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Philip Iannaccone, MD, PhDProfessor
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The GLI gene is widely expressed in embryonic mesenchymal tissues and the ependymal layer of the spinal cord during gestation. GLI codes for a transcription activator regulating pattern formation. GLI mediates the Sonic hedgehog-Patched signaling pathway and is critical in regulating cell cycle and differentiation. We have determined the genomic organization of human GLI and isolated the promoter. We are now analyzing cis elements in the promoter by site directed mutagenesis. It will help in our search for upstream regulation and in determining what genes including potential morphogens are the targets for Gli regulation. Disruption of genes in this family is associated with a variety of significant human disorders.
We have used rat chimeras to examine normal and pathologically altered tissues of the rat. The patterns observed in these animals are the result of the primary forces which gave rise to them (cell death, cell movement, and cell division). We have shown that the patterns are conserved and regulated within the various tissues of the animals examined and we have shown that the patterns are fractal. We have shown that these patterns can regenerate normally in non-neoplastic compensatory growth, maintaining a constant geometric complexity. In neoplastic growth the pattern demonstrates that growth is the result of clonal expansion of populations of critically affected cells. We are working out methods for cloning the rat in order to allow genomic manipulation of mosaic markers for these studies.
Fitchev, P., G. Taborn, R. Garton and P. Iannaccone (1999). Nuclear transfer in the rat: potential access to the germline. Transplant Proc 31: 1525-30.
Liu, C. Z., J. T. Yang, J. W. Yoon, E. Villavicencio, K. Pfendler, D. Walterhouse and P. Iannaccone (1998). Characterization of the promoter region and genomic organization of GLI, a member of the Sonic hedgehog-Patched signaling pathway. Gene 209: 1-11.
Walterhouse, D. O., J. W. Yoon and P. M. Iannaccone (1999). Developmental pathways: Sonic hedgehog-Patched-GLI. Environ Health Perspect 107: 167-71.
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View Publications by Philip Iannaccone listed in the National Library of Medicine (PubMed). |
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