Beclin1-induced autophagy abrogates radioresistance of lung cancer cells by suppressing osteopontin.

Osteopontin (OPN) serves as an indicator of resistance to radiotherapy. However, the role of OPN in the development of acquired radioresistance in human lung cancer cells has not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, the potential importance of OPN as a marker of lung cancer with a potential significant role in the development of radioresistance against repeated radiotherapy has prompted us to define the pathways by which OPN regulates lung cancer cell growth.

A collaborative study to establish the 1st national standard of prekallikrein activator in Korea.

The aim of this study was to establish the first national standard for prekallikrein activator (PKA) calibrating to the first international standard PKA. A collaborative study among five laboratories, including three manufacturers and two national control laboratories, was carried out to evaluate the suitability of a candidate to serve as a national standard of PKA. The candidate was manufactured in GMP facility following approved human serum albumin fractionation procedure and freeze-dried 5% albumin solution containing PKA.

Diffusion of bioactive molecules through the walls of the medial tissue-engineered hybrid ePTFE grafts for applications in designs of vascular tissue regeneration.

Strategies of better vascular tissue engineering may require delivery of soluble bioactive signals in cell culture medium to the cells in tissue-regenerating constructs. We measured the diffusivity and permeability of model tissue-engineering bioactive molecules such as water and heparin through the walls of both a hybrid ePTFE graft and a porcine carotid artery, a model vascular tissue. While diffusivities of H(3)-water and H(3)-heparin were measured as 3.

Evaluations of blood compatibility via protein adsorption treatment of the vascular scaffold surfaces fabricated with polylactide and surface-modified expanded polytetrafluoroethylene for tissue engineering applications.

Blood compatibility was evaluated by short-term in vitro blood perfusion on candidate vascular scaffold surfaces of a biodegradable, porous polylactide scaffold and a chemically surface-modified expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) over a clinical ePTFE, by measuring blood cell adhesion either directly or after adsorption treatment with albumin and fibrinogen. The results indicated that the extent of blood cell adhesion was affected by scaffold surface properties and pre-adsorption of proteins such as fibrinogen and albumin. Surface morphologies and porosity of the scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and porosimetry, and the amount of fibrinogen and albumin adsorbed on the scaffolds was measured and verified by employing radiolabeled C(14) albumin and I(125) fibrinogen by a scintillation counter and a gamma counter, respectively.

A collaborative study to establish a Korea national biological standard for antithrombin concentrate.

Background And Objectives: Six laboratories consisting of three manufacturers and three national control laboratories participated in a collaborative study to evaluate the suitability of a candidate material to serve as the first Korean National Standard for Antithrombin (AT) concentrate.

Materials And Methods: The potency of this candidate preparation was determined using the heparin cofactor chromogenic method. The method is described in the Minimum Requirements for Biological Products in Korea and in the European Pharmacopoeia.

Flow cytometric assessment of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether on spermatogenesis in rats.

The effects of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGEE) on testicular cell populations in rats were investigated by a flow cytometric method. Rats were administered by gavage with EGEE at the various doses of 0 (saline alone), 100, 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg body weight/day for 4 weeks. The treatment of EGEE caused decreases in the weight of testis and epididymis and in the number of testicular cells.

An improved, reliable and practical kinetic assay for the detection of prekallikrein activator in blood products.

An improved kinetic assay for prekallikrein activator (PKA), a potential vasodilator, has been developed to be used as an indicator for quality control during production of human albumin preparations. It consists of two reaction stages. In the first stage, PKA and prekallikrein are incubated at 37 degrees C for 45 min to allow the transformation into kallikrein.