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Expression of human nerve growth factor receptor on cells derived from all three germ layers.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a protein which promotes the survival and differentiation of neuronal cells in vitro and plays an important role in neuronal development. In this study, we have examined the expression of the receptor for NGF (NGFR) in human neuronal and nonneuronal cells, both in tissue culture and in vivo. In addition to cell lines derived from neuroblastoma, astrocytoma, and melanoma, all of which share a common neuroectodermal origin, NGFR was detected in a number of cultured cells of mesenchymal, epithelial, and hematopoietic derivation. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that NGFR is expressed in several nonneural human tissues, and the cell types in which NGFR was found include derivatives from all three germ layers. Thus, our findings demonstrate that NGFR is much more widely expressed in human cells and tissues than was previously thought.

Cell Differentiation↗

Retrovirus-encoded transformation-specific polyproteins: expression coordinated with malignant phenotype in cells from different germ layers.

A transformation-associated polyprotein designated "gag-x" was previously shown to be induced by the feline sarcoma virus (FeSV) after the nonproductive transformation of rat or mink cells. We found that this protein was also expressed in cells derived from the native species (cat) with or without the production of feline leukemia helper virus (FeLV) and that cats could mount a humoral antibody response to the transformation-specific (x) portion of the molecule. Such antisera also reacted with the feline oncornavirus-associated cell membrane antigen (FOCMA) by membrane immunofluorescence. Expression of the gag-x protein was coordinated with malignant phenotype in that both transformed cat fibroblasts and cultured cells from a FeSV-induced melanoma expressed antigenically indistinguishable proteins of the same size. These cells are derived from different embryonic germ layers, suggesting that such transformation-related proteins may function in a pleiotropic manner when introduced by a virus.

Animals↗

Characterization of cellular nucleic acid binding protein from Xenopus laevis: expression in all three germ layers during early development.

The Xenopus CNBP homologue (XCNBP) has been cloned from stage 14 neurula. XCNBP encodes a 18.4-kDa protein containing seven highly conserved zinc finger (Zn-finger) repeats (CX2CX4HX4CX2), with sequence similarity to human, mouse, rat, and yeast CNBP. A unique feature of XCNBP is that it contains a 10 amino acid (aa) deletion in the linker region between Zn-fingers 1 and 2, immediately downstream from an alternatively spliced exon of human CNBP isoforms. A similar deletion is found in mouse and yeast CNBP proteins. The deleted region lacks potential PEST and casein kinase II phosphorylation sites. Because CNBP proteins from a variety of species contain deletions in a similar region, these results suggest that the pattern of alternative processing of CNBP isoforms is highly conserved among metazoa and unicellular eukaryotes. XCNBP RNA is initially maternally derived and is widely expressed throughout early development at the gastrula, neurula, and tailbud stages. At the early gastrula stage, XCNBP is expressed in ectodermal, endodermal, and mesodermal germ layers. Previous data have demonstrated the presence of CNBP in the cytoplasm and nucleus. The interactions of CNBP with single-stranded DNA and RNA suggest that CNBP may serve dual functions in transcriptional and translational regulation in a wide variety of tissues during development.

Alternative Splicing↗

Ber-EP4 immunoreactivity depends on the germ layer origin and maturity of the squamous epithelium.

AIM: To map the expression of Ber-EP4 in well-differentiated squamous epithelia, metaplastic squamous epithelia and dysplastic squamous epithelia of different origins. METHODS AND RESULTS: Squamous epithelium of different origin was stained using a standard immunohistochemistry method applied to paraffin sections. We found that normal squamous epithelium of the oral cavity, oesophagus, uterine cervix, vagina, anal canal, and branchial cysts are Ber-Ep4-negative, as are the mature squamous metaplasia of bronchial mucosa, urinary bladder mucosa and uterine cervical mucosa. In contrast, immature squamous metaplasia of bronchial mucosa, or uterine cervical mucosa, and squamous dysplasia of oral mucosa of endodermal origin, or uterine cervical mucosa in most cases expressed Ber-EP4. CONCLUSION: Squamous epithelia of ectodermal origin never express Ber-EP4, whether normal, hyperplastic, dysplastic or neoplastic. In contrast, squamous epithelium of endodermal origin sometimes contains the target glycoproteins of Ber-EP4 when immature, metaplastic, dysplastic or neoplastic. The results indicate that the differences in expression of Ber-EP4 in squamous epithelium depend primarily on germ layer origin, and on the maturity of the epithelium.

Antigens, Surface↗

The role of DE-cadherin during cellularization, germ layer formation and early neurogenesis in the Drosophila embryo.

The Drosophila E-cadherin homolog, DE-cadherin, is expressed and required in all epithelial tissues throughout embryogenesis. Due to a strong maternal component of DE-cadherin, its early function during embryogenesis has remained elusive. The expression of a dominant negative DE-cadherin construct (UAS-DE-cad(ex)) using maternally active driver lines allowed us to analyze the requirements for DE-cadherin during this early phase of development. Maternally expressed DE-cad(ex) result in phenotype with variable expressivity. Most severely affected embryos have abnormalities in epithelialization of the blastoderm, resulting in loss of the blastodermal cells' apico-basal polarity and monolayered structure. Another phenotypic class forms a rather normal blastoderm, but shows abnormalities in proliferation and morphogenetic movements during gastrulation and neurulation. Mitosis of the mesoderm occurs prematurely before invagination, and proliferation in the ectoderm, normally a highly ordered process, occurs in a random pattern. Mitotic spindles of ectodermal cells, normally aligned horizontally, frequently occurred vertically or at an oblique angle. This finding further supports recent findings indicating that, in the wild-type ectoderm, the zonula adherens is required for the horizontal orientation of mitotic spindles. Proliferation defects in DE-cad(ex)-expressing embryos are accompanied by the loss of epithelial structure of ectoderm and neuroectoderm. These germ layers form irregular double or triple layers of rounded cells that lack zonula adherens. In the multilayered neuroectoderm, epidermal precursors, neuroblasts and ganglion mother cells occurred intermingled, attesting to the pivotal role of DE-cadherin in delamination and polarized division of neuroblasts. By contrast, the overall number and spacing of neuroblasts was grossly normal, indicating that DE-cadherin-mediated adhesion is less important for cell-cell interaction controlling the ratio of epidermal vs. neural progenitors.

Animals↗