MEMPHIS, Tenn., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A protein called Scythe determines which cells live and which die during the growth and development of the mammalian embryo, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The St. Jude study is the first to show that Scythe plays a critical role during development of mammals by selectively regulating when and where specific cells either proliferate or undergo apoptosis, the process by which cells self-destruct. Understanding exactly how Scythe balances apoptosis with cell proliferation could provide significant insights into how organs develop in the growing embryo, researchers reported.
The St. Jude team showed in laboratory models that in the absence of Scythe, the lungs, kidneys and brains develop abnormally and the embryos cannot survive. These defects were caused by the loss of control over both the multiplication of some cells and the process of apoptosis, in which cells self-destruct.
Normally, there is a balance between life and death in the embryo as the various parts of specific organs get "sculpted" out of the growing mass of cells and some cells are eliminated, according to Peter McKinnon, Ph.D., an associate member of the St. Jude Department of Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology. But cells in certain organs of models lacking both copies of the Scythe gene (Scythe-/-) either failed to receive or failed to respond to signals triggering proliferation or apoptosis. McKinnon is the senior author of a report on this work that appears in the December issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
"Our work suggests that Scythe might help to regulate the signaling molecules that are involved in either apoptosis or cell proliferation," said Fabienne Desmots, the postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology who did much of the work on this project. Desmots, who is the first author of the paper, is now at the University of Rennes in France.
Other authors of the study include Helen R. Russell, Youngsoo Lee and Kelli Boyd. This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and ALSAC.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fund-raising organization. For more information, please visit http://www.stjude.org.
St. Jude Children's Research HospitalCONTACT: Carrie Strehlau, Public Relations, +1-901-495-2295, orcarrie.strehlau@stjude.org, or Marc Kusinitz, Ph.D., ScientificCommunications, +1-901-495-5020, or marc.kusinitz@stjude.org, both of St.Jude Children's Research Hospital
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