Mice overexpressing galectin-8 (gal-8 Tg), a secreted mammalian lectin, exhibit enhanced bone turnover and reduced bone mass, similar to cases of post-menopausal osteoporosis. Gal-8 knockout (KO) mice have increased bone mass accrual at young age, but exhibit accelerated bone loss during adulthood. These phenotypes can be attributed to gal-8-mediated increase in RANKL expression that promotes osteoclastogenesis, combined with direct inhibition of osteoblasts differentiation, evident by reduced BMP signaling, SMAD phosphorylation, and reduced expression of osteoblasts differentiation markers OSX, OCN, RUNX2, DMP-1 and ALP. Gal-8 mRNA positively correlates with the mRNA levels of osteoclastogenic markers RANKL, TRAP and CTSK in human femurs. Collectively, these findings identify gal-8 as a new physiological player in the regulation of bone mass.
Ablation of the mammalian lectin galectin-8 induces bone defects in mice.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesRenal tumors that arise in individuals with BHD Syndrome represent a molecularly distinct form of renal cancer. In addition, BHD syndrome is due to a mutation the folliculin gene (FLCN). While the folliculin gene is an important tumor suppressor gene, the molecular function of this gene is not well defined. By analyzing tumor samples that contain FLCN mutations, we demonstrate that the FLCN gene is an important regulator of mitochondrial function.
Birt-Hogg-Dubé renal tumors are genetically distinct from other renal neoplasias and are associated with up-regulation of mitochondrial gene expression.
Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesAffymetrix Human Gene 1.1 ST Array profiling of 285 primary medulloblastoma samples.
Subgroup-specific structural variation across 1,000 medulloblastoma genomes.
Sex, Age
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