Genome Wide DNase I Hypersensitive Sites Detection in Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Single Cells

A method of detecting DNase I hypersensitive sites ((DHS) in a single cell or very small number of cells, including cells recovered from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue slides of patient samples. DHS has revealed a large number of potential regulatory elements for transcriptional regulation in various cell types. The application of DNase-Seq techniques to patient samples can elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms of gene function in a variety of diseases as well as provide potentially important diagnostic and prognostic information.

Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Cells Expressing or Lacking the Tumor Suppressor Gene PTEN

PTEN is a tumor suppressor gene that is frequently deleted or mutated in a variety of human cancers, including prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and ovarian cancers. In prostate cancer cells, PTEN deletion is the most common event observed. The loss of PTEN is thought to play and important role in tumor cell proliferation and metastasis due to a lack of control of the signaling pathways that mediate cellular processes such as apoptosis and migration.

Stat1LoxP (Stat1 tm1Mam ) Mouse Model for Oncology and Immunology Studies

Selective inactivation of Stat1 in mammary cells indicates that its effect as a tumor suppressor in breast is direct.

STAT1 is considered a tumor suppressor, but it is not known if this effect occurs directly in mammary cells or secondarily by disrupting interferon signaling through the JAK/STAT1 pathway to induce immune responses. ERBB2/neu-induced breast cancer appeared sooner in mice lacking STAT1 only in mammary cells than in wild-type mice, indicating that STAT1 tumor suppression was intrinsic to mammary cells and not secondary to an induced immune response.

Vitamin D Receptor Antagonists for Treating Breast Cancer

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a nuclear receptor that is activated by calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D. It is best known for regulating dietary calcium uptake necessary for bone growth, but it also affects cell proliferation and differentiation. Therefore, it was thought that treatment with calcitriol or its derivatives could be useful to treat the uncontrolled proliferation typical of cancer cells. However, this approach has been unsuccessful to date because it leads to toxic levels of calcium in the blood.

Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Nucleic Acid Sequence Variations

The ability to easily detect small mutations in nucleic acids, such as single base substitutions, can provide a powerful tool for use in cancer detection, perinatal screens for inherited diseases, and analysis of genetic polymorphisms such as genetic mapping or for identification purposes. Current approaches make use of the mismatch that occurs between complimentary strands of DNA when there is a genetic mutation, the electrophoretic mobility differences caused by small sequence changes, and chemicals or enzymes that can cleave heteroduplex sites.

PIM-Targeted PROTACs

Proviral Integration for the Moloney murine leukemia virus (PIM) kinases are overexpressed in many solid cancers – including prostate, breast, colon, endometrial, gastric and pancreatic. High of PIM1 expression is predictive of poor survival in multiple cancer types. While several selective pan-PIM inhibitors were developed and tested in clinical trials, all ultimately increased PIM1-3 protein levels and developed intrinsic resistance. 

Generation of Artificial Mutation Controls for Diagnostic Testing

This technology relates to a method of generating artificial compositions that can be used as positive controls in a genetic testing assay, such as a diagnostic assay for a particular genetic disease. Such controls can be used to confirm the presence or absence of a particular genetic mutation. The lack of easily accessible, validated mutant controls has proven to be a major obstacle to the advancement of clinical molecular genetic testing, validation, quality control (QC), quality assurance (QA), and required proficiency testing.