Human endometrial cytodifferentiation by histone deacetylase inhibitors.

Abstract Human uterine endometrium repeats proliferation, differentiation (decidualization) and tissue breakdown during the menstrual period. Appropriate secretion of ovarian steroid hormones regulates these sequential endometrial remodeling cycles. While progesterone replacement therapy is adopted for endometrial dysfunction of differentiation, including recurrent impairment of implantation, no obvious effective results are obtained. Histone reversible acetylation, regulated by histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases plays a pivotal role in gene transcription. Although, in cells cultured with histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACI), the expression of only about 2% of expressed genes is changed twofold or more compared with untreated control cells. Numerous previous works have demonstrated that HDACI affect cell proliferation/apoptosis in a variety of types of cells. To date, several HDACI are in phase I or phase II clinical trials as anticancer drugs. However, no reports have been found that HDACI is useful for transdifferentiation in human endometrium. Recently, we reported that HDACI could induce the expression of differentiation marker proteins, morphological change and functional cytodifferentiation in both human endometrial stromal and epithelial cells. In this review, we summarize the effect of HDACI against the human endometrial cytodifferentiation, indicating the possibility that HDACI can be used not only as an anticancer drug, but also as a transdifferentiation reagent, based on a new strategy.

Lesbian discourses in mainstream magazines of post-war Japan: is onabe distinct from rezubian?

This paper elucidates the changes in the meanings associated with the term rezubian (the Japanese term for "lesbian") through an analysis of its discourse in magazines for general readership published in post-war Japan. The category of "rezubian" first appeared in mainstream magazines in the 1960s as a generic category that referred to both "masculinized women" and "women who engage in sexual acts with other women." Masculinized women, in particular, were called "onabe." At first "onabe" denoted "a tachi rezubian," meaning a lesbian who plays "top," but gradually a distinction came to be made between "rezubian who are onabe" and "rezubian who aren't." The early 1990s saw the differentiation of "onabe" as a category distinct from that of "rezubian." Focusing particularly on this process of differentiation, this paper traces the transitions in the signifying practices pertaining to the category rezubian. doi:10.1300/J155v10n03_09.

Structural insight into nucleotide recognition in tau-protein kinase I/glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta.

Human tau-protein kinase I (TPK I; also known as glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta; GSK3 beta) is a serine/threonine protein kinase that participates in Alzheimer's disease. Here, binary complex structures of full-length TPK I/GSK3 beta with the ATP analogues ADP and AMPPNP solved by the X-ray diffraction method at 2.1 and 1.8 A resolution, respectively, are reported. TPK I/GSK3 beta is composed of three domains: an N-terminal domain consisting of a closed beta-barrel structure, a C-terminal domain containing a 'kinase fold' structure and a small extra-domain subsequent to the C-terminal domain. The catalytic site is between the two major domains and has an ATP-analogue molecule in its ATP-binding site. The adenine ring is buried in the hydrophobic pocket and interacts specifically with the main-chain atoms of the hinge loop. The overall structure and substrate-binding residues are similar to those observed in other Ser/Thr protein kinases, while Arg141 (which is not conserved among other Ser/Thr protein kinases) is one of the key residues for specific ATP/ADP recognition by TPK I/GSK3 beta. No residues are phosphorylated, while the orientation of the activation loop in TPK I/GSK3 beta is similar to that in phosphorylated CDK2 and ERK2, suggesting that TPK I/GSK3 beta falls into a conformation that enables it to be constitutively active.

Structure of human translin at 2.2 A resolution.

The structure of human translin at 2.2 A resolution is reported in space group C222(1). Translin forms a tetramer in the asymmetric unit. Although the monomer structure is almost the same as the crystal structure of murine translin in space group P2(1)2(1)2, the relative positions of the tetramers differ between the human and murine translins. This suggests that the multimerization of translin is flexible; the flexibility may be related to the binding to DNA/RNA.