Cited by 2.2k
Osaka University
Publishes on Cell death mechanisms and regulation, Mitochondrial Function and Pathology, Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities. 7 papers and 5.2k citations.
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Apoptosis is an essential physiological process for the selective elimination of cells, which is involved in a variety of biological events. The Bcl-2 family is the best characterized protein family involved in the regulation of apoptotic cell death, consisting of anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic members. The anti-apoptotic members of this family, such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL, prevent apoptosis either by sequestering proforms of death-driving cysteine proteases called caspases (a complex called the apoptosome) or by preventing the release of mitochondrial apoptogenic factors such as cytochrome c and AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor) into the cytoplasm. After entering the cytoplasm, cytochrome c and AIF directly activate caspases that cleave a set of cellular proteins to cause apoptotic changes. In contrast, pro-apoptotic members of this family, such as Bax and Bak, trigger the release of caspases from death antagonists via heterodimerization and also by inducing the release of mitochondrial apoptogenic factors into the cytoplasm via acting on mitochondrial permeability transition pore, thereby leading to caspase activation. Thus, the Bcl-2 family of proteins acts as a critical life-death decision point within the common pathway of apoptosis.
One of the best analyzed tumor-specific cytogenetic abnormalities is the t(8;14) chromosomal translocation observed in cases of Burkitt's and undifferentiated lymphomas (ULs), and acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALLs). Here we analyze the cloned (8;14) chromosomal breakpoint of the UL cell line EW 36. We show that the region of chromosome 8 involved in the translocation is situated near a site previously demonstrated to harbor a cluster of endemic Burkitt's lymphoma breakpoints, approximately 50 kb 5' of MYC. In those cases, we demonstrated that malfunction of the V-D-J recombinase generated the translocations. However, in this case the isotype switch mechanism of translocation is implicated: at the breakpoint, S mu/S gamma and C gamma sequences are found on chromosome 14. Thus, the features of the EW 36 t(8;14) breakpoint are consonant with our model for B-cell lymphomagenesis which relates the precursor cell that gives rise to malignancy, the mechanism of translocation, and the phenotype of the tumor.