Publications by authors named "Athanasios Glekas"

Unlabelled: Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2001 for treatment of many different stages of chronic myeloid leukemia and in 2002 for treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

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Positron emission tomography (PET) of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase-specific radiolabeled tracers could provide a means for non-invasively characterizing EGFR expression and signaling activity in patients' tumors before, during, and after therapy with EGFR inhibitors. Towards this goal, our group has developed PET tracers which irreversibly bind to EGFR. However, tumor uptake is relatively low because of both the lipophilicity of such tracers (e.

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The hydrogen bonding interactions between the Klenow fragment of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I with the proofreading exonuclease inactivated (KF(-)) and the minor groove of DNA were examined with modified oligodeoxynucleotides in which 3-deazaguanine (3DG) replaced guanine. This substitution would prevent a hydrogen bond from forming between the polymerase and that one site on the DNA. If the hydrogen bonding interaction were important, then we should observe a decrease in the rate of reaction.

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NO-donating aspirin (NO-ASA), a novel pharmacological agent currently undergoing clinical testing, consists of ASA to which a nitrate group is covalently linked via a spacer molecule. We synthesized the three positional isomers of NO-ASA with respect to the -CH(2)ONO(2) group (ortho, meta, and para) and examined whether this isomerism affects the biological activity of NO-ASA on HT-29 human colon cancer cells. The ortho- and para-isomers showed similar IC(50) values (1-5 microM) for cell growth inhibition over 72 h, whereas the IC(50) of the meta-isomer was 200 to 500 microM.

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c-Abl, a conserved nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, integrates genotoxic stress responses, acting as a transducer of both pro- and antiapoptotic effector pathways. Nuclear c-Abl seems to interact with the p53 homolog p73 to elicit apoptosis. Although several observations suggest that cytoplasmic localization of c-Abl is required for antiapoptotic function, the signals that mediate its antiapoptotic effect are largely unknown.

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The first silanediol inhibitor of thermolysin is reported, prepared by analogy with the Grobelny/Bartlett phosphinate inhibitor. A Cbz group on nitrogen proved to be unstable to the triflic acid mediated silanediol deprotection and was replaced with a dihydrocinnamoyl group. The silanediol was prepared in high purity by hydrolysis of a difluorosilane intermediate and proved to be an effective inhibitor, differing from the phosphinate by a factor of 4 (K(i)=41nM).

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