Anastasis Stephanou

This book reviews current understanding of the biological roles of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins and their dysregulation in diseases. STAT proteins were named after their role as signal transducers and activators of transcription. STAT proteins are highly conserved among species, thus reflecting the importance of these transcription factors in controlling processes such as development, cell growth and homeostasis. STAT1 and STAT2 were the first STAT genes identified in the interferon signal transduction pathways. Since then seven more STATs have been identified including STAT3, STAT4, STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6. The enormous amount of studies on STAT... continue reading

Here, we determined the possible association of stromal caveolin-1 (Cav-1) levels with DCIS recurrence and/or progression to invasive breast cancer. An initial cohort of 78 DCIS patients with follow-up data was examined. As ER-positivity was associated with recurrence, we focused our analysis on this subset of 56 patients. In this group, we observed that DCIS progressed to invasive breast cancer in ~14% of the patient population (8/56), in accordance with an expected progression rate of 12-15%. Nearly ninety percent of DCIS patients (7/8) that underwent recurrence to invasive breast cancer had reduced or absent levels of stromal Cav-1. Remarkably, an absence of stromal Cav-1 (score =... continue reading

Henri Grosjean

This volume is a timely and comprehensive description of the many facets of DNA and RNA modification-editing processes and to some extent repair mechanisms. Each chapter offers fundamental principles as well as up to date information on recent advances in the field (up to end 2008). They ended by a short ‘conclusion and future prospect’ section and an exhaustive list of 35 to up to 257 references (in average 87). Contributors are geneticists, structural enzymologists and molecular biologists working at the forefront of this exciting, fast-moving and diverse field of researches. This book will be a major interest to PhD students and University teachers alike. It will also serve as an... continue reading

A pooled analysis of the safety of the human papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix™ (GlaxoSmithKline) was performed in a cohort of almost 30000 girls and women aged ≥10 years, 16142 who received at least one dose of the HPV-16/18 vaccine and 13811 who received one of three controls [Al(OH)3 or hepatitis A vaccine (720 or 360 EU)]. Data are available for a total of 45988 vaccine doses. Solicited local and general symptoms were recorded for 7 days after each dose. Serious adverse events (SAEs), pregnancies, medically significant conditions (MSCs) and new onset of chronic diseases (NOCDs), including new onset of autoimmune diseases (NOADs), were... continue reading

Shamim I. Ahmad

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is an incurable, rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder which affects approximately one in 40,000‑100,000 and the carrier frequency is estimated to be 1:100‑200. In the United Kingdom it affects 1 in 300,000 live births amounting to about 5 or 6 cases per year. Although the medial survival rate of affected persons is between 19‑25 years, due to genetic heterogeneity, the survival rate can be fairly variable. In rare cases, however, patients survive into their third decade. The longest living patient on record died at age 34 years. Although the disease may have been identified earlier, according to PubMed the first published report on AT was in 1958.... continue reading

Recent years have seen the realization that macroautophagy (which we will call autophagy) is not only important in yeast but is necessary for diverse functions in plants and animals. Importantly, autophagy can have an impact on human pathologies including infectious diseases, cancers, and neurodegenerative conditions.1 Thus, we need to be able to measure autophagy accurately in order to understand how it can be regulated physiologically and with exogenous agents.