A case of advanced breast cancer with Gitelman syndrome.

Gitelman syndrome (GS) is a rare, mostly autosomal recessive disease this is a salt-losing tubulopathy caused by mutation of genes encoding sodium chloride (NCCT) and magnesium transporters in the thiazide-sensitive segments of the distal nephron. We encountered a 45-year-old female who has suffered from whole-body weakness because of hypokalemia for 8 years and diagnosed with Gitelman syndrome clinically. She visited the hospital with a complaint of an unrelieved hard mass of the left breast. The tumor was diagnosed as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. We herein report this first case of a breast cancer patient with Gitelman syndrome who developed other neoplasms including colon polyp, adrenal adenoma, an ovarian cyst, and multiple uterine fibroids and provide a review of the pertinent literature.

Sex-specific expression profiles of ecdysteroid biosynthesis and ecdysone response genes in extreme sexual dimorphism of the mealybug Planococcus kraunhiae (Kuwana).

Insect molting hormone (ecdysteroids) and juvenile hormone regulate molting and metamorphic events in a variety of insect species. Mealybugs undergo sexually dimorphic metamorphosis: males develop into winged adults through non-feeding, pupa-like stages called prepupa and pupa, while females emerge as neotenic wingless adults. We previously demonstrated, in the Japanese mealybug Planococcus kraunhiae (Kuwana), that the juvenile hormone titer is higher in males than in females at the end of the juvenile stage, which suggests that juvenile hormone may regulate male-specific adult morphogenesis. Here, we examined the involvement of ecdysteroids in sexually dimorphic metamorphosis. To estimate ecdysteroid titers, quantitative RT-PCR analyses of four Halloween genes encoding for cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in ecdysteroid biosynthesis, i.e., spook, disembodied, shadow and shade, were performed. Overall, their expression levels peaked before each nymphal molt. Transcript levels of spook, disembodied and shadow, genes that catalyze the steps in ecdysteroid biosynthesis in the prothoracic gland, were higher in males from the middle of the second nymphal instar to adult emergence. In contrast, the expression of shade, which was reported to be involved in the conversion of ecdysone into 20-hydroxyecdysone in peripheral tissues, was similar between males and females. These results suggest that ecdysteroid biosynthesis in the prothoracic gland is more active in males than in females, although the final conversion into 20-hydroxyecdysone occurs at similar levels in both sexes. Moreover, expression profiles of ecdysone response genes, ecdysone receptor and ecdysone-induced protein 75B, were also analyzed. Based on these expression profiles, we propose that the changes in ecdysteroid titer differ between males and females, and that high ecdysteroid titer is essential for directing male adult development.

Flow injection determination of hydrogen peroxide using catalytic effect of cobalt(II) ion on a dye formation reaction.

A novel flow injection photometric method was developed for the determination of hydrogen peroxide in rainwater. This method is based on a cobalt(II)-catalyzed oxidative coupling of 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH) with N-ethyl-N-(2-hydroxy-3-sulfopropyl)-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (DAOS) as a modified Trinder's reagent to produce intensely colored dye (λ(max)=530nm) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide at pH 8.4. In this method, 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-benzenedisulfonic acid (Tiron) acted as an activator for the cobalt(II)-catalyzed reaction and effectively increased the peak height for hydrogen peroxide. The linear calibration graphs were obtained in the hydrogen peroxide concentration range 5×10(-8) to 2.2×10(-6)mol dm(-3) at a sampling rate of 20h(-1). The relative standard deviations for ten determinations of 2.2×10(-6) and 2×10(-7)mol dm(-3) hydrogen peroxide were 1.1% and 3.7%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of hydrogen peroxide in rainwater samples and the analytical results agreed fairly well with the results obtained by different two reference methods; peroxidase method and hydrogen peroxide electrode method.

Characterization of the C-terminal diglycine motif of SUMO-1/3.

A hallmark of small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) is the production of a C-terminal tail containing diglycines (GGs), which are believed to be required for SUMOylation. Whether GGs are required components in SUMOylation remains unanswered experimentally. In this study we found that the SUMO-1/3-AA/-GS/-GN/-GA mutant can form sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-dithiothreitol (DTT)-resistant complexes with cellular proteins, indicating that the GG motif is not strictly required for SUMOylation.

A simple in situ cell-based sumoylation assay with potential application to drug screening.

We found that the small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) conjugation reaction can be visualized simply by incubating green fluorescent protein (GFP)-SUMO-1 with permeabilized cells in the presence of ATP for 15 min. Neither special equipment for protein purification nor highly developed skills for recombinant technologies is required, making the assay potentially applicable to large-scale drug-screening strategies for the identification of drugs that can inhibit or enhance SUMOylation.