Nutritional aspects of manganese from experimental studies.

In experimental animals, dietary manganese deficiency can result in numerous biochemical and structural abnormalities. Deficient animals can be characterized by impaired insulin production, alterations in lipoprotein metabolism, an impaired oxidant defense system, and perturbations in growth factor metabolism. If the deficiency occurs during early development, there can be pronounced skeletal abnormalities and an irreversible ataxia.

Inhibitory effects of combinations of HER-2/neu antibody and chemotherapeutic agents used for treatment of human breast cancers.

Previous studies have demonstrated a synergistic interaction between rhuMAb HER2 and the cytotoxic drug cisplatin in human breast and ovarian cancer cells. To define the nature of the interaction between rhuMAb HER2 and other classes of cytotoxic drugs, we applied multiple drug effect/combination index (CI) isobologram analysis to a variety of chemotherapeutic drug/rhuMAb HER2 combinations in vitro. Synergistic interactions at clinically relevant drug concentrations were observed for rhuMAb HER2 in combination with cisplatin (CI=0.

A sensitive fluorometric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay that measures vascular endothelial growth factor165 in human plasma.

A specific and sensitive fluorometric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to measure endogenous levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) in human plasma. The ELISA can be performed in 10% human EDTA plasma, yielding a neat plasma sensitivity of 10 pg/ml or 0.2 pM.

A His19 to Ala mutant of melanoma growth-stimulating activity is a partial antagonist of the CXCR2 receptor.

Melanoma growth stimulating activity (MGSA) and IL-8 are related chemokines that are potent chemoattractants and activators of neutrophils both in vitro and in vivo. Increasing evidence suggests that these molecules play an important role in inflammation; thus, antagonists of their action could be useful therapeutically as antiinflammatory agents. We have generated an MGSA mutant, H19A, that shows a dissociation between receptor binding and biologic activity.

The influence of manganese deficiency on serum IGF-1 and IGF binding proteins in the male rat.

Young male rats subjected to a dietary manganese (Mn) deficiency respond to the deficiency by reducing their growth rate. The growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis is critical for linear growth; this system is exquisitely sensitive to the nutritional state of the animal. In this study, we examined circulating GH, IGF-1, and insulin levels in Mn-deficient (-Mn; fed a 0.