187 research outputs found
L'imperialismo, come la lebbra, si cura con la morte": intesecting narratives in Ennio Flaiano's Tempo di uccidere
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.In 1947 Ennio Flaiano published what was to become his only full-length novel, Tempo di uccidere. Set in Abyssinia during the 1935-1936 Italo-Ethiopian War, it is a work that, notwithstanding its ostensibly "realist" subject matter, displays a palpable dissonance with the coeval cultural and literary landscape of post-war Italy, then dominated by the age of neorealism. With Tempo di uccidere, Flaiano chooses to counter the largely nationally inward, materialist gaze of his contemporary authors by shifting the focus to a socio-political and cultural environment ghat would have proved largely foreign to the majority of his readers...The primary aim of this MA dissertation is to explore-and to critically engage with - the two indentifiable narratives that frame the interpretation of the novel..
The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(CDKN1A) as target of anti-cancer drugs
No full textp21(CDKN1A) (WAF1/CIP1/SDI1), the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor belonging to the Cip/Kip family, was first described as a potent inhibitor of cell proliferation and DNA replication, both in physiological conditions and after DNA damage. More recently, p21 has been recognized to play additional and fundamental roles in other important pathways, including regulation of transcription, apoptosis and DNA repair. Knock-out mouse studies combined with biochemical and functional analysis of cells in culture have indicated a tumor suppressor activity for p21. However, these lines of evidence have been complicated by other findings indicating that p21 can exhibit oncogenic properties. In fact, the evidence that p21 expression may lead to proliferation arrest, is counterbalanced by the rescue of tumor cells from drug-induced apoptosis, and by promoting a metastatic potential. For these reasons, p21 is considered a protein with a dual behavior, with potential benefits, as well as dangerous effects of its expression in malignant cells. Thus, the effectiveness of targeting p21 expression for antitumor therapy needs to be carefully evaluated accordingly. This review summarizes the functions and regulations of p21, and focuses on its involvement in human diseases (particularly cancer), and on the pharmacological approaches to target p21 expression (either positively or negatively) for anticancer therapy. Based on these approaches, the search for new molecules able to promote the tumor-suppressor activity, and/or to interfere with the oncogenic properties of p21, could be promising
UV-induced PCNA complex formation in nucleotide excision repair detective human fibroblasts
No full textDNA damage accumulation and efficiency of DNA repair process in Down syndrome cell model systems
No full textUltrastructure and cytochemistry of circulating erythrocytes during the annual cycle of Rana esculenta L.
No full textAn improved method for the detection of nucleotide excision repair factors at local UV DNA damage sites.
No full textAmong different DNA repair processes that cells use to face with DNA damage, nucleotide excision repair (NER) is particularly important for the removal of a high variety of lesions, including those generated by some antitumor drugs. A number of factors participating in NER, such as the TFIIH complex and the endonuclease XPG are also involved in basal processes, e.g. transcription. For this reason, localization of these factors at DNA damage sites may be difficult. Here we have applied a mild digestion of chromatin with DNase I to improve the in situ extraction necessary to detect chromatin-bound proteins by immunofluorescence. We have compared this method with different extraction protocols and investigated its application on different cell types, and with different antibodies. Our results show that a short DNase I treatment before the immunoreaction, enhances the fluorescence signal of NER proteins, such as XPG, DDB2 and XPC. In addition, our findings indicate that the antibody choice is a critical factor for accurate localization of DNA repair proteins at DNA damage sites. In conclusion, a mild DNA digestion with DNase I improves the immunofluorescence detection of the recruitment of NER factors at local DNA damage sites by enhancing accessibility to the antibodies, independently of the cell type
Ruolo della proteina p21waf1/cip1 nella risposta cellulare al danno al DNA indotto da radiazioni UVC
No full textRevisiting the Function of p21(CDKN1A) in DNA Repair: The Influence of Protein Interactions and Stability
No full textThe p21(CDKN1A) protein is an important player in the maintenance of genome stability through its function as a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, leading to cell-cycle arrest after genotoxic damage. In the DNA damage response, p21 interacts with specific proteins to integrate cell-cycle arrest with processes such as transcription, apoptosis, DNA repair, and cell motility. By associating with Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA), the master of DNA replication, p21 is able to inhibit DNA synthesis. However, to avoid conflicts with this process, p21 protein levels are finely regulated by pathways of proteasomal degradation during the S phase, and in all the phases of the cell cycle, after DNA damage. Several lines of evidence have indicated that p21 is required for the efficient repair of different types of genotoxic lesions and, more recently, that p21 regulates DNA replication fork speed. Therefore, whether p21 is an inhibitor, or rather a regulator, of DNA replication and repair needs to be re-evaluated in light of these findings. In this review, we will discuss the lines of evidence describing how p21 is involved in DNA repair and will focus on the influence of protein interactions and p21 stability on the efficiency of DNA repair mechanisms
Exploring the interactions between DDB2 and proteins involved in DNA nucleodite excision repair
No full textFibroblasti umani p21CDKN1-null che esprimono hTERT sono più sensibili alla radiazione UVC e mostrano una riduzione del reclutamento di PCNA, XPG e CAF1 ai siti di riparazione del DNA
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