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OBJETIVO: Analisar a expressão imunoistoquímica do marcador CD34 e p27, como fator prognóstico em pacientes com neoplasia de próstata localizada. MÉTODOS: Análise de 100 casos de pacientes portadores de neoplasia prostática localizada submetida à cirurgia curativa. Realizou-se o preparo histológico habitual, seguido da reação imunoistoquímica para a detecção do acúmulo da proteína CD34 e p27 seguida de análise estatística. RESULTADOS: Na avaliação do marcador P27 e na correlação com as variáveis, observou-se diferença significativa no escore de Gleason com expressão positiva (P27 positivo) relacionada com PSA médio mais baixo (p=0,091), escore de Gleason mais baixo (p

Many parasitic DNA elements including prophages and plasmids synthesize proteins that kill the cell after infection by other phages, thereby blocking the multiplication of the infecting phages and their spread to other nearby cells. The only known function of these proteins is to exclude the infecting phage, and therefore to protect their hosts, and thereby the DNA elements themselves, against phage contagion. Many of these exclusions have been studied extensively and some have long been used in molecular genetics, but their molecular basis was unknown. The most famous of the phage exclusions are those caused by the Rex proteins of λ prophage. The Rex exclusions are still not completely understood, but recent evidence has begun to lead to more specific models for their action. One of the Rex proteins, RexA, may be activated by a DNA-protein complex, perhaps a recombination or replication intermediate, produced after phage infection. In the activated state, RexA may activate RexB, which has been proposed to be a membrane ion channel that allows the passage of monovalent cations, destroying the cellular membrane potential, and killing the cell. We now understand two other phage exclusions at the molecular level which use strategies that are remarkably similar to each other. The parasitic DNA elements responsible for the exclusions both constitutively synthesize enzymes that are inactive as synthesized by the DNA element but are activated after phage infection by a short peptide determinant encoded by the infecting phage. In the activated state, the enzymes cleave evolutionarily conserved components of the translation apparatus, in one case EF-Tu, and in the other case tRNALys. Translation is blocked and development of the phage is arrested. A myriad of different phage-exclusion systems are known to exist and many of these may also be specific for highly conserved cellular components, furnishing generally useful enzymes... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide upon infection by lytic phages is known in several bacteria species and represents an effective defence strategy to limit phage spread. However, the ecological conditions favouring the evolution of such a radically altruistic behaviour are unclear. Here, we model the feedback of epidemiology on host evolution in a spatially structured environment and we generate several specific predictions on altruistic suicide evolution. We test these predictions experimentally by competing E. coli cells carrying the suicide gene Lit against non-carrier cells in the presence or in the absence of the lytic phage T6. We show that in accord with our theoretical analysis altruistic suicide is only favoured in the presence of the phage in spatially structured environments at intermediate levels of mixing. Our work provides a general explanation for the evolution of altruistic defence strategies against pathogens. We discuss the implications of these results for oncolytic virus therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August, more than 350 conferees from 24 countries attended the ASM Conference on the New Phage Biology, in Key Biscayne, Florida. This meeting, also called the Phage Summit, was the first major international gathering in decades devoted exclusively to phage biology. What emerged from the 5 days of the Summit was a clear perspective on the explosive resurgence of interest in all aspects of bacteriophage biology. The classic phage systems likeλ and T4, reinvigorated by structural biology, bioinformatics and new molecular and cell biology tools, remain model systems of unequalled power and facility for studying fundamental biological issues. In addition, the New Phage Biology is also populated by basic and applied scientists focused on ecology, evolution, nanotechnology, bacterial pathogenesis and phage-based immunologics, therapeutics and diagnostics, resulting in a heightened interest in bacteriophagesper se, rather than as a model system. Besides constituting another landmark in the long history of a field begun by d’Herelle and Twort during the early 20th century, the Summit provided a unique venue for establishment of new interactive networks for collaborative efforts between scientists of many different backgrounds, interests and expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibodies specific for the products of the human T celllymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) pX frame-shift mutants were studied by ELISA. The serum IgG antibodies to the synthetic peptide corresponding to one nucleotide insertion at position 7784 were significantly more common in patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAMITSP) patients than in HTLV-I carriers who had neither HAMITSP nor adult T cell leukemia (39% vs. 5%). The seropositivities to the other synthetic peptides, which corresponded to the one nucleotide deletion at position 7475 and the internal deletion of nt 7754–7819 and nt 7853–7936, were rare. A genetic study confirmed the presence of the responsible mutation of the pX gene in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and central nervous system tissue from HTLV-I-infected subjects with and without HAMITSP. These results suggest that HTLV-I pX frame-shift mutants are expressed in vivo in HTLV-I carriers; they also induce antibodies, especially in those with HAM/TSP. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

HTLV-II Transactivation Is Regulated by the Overlapping tax/rex nonstructural Genes HTLV-I AND HTLV-II ARE ASSOciated with specific T-cell disorders in humans (1-3). HTLV-I, HTLV-II, and the related bovine leukemia virus [...]