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The telomeric poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), tankyrase 1, modulates the impact of telomerase inhibition on human cancer cells. Thus, overexpression of tankyrase 1 in telomerase-positive cancer cells confers resistance to telomerase inhibitors, such as MST-312, whereas pharmacological inhibition of tankyrase 1 enhances telomere shortening by MST-312. These facts indicate that tankyrase 1 could be a target for telomere-directed molecular cancer therapy. Here, the authors describe a convenient method to monitor the telomeric function of tankyrase 1. This protocol takes much less time than the telomere Southern blot analysis and can be utilized as a rapid screening system for tankyrase 1 inhibitors that are effective in intact cells. For direct monitoring of tankyrase 1 PARP activity, a protocol for the in vitro enzyme assay is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a genetically controlled program, apoptosis has important roles in a variety of biological processes. The realization that chemotherapy can also induce apoptosis in some cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo indicates apoptosis may play a very important role in cancer and cancer therapy (1,2). Many of the molecules that participate in the apoptotic cell suicide have been identified. At the heart of this pathway are a family of cysteine proteases, the "caspases" (3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS and SANS, respectively) have been measured in H2O solutions of cesium perfluorooctanoate (CsPFO) in the concentration range 65-500 mM (below the phase boundary between micellar and discotic nematic phases). The data have been analyzed with a double-layered ellipsoid form factor combined with the rescaled mean-spherical approximation for the intermicellar structure factor. The scattering curves in the lower-concentration range are fitted well with oblate ellipsoid rather than prolate ellipsoid. Both the aggregation number and the degree of counterion binding increase with increasing surfactant concentration, which is consistent with the concentration dependences of the 133Cs and 19F NMR chemical shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]