Faculty Opinions recommendation of Genetic heterogeneity within collective invasion packs drives leader and follower cell phenotypes.

During the almost 50 years since Streptococcus mutans was first suggested as a factor in the etiology of dental caries, a multitude of studies have confirmed the cariogenic potential of this organism. Streptococci have been isolated from human and animal caries on numerous occasions and, with few exceptions, they are not typable by the Lancefield technique but are relatively homogeneous in their biochemical reactions. An analysis of the guanine-cytosine (G-C) composition of the DNA from strains K-1-R, NCTC 10449, and FA-1 by one of us (ALC) revealed significant differences and DNA-DNA reassociation experiments indicated that genetic heterogeneity existed among the three strains. The present electron microscopic study had as its objective the elucidation of any distinguishing morphological characteristics which might further characterize the respective strains.

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A high proportion of T cells in the adult human liver express natural killer (NK) cell phenotypes and exhibit NK function

Immunology Letters ◽

10.1016/s0165-2478(97)87233-1 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 56 (1-3) ◽

pp. 100

Author(s):

D Doherty

Keyword(s):

T Cells ◽

Natural Killer ◽

Human Liver ◽

Nk Cell ◽

Adult Human ◽

Cell Phenotypes

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THE DYNACTOME: INVESTIGATING DYNAMIC KINASE NETWORKS IN CELLULAR DECISION-MAKING

Clinical & Investigative Medicine ◽

10.25011/cim.v31i4.4827 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 22

Author(s):

Jonathan So ◽

Kelly Elder ◽

Anna Dai ◽

Claus Jorgensen ◽

Rune Linding ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spectrometric Analysis ◽

Phosphorylation Sites ◽

Complex Samples ◽

Downstream Signaling ◽

Through Flow ◽

Colorectal Cancer Cells ◽

Induced Apoptosis ◽

Cell Phenotypes ◽

Kinase Phosphorylation ◽

Kinase Expression

Networks of kinases play a role in the transmission and integration of signals from the membrane to the nucleus. We aim to elucidate kinase phosphorylation and interaction partners in these networks through the immuno-precipitation and mass spectrometric analysis of a representative set of 100 Flag-tagged kinases stably expressed in human colorectal cancer cells. The goal is to generate a comprehensive set of interactions and dynamic phosphorylation sites which correlate with cell phenotypes such as apoptosis and proliferation. The techniques of mass-spectrometry have allowed for the identification of proteins and their phosphorylation sites in complex samples. Various labeling methods such as iTRAQ has enabled the relative quantification of these sites as afunction of time (White et al. PNAS, 2007). However, kinases usually work in the context of particular signaling stimuli. We aim to characterize the role of these over-expressed kinases in the context of Trail-induced apoptosis. This isparticularly relevant to tumorigenesis in that many cancers are resistant to apoptosis and recombinant Trail therapies are currently undergoing clinical trials. We present assays to correlate the proliferative ability and sensitivity to apoptosis of various stable cell lines with kinase expression levels through flow cytometry. We also present efforts to trace downstream signaling through the monitoring of MAP kinase phosphorylation using a high-throughput bead array.

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