Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

About: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is a nonprofit organization based out in Cape Town, South Africa. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 12322 authors who have published 30954 publications receiving 2288772 citations. The organization is also known as: Fred Hutch & The Hutch.

Evidence for Cardiomyocyte Repopulation by Extracardiac Progenitors in Transplanted Human Hearts

Abstract: Human myocardium has long been considered to have essentially no intrinsic regenerative capacity. Recent studies in rodent models, however, have suggested the presence of an extracardiac stem cell population, perhaps in bone marrow, that is capable of some reconstitution of cardiomyocytes after injury. To determine whether similar mechanisms exist in the human heart, we evaluated human female allograft hearts transplanted into male patients. The presence of Y chromosomes in cardiomyocytes would indicate these cells arose from the recipient, rather than the donor heart. We identified 5 male patients who had retained a female heart at least 9 months before death and necropsy. Remarkably, in each case, the transplanted heart contained a minute but readily detectable fraction of Y chromosome-positive cardiomyocytes. The mean percentage of cardiomyocytes arising from the host was estimated to be 0.04% with a median of 0.016%. Most Y-positive cardiomyocytes were associated with regions of acute rejection, sugge...

Dietary flavonoids and cancer risk: evidence from human population studies.

Abstract: High dietary intake of fruits and vegetables is consistently associated with a reduced risk of common human cancers, including cancers of the lung, breast, prostate, and colon. It is unknown which bioactive compound or compounds in plant foods provide the chemoprotective effects. One class of compounds currently under investigation is flavonoids, a large group of compounds with similar structure, consisting of two phenolic benzene rings linked to a heterocyclic pyran or pyrone. Although there are numerous in vitro and animal model data suggesting that flavonoids influence important cellular and molecular mechanisms related to carcinogenesis, such as cell cycle control and apoptosis, there are limited data from human population studies. This article reviews data from four cohort studies and six case-control studies, which have examined associations of flavonoid intake with cancer risk. There is consistent evidence from these studies that flavonoids, especially quercetin, may reduce the risk of lung cancer. Further research using new dietary databases for food flavonoid content is needed to confirm these findings before specific public health recommendations about flavonoids can be formulated.

The killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genomic region: gene-order, haplotypes and allelic polymorphism.

Abstract: Recent genetic studies have established that the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genomic region displays extensive diversity through variation in gene content and allelic polymorphism within individual KIR genes. It is demonstrated by family segregation analysis, genomic sequencing, and gene order determination that genomic diversity by gene content alone gives rise to more than 20 different KIR haplotypes and at least 40-50 KIR genotypes. In the most reductionist format, KIR haplotypes can be accommodated within one of 10 different prototypes, each with multiple permutations. Our haplotype model considers the KIR haplotype as two separate halves: the centromeric half bordered upstream by KIR3DL3 and downstream by 2DL4, and the telomeric half bordered upstream by 2DL4 and downstream by 3DL2. There are rare KIR haplotypes that do not fit into this model. Recombination, gene duplication, and inversion can however, readily explain these haplotypes. Additional allelic polymorphism imposes extensive individual variability. Accordingly, this segment of the human genome displays a level of diversity similar to the one observed for the human major histocompatibility complex. Recent application of immunogenetic analysis of KIR genes in patient populations implicates these genes as important genetic disease susceptibility factors.