MG-63 osteoblast-like cells enhance the osteoprotegerin expression of PC-3 prostate cancer cells.

Background: Osteoprotegerin (OPG) expression participates in the pathophysiology of osteoblastic metastasis in prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: We investigated whether the expression of OPG of PC-3 prostate cancer cells grown in 3-D collagen gels is stimulated by co-culture with MG-63 osteoblast-like cells. The expression of Runx2 (Cbfa1) and OPG were assessed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis.

Mechanisms of the action of zoledronic acid on human MG-63 osteosarcoma cells.

The aim of our study was to analyze the action of zoledronic acid on MG-63 human osteosarcoma cells. The proliferation of MG-63 cells was inhibited by either continuous or pulsatile exposures of zoledronic acid in a dose-dependent manner (10-250 microM). Zoledronic acid did not produce evidence of MG-63 cell death when administered at 100 mM for 48 hours, but only after exposure of 96 hours.

Serum levels of the osteoprotegerin, receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand, metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and tissue inhibitors of MMP-1 levels are increased in men 6 months after acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) are critical regulators of bone remodeling and RANKL/RANK signaling could also play an important role in the remodeling process of several tissues, such as myocardium. Therefore, we investigated whether the serum concentrations of OPG and RANKL correlate with the serum levels of metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), MMP-9 and tissue inhibitors of MMP-1 (TIMP-1), which are known regulators of myocardial healing in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients.

Methods: We analyzed blood samples from 51 consecutively hospitalized men with AMI, 12 men with established ischemic heart failure (New York Heart Association category II, NYHA-II) and 12 healthy men age-matched to the NYHA-II patients.

Microarray analysis of survival pathways in human PC-3 prostate cancer cells.

Background: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFbeta1), and interleukin 6 (IL-6), act as survival factors inhibiting chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in PC-3 human prostate cancer cells, in vitro.

Materials And Methods: To study the intracellular pathways activated by these survival factors we performed a comparative genomic analysis using oligonucleotide microarray chips. A validation by real time-PCR was also performed for the genes of interest.

Implants of type I collagen gel containing MG-63 osteoblast-like cells can act as stable scaffolds stimulating the bone healing process at the sites of the surgically-produced segmental diaphyseal defects in male rabbits.

Background: Three-dimensional (3-D) type I collagen gel culture systems allow long-term growth of osteoblast-like cells, in vitro. Whether the implantation of 3-D collagen systems can stimulate new bone formation was assessed in male rabbits.

Materials And Methods: A 10-mm segmental diaphyseal defect was surgically produced at the left and right limbs of 50 adult male rabbits.