Differential proteins among normal cervix cells and cervical cancer cells with HPV-16 infection, through mass spectrometry-based Proteomics (2D-DIGE) in women from Southern México.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide with an estimated 528,000 new cases in 2012. The same year México had an incidence of 13,960 and a mortality of 4769 cases. There are several diagnosis methods of CC; among the most frequents are the conventional Pap cytology (Pap), colposcopy, and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), histopathological examination, tests of imaging and detection of high-risk papilloma virus (HR-HPV) with molecular tests (PCR, hybridization, sequencing). Proteomics is a tool for the detection of new biomarkers that can be associated with clinical stage, histological type, prognosis, and/or response to treatment. In this study we performed a comparative analysis of CC cells with normal cervical cells. The proteomic analysis was carried out with the fluorescent two-dimensional electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) technique to subsequently identify differential protein profiles using Decyder Software, and the selected proteins were identified by Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). RESULTS: The proteins that showed an increased expression in cervical cancer in comparison with normal cervix cells were: Mimecan, Actin from aortic smooth muscle and Lumican. While Keratin, type II cytoskeletal 5, Peroxiredoxin-1 and 14-3-3 protein sigma showed a decrease in their protein expression level in cervical cancer in comparison with normal cervix cells. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, this study was successful in identifying biomarker signatures for cervical cancer, and might provide new insights into the mechanism of CC progression.

Endospore degradation in an oligosporogenic, crystalliferous mutant of Bacillus thuringiensis.

We isolated a new oligosporogenic mutant from Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD73 that retains the ability to produce insecticidal crystal inclusions. Sporulation in this mutant initiates in a manner similar to the wild-type strain, and under the electron microscope endospores are seen, but these do not reach maturity (except for 0.2% of them). At a late stage, the coat surrounding the forespore seems to lack shape and to be empty. Most mutant cells exhibit a well-formed bipyramidal crystal but are completely devoid of the forespore. The mutant has a functional SigK holoenzyme, which is required for the expression of genes involved in the formation of spore coat and cortex and for cry1A transcription from the BtII promoter. Defective maturation of spores could be due to an inadequate forespore coat or cortex structure resulting in the arrest of sporulation at late stage III or early stage IV.