应用CGH数据和树模型探索癌症的发病机理

比较基因组杂交技术(comparative genomic hybridization,CGH)主要用于检测肿瘤的染色体缺失和扩增,迄今已积累了大量的实验数据,为全基因组分析肿瘤的发生机制提供了可能。树模型在生物信息学领域通常被用于研究生物形成和进化的历史,物种之间的进化关系常以系统发生树来表示。树模型同样可以作为一种有力的生物信息学工具来分析CGH数据,探索癌症的发病机理。文中介绍了两种常见的树模型——分支树和距离树,详细叙述了重建树模型的基本原理和方法,分析了创建树模型时要注意的几个技术问题,并对其在肿瘤研究中的应用进行了回顾和总结。肿瘤的树状模型作为单路径线性模型的泛化,克服了以往单路径线性模型的缺点,理论上能更加精确地概括到肿瘤的多基因、多路径、多阶段的发生发展模式,从不同角度探讨肿瘤发生发展的分子机制。该模型除可用于分析肿瘤的CGH数据外,还可用于分析其他多种类型的数据,包括微阵列CGH(array-CGH)技术等产生的高分辨率数据。

Function and regulation of Aurora/Ipllp kinase family in cell division

During mitosis, the parent cell distributes its genetic materials equally into two daughter cells through chromosome segregation, a complex movements orchestrated by mitotic kinases and its effector proteins. Faithful chromosome segregation and cytokinesis ensure that each daughter cell receives a full copy of genetic materials of parent cell. Defects in these processes can lead to aneuploidy or polyploidy. Aurora/Ipl1p family, a class of conserved serine/threonine kinases, plays key roles in chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. This article highlights the function and regulation of Aurora/Ipllp family in mitosis and provides potential links between aberrant regulation of Aurora/Ipllp kinases and pathogenesis of human cancer.

Clinical evaluation of submucosal colonic lipomas: Decision making

Even lipomas are the most common mesenchymal benign tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, symptomatic colonic presentation is rare. Herein, we evaluated four patients suffering from various size of colonic lipomas and approached by different therapeutic modalities.