to verify the direct targeted regulation of miR-127 on Bcl-6. In HepG2 cell models with overexpression or knockdown of miR-12, the changes of cell cycle and cell growth were investigated after transfection with the constructed vectors.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The recombinant plasmids were successfully obtained as confirmed by double digestion and sequence identification. Luciferase assay showed that in 293T and HepG2 cells, miR-127 inhibited the activation of wild-type Bcl-6 3'UTR reporter vector but not mutated Bcl-6 3'UTR vector. Overexpression of miR-127 induced cell cycle arrest at G(2)/M phase and suppressed the growth of HepG2 cells, and these effects were reversed by Bcl-6 overexpression.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>We successfully cloned wild-type and mutated 3'UTR reporter vectors and expression vector of bcl-6 gene and confirmed their biological functions.</p>

SUMO-2/3 can covalently bind to progesterone receptor B to regulate its transcriptional activity / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate whether progesterone receptor B (PRB) can be sumoylated by SUMO-2/3 and the effect of sumoylation on PRB transcriptional activity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>SUMO-2/3 cDNA was amplified from MCF-7 cDNA and cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3-FLAG. The plasmid pXJ40-myc-PRB was cotransfected with pcDNA3FLAG-SUMO2, pcDNA3FLAG-SUMO3 or the mock control into 293T cells, and PRB sumoylation was detected by immunoprecipitation and Western blotting. The effect of PRB sumoylation on its transcriptional activity was determined using reporter luciferase assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>pcDNA3FLAG-SUMO2 and pcDNA3FLAG-SUMO3 vectors were successfully constructed. SUMO-2/3 could bind covalently to PRB and increase its transcriptional dependent on the presence of progesterone.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PRB can be sumoylated by SUMO-2/3 and its function is regulated by this modification.</p>