University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

About: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Pregnancy. The organization has 14634 authors who have published 19610 publications receiving 1041794 citations.

The CD44 receptor interacts with P-glycoprotein to promote cell migration and invasion in cancer.

Abstract: Invasion and metastases of cancer cells and the development of resistance to anticancer therapies are the main causes of morbidity and mortality from cancer. For more than two decades, these two important but not clearly related aspects in the biology of cancer have been extensively studied. Specifically, P-glycoprotein and CD44 have been characterized and are known to be determinants of multidrug resistance (MDR) and metastases. Despite this body of knowledge, few reports have linked the two phenotypes and only recently have there been reasons to suspect a direct connection. In this report, we show that a novel physical and genetic interaction between CD44s and P-glycoprotein is in part responsible for the correlation between MDR and invasive potential in cancer cells. P-glycoprotein-specific substrates that interfere with its function reduced in vitro invasion, migration, and the physical colocalization of CD44s and P-glycoprotein. CD44 expression in sensitive cells promoted the expression of P-glycoprotein and the MDR phenotype. RNA interference of MDR1 inhibited the rate of cell migration. These data indicate that there is a close interaction between CD44 and P-glycoprotein that results in the concurrent expression and modulation of two malignant phenotypes, invasion and MDR.

Skin score: A semiquantitative measure of cutaneous involvement that improves prediction of prognosis in systemic sclerosis

Abstract: Cutaneous sclerosis, assessed yearly by a semiquantitative skin scoring technique (sum of 10 body areas, each scored on a scale of 0-3 for tethering, by clinical palpation), and outcome at 10 years were evaluated in 90 systemic sclerosis patients enrolled in a 3-year, prospective drug trial. The inverse relationship of survival to the skin score at study entry (increasing skin score associated with decreasing survival) (P less than 0.003) was more significant than was the relationship found by using classification schemata that rely only on distribution of cutaneous sclerosis. Six-year survival was 40% in patients with entry skin scores greater than or equal to 15 and 73% when skin scores were less than 15 (P less than 0.005). An entry skin score greater than or equal to 15 was associated with a high risk of early fatal renal and cardiac complications.

Shortened telomere length in white blood cells of patients with IDDM.

Abstract: IDDM is a polygenic and autoimmune disorder in which subsets of white blood cells (WBCs) are engaged in the destruction of beta-cells of the pancreas. The mechanisms that account for the abnormal behavior of these cells in IDDM are not fully understood. By measuring the mean length of telomeres of WBCs from patients with IDDM, we tested the concept that telomeres might play a role in IDDM. We examined the lengths of the terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) of DNA of WBCs from 234 white men comprising 54 patients with IDDM, 74 patients with NIDDM, and 106 control subjects. When adjusted for age, the TRF length from WBCs of patients with IDDM was significantly shorter than that of nondiabetic control subjects (mean +/- SE: 8.6 +/- 0.1 vs. 9.2 +/- 0.1, P = 0.002). No significant difference was observed between the TRF length from WBCs of patients with NIDDM versus nondiabetic subjects. Neither the duration nor the complications of IDDM (i.e., nephropathy and hypertension) had an effect on the TRF length of WBCs from patients with IDDM. The shortened TRF length of WBCs of patients with IDDM likely reflects a marked reduction in the TRF length of subsets of WBCs that play a role in the pathogenesis of IDDM.

Reversed polarity of Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase: mislocation to apical plasma membranes in polycystic kidney disease epithelia.

Abstract: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a genetic disorder in which renal tubules become enormously enlarged due to fluid accumulation. Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase was compared in normal and cystic regions of whole kidneys and in confluent primary cultures of microdissected renal tubule and cyst-lining epithelia. Immunostaining with antibodies directed against the Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase catalytic alpha-subunit was confined to apical, luminal plasma membranes of ADPKD epithelia, which was a complete reversal of the normal renal tubule polarized location in basolateral membranes. Mislocated Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase was shown to be functionally active, because identical intense apical staining was observed by use of a cytochemical assay. In addition, biochemical assays showed a significant increase in these ouabain-inhibitable Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase specific activity levels in ADPKD kidneys compared with age-matched normal kidneys. Specific binding of [3H] ouabain was not only increased but also confined to the apical membrane vesicles prepared from cystic regions of ADPKD kidneys compared with normal age-matched controls, in which binding was confined to basolateral membrane vesicles. Although steady-state levels of Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase alpha- and beta-subunit in mRNAs were increased somewhat in ADPKD kidneys, this alone was not sufficient to account for the observed activation. Confluent ADPKD epithelia grown on dual-chamber, permeable membrane supports also showed reversed polarity of 22NaCl vectorial transport, because this was from basal to apical media compartments. Because this transport could also be blocked by ouabain, this suggested apical Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase was responsible and implicated altered polarity of Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase and resultant Na+ secretion as a mechanism for cyst formation in ADPKD. Because no reversal of polarity of other basolateral or apical membrane proteins was detected, an intracellular sorting defect specific for Na(+) -K(+) -ATPase is proposed.