At 09:00 AM 28/03/00 -0800, Hal wrote:
>Just knowing a gene's sequence does not automatically give you the ability
>to control its activities.
The researchers, I now find, are Drs Peter Koopman and George Muscat, of
the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland. Their
paper on *Sox18* is in this week's *Nature Genetics* (which I haven't yet
seen). What they've done is pinpoint *Sox18* as a/the main player in the
vascularisation transcription flowchart in `ragged mice'.
Koopman's page sez, inter alia:
Molecular genetic control of vascular development
We have recently isolated and characterised a
novel gene called
Sox18. In situ hybridization experiments in mouse
embryos has
revealed a striking correlation between sites of
Sox18 expression and
the formation of endothelial cells of the
developing vasculature
throughout the embryo (see Figure). We have found
that Sox18
expression is lacking in embryos deficient in
Flk1, confirming a role
for Sox18 in the VEGF-Flk1 pathway of endothelial
cell
differentiation and mitogenesis. In addition we
have shown that
Sox18 mutations underlie the mouse mutant Ragged
(Ra), which is
characterized by an edematous phenotype
suggesting blood vessel
dysfunction.
The aim of this project is to clarify the role of
Sox18 in the
development and function of the vascular system. We are thoroughly
investigating the
expression of Sox18 during blood vessel development in embryos,
adults and tumours, and
are inactivating Sox18 by homologous recombination.
The overall hypothesis being tested is that Sox18 is an important
component of the
molecular pathway of blood vessel development, and as such may be an
entry point to
novel therapeutic strategies for vascular diseases, or other
diseases in which blood vessels
play an important part, such as cancer. This work may in the longer
term suggest new
avenues of therapeutic intervention that may be applicable to
suppression of tumour
growth and metastasis.
Damien
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