Anticancer properties of peptide fragments of hair proteins.

The primary function of hair and fur covering mammalian skin is to provide mechanical and thermal protection for the body. The proteins that constitute hair are extremely resistant to degradation by environmental factors. However, even durable materials can be slowly broken down by mechanical stresses, biodegradation mediated by endogenous enzymes in the skin or host microbes.

Opioid agonist--tachykinin antagonist as a new analgesic with adjuvant anticancer properties.

Opiate analgesics like morphine or fentanyl are the most widely used medicines for relieving severe acute or chronic pain, including cancer pain. Unfortunately, chronic pain treatment is associated with fast development of tolerance that creates the need to escalate the treatment doses. In addition, opiates may stimulate progression of cancer.

Adjuvant vaccination with melanoma antigen-pulsed dendritic cells in stage III melanoma patients.

Dendritic cells may be successfully used to induce in vivo-specific anti-tumor responses when combined with the appropriate antigen in the appropriate context. The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy of peptide-loaded DC vaccine in high-risk stage III melanoma patients after lymph node dissection (LND). HLA-A2+, -A1+, or -A3+ melanoma patients (N=22), stage III, N1b-N3, received 5–16 (median: 11) DC vaccines loaded with MHC class-I-restricted melanoma peptides respective to the patient’s haplotype, and with autologous tumor lysate, if available.

Susceptibility loci and chromosomal abnormalities in radiation induced hematopoietic neoplasms in mice.

Genetics of susceptibility to radiation-induced hematopoietic neoplasms and somatic chromosomal aberrations were analyzed in 305 backcross (CcS-17xCcS-2)xCcS-2 mice of two CcS/Dem recombinant congenic strains. Irradiated CcS-2 mice were previously shown to exhibit high frequency of myeloid neoplasms whereas irradiated CcS-17 mice were susceptible to T-cell lymphomas. Mice were exposed to four whole-body irradiation doses of 1.

Spontaneously immortalized T lymphocytes from Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome patients display phenotypes typical for lymphoma cells.

We found that the peripheral T lymphocytes from four of eight patients with the lymphoma predisposing Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (NBS) acquired an unlimited growth potential following in vitro mitogen stimulation and subsequent interleukin-2-dependent propagation. The immortal T cell lines revealed morphological and other features typical for anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). In addition, multiple copies of ALK, but with no ALK gene rearrangements were found in a subpopulation of cells of one of the immortalized lines.

Estimation of DNA damage and cytotoxicity of anthracycline analogs in human melanoma cells on early and late passages.

Human malignant melanoma is a major problem characterized by both rapid rising incidence and strong chemoresistance. The aim of present experiments was to estimate the effects on DNA of new anthracycline analogs in melanoma cells obtained from various patients, cultured on early (E) and late (L) passages. For determination of cytotoxic effect, MTT assay was used and comet assay was used for the detection of DNA damage.

Up-regulation of human PNPase mRNA by beta-interferon has no effect on protein level in melanoma cell lines.

Human mitochondrial polynucleotide phosphorylase (hPNPase) is an exoribonuclease localized in mitochondria. The exact physiological function of this enzyme is unknown. Recent studies have revealed the existence of a relationship between induction of hPNPase mRNA and both cellular senescence and growth arrest of melanoma cells following beta-interferon treatment.

Nonviral transfection of human umbilical cord blood dendritic cells is feasible, but the yield of dendritic cells with transgene expression limits the application of this method in cancer immunotherapy.

Dendritic cells (DC) generated from human umbilical cord blood might replace patients' DC in attempts to elicit tumor-specific immune response in cancer patients. We studied the efficiency of transfection of human cord blood DC with plasmid DNA carrying the enhanced version of green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a reporter gene, to test if nonviral gene transfer would be a method to load DC with protein antigens for immunotherapy purposes. Cord blood mononuclear cells were cultured in serum-free medium in the presence of granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), stem cell factor (SCF) and Flt-3 ligand (FL), to generate DC from their precursors, and thereafter transfected by electroporation.

The effect of acetylshikonin isolated from Lithospermum canescens roots on tumor-induced cutaneous angiogenesis.

This study has demonstrated that acetylshikonin (ACS), the isolated ingredient from Lithospermum canescens Lehm. roots, in a daily dose of 200 microg for 3 days, inhibited cutaneous angiogenesis induced by L-1 sarcoma cells in Balb/c mice.