by Jessica Lin  , Valentina L Kouznetsova  and Igor F Tsigelny

Received: 08 December 2020;  Published: 24 May 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2102131

Feline cancers have not been studied as extensively as canine cancers, though they may offer similar advantages, with cats being immunocompetent animals subject to similar conditions as their human counterparts. The most common feline cancers include lymphoma, squamous cell carcinoma, sarcoma, and mammary tumors, though mast cell tumors were also investigated in this review. As the pathogenesis of many feline cancers remains unclear, this study seeks to elucidate some molecular mechanisms behind feline cancers. Fel [...]

by Diane B. Paul

Received: 29 March 2021;  Published: 14 May 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2102130

This article explores difficulties encountered by those with no personal experience of a chronic disease or disability in accurately evaluating the quality of life with a condition present from birth. In most countries, cost-effectiveness analysis relies on ratings of health states by members of the general population, who must try to imagine what life for those affected is like based on (usually brief) descriptions of the conditions. That task is challenging for reasons that have been well-discussed in the literat [...]

by Vidhula R Ahire  , Amit Kumar  , Sushma Bhosle  and Kaushala Prasad Mishra

Received: 22 September 2020;  Published: 14 May 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2102129

Ellagic acid (EA) is a polyphenol found in grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, etc. exhibits anti-cancer properties. The current study was conducted to understand the radiosensitizing role of EA on HeLa cells. Monotherapy of EA and radiation was initially studied on HeLa cells. The addition of EA before the radiation treatment subsequently made DNA more susceptible to damage thereby developing DNA beaks, which are known to be lethal for cell survival. This was evaluated by performing comet and γ-foci formation assay. Ot [...]

by Loren Pickart  and Anna Margolina

Received: 20 January 2021;  Published: 06 April 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2102128

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, while prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men. Despite significant advances in diagnostics and treatment, these cancers have a high risk of metastases and greatly reduce quality of life. Recently, it has been established that multiple epigenetic alterations in gene expression may play a role in cancer progression. Unlike mutations, which involve changes in DNA sequence, epigenetic modifications are not permanent and can be reversed. This [...]

by Macyn Leung  , Alexander Pipchuk  and Xiaolong Yang

Received: 11 January 2021;  Published: 24 March 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101127

PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint protein that is frequently overexpressed by the cells in the tumor microenvironment. PD-L1 binds to PD-1 present on the activated antitumor T-cells, which allows for tumor immune escape. The ability of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis to suppress antitumor immunity enables its application as a potential target for small-molecule-based immunotherapies. Targeting the PD-L1-mediated tumor immune evasion represents a promising approach for immune checkpoint blockade therapies. However, the existing mon [...]

by Masahiro Sato  , Issei Saito  , Eri Akasaka  and Emi Inada

Received: 11 October 2020;  Published: 10 March 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101126

Direct colony cloning of adherent mammalian cells using rings or dilution cloning has been used frequently for obtaining stable transfectants after gene delivery. As an alternative to these methods, successful isolation of the cells in a single colony is possible by placing a trypsin-immersed small paper disk onto the colony and subsequently picking up the paper with the assumption that it carries the trypsinized cells. However, the cloning success using this technique largely relies on the cell type used. In the p [...]

by Andrew G.L. Douglas  and Diana Baralle

Received: 31 December 2020;  Published: 08 March 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101125

A large proportion of rare disease patients remain undiagnosed and the vast majority of such conditions remain untreatable whether diagnosed or not. RNA splicing analysis is able to increase the diagnostic rate in rare disease by identifying cryptic splicing mutations and can help in interpreting the pathogenicity of genomic variants. Whilst targeted RT-PCR analysis remains a highly sensitive tool for assessing the splicing effects of known variants, RNA-seq can provide a more comprehensive transcriptome-wide analy [...]

by Mohamed Abutineh  , Nicholas Pizzo  , Nicholas Nifakos  , Xiao-Lu Jin  , John M Harlin  and Xing-Hai Zhang

Received: 26 October 2020;  Published: 18 February 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101124

Citrus is an important group of globally produced fruit crops, holding great economic, cultural, and health value. Belonging to the Rutacaeae family, the genus Citrus includes some of the most iconic and widely appreciated variants of fruits such as the orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and tangerine. The spread of various diseases threatens the worldwide production of citrus fruit crops. Diseases such as Asiatic citrus canker, citrus tristeza virus, citrus leprosis, and especially citrus greening disease (also know [...]

by Masahiro Sato  , Hansol Jin  , Eri Akasaka  and Kazuchika Miyoshi

Received: 01 September 2020;  Published: 18 February 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101123

The production of genetically modified (GM) pigs is considered valuable in biomedical research for the development of model animals for various diseases and pigs with resistance against viral infection. The porcine genome may be modified using several methods, such as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) using GM cells as the SCNT donor, direct injection of the transgene or the genome editing components (GEC) into fertilized eggs referred to as zygotes, the in vitro electroporation (EP) of the zygotes in the presen [...]

by OBM Genetics Editorial Office

Received: 07 January 2021;  Published: 07 January 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101122

The editors of OBM Genetics would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2020. We greatly appreciate the contribution of expert reviewers, which is crucial to the journal's editorial process. We aim to recognize reviewer contributions through several mechanisms, of which the annual publication of reviewer names is one. Reviewers receive a voucher entitling them to a discount on their next LIDSEN publication and can download a certificate of recognition direct [...]