Hydroxyapatite-coated titanium oxide ameliorates dextran sulphate sodium-induced colitis by attenuating both innate and acquired immune reaction.

Introduction: Titanium oxide (TiO) is a widely used oxidizer for environmental management. The power of TiO has been demonstrated by its photocatalytic activity. Hydroxyapatite (HA)-coated TiO (HA-TiO) was used to test the effect on dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice.

Chemo-sensitivity of Two-dimensional Monolayer and Three-dimensional Spheroid of Breast Cancer MCF-7 Cells to Daunorubicin, Docetaxel, and Arsenic Disulfide.

Background/aim: Chemo-sensitivity of two-dimensional (2D) monolayers and three-dimensional (3D) spheroids of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were investigated.

Materials And Methods: MCF-7 cells were cultured in monolayers or spheroids established using a thermo-reversible gelatin polymer, in the presence of daunorubicin, docetaxel, or AsS Cell proliferation was examined by a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay.

Results: Daunorubicin, docetaxel, and AsS dose-dependently decreased the MCF-7 cell proliferation in both 2D- and 3D-culture systems.

Immunomodulatory effects of the pentapeptide YGSRS on human peripheral-blood mononuclear cells.

Context: The pentapeptide YGSRS is originated from coffee bean, while its pharmacological features have little been examined.

Objectives: We investigated the effects of YGSRS on proliferation, cytokine production and CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T (Treg) cell frequency of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) activated by T-cell mitogen.

Materials And Methods: The effects of YGSRS on T-cell mitogen-activated PBMCs were assessed by WST assay procedures.

Cladribine enhances apoptotic cell death in lung carcinoma cells over-expressing DNase γ.

Worldwide, lung cancer is the most common form of cancer and often has a poor prognosis. Establishment of effective therapies for lung cancer is a major concern in clinical cancer research. We compared the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapeutic agents including cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, vinorelbine and cladribine, on a human lung cancer cell line, A549, and its derivative transfected with the DNase γ gene.

Free calvarial periosteum graft vascularized by an omental flap in a rat model.

Because omental flaps are useful for flap prefabrication and the cambium layer of the periosteum can be osteogenic, we examined whether calvarial periosteum grafted onto greater omentum of rats was osteogenic and suitable for a flap. Distal omentum was wrapped with calvarial periosteum and so the cambium faced the omentum. Grafted omentum was harvested at 1 to 9 days.

Omental flap closure of refractory wounds: rat model.

Omental flaps, with their associated rich and pliable vascular arcades, are frequently used in clinical practice for the reconstruction of complex and irregular defects. There is little experimental evidence, however, to prove that omental flaps can be a useful tool for the defects. Using a gastric-wall defect model, we performed histological and immunocytochemical examinations.

Phosphatidylcholine induces growth inhibition of hepatic cancer by apoptosis via death ligands.

Background/aims: Phosphatidylcholine reduces chemically-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats and the growth of hepatic cancer cells. We planned to determine whether apoptosis pathways via death ligands were induced by phosphatidylcholine.

Methodology: Growth inhibition of hepatic cancer cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, Alexander, and HuH-7) was examined by MTT assay.

Bid truncation mediated by caspases-3 and -9 in vinorelbine-induced apoptosis.

Vinorelbine is a chemotherapeutic vinca alkaloid clinically prescribed for non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer. Here we studied the mechanism for vinorelbine-induced apoptosis in a human T-cell lymphoma. Although vinorelbine induces DNA fragmentation that is inhibited by specific peptide inhibitors for caspases-9 and -3 in Jurkat cells, caspase-8 deficiency retards vinorelbine-induced apoptosis.

[Apoptotic mechanisms induced in breast cancer cells by vinorelbine].

Vinorelbine (VNB) is one of new semi-synthesized vinka alkaloids developed in France, of which anti-tumor activity is susceptible mainly to non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer. Moreover, its clinical efficacy has been noted from single-agent therapy or combination therapy with taxanes. It is assumed that VNB selectively acts on tubulin which elaborates microtubules, strands the cells at G 1 phase and interferes with the mitosis.

Prevention of hepatocarcinogenesis with phosphatidylcholine and menaquinone-4: in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Background/aims: We examined whether phosphatidylcholine inhibited growth of hepatic cancer, as previously shown for menaquinone-4 (vitamin K2).

Methods: Growth inhibitions by phosphatidylcholine and/or menaquinone-4 and apoptosis induction by phosphatidylcholine were evaluated in vitro using human hepatic cancer cell lines (Hep-3B, Hep-G2, HuH-7, and Alexander). Effects of these agents were then investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats against hepatocarcinogenesis induced by diethylnitrosamine plus phenobarbital.

Gene therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma using sonoporation enhanced by contrast agents.

We examined whether sonoporation enhanced by a contrast agent (BR14) was effective in gene therapy for hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC). Human hepatic cancer cells (SK-Hep1) and plasmid cDNAs expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP), interferonbeta (IFNbeta), and LacZ were used. In vitro, SK-Hep1 cell suspensions with DNA and BR14 were sonoporated.

Intracellular signaling in the induction of apoptosis in a human breast cancer cell line by water extract of Mekabu.

Background: We previously reported that water extract of Mekabu, a kind of seaweed, induced apoptosis in a human breast cancer cell line. In the present study we investigated intracellular signaling in apoptosis, with a focus on caspases.

Methods: Mekabu extract, obtained with ultrapure water, was used to induce apoptosis in a human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB231, and DNA fractionation was investigated by flow cytometry and electrophoresis.

Paeoniflorin induces apoptosis of lymphocytes through a redox-linked mechanism.

Paeoniflorin (PF), isolated from paeony root, has been used as a herbal medicine for more than 1,200 years in China, Korea, and Japan for its anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, and immunoregulatory effects. In this study, we found that PF induces apoptosis in both murine T-lineage cells and human T-cell leukemia Jurkat cells. This apoptosis was mediated through the reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase, and fragmentation of DNA.

Nicorandil inhibits oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in cardiac myocytes through activation of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channels and a nitrate-like effect.

The anti-anginal drug nicorandil has been shown to inhibit apoptosis by activating mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels. The possible contribution of the nitrate moiety of this drug to its anti-apoptotic effect has now been investigated in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes subjected to oxidative stress. Exposure of cultured myocytes to 100 micromol/l hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) increased the number of nuclei stained by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling technique as well as induced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, cytochrome c release into the cytosol, and activation of caspases-3 and -9, all of which are characteristics of apoptosis.

Murine lymph node-derived stromal cells effectively support survival but induce no activation/proliferation of peripheral resting T cells in vitro.

Little is known about the homeostatic mechanisms by which the levels of peripheral lymphocytes are maintained. The survival of naïve T cells in vivo must be maintained by some factors that have not been characterized in an in vitro culture system. In this study, we established a culture system of stromal cells derived from murine lymph nodes and investigated the action of the stromal cells in supporting the survival of resting T cells in vitro.

Involvement of MKK6 in TCRalphabeta(int)CD69lo: a target population for apoptotic cell death in thymocytes.

By analyzing real-time caspase activity and DNA fragmentation in live thymocytes, we found that apoptosis occurs predominantly in a TCRalphabeta(int)/hiCD69lo population. The number of caspase-active cells and DNA-fragmented cells in MKK6-deficient mice, which were originally generated in our laboratory by gene targeting, was decreased in the TCRalphabeta(int)CD69lo population but not in the TCRalphabetahiCD69lo population. The percentage of caspase-active cells in the H-Y-specific TCRint population was more clearly decreased in male MKK6-deficient H-Y TCR-transgenic mice.

Prevention of free-radical induced apoptosis by induction of human recombinant Cu, Zn-SOD in pig endothelial cells.

Vascular endothelial cells are the prime target in ischemia reperfusion injury. Growing evidence has shown that one of the main etiologies is considered to be reactive oxygen species (ROS) that induce endothelial-cell death either by necrosis or apoptosis. Cultured porcine endothelial cells were transfected with human copper, zinc-superoxide dismutase (h-Cu, Zn-SOD) to investigate whether these cells can prevent apoptosis from oxidative injury in vitro.