Pulmonary infiltrates in Costello Syndrome.

This paper reports on a patient with diffuse pulmonary infiltrates directly related to Costello Syndrome. This congenital disorder is characterised by multiple congenital abnormalities, such as psychomotor retardation, short stature, redundant skin, papillomata, curly hair, relative macroencephaly, distinctive face and various defects of internal organs. This study is the first to document the histopathological findings in the lungs.

Cathepsin L antisense oligonucleotides in a human osteosarcoma cell line: effects on the invasive phenotype.

Alterations in cathepsin L expression and trafficking have been associated with the progression and metastasis of several tumor entities. In the present study, we examined the effects of various cathepsin L antisense (as) phosphorothioate oligonucleotides on both the expression of cathepsin L and the invasive potential of the human osteosarcoma cell line MNNG/HOS. Seven oligonucleotides of 20-bp length each and one random control oligonucleotide were chosen to block cathepsin L expression.

Expression of cathepsin K in chordoma.

Invasive growth of chordoma is accompanied by severe destruction of adjacent bone tissue, a fact that requires high proteolytic activity at the tumor invasion fronts. In this context, cathepsin K is a candidate molecule. It is a protease with high collagenolytic and elastinolytic activity and previously thought to be restricted to osteoclasts and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption.

Inhibitory effects of antisense cathepsin B cDNA transfection on invasion and motility in a human osteosarcoma cell line.

Increased activity, membrane association, and secretion of cathepsin B have been shown to correlate positively with invasiveness and the metastatic properties of many tumor entities. Cathepsin B is able to directly facilitate invasion by degrading extracellular matrix components or to indirectly facilitate invasion by activating other matrix-degrading proteases like the urokinase-type plasminogen activator. To investigate the role of cathepsin B in bone tumor invasion, the osteosarcoma cell line MNNG/HOS was stably transfected with an expression vector capable of expressing the antisense cDNA transcript of cathepsin B.