Insertion sequence-driven diversification creates a globally dispersed emerging multiresistant subspecies of E. faecium

Enterococcus faecium, an ubiquous colonizer of humans and animals, has evolved in the last 15 years from an avirulent commensal to the third most frequently isolated nosocomial pathogen among intensive care unit patients in the United States. E. faecium combines multidrug resistance with the potential of horizontal resistance gene transfer to...

Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3 expression from an oncolytic adenovirus inhibits matrix metalloproteinase activity in vivo without affecting antitumor efficacy in malignant glioma

Oncolytic adenoviruses exhibiting tumor-selective replication are promising anticancer agents. Insertion and expression of a transgene encoding tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP-3), which has been reported to inhibit angiogenesis and tumor cell infiltration and induce apoptosis, may improve the antitumor activity of these agents. To...

Mathematical design of prokaryotic clone-based microarrays

Background: Clone-based microarrays, on which each spot represents a random genomic fragment, are a good alternative to open reading frame-based microarrays, especially for microorganisms for which the complete genome sequence is not available. Since the generation of a genomic DNA library is a random process, it is beforehand uncertain which...

APC mutations in sporadic coloretal carcinomas from The Netherlands Cohort Study

The adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene is considered to be a gatekeeper in colorectal tumourigenesis. Inactivating mutations in APC have been reported in 34-70% of sporadic colorectal cancer patients, the majority of which occur in the mutation cluster region (MCR). In this study, tumour tissue from 665 incident colorectal cancer patients,...

Assessment of the safety of foods derived from genetically modified (GM) crops

This paper provides guidance on how to assess the safety of foods derived from genetically modified crops (GM crops); it summarises conclusions and recommendations of Working Group 1 of the ENTRANSFOOD project. The paper provides an approach for adapting the test strategy to the characteristics of the modified crop and the introduced trait, and...

Replication-deficient human adenovirus type 35 vectors for gene transfer and vaccination: Efficient human cell infection and bypass of preexisting adenovirus immunity

Replication-deficient human adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) can be produced to high titers in complementing cell lines, such as PER.C6, and is widely used as a vaccine and gene therapy vector. However, preexisting immunity against Ad5 hampers consistency of gene transfer, immunological responses, and vector-mediated toxicities. We report the...

Tissue plasminogen activator and risk of myocardial infarction: The Rotterdam study

Background: Impaired fibrinolytic capacity, as assessed by euglobulin clot lysis time or plasma concentration of fibrinolytic parameters, has been associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI). We studied the association of a polymorphism in the gene for TPA and of plasma concentrations of TPA (antigen and activity) with the...