Congenital deafness accounts for about 1 in 1000 infants and approximately 80% of cases are inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. Recently, it has been demonstrated that connexin 26 (GJB2) gene is a major gene for congenital sensorineural deafness. A single mutation (named 35delG) was found in most recessive families and sporadic cases of congenital deafness, among Caucasoids, with relative frequencies ranging from 28% to 63%. We present here the analysis of the 35delG mutation in 3270 random controls from 17 European countries. We have detected a carrier frequency for 35delG of 1 in 35 in southern Europe and 1 in 79 in central and northern Europe. In addition, 35delG was detected in five out of 376 Jewish subjects of different origin, but was absent in other non-European populations. The study suggests either a single origin for 35delG somewhere in Europe or in the Middle East, and the possible presence of a carrier advantage together with a founder effect. The 35delG carrier frequency of 1 in 51 in the overall European population clearly indicates that this genetic alteration is a major mutation for autosomal recessive deafness in Caucasoids. This finding should facilitate diagnosis of congenital deafness and allow early treatment of the affected subjects.

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TFC5, the unique and essential gene encoding the B" component of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA polymerase III transcription factor (TF)IIIB has been cloned. It (8): the TATA box-binding protein, TBP; the TBP-interacting 67-kDa TFIIBrelated protein, Brf (gene BRFI/PCF4/TDS4) (9-11); and a chromatographically separable component named B" (12). Active B" was previously isolated as a 90-kDa "band" out of denaturing (SDS) gels, renatured, and shown to reconstitute active TFIIIB. In the experiments that are described below, we complete the proof of constitution of TFIIIB by cloning the gene encoding the B" protein, expressing it in Escherichia coli, and using the resulting protein to reconstitute transcriptionally active TFIIIB entirely from its three recombinant constituents.

BackgroundSharing the common neuroectodermal origin, melanoma and neuroblastoma are tumors widely diffused among adult and children, respectively. Clinical prognosis of aggressive neuroectodermal cancers remains dismal, therefore the search for novel therapies against such tumors is warranted. Curcumin is a phytochemical compound widely studied for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Recently, we have synthesized and tested in vitro various curcumin-related compounds in order to select new anti-tumor agents displaying stronger and selective growth inhibition activity on neuroectodermal tumors.ResultsIn this work, we have demonstrated that the new α,β-unsaturated ketone D6 was more effective in inhibiting tumor cells growth when compared to curcumin. Normal fibroblasts proliferation was not affected by this treatment. Clonogenic assay showed a significant dose-dependent reduction in both melanoma and neuroblastoma colony formation only after D6 treatment. TUNEL assay, Annexin-V staining, caspases activation and PARP cleavage unveiled the ability of D6 to cause tumor cell death by triggering apoptosis, similarly to curcumin, but with a stronger and quicker extent. These apoptotic features appear to be associated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release. In vivo anti-tumor activity of curcumin and D6 was surveyed using sub-cutaneous melanoma and orthotopic neuroblastoma xenograft models. D6 treated mice exhibited significantly reduced tumor growth compared to both control and curcumin treated ones (Melanoma: D6 vs control: P < 0.001 and D6 vs curcumin P < 0.01; Neuroblastoma: D6 vs both control and curcumin: P < 0.001).ConclusionsOur data indicate D6 as a good candidate to develop new therapies against neural crest-derived tumors.

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Background: Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive skin cancer and chemotherapeutic agents currently in use are still unsatisfactory. Prevention and early diagnosis are the only effective tools against this tumour whose incidence and mortality rates are highly increased during the last decades in fair skin populations. Therefore the search for novel therapeutic approaches is warranted. Aim of this work was to identify and test new compounds with antiproliferative and cytotoxic activity on melanoma cells. We tested eugenol together with six natural and synthetic eugenol-related compounds for their capability to inhibit cell growth on primary melanoma cell lines established from patients' tissue samples.

Sixty-four Polish families with a history of breast and/or ovarian cancer were screened for mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes using a combination of denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) and sequencing. Two thirds (43/64; 67%) of the families were found to carry deleterious mutations, of which the most frequent were BRCA1 5382insC (n=22/43; 51%) and Cys61Gly (n=9/43; 20%). Two other recurrent mutations were BRCA1 185delAG (n=3) and 3819del5 (n=4), together accounting for 16% of the 43 mutation-positive cases. We also found three novel mutations (BRCA1 2991del5, BRCA2 6238ins2del21 and 8876delC) which combined with findings from our earlier study of 60 Northern Polish families. Moreover, screening of 43 BRCA1/2 negative families for the presence of large rearrangements by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) resulted in the finding of two additional BRCA1 mutations: a deletion of exons 1A, 1B and 2, and a deletion of exons 17-19, both present in single families. We conclude that the Polish population has a diverse mutation spectrum influenced by strong founder effects. However, families with strong breast/ovarian cancer history who are negative for these common mutations should be offered a complete BRCA gene screening, including MLPA analysis.

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