前沿科技及其它

Gelatin zymography is a simple yet powerful method to detect proteolytic enzymes capable of degrading gelatin from various biological sources. It is particularly useful for the assessment of two key members of the matrix metalloproteinase family, MMP-2 (gelatinase A) and MMP-9 (gelat ...

Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) is a high-resolution technique for analysis and comparison of complex protein mixtures. With the advent of recent technical developments, its application has become significant in a wide range of fields. This chapter describes a proteomic a ...

The study of proteins, their expression and post-translational modification, is a key process in molecular biology. Immunoblotting is a well-established and powerful tool for the study of proteins, which continues to evolve as new reagents and apparatus are developed. This chapter des ...

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has had a significant impact on all aspects of the molecular biosciences, from cancer research to forensic science. The sensitivity and specificity inherent in the technique allow minute quantities of genetic material to be detected while the unique p ...

Detection of micrometastases in the bone marrow (BM) of cancer patients may be a helpful method for early detection of relapse. The diverse methodology employed across different laboratories, however, renders comparison of results difficult. This chapter describes a robust reliab ...

Since 2005, lectin microarray technology has emerged as a relatively simple yet powerful technique for the comprehensive analysis of glycoprotein glycosylation. Lectin microarrays represent a new analytical method that can be used to explore the human glycome, a unique source of mar ...

Galectin-3 is a member of a family of carbohydrate-binding proteins. It is present in the nucleus, the �cytoplasm, and also the extracellular matrix (ECM) of many normal and neoplastic cell types. Reports show an upregulation of this protein in transformed and metastatic cell lines (Raz and Lot ...

Specific gene silencing using small hairpin RNA (shRNA) constructs offer researchers the possibility to study the influence of a single protein in the metastatic process. The role of the cellular adhesion molecule CEACAM1 on tumour formation and metastasis is of some interest. The human m ...

MicroRNA (miRNA) genes have been shown to perform a crucial role in breast cancer metastasis. The epigenetic inactivation of such microRNA genes, as a result of aberrant DNA methylation, is frequently found in human tumours including those of the breast, and this is an area of considerable resea ...

The process of how a benign tumour turns invasive and capable to survive in distant organs remains poorly understood, despite the evidence that metastasis formation is the primary cause of cancer patient mortality. This ignorance is partly due to the lack of appropriate animal models from whi ...

Human solid tumors and clonal tumor cell lines comprise phenotypically and functionally diverse subsets of cancer cells and also contain stem cell-like cancer cells. Side population (SP) cells, which pump out the fluorescent dye Hoechst 33342 (H33342) via the ABCG2 transporter, define a f ...

Flow cytometry has become a standard method for separating individual subsets of cells from a heterogeneous population. Multilaser, multicolour cell sorters are increasingly common and have become more complex in recent years increasing the number of applications available. Ho ...

The use of biosensors has become a standard method to characterize biomolecular interactions. Data obtained from biosensor studies are widely used to evaluate drug candidates, particularly in relation to their binding properties towards a selected target. The importance of measu ...

Cytogenetic analysis of tumour material has been greatly enhanced over the past 30 years by the application of a range of techniques based around fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Fluorescence detection for in situ hybridization has the advantage of including the use of a multitu ...

Hormones are chemical messengers produced in one part of the body and released into the blood to trigger or regulate particular functions of the body in another part. Hormone actions vary widely, but can include stimulation or inhibition of growth, induction or suppression of apoptosis, acti ...

The identification and eventual application of tumor markers in cancer screening, early detection, diagnosis, and prognosis is a continuing focus of significant translational cancer research. While many new candidate markers have been discovered and at least partly characteri ...

Analysis of the genome provides important information about the somatic genetic changes existing in the tissue; however, it is the proteins that do the work of the cell. Diseases such as cancer are caused by derangements in cellular protein molecular networks and cell signaling pathways. The ...

Disease-related changes in serum proteins are reasonable targets for early detection particularly due to the noninvasive approach in obtaining samples. Glycoproteins specifically have been implicated in a variety of disease types ranging from immune diseases to cancers. High- ...

Changes in N-linked glycosylation are known to occur during the development of cancer. For example, increased branching of oligosaccharides has been associated with metastasis and has been correlated to tumor progression in human cancers of the breast, colon, and melanomas. Increases ...

Antibody arrays can be employed for the profiling glycan structures on proteins. Antibody arrays capture multiple, specific proteins directly from biological samples (such as serum), and lectin and glycan-binding antibodies probe the levels of specific glycans on the captured pro ...