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M Peacocke

Publications and source records attributed to M Peacocke.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Clinical and pathological features of breast disease in Cowden's syndrome: an underrecognized syndrome with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Cowden's syndrome (CS), or multiple hamartoma syndrome, is an autosomal dominant disorder associated with benign skin tumors and an increased risk of breast cancer. In an effort to understand the basic mechanisms regulating the development of breast cancer in this patient population, as well as to define diagnostic aspects of the disorder, we describe for the first time the clinical and pathological spectrum of breast disease in CS. We obtained the clinical histories and examined the histopathology of 59 cases from 19 women with CS sent to us from a variety of institutions. The 19 women showed a spectrum of benign histopathological findings, including ductal hyperplasia, intraductal papillomatosis, adenosis, lobular atrophy, fibroadenomas, and fibrocystic change. Seventeen (89%) showed features suggestive of a breast hamartoma. Fourteen women (74%) showed malignant disease, most of which was ductal carcinoma. Twelve patients (86%) showed ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and 12 (86%) showed infiltrating ductal carcinoma. One patient had only DCIS and another patient showed both infiltrating tubular carcinoma and lobular carcinoma in situ. Ten patients (71%) actually showed foci of tumor involving densely fibrotic, hamartomatous areas. In summary, we show that women with CS have a spectrum of exuberant benign and malignant breast pathology. A common benign breast lesion in CS is a densely fibrotic hyalinized nodule, whereas the most frequent breast malignancy is ductal carcinoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Patterns of X chromosome inactivation in sporadic basal cell carcinomas: evidence for clonality.

BACKGROUND: Some basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) contain genetic mutations, suggesting that the lesion is composed of a monoclonal population of cells. Clonality, a distinguishing feature of neoplasia, can be inferred by referencing clonal markers such as the pattern of X chromosome inactivation. The X-linked human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA; GenBank) contains a polymorphic DNA marker that reliably illustrates the pattern of X chromosome inactivation in a tissue. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the clonality of sporadic BCCs by examining patterns of X chromosome inactivation. METHODS: The patterns of X chromosome inactivation in paired samples of normal skin and sporadic BCCs from 24 women were compared by means of the HUMARA gene assay. RESULTS: All samples from normal skin displayed random X chromosome inactivation, consistent with lyonization. In 15 of 25 tumor samples (60%), nonrandom X chromosome inactivation was detected, consistent with monoclonality. CONCLUSION: At least some sporadic BCCs are composed of a monoclonal population of cells, strengthening the contention that a collection of mutations confers a growth advantage to this epithelial lesion.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Similarities of cutaneous and breast pathology in Cowden's Syndrome.

Cowden's Syndrome (CS), or multiple hamartoma syndrome, is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by mucocutaneous lesions, multiple benign tumors of internal organs and an increased risk of breast cancer. Here, we describe and illustrate in detail the benign breast pathology of 59 breast cases from 19 women with CS. Fibrosis is a significant characteristic of the breasts of patients with CS. Fibroadenomas appear to hyalinize at an early age and are frequently complex. The specimens demonstrate a spectrum of dense hyalinization of both the lobule and the stroma, and hyaline nodules appear to be the most characteristic lesion. This hyalinization process shares striking similarities with keloids, as well as the sclerotic nodules seen in the skin of CS individuals. Ductal carcinoma in CS was common, and it appeared to be associated with stromal hyalinization. Other frequently found benign features are adenosis and cysts. Of interest, the features of the benign breast disease in CS show certain similarities with senescent lobules, fibrous mastopathy of diabetes mellitus, and mammary hamartomas. These observations provide a framework for pathologists to identify this underrecognized syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Expression of retinoid X receptors in human dermal fibroblasts.

Retinoic acid (RA) is known to exert profound effects on growth and differentiation in human dermal fibroblasts. In the observations presented here, we examined the regulation of expression of members of the RXR multigene family in human dermal fibroblasts. We showed that the messenger RNAs for both RXR alpha and RXR beta are expressed in human fibroblasts, but that the messenger RNA for RXR gamma is not detectable in these cells. Electrophoretic mobility shift studies of binding to the beta 2RARE in human dermal fibroblasts demonstrated that a single complex binds to beta 2RARE in the absence of RA. Stimulating cells with all-trans RA induced a second complex. An antibody to the RXR beta protein supershifted both complexes, while an antibody to the RXR alpha S/B protein had no effect on the binding. These data demonstrate that RXR beta plays an important role in retinoid-regulated signal transduction pathways in human dermal fibroblasts and the regulation of expression of the RXR gene family is different from that of the RAR gene family.

DNA-Binding Proteins↗
PubMed1997

Molecular basis of variegate porphyria: a de novo insertion mutation in the protoporphyrinogen oxidase gene.

The porphyrias are disorders that result from the inherited or acquired dysregulation of one of the eight enzymes in the heme biosynthetic pathway. Variegate porphyria (VP) is characterized by deficiencies in protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) and has recently been genetically linked (Z = 6.62) to the PPO gene on chromosome 1q21. In this study, we have identified two sequence variants in the PPO gene in a family with VP. The first is a neutral polymorphism at the -47 position of intron 2; this polymorphism is present in the general population and is unlikely to underlie the VP phenotype. The second is a mutation in the PPO gene in a patient with VP; the mutation consists of an apparently de novo 2-bp insertion in exon 3 of PPO and results in a frameshift and downstream premature termination codon. These data establish that a frameshift mutation in PPO is the underlying mutation in this patient with VP and explain the sporadic occurrence of the phenotype in this family.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Germline mutations of the PTEN gene in Cowden disease, an inherited breast and thyroid cancer syndrome.

Cowden disease (CD) is an autosomal dominant cancer predisposition syndrome associated with an elevated risk for tumours of the breast, thyroid and skin. Lhermitte-Duclos disease (LDD) cosegregates with a subset of CD families and is associated with macrocephaly, ataxia and dysplastic cerebellar gangliocytomatosis. The common feature of these diseases is a predisposition to hamartomas, benign tumours containing differentiated but disorganized cells indigenous to the tissue of origin. Linkage analysis has determined that a single locus within chromosome 10q23 is likely to be responsible for both of these diseases. A candidate tumour suppressor gene (PTEN) within this region is mutated in sporadic brain, breast and prostate cancer. Another group has independently isolated the same gene, termed MMAC1, and also found somatic mutations throughout the gene in advanced sporadic cancers. Mutational analysis of PTEN in CD kindreds has identified germline mutations in four of five families. We found nonsense and missense mutations that are predicted to disrupt the protein tyrosine/dual-specificity phosphatase domain of this gene. Thus, PTEN appears to behave as a tumour suppressor gene in the germline. Our data also imply that PTEN may play a role in organizing the relationship of different cell types within an organ during development.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1997

The role of MMAC1 mutations in early-onset breast cancer: causative in association with Cowden syndrome and excluded in BRCA1-negative cases.

Cowden syndrome (CS) is an autosomal dominant disorder associated with the development of hamartomas and benign tumors in a variety of tissues, including the skin, thyroid, breast, endometrium, and brain. It has been suggested that women with CS are at increased risk for breast cancer. A locus for CS was recently defined on chromosome 10 in 12 families, resulting in the identification of the CS critical interval, between the markers D10S215 and D10S541. More recently, affected individuals in four families with CS have been shown to have germ-line mutations in a gene known as "PTEN," or "MMAC1," which is located in the CS critical interval on chromosome 10. In this study, we report three novel MMAC1 mutations in CS and demonstrate that MMAC1 mutations are associated with CS and breast cancer. Furthermore, we also show that certain families and individuals with CS do not have mutations in the coding sequence of MMAC1. Finally, we did not detect MMAC1 mutations in a subpopulation of individuals with early-onset breast cancer, suggesting that germ-line mutations in this gene do not appear to be common in this group.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1997

Erythropoietic protoporphyria: four novel frameshift mutations in the ferrochelatase gene.

Human erythropoietic protoporphyria is an inherited disorder of the heme metabolic pathway caused by defects in the gene for ferrochelatase, the terminal enzyme of the pathway that catalyzes chelation of ferrous iron into protoporphyrin IX to form heme. Mutation analysis was performed for families with erythropoietic protoporphyria and four novel frameshift mutations were identified. Two of the mutations, 205insA and 215insT in exon 3 of the ferrochelatase gene, are single bp insertions. The other two, 400delA in exon 4 and 678delG in exon 6, are single bp deletions. All of the mutations result in premature termination codons downstream shortly after the mutation sites, and in one case the premature termination codon caused by 400delA was also shown to reduce mRNA level via nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Age-associated changes in basal c-fos transcription factor binding activity in rat hearts.

The early response proto-oncogene c-fos is expressed at very low levels in the mammalian heart at baseline. To further investigate the mechanism of altered c-fos expression with age, we studied in the basal state the binding of five transcription proteins to their cognate sites in the c-fos promoter/enhancer region, in adult and old F344 rats. Our results show a reduced binding of E2F and AP1 proteins to the c-fos promoter in aging hearts. The major calcium/cyclic AMP response element (CRE) and SP1 binding was unchanged. The only increase seen with age was in the serum response element (SRE) binding proteins. SRE is the point of convergence of different signal transduction pathways (via MAP kinases and the Rho family of GTPases) at the c-fos promoter. Increased SRE binding may reflect a compensation for a decreased binding of other transcription proteins to the c-fos promoter, alteration in the phosphorylation status of SRF, or a change in the ternary complex factors Elk 1 or SAP 1. Other possibilities include defects in the signal transduction pathways with aging, which combine to produce an overall negative balance in the function of the c-fos promoter despite the increased SRE binding activity. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments have shown decreased c-fos expression with age. This may be due partly to alterations in the basal levels of transcription factor binding.

Aging↗
PubMed1996

RAR beta 2-mediated growth inhibition in HeLa cells.

Retinoic acid inhibits the growth of a variety of normal and transformed cells in vitro and in vivo. How retinoic acid inhibits cell growth is poorly understood but involves interactions between the ligand and a series of nuclear and cytoplasmic receptors. The nuclear receptors for retinoic acid are of two types, the RARs and the RXRs. Each can function as a ligand-inducible transcription enhancing factor. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that an isoform of one RAR, RAR beta 2, is transcriptionally up-regulated in senescent human dermal fibroblasts and senescent human mammary epithelial cells. Moreover, we have also shown that RAR beta 2 can inhibit oncogene-induced focus formation, in primary rat embryo fibroblasts, as effectively as the tumor suppressor gene p53. Here, we extend our studies of retinoid-regulated signal transduction pathways that inhibit cell proliferation by demonstrating that HeLa cells expressing an RAR beta 2 construct are growth inhibited by greater than 50% when compared to the parent cell lines. The RAR beta 2-expressing cell lines are inhibited further by the addition of exogenous all-trans-retinoic acid. Finally, soft agar assays show that the RAR beta 2-expressing cell lines also demonstrate an inhibition of growth in soft agar, when compared to the parent growth cell lines, and are inhibited further in the presence of added all-trans-retinoic acid. These data definitively show that RAR beta 2 can inhibit cell proliferation in an established tumor cell line and provide more strength to the notion that this isoform is an effective growth inhibitor in vitro and, most likely, in vivo.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Clonality of basal cell carcinoma--molecular analysis of an interesting case.

Tumor cells represent a single clone of cells that have undergone a series of mutations in genomic DNA. This process, known as clonal evolution, is a distinguishing feature of cancer. The human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA; GenBank) contains a highly polymorphic cytosine-adenine-guanine trinucleotide repeat that can be used to determine clonality by depicting X chromosome inactivation patterns. Random X chromosome inactivation is consistent with polyclonality; nonrandom X chromosome inactivation indicates a clonal population of cells. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) demonstrates an atypical growth pattern in that it grows slowly, rarely metastasizes, and is rarely lethal. Whether this tumor results from the accumulation of mutations in a single cell with subsequent clonal expansion or reflects a polyclonal response by a group of cells to a growth stimulus is unknown. To provide further insight into the molecular events characterizing BCCs, we determined the clonal origin of five modular BCCs from a female patient by analyzing X chromosome inactivation patterns at the HUMARA locus. All tumors demonstrated a nonrandom pattern of X chromosome inactivation, consistent with monoclonal proliferation. These findings provide strong genetic evidence that sporadic BCCs develop by clonal evolution and support the contention that a series of mutations in a single cell is responsible for the altered growth state seen in these transformed epithelial cells.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Cellular aging and transformation suppression: a role for retinoic acid receptor beta 2.

Cellular senescence is characterized by a finite proliferative capacity in vitro. Moreover, the proliferative capacity of dermal fibroblasts harvested from humans is inversely proportional to the age of the donor, suggesting that senescence in culture is a manifestation, at the cellular level, of processes that occur during in vivo human aging. As cellular senescence is a program that ultimately decreases cell proliferation, it has been hypothesized that the genetic mechanisms responsible for the negative growth regulation of senescence may also be involved in the suppression of neoplastic transformation. Retinoic acid (RA) and its derivatives are effective negative growth regulators and are known to inhibit tumor growth, in vitro and in vivo. As a first step in examining a role for retinoic acid in the regulation of cellular aging in human fibroblasts, we examined the expression of the nuclear receptors for RA (RAR alpha, RAR beta, and RAR gamma) in human donors of different ages. These studies demonstrate a selective up-regulation of RAR beta, in response to RA, in fibroblasts that manifest a decreased proliferative capacity. We extend these observations to show that this finding is independent of the age of the donor and correlates with the proliferative capacity of the culture as a whole. Nuclear run-on studies show that the increase in RAR beta mRNA accumulation is mediated by a striking increase in the transcription of the RAR beta 2 isoform. Senescent fibroblasts manifesting the transcriptional increase of the RAR beta 2 isoform also demonstrate transcriptional repression of the protooncogene, c-fos. Functional studies demonstrate that RAR beta 2, like the tumor suppressor gene p53, can inhibit oncogene-induced focus formation. These data provide further support for the contention that genetic events important in cellular senescence may also play a significant role in tumor suppression in humans. Moreover, these observations suggest that RA, through transcriptional regulation of RAR beta 2, may mediate aspects of the negative growth control that characterizes both states.

Actins↗
PubMed1995

Effect of cellular senescence and retinoic acid on the expression of cellular retinoic acid binding proteins in skin fibroblasts.

Retinoic acid (RA) has significant effects on a variety of cellular processes, including growth and differentiation. Retinoic acid has also been implicated as a major morphogen during embryogenesis. In the skin, both the epidermis and the dermis are extremely responsive to the effects of retinoids; however, the molecular mechanisms through which retinoids act in this tissue remain poorly understood. Two classes of proteins play roles in mediating the biological effects of retinoic acid. The nuclear receptors for retinoic acid are of two types, the initially described RARs, and the RXRs. Each of these nuclear receptor families has multiple isoforms and can function as a ligand-inducible transcription enhancing factor. A second class of receptor proteins exists for retinoic acid that are found in the cytoplasm, the cellular retinoic acid binding proteins (CRABPs). These proteins play a role in the binding, transport, and metabolism of retinoic acid. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that retinoic acid induces the expression of RAR beta and RAR gamma in human dermal fibroblasts. Moreover, we have also shown the selective transcriptional up-regulation of the RAR beta 2 isoform in senescent dermal fibroblasts and senescent human mammary epithelial cells. In order to further define molecules important in regulating the response of senescent dermal fibroblasts to retinoids, we demonstrate here that retinoic acid induces CRABP-II messenger RNA in human dermal fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, we show that the induction by RA can be inhibited by actinomycin D, suggesting that the up-regulation may be mediated by a transcriptional mechanism. We further demonstrate that cycloheximide also has an effect on the up-regulation, suggesting a role for protein synthesis in the regulation of CRABP-II gene expression. We show that CRABP-II is a very stable messenger RNA species, in contrast to the mRNAs for RAR alpha, RAR beta, and RAR gamma. Of interest, we demonstrate no significant difference in the expression of CRABP-II between presenescent and senescent fibroblasts. Taken together, these data suggest that retinoic acid plays a central role in the regulation of CRABP-II gene expression in the dermal fibroblast and that this molecule is the major mediator of the cytoplasmic effects of retinoids in dermal fibroblasts. However, in contrast to RAR beta 2, there is no apparent change in the regulation of CRABP-II in senescent dermal fibroblasts.

Cellular Senescence↗
PubMed1995

Identification of WASP mutations in patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and isolated thrombocytopenia reveals allelic heterogeneity at the WAS locus.

Mutation in the gene encoding the recently isolated WASP protein has now been identified as the genetic defect responsible for the X-linked Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), a primary immunodeficiency disease associated with extensive phenotypic variability. To elucidate the range of WASP mutations responsible for WAS, we used PCR-SSCP analysis to screen for WASP gene mutation in 19 unrelated boys with the diagnosis of classical or attenuated WAS or isolated thrombocytopenia. All 19 patients had WASP mutations, each of which localized to the initial three or terminal three exons of the gene, and the majority of which were unique in each case. However, a missense mutation which results in substitution of the arginine at WAS codon 86 was identified in three boys with severe WAS as well as in one boy presenting with thrombocytopenia alone. While the three mutations found in the isolated thrombocytopenia patients leave the reading frame intact, about one-half of the gene alterations detected in both severe and attenuated WAS patients result in frameshifted transcript and premature translation termination. These findings therefore confirm the association of WAS with WASP mutation and identify WASP mutation as a cause for isolated congenital thrombocytopenia in males. While the WASP gene defects responsible for isolated thrombocytopenia and other mild presentations of WAS do not appear distinct from those resulting in severe WAS, these data indicate that analysis of WASP gene mutation provides a valuable tool for distinguishing the spectrum of WAS patients and the subset of males with isolated thrombocytopenia who represent mild cases of WAS.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

A diagnostic assay for the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and its variant forms.

BACKGROUND: The Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is an X-linked recessive disease characterized by severe thrombocytopenia, eczema, and impaired immunity. While the diagnosis is usually straightforward, the syndrome may be expressed in an attenuated form, a phenotype which is difficult to distinguish from other types of congenital thrombocytopenia. Although a molecular-based assay for diagnosis of the spectrum of WAS patients has not been available, recent data indicate that WAS is associated with a specific profile of impaired mitogen responsiveness and suggest that detection of this abnormality may provide a diagnostic marker for all forms of the disease. To address this issue, we have studied patients with classical and atypical WAS for their lymphocyte proliferative responses to four T cell mitogenic stimuli and compared their response patterns to those detected in unaffected children. METHODS: Clinical histories and informed consent were obtained from 23 patients with either classical or putative (ie, atypical) WAS, 16 subjects with other disorders, and 12 healthy children. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from patients and controls were resuspended in culture medium, stimulated with the T cell mitogens phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), neuraminidase/galactose oxidase (NAGO), or periodate, and cultured for 60 h in 0.2 mL aliquots. Following a 20 h pulse with 3H-thymidine, cultures were harvested and the 3H-thymidine uptake was evaluated by liquid scintillation counting. RESULTS: The most striking observation involved response to periodate. While lymphocytes from all healthy control children proliferated in response to periodate treatment, cells from both classical as well as atypical WAS patients consistently failed to proliferate in response to this mitogen. By contrast, lymphocyte proliferative responses to PHA, Con A, and NAGO were detected in all patients and controls, although responses generally were lower in cells from classical WAS patients compared to other children. In two WAS patients, bone marrow transplantation and clinical improvement were associated with a change from no periodate response (pre-transplant) to periodate responsiveness (post-transplant). In contrast to the WAS patients, cells from patients with other hematologic and primary immune deficiency diseases responded uniformly to all four mitogens, including periodate. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented here indicate that T cells from patients with either classical or attenuated WAS fail to undergo proliferation in response to periodate, an agent that induced extensive T cell mitogenesis of cells from all healthy controls as well as patients with diseases other than WAS. As the WAS patients' cells did proliferate in response to treatment with other T cell mitogens, it appears that periodate induced T cell proliferation is selectively impaired in WAS and that detection of this defect may be of value in the distinction of both classical and attenuated WAS from other thrombocytopenic conditions.

Child↗
PubMed1994

Regulation of retinoic acid receptor expression in dermal fibroblasts.

Retinoic acid (RA) is known to exert profound effects on growth and differentiation in a variety of cell types in the skin. In vitro studies have also shown that RA modulates gene expression in both fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Recently, three nuclear receptors specific for retinoic acid (RAR alpha, RAR beta, and RAR gamma) have been cloned and all are members of a large multigene family of ligand-inducible transcription enhancer factors. As a first step in defining the role of each receptor in the retinoid response of the skin, we examined the regulation of RAR alpha, RAR beta, and RAR gamma gene expression in human dermal fibroblasts by all-trans-retinoic acid. We demonstrate that human dermal fibroblasts express modest basal levels of RAR alpha and RAR gamma, but not RAR beta. When treated with 1 microM RA, the messenger RNAs for both RAR beta and RAR gamma are induced. In contrast, RAR alpha remains unchanged. The induction of RAR gamma is attenuated by the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, while the induction of RAR beta increases slightly. Studies with actinomycin D and cycloheximide show that all three receptors have different half-lives, with RAR gamma having the longest half-life at 8 h. Gel shift analysis of known retinoic acid response elements (RAREs) in the RAR beta and RAR gamma genes demonstrates that the upregulation of these by genes by RA involves increased binding of complexes to the individual RAREs. In summary, these data demonstrate that fibroblasts express all three receptor types. Moreover, striking differences exist in the regulation of RAR gene expression in skin-derived fibroblasts and suggest that each receptor may well have a separate and discrete function in the retinoid response of the skin.

Base Sequence↗