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MEN1
Menin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MEN1'' gene. Menin is a putative tumor suppressor associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1 syndrome). ''In vitro'' studies have shown that menin is localized to the nucleus, possesses two functional nuclear localization signals, and inhibits transcriptional activation by JunD. However, the function of this protein is not known. Two messages have been detected on northern blots but the larger message has not been characterized. Two variants of the shorter transcript have been identified where alternative splicing affects the coding sequence. Five variants where alternative splicing takes place in the 5' UTR have also been identified. History In 1988, researchers at Uppsala University Hospital and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm mapped the ''MEN1'' gene to the long arm of chromosome 11. The gene was finally cloned in 1997. Genomics The gene is located on long arm of chromosome 11 (11q13) betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) is one of a group of disorders, the multiple endocrine neoplasias, that affect the endocrine system through development of neoplastic lesions in pituitary, parathyroid gland and pancreas. It was first described by Paul Wermer in 1954. Signs and symptoms Parathyroid Hyperparathyroidism is present in ≥ 90% of patients. Asymptomatic hypercalcemia is the most common manifestation: about 25% of patients have evidence of nephrolithiasis or nephrocalcinosis. In contrast to sporadic cases of hyperparathyroidism, diffuse hyperplasia or multiple adenomas are more common than solitary adenomas. Pancreas Pancreatic islet cell tumors are today the major cause of death in persons with MEN-1. Tumors occur in 60-80% of persons with MEN-1 and they are usually multicentric. Multiple adenomas or diffuse islet cell hyperplasia commonly occurs. About 30% of tumors are malignant and have local or distant metastases. About 10-15% of islet cell tumors orig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knudson Hypothesis
The Knudson hypothesis, also known as the two-hit hypothesis, is the hypothesis that most tumor suppressor genes require both alleles to be inactivated, either through mutations or through epigenetic silencing, to cause a phenotypic change. It was first formulated by Alfred G. Knudson in 1971 and led indirectly to the identification of tumor suppressor genes. Knudson won the 1998 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award for this work. Knudson performed a statistical analysis on cases of retinoblastoma, a tumor of the retina that occurs both as an inherited disease and sporadically. He noted that inherited retinoblastoma occurs at a younger age than the sporadic disease. In addition, the children with inherited retinoblastoma often developed the tumor in both eyes, suggesting an underlying predisposition. Knudson suggested that two "hits" to DNA were necessary to cause the cancer. In the children with inherited retinoblastoma, the first mutation in what later came to be identif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MEN2A
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (also known as "Pheochromocytoma and amyloid producing medullary thyroid carcinoma", "PTC syndrome," and "Sipple syndrome") is a group of medical disorders associated with tumors of the endocrine system. The tumors may be benign or malignant (cancer). They generally occur in endocrine organs (e.g. thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenals), but may also occur in endocrine tissues of organs not classically thought of as endocrine. MEN2 is a sub-type of MEN (multiple endocrine neoplasia) and itself has sub-types, as discussed below. Signs and symptoms MEN2 can present with a sign or symptom related to a tumor or, in the case of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2b, with characteristic musculoskeletal and/or lip and/or gastrointestinal findings. Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) represents the most frequent initial diagnosis. Occasionally pheochromocytoma or primary hyperparathyroidism may be the initial diagnosis. Pheochromocytoma occurs in 33-50% of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromosome 11
Chromosome 11 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. Humans normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 11 spans about 135 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 4 and 4.5 percent of the total DNA in cells. The shorter arm (p arm) is termed 11p while the longer arm (q arm) is 11q. At about 21.5 genes per megabase, chromosome 11 is one of the most gene-rich, and disease-rich, chromosomes in the human genome. More than 40% of the 856 olfactory receptor genes in the human genome are located in 28 single-gene and multi-gene clusters along the chromosome. Gene Number of genes The following are some of the gene count estimates of human chromosome 11. Because researchers use different approaches to genome annotation their predictions of the number of genes on each chromosome varies (for technical details, see gene prediction). Among various projects, the collaborative consensus coding sequence project ( CCDS) takes an extreme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a protein that is encoded by the ''GFAP'' gene in humans. It is a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein that is expressed by numerous cell types of the central nervous system (CNS), including astrocytes and ependymal cells during development. GFAP has also been found to be expressed in glomeruli and peritubular fibroblasts taken from rat kidneys, Leydig cells of the testis in both hamsters and humans, human keratinocytes, human osteocytes and chondrocytes and stellate cells of the pancreas and liver in rats. GFAP is closely related to the other three non-epithelial type III IF family members, vimentin, desmin and peripherin, which are all involved in the structure and function of the cell’s cytoskeleton. GFAP is thought to help to maintain astrocyte mechanical strength as well as the shape of cells, but its exact function remains poorly understood, despite the number of studies using it as a cell marker. The protein was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FANCD2
Fanconi anemia group D2 protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''FANCD2'' gene. The Fanconi anemia complementation group ( FANC) currently includes FANCA, FANCB, FANCC, FANCD1 (also called BRCA2), FANCD2 (this gene), FANCE, FANCF, FANCG, FANCI , FANCJ, FANCL, FANCM, FANCN and FANCO. Function Fanconi anemia is a disorder with a recessive Mendelian pattern of inheritance characterized by chromosomal instability, hypersensitivity to DNA crosslinking agents, increased chromosomal breakage, and defective DNA repair. The members of the Fanconi anemia complementation group do not share sequence similarity; they are related by their assembly into a common nuclear protein complex. This gene encodes the protein for complementation group D2. This protein is monoubiquitinated in response to DNA damage, resulting in its localization to nuclear foci with other proteins (BRCA1 and BRCA2) involved in homology-directed DNA repair (see Figure: Recombinational repair of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitotic Index
Mitotic index is defined as the ratio between the number of a population's cells undergoing mitosis to its total number of cells. Purpose The mitotic index is a measure of cellular proliferation. It is defined as the percentage of cells undergoing mitosis in a given population of cells. Mitosis is the division of somatic cell A somatic cell (from Ancient Greek σῶμα ''sôma'', meaning "body"), or vegetal cell, is any biological cell forming the body of a multicellular organism other than a gamete, germ cell, gametocyte or undifferentiated stem cell. Such cells compo ...s into two daughter cells. Durations of the cell cycle and mitosis vary in different cell types. An elevated mitotic index indicates more cells are dividing. In cancer cells, the mitotic index may be elevated compared to normal growth of tissues or cellular repair of the site of an injury. The mitotic index is therefore an important prognostic factor predicting both overall survival and response to chemothera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumor Suppressor Gene
A tumor suppressor gene (TSG), or anti-oncogene, is a gene that regulates a cell during cell division and replication. If the cell grows uncontrollably, it will result in cancer. When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated, it results in a loss or reduction in its function. In combination with other genetic mutations, this could allow the cell to grow abnormally. The loss of function for these genes may be even more significant in the development of human cancers, compared to the activation of oncogenes. TSGs can be grouped into the following categories: caretaker genes, gatekeeper genes, and more recently landscaper genes. Caretaker genes ensure stability of the genome via DNA repair and subsequently when mutated allow mutations to accumulate. Meanwhile, gatekeeper genes directly regulate cell growth by either inhibiting cell cycle progression or inducing apoptosis. Lastly landscaper genes regulate growth by contributing to the surrounding environment, when mutated can cause an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pathology
Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatment, the term is often used in a narrower fashion to refer to processes and tests that fall within the contemporary medical field of "general pathology", an area which includes a number of distinct but inter-related medical specialties that diagnose disease, mostly through analysis of tissue, cell, and body fluid samples. Idiomatically, "a pathology" may also refer to the predicted or actual progression of particular diseases (as in the statement "the many different forms of cancer have diverse pathologies", in which case a more proper choice of word would be " pathophysiologies"), and the affix ''pathy'' is sometimes used to indicate a state of disease in cases of both physical ailment (as in card ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumor Suppressor Gene
A tumor suppressor gene (TSG), or anti-oncogene, is a gene that regulates a cell during cell division and replication. If the cell grows uncontrollably, it will result in cancer. When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated, it results in a loss or reduction in its function. In combination with other genetic mutations, this could allow the cell to grow abnormally. The loss of function for these genes may be even more significant in the development of human cancers, compared to the activation of oncogenes. TSGs can be grouped into the following categories: caretaker genes, gatekeeper genes, and more recently landscaper genes. Caretaker genes ensure stability of the genome via DNA repair and subsequently when mutated allow mutations to accumulate. Meanwhile, gatekeeper genes directly regulate cell growth by either inhibiting cell cycle progression or inducing apoptosis. Lastly landscaper genes regulate growth by contributing to the surrounding environment, when mutated can cause an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ki-67 (protein)
Antigen KI-67, also known as Ki-67, Ki-67 or MKI67 (Marker Of Proliferation Ki-67), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MKI67'' gene (antigen identified by monoclonal antibody Ki-67). Function Antigen KI-67 is a nuclear protein that is associated with cellular proliferation. Altering Ki-67 expression levels did not significantly affect cell proliferation in vivo. Ki-67 mutant mice developed normally and cells lacking Ki-67 proliferated efficiently. Furthermore, it is associated with ribosomal RNA transcription. Inactivation of antigen KI-67 leads to inhibition of ribosomal RNA synthesis. Use as a marker of proliferating cells The Ki-67 protein (also known as MKI67) is a cellular marker for proliferation, and can be used in immunohistochemistry. It is strictly associated with cell proliferation. During interphase, the Ki-67 antigen can be exclusively detected within the cell nucleus, whereas in mitosis most of the protein is relocated to the surface of the chr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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