Biología trófica de los juveniles del género Liza (Pisces : Mugilidae) en la laguna costera del Mar Menor (SE Península Ibérica)

En el presente trabajo se presentan datos sobre la alimentación de juveniles de tres especies de mugílidos presentes en la laguna costera del Mar Menor: Liza saliens (Risso, 1810), L. aurata (Risso, 1810) y L. ramado (Risso, 1810). La dieta fue omnívora para las tres especies, consumiendo una gran variedad de presas, tanto de origen animal como vegetal. Se encontraron diferencias interespecíficas en la composición de la misma, así como diferencias intraespecíficas en función de la campaña de muestreo. Además, se observaron cambios en la dieta en función de la talla de los ejemplares, situación probablemente relacionada con cambios ontogénicos en la dieta de las especies estudiadas.In this work data is presented concerning the food and feeding habits of three species of mullet juveniles that are present in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon: Liza saliens (Risso, 1810), L. aurata (Risso, 1810) and L. ramado (Risso, 1810). Diet of of the three species was omnivorous; they fed on numerous prey items, both animal and vegetal preys. Interspecific differences on diet composition were found, as well as intraspecific differences from sampling periods. Moreover, size-related differences in their feeding habits were found, suggesting the existence of ontogenic changes in the diet of the studied species

Xeroderma pigmentosum group D 751 polymorphism as a predictive factor in resected gastric cancer treated with chemo-radiotherapy

AIM: To evaluate the potential association of xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD) codon 751 variant with outcome after chemo-radiotherapy in patients with resected gastric cancer. METHODS: We used PCR-RFLP to evaluate the genetic XPD Lys751Gln polymorphisms in 44 patients with stage III (48%) and IV (20%) gastric cancer treated with surgery following radiation therapy plus 5-fluorouracil/ leucovorin based chemotherapy. RESULTS: Statistical analysis showed that 75% (12 of 16) of relapse patients showed Lys /Lys genotype more frequently (P = 0.042). The Lys polymorphism was an independent predictor of high-risk relapse-free survival from Cox analysis (HR: 3.07, 95% CI: 1.07-8.78, P = 0.036) and Kaplan-Meir test (P = 0.027, log-rank test). CONCLUSION: XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism may be an important marker in the prediction of clinical outcome to chemo-radiotherapy in resected gastric cancer patients

Expression profiles of adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma and associations with clinical responses to zidovudine and interferon alpha

Adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATLL) is an HTLV-1-associated lymphoproliferative malignancy that is frequently fatal. We compared gene expression profiles (GEPs) of leukemic specimens from nine patients with ATLL at the time of diagnosis and immediately after combination therapy with zidovudine (AZT) and interferon alpha (IFNalpha). GEPs were also related to genetic aberrations determined by comparative genomic hybridization. We identified several genes anomalously over-expressed in the ATLL leukemic cells at the mRNA level, including LYN, CSPG2, and LMO2, and confirmed LMO2 expression in ATLL cells at the protein level. In vivo AZT-IFNalpha therapy evoked a marked induction of interferon-induced genes accompanied by repression of cell-cycle regulated genes, including those encoding ribosomal proteins. Remarkably, patients not responding to AZT-IFNalpha differed most from responding patients in lower expression of these same IFN-responsive genes, as well as components of the antigen processing and presentation apparatus. Demonstration of specific gene expression signatures associated with response to AZT-IFNalpha therapy may provide novel insights into the mechanisms of action in ATLL

New symmetrical quinazoline derivatives selectively induce apoptosis in human cancer cells

In the search of new symmetrical derivatives with anticancer activity, we have looked for novel compounds able to induce a selective proapoptotic mechanism in cancer cells. The potential antitumoral activity of several quinazoline derivatives was evaluated in vitro examining their cytotoxic effects against human breast, colon and bladder cancer cell lines. The IC(50) value of the compounds that showed cytotoxic activity was calculated. These compounds were tested for their ability to induce caspase-3 activation and nuclear chromatin degradation. Non-tumoral human cell lines were used to test the selectivity of the cytotoxic compounds against cancer cells. Several compounds showed no cytotoxicity in these cell lines. Finally, JRF12 (2,4-dibenzylaminoquinazoline) was chosen as the best candidate and its mechanism of action was studied in more detail. A time dependent evaluation of apoptosis was performed in the three cancer cell lines, followed by an evaluation of the cell cycle regulation involvement that showed a decrease of cells in G(1) phase and increase of cells in G(2) phase before cell death. 2,4-dibenzylaminoquinazoline treatment produces few changes in the expression of genes as evaluated by using oligonucleotide microarrays and Q-RT-PCR assays. In conclusion, 2,4-dibenzylaminoquinazoline is a promising anticancer drug showing cytostatic and apoptotic effects mainly in a transcription independent manner

A gene signature of 8 genes could identify the risk of recurrence and progression in Dukes' B colon cancer patients

The benefit of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with Dukes' B colorectal cancer is still uncertain and its routine use is not recommended. The five-year relapse rate is approximately 25-40% and the identification of patients at high risk of recurrence would represent an important strategy for the use of adjuvant chemotherapy. We retrospectively analyzed gene expression profiles in frozen tumor specimens from patients with Dukes' B colorectal cancer by using high density oligonucleotide microarrays. Our results show a subset of 48 genes differentially expressed with an associated probability <0.001 in the t-test. Another statistical procedure based on the Fisher criterion resulted in 11 genes able to separate both groups. We selected the 8 genes present in both subsets. The differential expression of five genes (CHD2, RPS5, ZNF148, BRI3 and MGC23401) in colon cancer progression was confirmed by real-time PCR in an independent set of patients of Dukes' B and C stages

Estado de condición de los juveniles de Gobius cobitis (Pallas, 1811) en la laguna costera del Mar Menos (SE Península Ibérica): efectos de la competencia inter- e intraespecífica en peces

We investigated the relationships, at a local level, between fish condition and environmental variables in Gobius cobitis juveniles. The relationships between 14 ecological variables of shallow areas of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (water temperature, water salinity, depth, submerged vegetation richness, submerged vegetation cover, submerged vegetation volume, substrate size, substrate heterogeneity, fish species richness, potential competitor fish species abundance and biomass, G. cobitis abundance and biomass, G. cobitis biomass/abundance ratio) and fish condition were analysed. The mass-length relationship of juveniles was used to test differences in fish condition between 12 sampling sites. The ecological variables that accounted for most of the variation in fish condition were related to both inter- and intraspecific fish competition.Se investigaron las relaciones, a nivel de localidad, entre el estado de condición de los juveniles de Gobius cobitis y las variables del hábitat. Fueron analizadas las relaciones entre 14 variables del habitat de las zonas someras de la laguna costera del Mar Menor (temperatura del agua, salinidad, profundidad, riqueza de especies de vegetación subacuática, cobertura de la vegetación subacuática, volumen de la vegetación subacuática, granulometría del sustrato, heterogeneidad del sustrato, riqueza de especies de peces, abundancia y biomasa de especies potencialmente competidoras, abundancia y biomasa de G. cobitis, relación biomasa/abundancia de G. cobitis) y el estado de condición de los peces. Las relaciones peso-longitud de los juveniles fueron utilizadas para testar las diferencias en el estado de condición de los peces entre las 12 localidades de muestreo. Las variables del habitat que explicaron la mayor variación en la condición fueron variables relacionadas con la competencia inter- e intraespecífica en peces.

Environmental variables, habitat discontinuity and life history shaping the genetic structure of Pomatoschistus marmoratus

Coastal lagoons are semi-isolated ecosystems exposed to wide fluctuations of environmental conditions and showing habitat fragmentation. These features may play an important role in separating species into different populations, even at small spatial scales. In this study, we evaluate the concordance between mitochondrial (previous published data) and nuclear data analyzing the genetic variability of Pomatoschistus marmoratus in five localities, inside and outside the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (SE Spain) using eight microsatellites. High genetic diversity and similar levels of allele richness were observed across all loci and localities, although significant genic and genotypic differentiation was found between populations inside and outside the lagoon. In contrast to the FST values obtained from previous mitochondrial DNA analyses (control region), the microsatellite data exhibited significant differentiation among samples inside the Mar Menor and between lagoonal and marine samples. This pattern was corroborated using Cavalli-Sforza genetic distances. The habitat fragmentation inside the coastal lagoon and among lagoon and marine localities could be acting as a barrier to gene flow and contributing to the observed genetic structure. Our results from generalized additive models point a significant link between extreme lagoonal environmental conditions (mainly maximum salinity) and P. marmoratus genetic composition. Thereby, these environmental features could be also acting on genetic structure of coastal lagoon populations of P. marmoratus favoring their genetic divergence. The mating strategy of P. marmoratus could be also influencing our results obtained from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Therefore, a special consideration must be done in the selection of the DNA markers depending on the reproductive strategy of the species

Identification by Real-time PCR of 13 mature microRNAs differentially expressed in colorectal cancer and non-tumoral tissues

PURPOSE: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) heterogeneity has prompted investigations for new biomarkers that can accurately predict survival. A previously reported 6-gene model combined with the International Prognostic Index (IPI) could predict patients' outcome. However, even these predictors are not capable of unambiguously identifying outcome, suggesting that additional biomarkers might improve their predictive power. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We studied expression of 11 microRNAs (miRNA) that had previously been reported to have variable expression in DLBCL tumors. We measured the expression of each miRNA by quantitative real-time PCR analyses in 176 samples from uniformly treated DLBCL patients and correlated the results to survival. RESULTS: In a univariate analysis, the expression of miR-18a correlated with overall survival (OS), whereas the expression of miR-181a and miR-222 correlated with progression-free survival (PFS). A multivariate Cox regression analysis including the IPI, the 6-gene model-derived mortality predictor score and expression of the miR-18a, miR-181a, and miR-222, revealed that all variables were independent predictors of survival except the expression of miR-222 for OS and the expression of miR-18a for PFS. CONCLUSION: The expression of specific miRNAs may be useful for DLBCL survival prediction and their role in the pathogenesis of this disease should be examined further

Reversible inhibitor of p97, DBeQ, impairs both ubiquitin-dependent and autophagic protein clearance pathways

A specific small-molecule inhibitor of p97 would provide an important tool to investigate diverse functions of this essential ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities (AAA) ATPase and to evaluate its potential to be a therapeutic target in human disease. We carried out a high-throughput screen to identify inhibitors of p97 ATPase activity. Dual-reporter cell lines that simultaneously express p97-dependent and p97-independent proteasome substrates were used to stratify inhibitors that emerged from the screen. N^2,N^4-dibenzylquinazoline-2,4-diamine (DBeQ) was identified as a selective, potent, reversible, and ATP-competitive p97 inhibitor. DBeQ blocks multiple processes that have been shown by RNAi to depend on p97, including degradation of ubiquitin fusion degradation and endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation pathway reporters, as well as autophagosome maturation. DBeQ also potently inhibits cancer cell growth and is more rapid than a proteasome inhibitor at mobilizing the executioner caspases-3 and -7. Our results provide a rationale for targeting p97 in cancer therapy

Biología poblacional y asociaciones con el hábitat de las especies de peces bentónicas en las áreas someras de una laguna costera mediterránea (SE Península Ibérica)

The present study investigates the seasonal variation in fish abundance, fish biomass, reproductive status and population structure of four dominant benthic fish species, Salaria pavo, Pomatoschistus marmoratus, Gobius cobitis and Gobius niger, in the shallow and littoral areas of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon. In addition, the seasonal habitat associations of each species were studied by assessing environmental variables related to the habitat structure: submerged vegetation cover, submerged vegetation density, water depth and substrate composition. The temporal variations in fish density, standing stock and size frequency distributions of these species can largely be attributed to the seasonality of their breeding and juvenile recruitment periods. Moreover, habitat associations for these species were similar to those obtained in other Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal lagoons.En el presente estudio se investigaron las variaciones estacionales de la abundancia, la biomasa, status reproductor y la estructura de la población de cuatro especies de peces bentónicos dominantes, Salaria pavo, Pomatoschistus marmoratus, Gobius cobitis y Gobius niger, en las zonas someras y litorales de la laguna costera del Mar Menor. Además, se estudiaron las asociaciones con las variables del hábitat: cobertura y densidad de la vegetación subacuática, profundidad y tipo de sustrato, para cada una de las especies y en cada estación del año. Las variaciones estacionales en la abundancia, la biomasa y la estructura por tallas de estas especies pueden ser atribuidas a sus periodos de reproducción y el reclutamiento de juveniles. Las asociaciones con las variables del hábitat para todas las especies fueron similares a las encontradas en otras lagunas costeras Mediterráneas y Atlánticas