Short report: cysticercosis in an Egyptian mummy of the late Ptolemaic period.

We describe here an ancient case of cysticercosis that was discovered in an Egyptian mummy of a young woman of about 20 years of age who lived in the late Ptolemaic period (second to first centuries b.c.). On removal of the stomach and its rehydration, a cystic lesion in the stomach wall was observed by naked eye. Microscopical examination of sections of this lesion revealed a cystic structure, with a wall, with numerous projecting eversions, a characteristic feature of the larval stage (cysticercus) of the human tapeworm Taenia solium (or "pig tapeworm"). Immunohistochemical testing with serum from a T. solium-infected human confirmed the identity of the cyst. This finding is the oldest on record of the antiquity of this zoonotic parasite. This observation also confirms that, in Hellenistic Egypt, the farming of swine, along with man an intermediate host of this parasite, was present, and supports other archeological evidence.

Vitellin cleavage products are proteolytically degraded by ubiquitination in stick insect embryos.

Vitellin polypeptides are proteolytically processed in ovarian follicles and embryos of the stick insect Carausius morosus. Data show that vitellin polypeptide A(3) of 54kDa is processed to yield polypeptide A(3)(*) of about 48kDa upon completion of ovarian development, whereas vitellin polypeptide A(2) of 90kDa yields polypeptide E(9) during embryonic development. As vitellin polypeptides are processed, polypeptides A(3)(*) and E(9) are transferred from the yolk granules to the cytosolic space of the vitellophages and start to express a ubiquitin reactivity. At the confocal microscope, anti-ubiquitin antibodies label specifically numerous small yolk granules and the cytosolic space of vitellophages. During embryonic development, ubiquitin carrying granules undergo acidification in much the same way as larger yolk granules. However, only these latter organelles are capable of converting a latent cysteine pro-protease into an active yolk protease upon acidification of their luminal space. These data are interpreted as indicating that ubiquitin-like polypeptides are restricted to small granules throughout ovarian and embryonic development, and that vitellin cleavage products are ubiquitinated following acidification of large yolk granules and transfer to the cytosolic space of the vitellophages.

Targeting of A701G nucleotide at the human ATP1A1 locus using a RNA/DNA chimera.

The single base substitution mediated by chimeric RNA/DNA oligonucleotide is a new promising approach of gene therapy for single base mutation diseases. We exploited this approach to render HeLa cells resistant to ouabain by introducing a single base substitution in the alpha 1 subunit of the NA+/K+ ATPase human gene. The chimeric oligonucleotide was administered to HeLa cells by electroporation and the frequency of ouabain resistant cells determined. The results showed that the chimeric RNA/DNA oligonucleotide failed to enhance the frequency of ouabain resistant cells supporting the controversy about the conflicting results of the technique.

Autophagy-related protein LC3 and Beclin-1 in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Autophagy is a degradation process that acts in response to environmental stressors. Recently, autophagy has been detected in normal term, preeclamptic and intrauterine growth-restricted placentas. The object of this work was to investigate the presence of autophagy in first trimester voluntary interruption of pregnancy placental villi by the expression of autophagy-related proteins, light chain 3 (LC3), and Beclin-1. In first trimester placental villi laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) analysis revealed LC3 and Beclin-1 immunoreactivity prevalently located in villous cytotrophoblasts. Using LSCM, LC3, and Beclin-1 were localized to the cytoplasm of the trophoblast layer in human full-term placentas. Beclin-1 expression and LC3 activation were confirmed by western blotting. These data emphasize that autophagy activation is different among cytotrophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblasts depending on the gestational age and thus we speculate that autophagy might play a prosurvival role throughout human pregnancy.

Establishment and characterization of 4 new human pancreatic cancer cell lines: evidences of different tumor phenotypes.

OBJECTIVES: Pancreatic cancer still remains a challenge for its biological complexity and lack of effective therapeutic strategies. Establishing new pancreatic cancer cell lines is therefore of paramount importance to clarify its biology. METHODS: We established and characterized 4 new pancreatic cancer cell lines (PP78, PP109, PP117, and PP161) according to their genetic (K-Ras, TP53, CDKN2A, and MADH4; DNA fingerprinting; karyotype), cytostructural (cytokeratins 7, 8, 18, and 19 vimentin, and ezrin), and functional profiles (doubling time; migration assay). RESULTS: K-Ras, TP53, and CDKN2A gene alterations were detected in all 4 of them. Each cell line had a unique DNA profile revealed by DNA fingerprinting. A complex karyotype with numerous structural and numeric chromosomal abnormalities was present in each cell line. All 4 cell lines showed positivity for cytokeratins 7, 8, and 18. All but PP78 expressed cytokeratin 19, whereas vimentin was expressed only in PP117 and PP78 cells. A different ezrin cellular distribution was noticed in PP78 and PP117, being mostly located at membrane ruffles. This peculiar distribution was associated with the strongest migratory capability. CONCLUSIONS: Our results seem to confirm the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma heterogeneity; in fact, the same genetic abnormalities (K-Ras, TP53, and CDKN2A) may have different effects on tumor biology depending on cellular differentiation.

DjPum, a homologue of Drosophila Pumilio, is essential to planarian stem cell maintenance.

As stem cells are rare and difficult to study in vivo in adults, the use of classical models of regeneration to address fundamental aspects of the stem cell biology is emerging. Planarian regeneration, which is based upon totipotent stem cells present in the adult--the so-called neoblasts--provides a unique opportunity to study in vivo the molecular program that defines a stem cell. The choice of a stem cell to self-renew or differentiate involves regulatory molecules that also operate as translational repressors, such as members of PUF proteins. In this study, we identified a homologue of the Drosophila PUF gene Pumilio (DjPum) in the planarian Dugesia japonica, with an expression pattern preferentially restricted to neoblasts. Through RNA interference (RNAi), we demonstrate that gene silencing of DjPum dramatically reduces the number of neoblasts, thus supporting the intriguing hypothesis that stem cell maintenance may be an ancestral function of PUF proteins.

Apoptosis is reduced in the colonic mucosa of patients with acromegaly.

BACKGROUND: Patients with acromegaly have an increased risk of developing colonic tumours; reduced apoptosis is considered a leading mechanism in tumorigenesis. GH and IGF-1 decrease apoptosis in several cell lines including human colonic adenocarcinoma, but it is unknown whether epithelial cells of colonic mucosa of patients with acromegaly have reduced apoptosis. AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the degree of apoptosis in a cross-sectional study, in biopsy samples of colonic mucosa obtained from patients with acromegaly. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eleven patients with active, untreated acromegaly (AcroUntr), 16 patients with acromegaly in remission (AcroRem) and 23 controls were enrolled in the study. Samples of colonic mucosa were obtained during colonoscopy; apoptosis was evaluated by either DNA fragmentation or terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase assay. RESULTS: Apoptotic cells were 60.0 +/- 2.5% in samples of colonic mucosa of controls, 62.0 +/- 3.4% in those from patients with AcroRem (P = ns vs. controls), and 39.0 +/- 4.1% in those from patients with AcroUntr (P < 0.0001 vs. the other groups). Apoptosis was inversely related to serum IGF-I (r = 0.771, P < 0.001) or GH (r = 0.404, P = 0.05) levels and less to the estimated duration of disease (r = 0.384, P = 0.07). PPARgamma is considered to be a tumour suppressor gene the expression of which might be involved in colonic tumorigenesis. The expression of PPARgamma was lower in the colonic mucosa of patients with AcroUntr (2845 +/- 947 transcripts) than in that of controls (35 200 +/- 2450 transcripts) or AcroRem (29 547 +/- 3650 transcripts) (P < 0.005). The recovery of PPARgamma expression was associated with apoptosis in most cells. The lower degree of apoptosis in patients with AcroUntr was associated with a reduced expression of the antiapoptotic Bax protein. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, patients with AcroUntr have reduced apoptosis in colonic mucosa that is apparently reversed after acromegaly is cured. It is conceivable that reduced apoptosis may represent an early event in colonic tumorigenesis of patients with acromegaly.