Anti-inflammatory activity of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol in human articular cartilage in vitro: activation of an anti-inflammatory cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pathway.

Introduction: The mono- and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG and DGDG) galactolipids have been purified from the thermophilic blue-green alga Phormidium sp. ETS-05 that colonizes the therapeutic thermal mud of Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme, Italy. Both compounds present a marked composition in polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly omega-3.

Patients with oral erosive and cutaneous lichen planus may have antibodies directed against the chronic ulcerative stomatitis protein antigen of 70-kDa.

Objective: The aim of this study is to verify whether stratified epithelium-specific antinuclear antibodies are present in the sera of patients with erosive oral lichen planus and cutaneous lichen planus.

Methods: We studied the pre-immune and immune serum of a rabbit immunized with a peptide corresponding to the N-terminus of the 70-kDa antigen chronic ulcerative stomatitis protein; sera from two patients, one with oral erosive lichen planus and one with cutaneous lichen planus who presented stratified epithelium-specific antinuclear antibodies at high titer; and a third serum from a patient with cutaneous lichen planus without stratified epithelium-specific antinuclear antibodies.

Results: We demonstrated that the protein bands recognized by the serum of the rabbit immunized with an epitope of chronic ulcerative stomatitis protein co-migrated by SDS-PAGE with the protein bands recognized by the serum of a patient affected by oral erosive lichen planus and by the serum of a patient with cutaneous lichen planus, both containing antibodies directed against a 70-kDa antigen.

Cholesterol secretion and homeostasis in chondrocytes: a liver X receptor and retinoid X receptor heterodimer mediates apolipoprotein A1 expression.

Cholesterol is required for chondrocyte differentiation and bone formation. Apolipoprotein A1 (apoA-1) plays a major role in lipoprotein clearance and cholesterol redistribution. We report here that apoA-1 is expressed during chondrocyte differentiation in vitro and in vivo.

Molecular characterization and developmental expression pattern of the chicken apolipoprotein D gene: implications for the evolution of vertebrate lipocalins.

The insect Lazarillo and the mammalian apolipoprotein D (ApoD) are orthologous members of the lipocalin protein family. We report the cloning and embryonic expression of chicken ApoD, the first molecularly characterized nonmammalian ApoD. We also report the ApoD expression in mouse during postnatal development and some novel aspects of the expression of the paralogous lipocalin prostaglandin D-synthase (PGDS) and discuss these results in view of the lipocalin family evolution in vertebrates.