Activation of murine macrophages.

Macrophages can act as potent effector cells of the immune response. Cytokine signals generated during an immune response activate macrophages in a complex cascade of events. Activated macrophages are qualitatively different from mature resident tissue macrophages and from immature inflammatory macrophages.

Isolation of murine macrophages.

Macrophages isolated from murine peritoneal cavity, bone marrow, and spleen are suitable samples for studying the activation properties of this immunologically important cell type. This unit describes the isolation of murine macrophages from the peritoneal cavity under inflammatory and noninflammatory conditions. To investigate macrophage activation using a more homogeneous population of cells, macrophages derived from immature progenitor cells in bone marrow can be studied.

Generation of a specific immunological response to FGF-2 does not affect wound healing or reproduction.

Angiogenesis, the process of new capillary formation from pre-existing vessels, has been established as an important mechanism involved in pathologic processes, such as cancer, as well as in normal physiology (Ribatti, D.; Vacca, A.; Roncali, L.

Synergistic activity of recombinant human endostatin in combination with adriamycin: analysis of in vitro activity on endothelial cells and in vivo tumor progression in an orthotopic murine mammary carcinoma model.

Purpose: Current combination treatment strategies in malignancy are designed to evaluate the use of cytotoxic drugs and antiangiogenic agents. Endostatin, a fragment of collagen XVIII, specifically inhibits proliferation, migration, and differentiation of endothelial cells in vitro as well as angiogenesis and tumor progression in in vivo models. In this study, we determine the antitumor effect of rhEndostatin administered alone or in combination with Adriamycin against established orthotopic murine mammary carcinoma.