HOXB9 Promotes the Acquisition of Tumorigenic Phenotypes in Mammary Epithelial Cells

Background:The class I HOX gene family consists of 39 members with a shared highly conserved 61-amino acid homeodomain motif. HOX genes are important regulators of developmental processes, and their role in neoplastic transformation and tumor progression is increasingly recognized (Abate-Shen et al., Nat Rev Cancer, 2002; Cantile et al., Eur J Cancer, 2003). However, the molecular mechanisms by which HOX proteins promote tumorigenesis is not well understood. We recently, observed that HOXB9, a 9th HOX gene paralogue involved in mouse mammay gland development, is deregulated in breast cancer and enhanced expression correlated with high tumor grade. A role for elevated HoxB9 expression in breast tumor progression is demontrated by its ability to activate the ErbB and TGF-B pathways which influence tumor-associated phenotypes in cells.Methods and results:Overexpression of HOXB9 was found in 43% of primary breast cancer by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization (Figure 1A) and correlated with high tumor grade. Ectopic expression of HOXB9 in MCF10A mammary epithelial cells induced EMT, cell migration, invasion (Figure 1B, and 1C). It also increased the expression of angiogenic factors, which enhance the formation of new vessels in mouse dorsal air sac model. Conversely, genetic ablation of endogenous HOXB9 in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells suppresses their motility and angiogenic potential. Further, we confirmed that HOXB9-induced tumor phenotypes arise through the activation of both ErbB-AKT and TGFß signaling pathways. Finally, in mouse xenograft model, we observed that HOXB9 cooperates with activated H-Ras to transform mammary epithelial cells leading to large, vascularized and invasive tumors (Figure 2).Discussion:Our findings imply that overexpression of HOXB9 in human breast cancer contributes to tumor progression through activation of signaling pathways that alter both tumor-specific cell fates and tumor-stromal microenvironment, leading to increased invasion and metastasis. It is suggested that combined suppression of ErbB and TGFß signaling pathways to target breast cancers overexpressing HOXB9 may be effective in tumor inhibition.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 6145.

Accurate dose assessment system for an exposed person utilising radiation transport calculation codes in emergency response to a radiological accident

A system has been developed to assess radiation dose distribution inside the body of exposed persons in a radiological accident by utilising radiation transport calculation codes-MCNP and MCNPX. The system consists mainly of two parts, pre-processor and post-processor of the radiation transport calculation. Programs for the pre-processor are used to set up a 'problem-dependent' input file, which defines the accident condition and dosimetric quantities to be estimated. The program developed for the post-processor part can effectively indicate dose information based upon the output file of the code. All of the programs in the dosimetry system can be executed with a generally used personal computer and accurately give the dose profile to an exposed person in a radiological accident without complicated procedures. An experiment using a physical phantom was carried out to verify the availability of the dosimetry system with the developed programs in a gamma ray irradiation field.

A new method for denture identification

Three denture marking methods were performed on specimen plates which were prepared using a heat-cured acrylic resin. The first method (LA) was to place a label into a suitable space on the specimen, and then cover it with autopolymerizing acrylic resin. The second method (DA) was to print the mark directly on the specimen, and then cover it with autopolymerizing acrylic resin. The third method (DB) was to print the mark directly on the specimen, and then cover it with bonding resin. To investigate the durability of these methods, specimens were immersed in NaOCl, denture cleanser, and coffee. Photographs of the specimens were taken and RGB values were measured. Differences in durability were analyzed by Friedman test. The RGB values were significantly different between LA and DB, but those of DA changed little. The results made it clear that DA was a more durable denture marking method than LA--which is a method generally used.

Numerical system utilising a Monte Carlo calculation method for accurate dose assessment in radiation accidents

A system utilising radiation transport codes has been developed to derive accurate dose distributions in a human body for radiological accidents. A suitable model is quite essential for a numerical analysis. Therefore, two tools were developed to setup a 'problem-dependent' input file, defining a radiation source and an exposed person to simulate the radiation transport in an accident with the Monte Carlo calculation codes-MCNP and MCNPX. Necessary resources are defined by a dialogue method with a generally used personal computer for both the tools. The tools prepare human body and source models described in the input file format of the employed Monte Carlo codes. The tools were validated for dose assessment in comparison with a past criticality accident and a hypothesized exposure.

The Usefulness of an Oral Moisture Checking Device (Moisture Checker for Mucus)

PURPOSE

An oral moisture checking device is easy to use for the examination of oral dryness during clinical procedures. This study examined the usefulness of an oral moisture checking device.

METHODS

The subjects in the examination of factors that influence the measured value of the oral moisture checking device were 16 sound adults (mean age 27.5). The subjects in the examination of measuring the moisture of sound adults were 32 adults (mean age 24.4). In the factors that influence the measured value of the device, the measuring pressure was examined by comparing the measured value with a trial stopper and without the stopper. The factor of sensor cover was examined by comparing the measured value before and after changing the sensor cover. The factor of device was examined by comparing the measured value using the two devices. The moisture of sound adults was measured at the lingual mucosa and buccal mucosa.

RESULTS

The measured value with a trial stopper was lower by 0.2-0.3% than that without the stopper. The measured value differed before and after changing the sensor cover by 0.5-0.8%. The measured value was not different among devices. The mean value of the moisture of sound adults was 30.6+/-0.3% at the lingual mucosa, and 30.9+/-0.3% at the buccal mucosa.

CONCLUSIONS

The measurement errors of the oral moisture checking device were within 1% under the condition of proper measuring pressure. Additionally, the moisture of sound adults converged toward definite values. The results of this study suggested that the oral moisture checking device is useful for the examination of xerostomia.

[Fragments of information of Naoe Okamoto - the life of one of Japan's first female pharmacists.]

It has generally been believed that Naoe Okamoto of Fukui Prefecture, who was licensed to open a pharmacy in December 1885, was Japan's first female pharmacist. However, there has been no way to confirm this because the pharmacists' registry held by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. This paper describes a hazy picture of her life, which we traced based on fragments of information from the Tokyo University Pharmacy and Life Science (TUPLS), pharmaceutical journals of her time, and two residents of Fukui City who met her when they were children. Naoe Okamoto was born in Asuwakamicho, Fukui City, in 1870, as the eldest daughter of a druggist operating since the Edo Era. Born in a socially and economically privileged family, Naoe went to Tokyo and entered Tokyo Pharmacists School (currently TUPLS) in 1883 or 1884. After two-years' study, she passed the pharmacist certification examination held by the Tokyo Prefecture Government in the autumn of 1885 and received a license to open a pharmacy from the Minister of Internal Affairs. In 1886 or 1887, she overtook the family business and married a doctor. She got divorced shortly thereafter, but continued to manage the family business although she had a younger brother. She died in 1941 at the age of 71. Her house and all articles left by her were burned to ashes after an air raid by the US Army Air Corps in July 1945 during the Second World War. Naoe left her small native city in Fukui Prefecture to study pharmacy in the capital at the beginning of the Meiji Era, when it was extremely difficult for women to pursue a professional career. She obtained the license to operate a pharmacy and pursued her career as a pharmacist through the Meiji, Taisho and Showa Eras. Her life offers great courage and lessons to today's 139,000 female pharmacists in Japan. Naoe Okamoto should be remembered as a pioneer of female pharmacists at this turning point when the 6-year pharmacy education system is about to start.

Structure of a cDNA for Ciona Cytochrome b(5) and the ubiquitous expression of mRNA in embryonic tissues

A cDNA clone for cytochrome b(5) was isolated from a cDNA library of an ascidian, Ciona savignyi, by a plaque hybridization method using a digoxigenin-labeled cDNA for the soluble form of human cytochrome b(5). The cDNA is composed of 5'- and 3'-noncoding sequences, and a 396-base pair coding sequence. The 3'-noncoding sequence contains polyadenylation signal sequences. The amino acid sequence of 132 residues deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA showed 61% identity and 82% similarity to the cytochrome b(5) of another ascidian species, Polyandrocarpa misakiensis, which we previously cloned. The amino-terminal hydrophilic domain of 98 residues contains well-conserved structures around two histidine residues for heme binding. A cDNA expression system was constructed to prepare a putative soluble form of Ciona cytochrome b(5). The recombinant soluble cytochrome b(5) showed an asymmetrical absorption spectrum at 560 nm as is shown by mammalian cytochromes b(5) upon reduction with NADH and NADH-cytochrome b(5) reductase. The recombinant Ciona cytochrome b(5) is reduced by NADH-cytochrome b(5) reductase with an apparent K(m) value of 3.3 microM. This value is similar to that of the cytochrome b(5) of Polyandrocarpa misakiensis. The expression of Ciona cytochrome b(5) mRNA during development was examined by an in situ hybridization method and ubiquitous expression in embryonic tissues was observed. The results indicate that cytochrome b(5) plays important roles in various metabolic processes during development.

[RNA-interference, induced by transient and continuous expression of hairpin RNA in cells from Drosophila and mammals]

RNA interference (RNAi) may be induced by a plasmid with an inverted repeat (IR) sequence directing transcription of hairpin-type double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This study examines the effects of changing various parameters of IR constructs on Drosophila and mammalian RNAi, using the dual luciferase system, RNAi activity was found to vary depending on IR length ass well as the length and sequence of the internal loop separating sense and antisense sequences. Both transient and stable RNAi occurred in Drosophila cultured cells. Although transient DNA-mediated RNAi was noted in most mammalian cells, no mammalian cells stably possessing IR sequences and hence RNAi activity could be obtained. In Drosophila, DNA-mediated RNAi was considerably weaker than long-dsRNA-mediated RNAi. The cytological data indicated that this was most probably caused by abortive processing of hairpin RNA produced within cells. DNA-mediated RNAi was examined at the level of Drosophila individuals using extramacrochaetae as a model gene, and the presence of an intron sequence in the single-stranded loop region was shown to be essential for effective RNAi.

Analyses of absorbed dose to tooth enamel against external photon exposure

Absorbed dose to tooth enamel was examined against external photon exposure by measurements with thermoluminescence dosemeters (TLDs) and Monte Carlo calculations. TLDs were placed in a realistic physical phantom to measure dose to the teeth region in a head. A voxel-type phantom was constructed from computed tomography (CT) images of the physical phantom. Monte Carlo calculations with this voxel-type phantom were performed to analyse the results of the experiments. The data obtained were compared to the enamel doses, which were calculated with a modified MIRD-type phantom and already given in a previous paper. It was confirmed that the data derived with the MIRD-type phantom are applicable for retrospective individual dose assessments by electron spin resonance (ESR) dosimetry using teeth for the photon energy region above 300 keV. The analysis, however, indicated that the configuration of the head can affect the enamel dose relative to external exposure to photons with energy below 100 keV.

Dose assessment from activated sodium within a body in criticality accidents

Some data were derived using recent sophisticated methods to rapidly convert specific activity of induced 24Na to average dose over a whole body in criticality accidents. Monte Carlo calculations using the MCNP-4B code were performed to study energy spectra of neutrons and gamma rays for some criticality systems with fissile uranium. Absorbed dose to the human body and the activation of sodium were also analysed against external radiation by simulations using a MIRD-5 type phantom and the calculated energy spectra. It was found that the neutron dose assessment from induced 24Na would be important to give medical staff initial guidance for treatment of a victim. However, the energy distribution of incident neutrons to the human body did not significantly influence the conversion from the specific activity of 24Na to dose from gamma rays induced within a body. Analyses were made to clarify the dependence of conversion from 24Na specific activity to neutron dose on the orientation toward the source and the size of the human body. The total dose estimated based upon the obtained data ranged from 33 mGy to 514 mGy for a given specific activity of 1.4 kBq 24Na per g 23Na for some criticality assemblies. This study suggested that the size of uranium solution and material around the fuel should be defined to properly estimate the total dose, including the dose from external photons.

[Acceptance of van Swieten's liquor in Japan]

Carl Peter Thunberg, a Swedish medical doctor and botanist who visited Japan in 1775 as a medical doctor attached to the Dutch Trade House in Dejima, Nagasaki, taught the treatment of syphilis using mercury water to Japanese doctors and interpreters. This therapy is based on the oral administration of a 0.014% solution of mercuric chloride and was published in 1754 by Gerard van Swieten in Vienna, who questioned the utility of the conventional salivation therapy. The dose was set taking safety into account. Kogyu Yoshio, a Japanese-Dutch interpreter, had already read about it in a book written by J. J. Plenck, when he was taught about the therapy by Thunberg. He recorded Thunberg's teachings in his book "Komohijiki", presenting details of various formulations, including a high-dose formulation. The mercury therapy was subsequently spread across the country by medical doctors who learned Western medicine through the Dutch. In the 1820's, Genshin Udagawa, who read a number of Western medical books, published books on Western drugs. In these books, G. Udagawa included precise information on "Swieten Yakushu-hu (medicated alcohol)", including information on the dosage, formulation, mode of usage, and precautions for use. The maximum dose of mercuric chloride established chloride established by van Swieten was included in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia up to its 5th edition.