A brief history of the DNA repair field

The history of the repair of damaged DNA can be traced to the mid-1930s. Since then multiple DNA repair mechanisms, as well as other biological responses to DNA damage, have been discovered and their regulation has been studied. This article briefly recounts the early history of this field.

Protective effects of Rad23 protein on ultraviolet damage to HeLa cells

Protein Rad23, a nucleotide excision repair factor, mainly involves in repairing the DNA damage from environment, such as UV light. The function of Rad23 protein involved in DNA damage repair from many environmental factors has been studied extensively, but it is not clear from ultraviolet irradiation. To further investigate the photo-protective function of Rad23 protein on HeLa cells damaged from UV light irradiation, firstly, HeLa cells were irradiated by UV light and incubated with the fusion protein of pCold-Rad23, then the cell viability and apoptosis rate were detected by MTT and Hoechst33342/Pl fluorescent staining, respectively. The results show that the recombinant Rad23 protein can protect the HeLa cells from UV irradiation, and inhibit the apoptosis of HeLa cell by UV irradiation.

Altered expression of mitochondrial related genes in the native Tibetan placents by mitochondrial cDNA array analysis

Objective： To explore the mechanism of native Tibetan fetuses adaptation to hypoxia, we tried to find the different expression genes about mitochondrial function in the native Tibetan placents. Methods： In this study, the placents of native Tibetan and the high-altitude Hart （ha-Hart） were collected. After the total RNA extraction, the finally synthesized cDNAs were hybridized to mitochondrial array to find the altered expression genes between them. Then, the cytochrome c oxidase 17 （Coxl7）, dynactin 2 （DCTN2, also known as p50）, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor （VEGFR, also known as KDR） were chosen from the altered expression genes to further verify the array results using the SYBR Green real-time PCR. Because the altered expression genes （such as Cybb and Cox 17） in the array results related to the activities of COXI and COXIV, the placental mitochondria activities of COXI and COXIV were measured to find their changes in the hypoxia. Results： By a standard of≥1.5 or ≤0.67, there were 24 different expressed genes between the native Tibetan and the ha-Han placents, including 3 up-regulated genes and 21 down-regulated genes. These genes were related to energy metabolism, signal transduction, cell proliferation, electron transport, cell adhesion, nucleotide-excision repair. The array results of Cox17, DCTN2 and KDR were further verified by the real-time RT-PCR. Through the mitochondria respiration measurements, the activity of COXI in the native Tibetan placents were higher than that of ha-Han, there was no difference in COXIV activity between them. Conclusion： The altered mitochondrial related genes in the native Tibetan placents may have a role in the high altitude adaptation for fetuses through changing the activity of mitochondrial COX.

Advances in the study on induced pluripotent stem cells

Recently, the study on "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPS cells) has made a great breakthrough, and it is considered as a new milestone in the history of life science. This progress has updated our tradi-tional concepts about pluripotency control, and provided people with a brand-new strategy for somatic cell nuclear reprogramming. In virtue of its availability and stability, this method holds great potential in both biological and clinical research. In order to introduce this rising field of study, this paper starts with an overview of the development of iPS cell establishment, describes the key steps in generating iPS cells, elaborates several relevant scientific issues, and evaluates its current restrictions and promises in future research.

Effect of anti-sense oligodeoxynucleotides homeobox B2 on the proliferation and expression of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Objective: To explore the effect of homeobox B2 (HOXB2) antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (asodn) on the proliferation and expression of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods: Various concentrations of HOXB2 asodn modified by thiophosphate transfected the induction of liposome into HUVECs. MTT and RT-PCR methods were employed to determine the effect of different concentrations of asodn on the endothelial proliferation and the expression level of HOXB2 mRNA. Results: After the transfection of HOXB2 asodn, the endothelial proliferation was inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion. Simultaneously, the expression of HOXB2 mRNA decreased significantly. Conclusions: HOXB2 plays an important role in the proliferation of endothelia.