Comprehensive expression analysis suggests functional overlapping of human FOX transcription factors in cancer.

Forkhead-box (FOX) transcription factors comprise a large gene family that contains more than 50 members in man. Extensive studies have revealed that they not only have functions in control of growth and development, but also play important roles in different diseases, especially in cancer. However, biological functions for most of the members in the FOX family remain unknown. In the present study, the expression of 39 FOX genes in 48 kinds of cancer was mined from the Gene Expression Atlas database of European Bioinformatics Institute. The analysis results showed that some FOX genes demonstrate overlapping expression in various cancers, which suggests particular biological functions. The pleiotropic features of the FOX genes make them excellent candidates in efforts aimed to give medical treatment for cancers at the genetic level. The results also indicated that different FOX genes may have the synergy or antagonistics effects in the same cancers. The study provides clues for further functional analysis of FOX genes, especially for the pleiotropic biological functions and crosstalk of FOX genes in human cancers.

[Spectroscopic studies of aripiprazole].

The ultraviolet spectrum (UV), infrared spectrum (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrum (MS) of aripiprazole, a new antipsychotic drug, were reported and interpreted. The structure of aripiprazole in solution was studied according to the UV spectra detected in solution with different pH values. The vibrations of functional groups of this compound in IR and the isotopic ion peaks in MS were discussed. Moreover, the 2D-NMR techniques, including 1H-1H correlation spectroscopy (1H-1H cosy), heteronuclear single-quantum coherence (HSQC), and heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation (HMBC), were used to deduce the structure of this compound. All the 1H NMR and 13C NMR signals were assigned. Especially, the ten different methylenes in this structure were analyzed according to the chemical shifts, coupling constants and correlations in 2D-NMR spectrum. By all these spectral techniques, the structure of aripiprazole was identified.