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R K Ho

Publications and source records attributed to R K Ho.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Evidence for the hormone dependency of hepatic hyperplastic nodules: inhibition of malignant transformation after exogenous 17 beta-estradiol and tamoxifen.

Hepatic hyperplastic nodules (HHNs) in rats were studied as an experimental prototype of oral contraceptive-related hepatic tumors. We have found cytoplasmic estrogen receptors in HHNs produced by acetylaminofluorene (AAF) (four cycles of 0.02% in diet). Rats with AAF-induced HHNs were randomized into four groups: (i) AAF-treated control; (ii) estrogen alone (estradiol-17 beta); (iii) tamoxifen alone, and (iv) estrogen + tamoxifen. After 8 months of treatment with estrogen (estradiol-17 beta) in combination with tamoxifen, there was regression of nodular involvement and no evidence of malignant transformation. Decreased nodular proliferation also occurred after 2 and 4 months treatment with estradiol-17 beta and after 8 months of tamoxifen administration. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma after 8 months of treatment was significantly less after treatment with estrogen (40%) or tamoxifen (42.9%) when compared to AAF-treated controls (87.5%). The number of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-positive foci were reduced in all treatment groups after 2, 4, and 8 months of treatment; these changes were most pronounced in the estrogen-treated group and did not directly correlate with the per cent inhibition of malignant transformation. Our results suggest that the malignant transformation of estrogen receptor-positive HHNs is hormone dependent.

2-Acetylaminofluorene↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cell-autonomous action of zebrafish spt-1 mutation in specific mesodermal precursors.

In zebrafish, as in Xenopus, the well-orchestrated cell movements of gastrulation can be dissected into several components, including epiboly, involution, convergence and extension. Embryos homozygous for the recessive lethal mutation spt-1(b104) or 'spadetail' have a complex set of defects in the trunk of the embryo that may arise secondarily after loss of one of these movements, convergence, from those precursors that would normally have given rise to trunk somitic mesoderm. We have now tested this hypothesis by transplanting cells between wild-type and mutant embryos, to identify the cells that spt-1 affects directly. Our results show that the mutation autonomously affects only those mesodermal precursors located along the lateral margin of the early gastrula blastoderm. Other mesodermal cells and all ectodermal precursors seem not to require function of the wild-type gene. Our findings reveal an unexpectedly delicate genetic control of vertebrate gastrulation.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Additional hox clusters in the zebrafish: divergent expression patterns belie equivalent activities of duplicate hoxB5 genes.

The evolution of metazoan body plans has involved changes to the Hox genes, which are involved in patterning the body axis and display striking evolutionary conservation of structure and expression. Invertebrates contain a single Hox cluster whereas tetrapods possess four clusters. The zebrafish has seven unlinked hox clusters, a finding that is difficult to reconcile with the notion that genomic complexity, reflected by Hox cluster number, and morphological complexity are causally linked, as the body plan of the zebrafish is not obviously more complex than that of the mouse or human. Why have the additional hox genes in zebrafish been conserved? To address the role of these additional zebrafish hox genes, we have examined the duplicate hoxB5 genes, hoxB5a, and hoxB5b. Conservation of gene duplicates can occur when one gene acquires a new function (neofunctionalization), or when the ancestral function is divided between the two duplicates (subfunctionalization). hoxB5a and hoxB5b are expressed in distinct domains, and their combined expression domain is strikingly similar to that of single Hoxb5 genes in other species. The biochemical functions encoded by the two genes were studied by overexpression, which resulted in identical developmental defects in the anterior hindbrain and cranial neural crest, suggesting strongly that hoxB5a and hoxB5b have equivalent biochemical properties with respect to early development. From these studies, we conclude that conservation of hoxB5a and hoxB5b is likely the result of division of the ancestral Hoxb5 function between the two genes, without significant changes in biochemical activity. These results suggest a resolution to the conundrum of the extra hox genes and clusters in the zebrafish, since if any of the additional hox genes in the zebrafish are similarly subfunctionalized, they are unlikely to supply novel genetic functions. Thus, the morphological complexity potentially conferred by the majority of additional zebrafish hox clusters may not be substantially greater than that conferred by the four tetrapod clusters.

3' Untranslated Regions↗