Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic cancer. Multimodality treatment results in a complete clinical remission for more than 80% of the women, but this remission is typically short-lived and most (>70%) women will ultimately succumb to a lethal recurrence of their disease. Factor(s) associated with disease recurrence not well understood. Using immunostaining and FACS analysis, we selected different cell populations from patient tumor samples using 2 different cancer stem cell markers. Stem cell pluripotency arrays were performed to compare immortalized ovarian epithelium cells (IOSE), ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and CD133-positive/negative, CD44-positive/negative, and double positive/negative cell population purified from patient tumors. CD133+ cells had the highest expression of stemness gene CD9. IOSE and CD44+ cells had the highest expression of cellular retinoid binding protein CRABP2 level. Stemness genes NOG and PTEN were increased in IOSE and CD133+, CD44+ and double positive cell population and decreased in SKOV3 cells. Furthermore, the maintenance of pluripotency genes NANOG, POU5F1 and SOX2 had higher expression level in purified cells than that of IOSE and SKOV3 cells. In conclusion, CD133+ cells isolated from human tumors at the time of surgery had the highest expression level of stemness gene CD9 compared with other cell populations and ovarian cells. Both CD133 and CD44 positive cell population had higher level of expression of maintenance of pluripotency genes compared with cultured cells. CD133+ cells had more stemness features than other marker positive cells isolated from human tumor and cell culture in the array study. (Supported by University of Connecticut, Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center Start up fund.).

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: Animal cloning using adult somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) have been reported in numerous mammalian species. However, it is still uncertain whether animal clones, such as “Dolly”, are derived from adult stem-cell like cells or differentiated somatic cells. One hypothesis for the limited success of cloning via SCNT (1-5%) is that the clones were derived from adult stem cells, which are present in an extremely small fraction in most adult tissues. Support for this hypothesis is that cloning efficiency for term development using embryonic stem (ES) cells as nuclear donors is 5-10 times higher than that for somatic cells. Additionally, cloned pups could not be produced directly from nuclei of differentiated B and T cells or neuronal cells. The question remains: are SCNT-derived animal clones derived from truly differentiated somatic cells? We directly compared the developmental potential of cloned embryos from differentiated cells versus adult stem cells at different differentiation stages: hematopoietic stem cells, progenitor cells and granulocytes (97.5~99.4% purity). We found terminally differentiated post-mitotic granulocytes had the highest efficiency for cloning and yielded cloned pups. More studies are required to determine whether this trend is reversed in other cell lineages or under modified conditions.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: ABSTRACT
Recent experiments demonstrate that somatic nuclei can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent state when fused to embryonic stem cells (ESCs). While fusion-mediated reprogramming is successful in producing hybrid cells that exhibit stem cell characteristics, detailed analyses of the underlying molecular controls of reprogrammed transcription in such hybrids is not well understood. We produced hybrids of murine ESCs and fibroblasts that, though nearly tetraploid, exhibit characteristics of normal ESCs. Comprehensive analysis of the MEF/ESC hybrid transcriptome revealed global patterns of gene expression reminiscent of ESCs. Combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hierarchical clustering analyses revealed at least seven distinct classes of differentially-regulated genes in comparisons of hybrids, ESCs, and somatic cells. The largest class includes somatic genes that are silenced in hybrids and ESCs, while a smaller class includes genes that are expressed at nearly equivalent levels in hybrids and ESCs and contain many genes implicated in pluripotency and chromatin function. Somatic/ESC hybrid cell lines contain unique expression profiles that are similar, but not identical to normal ESCs. Reprogramming events include both transcriptional silencing and activation of genes residing on chromosomes of somatic origin. Expressed single-nucleotide polymorphisms and intron-FISH have provided evidence that the somatic genome within hybrids is actively transcribed and not merely silenced as a consequence of fusion. ESC fusion-mediated reprogramming provides a tractable system for the investigation of mechanisms of reprogramming which may one day lead to new biomedical applications for cell therapy.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Religious fundamentalists have been vocal in their opposition to embryonic stem (ES) cell research. In this paper, I investigate the influence one’s religious beliefs have on political behavior. Specifically, the paper explores the impact Christian fundamentalism has on opposition/support for the 2006 Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. Using the Roper Center for Public Opinion’s exit polling, the findings suggest that white, conservative, Republicans who self-identify as Evangelical Christian and attend religious services at least once a week were significantly more likely to vote against the ballot measure in the 2006 mid-term election. Therefore, political scientists should consider the influence religion has on voting behavior, particularly concerning controversial biomedical research using human embryos.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper, I place fetal cells recovered from women's blood at the center of a story about scientific and clinical communities of investigators who have, since 1969, been trying to make something useful of them. In their early history, fetal cells weren’t intentional actors. Their presence in women’s blood was neither surprising nor terribly interesting except insofar as it could be instrumentalized: fetal cells suggested a potentially lucrative way to ‘see inside’ the fetus without having to violate the amniotic sac. In about 1993, however, a number of social, linguistic and experimental factors coincided to bring about intentional fetal cells. They became vivified when they were found to persist in women’s bodies post-pregnancy. Pregnant and post-pregnant women were newly characterized as “chimeras” akin to transplant recipients. Fetal cells, in this new immunological model, became “foreign” entities “trafficking” into women’s bodies and causing diseases previously thought of as autoimmune. This paper tracks the animation of fetal cells, and their uneasy place in a number of research agendas.