St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

About: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Virus. The organization has 9344 authors who have published 19233 publications receiving 1233399 citations. The organization is also known as: St. Jude Children's Hospital & St. Jude Hospital.

Lack of IL-4-induced Th2 response and IgE class switching in mice with disrupted Stat6 gene.

Abstract: Signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stats) are activated by tyrosine phosphorylation in response to cytokines, and are thought to mediate many of their functional responses. Stat6 is activated in response to interleukin (IL)-4 and may contribute to various functions including mitogenesis, T-helper cell differentiation and immunoglobulin isotype switching. To evaluate the role of Stat6, we generated Stat6-null mice (Stat6 -/-) by gene disruption in embryonic stem cells. The mice were viable, indicating the lack of a non-redundant function in normal development. Although naive lymphoid cell development was normal, Stat6 -/- mice were deficient in IL-4-mediated functions including Th2 helper T-cell differentiation, expression of cell surface markers, and immunoglobulin class switching to IgE. In contrast, IL-4-mediated proliferation was only partly affected.

The tor pathway: a target for cancer therapy

Abstract: Rapamycin, a macrocyclic lactone, is a highly specific inhibitor of the serine/threonine protein kinase target of rapamycin (TOR). Although it is clear that TOR controls initiation of protein translation, recent results indicate that TOR is a central controller, integrating a plethora of signalling pathways that respond to growth factors and nutritional status. In addition to the role of rapamycin as an immune suppressant, emerging data indicate that genetic and metabolic changes accompanying malignant transformation might cause hypersensitivity to TOR inhibition.