Mitochondrial Malfunctioning, Proteasome Arrest and Apoptosis in Cancer Cells by Focused Intracellular Generation of Oxygen Radicals.

Photofrin/photodynamic therapy (PDT) at sub-lethal doses induced a transient stall in proteasome activity in surviving A549 (p53(+/+)) and H1299 (p53(-/-)) cells as indicated by the time-dependent decline/recovery of chymotrypsin-like activity. Indeed, within 3 h of incubation, Photofrin invaded the cytoplasm and localized preferentially within the mitochondria. Its light activation determined a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential and a reversible arrest in proteasomal activity.

Screening and Scoring of Antimicrobial and Biological Activities of Italian Vulnerary Plants against Major Oral Pathogenic Bacteria.

This study aims to evaluate the activity of Italian vulnerary plants against the most important oral pathogenic bacteria. This estimate was accomplished through a fivefold process: (a) a review of ethnobotanical and microbiological data concerning the Italian vulnerary plants; (b) the development of a scoring system to rank the plants; (c) the comparative assessment of microbiological properties; (d) the assessment of potential cytotoxic effects on keratinocyte-like cells and gingival fibroblasts in culture by XTT cell viability assay; (e) clinical evaluation of the most suitable plant extract as antibacterial agent in a home-made mouthwash. The study assays hexane (H), ethanol (E), and water (W) extracts from 72 plants.

5-aminolaevulinic acid/photo-dynamic therapy and gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines: a potential strategy to improve gefitinib therapeutic efficacy.

Objectives: Often, non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) respond only poorly to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) gefitinib, which targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), these poor responders EGFRs lacking activating mutations. In this study, we have attempted to improve TKI response of NSCLC cell lines (A549 and H1299) devoid of EGFR mutations, by combination of gefitinib and 5-ALA/photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Materials And Methods: Cells of the two lines were incubated with gefitinib (from 0.

Cells derived from normal or cancer breast tissue exhibit different growth properties when deprived of arginine.

Arginine deprivation impairs cell proliferation more strong in cancer than in normal cells; thus, it has been proposed that such an effect could be exploited for cancer therapy. We have compared the effect of arginine deprivation on normal and cancer cells, studying growth rate, morphology, and protein expression patterns in immortalized human MCF10a cells and in MCF7 cells. Arginine deprivation forces MCF10a cells into irreversible senescence while the vast majority of MCF7 cells become quiescent and resume normal growth following arginine re-addition.

Synthesis and evaluation of folate-based chlorambucil delivery systems for tumor-targeted chemotherapy.

The development of tumor-targeting drug delivery systems, able to selectively transport cytotoxic agents into the tumor site by exploiting subtle morphological and physiological differences between healthy and malignant cells, currently stands as one of the most attractive anticancer strategies used to overcome the selectivity problems of conventional chemotherapy. Owing to frequent overexpression of folate receptors (FRs) on the surface of malignant cells, conjugation of cytotoxic agents to folic acid (FA) via suitable linkers have demonstrated to enhance selective drug delivery to the tumor site. Herein, the chemical synthesis and biological evaluation of two novel folate-conjugates bearing the anticancer agent chlorambucil (CLB) tethered to either an aminoether (4,7,10-trioxa-1,13-tridecanediamine) or a pseudo-β-dipeptide (β-Ala-ED-β-Ala) linker is reported.

Enhancing photodynamyc therapy efficacy by combination therapy: dated, current and oncoming strategies.

Combination therapy is a common practice in many medical disciplines. It is defined as the use of more than one drug to treat the same disease. Sometimes this expression describes the simultaneous use of therapeutic approaches that target different cellular/molecular pathways, increasing the chances of killing the diseased cell.

Targets and mechanisms of photodynamic therapy in lung cancer cells: a brief overview.

Lung cancer remains one of the most common cancer-related causes of death. This type of cancer typically develops over a period of many years, and if detected at an early enough stage can be eliminated by a variety of treatments including photodynamic therapy (PDT). A critical discussion on the clinical applications of PDT in lung cancer is well outside the scope of the present report, which, in turn focuses on mechanistic and other aspects of the photodynamic action at a molecular and cellular level.

Combination of photodynamic therapy with aspirin in human-derived lung adenocarcinoma cells affects proteasome activity and induces apoptosis.

Objectives: Photodynamic treatment (PDT) of human lung carcinoma cells A549 (p53(+/+)) and H1299 (p53(-/-)) induces fast but transient stalling of proteasome activity. We have explored the possibility of prolonging this effect by combining PDT with drugs capable of sustaining the stall, and promote apoptosis of surviving cells. We show that aspirin can be used to accomplish this.

Twilight effects of low doses of ionizing radiation on cellular systems: a bird's eye view on current concepts and research.

The debate about the health risks from low doses of radiation is vigorous and often acrimonious since many years and does not appear to weaken. Being far from completeness, this review presents only a bird's eye view on current concepts and research in the field. It is organized and divided in two parts.

Exposure to modeled microgravity induces metabolic idleness in malignant human MCF-7 and normal murine VSMC cells.

We investigated the effect of modeled microgravity (MMG) on normal vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and neoplastic human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). In both cell types, MMG induced partial arrest in G2M and increased p14-3-3, HSP70, HSP60 and p21 expression. Cells synchronized by 24h starvation reentered the normal cycle within 24h if released in complete medium and exposed to normal gravity, but not if exposed to MMG.

Low doses of cisplatin or gemcitabine plus Photofrin/photodynamic therapy: Disjointed cell cycle phase-related activity accounts for synergistic outcome in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer cells (H1299).

We compared the effects of monotherapy (photodynamic therapy or chemotherapy) versus combination therapy (photodynamic therapy plus a specific drug) on the non-small cell lung cancer cell line H1299. Our aim was to evaluate whether the additive/synergistic effects of combination treatment were such that the cytostatic dose could be reduced without affecting treatment efficacy. Photodynamic therapy was done by irradiating Photofrin-preloaded H1299 p53/p16-null cells with a halogen lamp equipped with a bandpass filter.

Microgravity alters basal and insulin-mediated metabolic activity of normal and neoplastic cells.

In this paper we report the behaviour of normal vascular smooth muscle cells and transformed breast cancer cells under normal versus simulated microgravity conditions by comparing cell proliferation, Glucose transport, Methionine uptake and protein synthesis. Modeled microgravity profoundly affects cell growth (especially in normal cells) and Glucose or Methionine metabolism (although to different extent in the two cell lines). Since both cells own responsive insulin receptors, the comparison was extended to insulin-stimulated versus unstimulated conditions.

Photodynamic therapy with indocyanine green complements and enhances low-dose cisplatin cytotoxicity in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Objective: We investigated the effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined with low-dose chemotherapy on breast cancer cells. Photodynamic treatment was administered by irradiating indocyanine green-preloaded MCF-7 cells with an IR diode laser source at 805 nm; cisplatin was used for chemotherapy.

Methods: The dose-response phenomena associated with the two treatments administered individually and together were evaluated with the following tests: trypan blue dye exclusion, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, clonogenic survival, thymidine and methionine incorporation, and insulin-dependent and insulin-independent glucose transport.