No abstract

activated species.3 It is well known that fixed, postmitotic Mitochondrial damage may be a major cause of cellucells accumulate different age pigments, especially lipofuscin. lar aging. So far, this hypothesis had only been tested A considerable amount of this pigment may derive from inusing isolated mitochondria. The aim of this study was jured mitochondria. 4 This led us to propose a hypothesis 5 of to investigate the involvement of mitochondria in aging cell aging, according to which senescence is a by-product of using whole liver cells and not isolated mitochondria oxy-radical attack to the mitochondrial genome. only. Using flow cytometry, we found that age is associRecently, several studies have shown changes in mitochonated with a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potendria on aging. Age-related changes in mitochondrial respiratial (30%), an increase in mitochondrial size, and an intory function and in mitochondrial transport systems have crease in mitochondrial peroxide generation (23%).been reported. [6][7][8] All these changes were found in experiments Intracellular peroxide levels were also increased. The using isolated mitochondria. However, these effects could be number of mitochondria per cell and inner mitochoncaused by altered susceptibility of old mitochondria to the drial membrane mass did not change. Gluconeogenesis stress caused by the isolation procedure. Moreover, because from glycerol or fructose (mitochondrial-independent) intact cells were not used, the mitochondrial-cytosolic interdid not change with age, whereas it did from lactate actions were also ignored. This may lead to errors. The iso-(mitochondrial-dependent). The change in the rate of lated hepatocyte is an excellent model for aging studies. 9 This gluconeogenesis was not accompanied by changes in is especially useful when attempting to study aging at the any of the following parameters: phosphoenolpyruvate cellular level, using whole cells. carboxykinase or pyruvate carboxylase activities or miTo our knowledge, no attempts have been made to correlate tochondrial ATP/ADP or cytosolic NADH/NAD / ratios. age-associated changes in physiological functions of intact This was caused by a decreased rate of malate export cells with specific biochemical or molecular changes in mito-(to 20% of the controls) from mitochondria. The impairchondria. The aim of this study was to test whether mitochonment of the mitochondrial malate transporter is postdrial performance is impaired with aging, using intact liver transcriptional because its expression in Xenopus oocells. To this end, we have measured the rate of biochemical cytes using polyadenylated RNA from livers of young or pathways, gluconeogenesis, and ketogenesis, which critically old animals did not change. Ketogenesis from oleate also depend on mitochondrial function. In addition, we have used fell in hepatocytes from old rats. Our results show, for flow cytometry, which allows a noninvasive analysis of indithe first time in intact cells, a correlation between agevidual cells, to study ...

SUMMARY:The EWS-ETS rearrangements, and their respective fusion gene products, are specifically associated with histopathologically Ewing family tumors (EFT). These translocations are implicated in generating malignant transformation of EFT, but the presence of additional genetic alterations must be considered in the pathogenesis of such tumors. We analyzed 26 samples (biopsies and/or nude mice xenotransplants) collected from 19 patients with an EFT to determine whether molecular and cytogenetic alterations of the G 1 /S checkpoint genes are implicated in the pathogenesis of EFT. We found inactivating p53 mutations in three (16%) cases, which correlated with a loss of p21 WAF1/Cip1 expression and with a monosomy of chromosome 17 in two cases. Homozygous deletion of the p16 INK4A /p14 ARF gene was detected in four (21%) cases, three with codeletion of the p15 INK4B gene and with chromosome 9 abnormalities. In all of these cases, expression of the implicated genes was absent. Hypermethylation of the p16 INK4A and p15 INK4B genes was detected in two (10%) and three (16%) cases, respectively, and was correlated with a low level of gene expression. Neither cyclin D1, nor MDM2 and CDK4 amplification was observed. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with tumors carrying homozygous deletion of the 9p21 locus, or point mutations of the p53 gene, had poorer outcomes than those without these molecular alterations (p ϭ 0.005). In conclusion, 58% (11 of 19) of the analyzed patients showed genetic or epigenetic alterations in either the 9p21 locus or p53 tumor suppressor genes, defining a subgroup of patients with poor clinical outcome. This fact points to an important role of the G 1 /S cell cycle checkpoint dysregulation in the pathogenesis of EFT. (Lab Invest 2001, 81:803-814).

AIDS patients who receive zidovudine (AZT) frequently suffer from myopathy. This has been attributed to mitochondrial (mt) damage, and specifically to the loss of mtDNA. This study examines whether AZT causes oxidative damage to DNA in patients and to skeletal muscle mitochondria in mice, and whether this damage may be pre-

No abstract

More than 90% of all Ewing's Sarcoma Family of Tumors (ESFT) exhibit specific chromosomal rearrangements between the EWS gene on chromosome 22 and various members of the ETS gene family of transcription factors. The gene fusion type and other secondary genetic alterations, mainly involving cell cycle regulators, have been shown to be of prognostic relevance in ESFT. However, no conclusive results have been reported. We analyzed the clinicopathological significance of relevant cell cycle regulators in genetically confirmed ESFT. A total of 324 cases were analyzed for the immunohistochemical expression of p53, p21 Waf1/Cip1 , p27 Kip1 and Ki67 and the chromosomal alterations of the p53 and 9p21 locus by fluorescent in situ hybridization. We observed that expression of p53 (p 5 0.025), p21 Waf1/Cip1 (p 5 0.015) and p27 Kip1 (p 5 0.013) was higher in disseminated than in localized disease. Furthermore, a cohort of 217 patients with localized disease was considered for studying the prognosis involvement of these factors on patient follow-up. The median follow-up was 39 months (range: 0.17-452) with an overall survival (OS) of 55%. Ki67 was expressed in 34% of cases and constituted an independent prognostic factor for progression free survival and OS independently of the type of treatment [hazard ratio of 2.0 (95% CI: 1.3-3.1; p 5 0.003) and 1.9 (95% IC: 1.3-2.9; p 5 0.007) for progression free survival and OS, respectively, being especially relevant in the group of patients which incorporated radiotherapy in their regimen schedules. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that Ki67 expression constitutes a valuable indicator of poor prognosis in localized ESFT.

SUMMARY:Chondrosarcomas are malignant cartilage-forming tumors that represent the second most common malignant solid tumor of bone. These biologically poorly understood neoplasms vary considerably in clinical presentation and biologic behavior. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are generally ineffective. Here we describe the establishment and characterization of a new human chondrosarcoma cell line named ch-2879, and we compare the cell line with its tumor of origin. The cell line was established from a recurrent grade 3 chondrosarcoma of the chest wall and characterized by growth kinetics and morphologic studies. Immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR were performed to examine the expression of cartilage-specific phenotypes. Genetic characterization was performed using cytogenetics, fluorescence in situ hybridization, flow cytometry, and molecular techniques for analysis of the genes implicated in cell cycle control, amplification of MDM2, CDK4, and Cyclin D1, and mutations in the p53 gene. ch-2879 cells were subcultured for more than 80 passages. They expressed vimentin, HNK-1, HBA-71, Ki-67, cyclin D1, Fli-1, S-100, p21, p27, and p53 and were negative for cytokeratin, EMA, p14, p16, MDM2, Rb, and c-erb-b2 antigens. Cytogenetically the recurrent tumor showed a hyperhaploid karyotype with clonal numerical and structural abnormalities. The sole structural abnormality was a chromosome derivative of a t(1;21) translocation. The cell line at passage 3 showed two populations: the hyperhaploid and an exactly duplicated, hypotriploid population. After the 18th passage, only the hypotriploid population was present. The cells expressed collagen 2. Molecular comparison of the primary and recurrent tumor evidenced an in vivo molecular change consisting of a deletion of 9p21 genes in the recurrence, probably caused by a selection process. Because of its gene expression profile, including expression of genes implicated in chondrogenesis in uncoated plastic dishes, this cell line may prove useful for cellular and molecular studies as well as studies of chondrosarcoma characterization and treatment. (Lab Invest 2003, 83:877-887).

No abstract