Combination Therapy Employing Retinoids and Chromatin Remodeling Agents in Human Breast Carcinomas.

摘要

Retinoids (vitamin A and related compounds), important regulators of cell proliferation and differentiation, are used clinically in the treatment of various skin conditions and in cancer therapies. How retinoids cause cell differentiation is one focus of the laboratory. The Rex-1 gene (Fig. 1) was identified by a subtractive hybridization screen as a gene that was transcriptionally down-regulated by retinoids. The Rex-1 gene encodes a protein of 32.3 kilodaltons that contains four copies of a cys-his zinc finger motif, suggesting that Rex-1 may function as a transcriptional regulatory protein. Rex- 1 protein is involved in both embryonic development, spermatogenesis, and is expressed at high levels in F9 teratocarcinoma cells and embryonic stem (ES) cells.