Cytokines and radiation-induced pulmonary injuries.

Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatment strategies for thorax malignancies. One of the considerable limitations of this therapy is its toxicity to normal tissue. The lung is the major dose-limiting organ for radiotherapy.

New Light on An Old Friend: Targeting PUMA in Radioprotection and Therapy of Cardiovascular and Neurodegenerative Diseases.

This review summarizes recent progress in understanding the role of p53-upregulated mediator of apoptosis (PUMA) in molecular pathways with respect to its potential therapeutic applications. Particular emphasis is given to the PUMA´s role in ionizing radiation-induced signalling as radiotoxicity of normal tissue is mediated mostly via apoptosis. PUMA and its p53-dependent and p53- independent induction are described and potential use as a new target for the development of radioprotective agents is suggested.

The first in vivo multiparametric comparison of different radiation exposure biomarkers in human blood.

The increasing risk of acute large-scale radiological/nuclear exposures of population underlines the necessity of developing new, rapid and high throughput biodosimetric tools for estimation of received dose and initial triage. We aimed to compare the induction and persistence of different radiation exposure biomarkers in human peripheral blood in vivo. Blood samples of patients with indicated radiotherapy (RT) undergoing partial body irradiation (PBI) were obtained soon before the first treatment and then after 24 h, 48 h, and 5 weeks; i.

Cold Plasma and Acid Treatment Modification Effects on Phonolite.

A sample of phonolite was treated by cold plasma and hydrochloric acid diluted in water to study the change of its structure and acid properties. The phonolite and treated samples were analysed by XRD, elemental analysis XRF, specific surface area BET, TPD-NH3 and FT-IR spectroscopy. They were also tested in the adsorption of Ca, K, Mg, P and Na impurities present in waste cooking oil.

B cell subsets are activated and produce cytokines during early phases of Francisella tularensis LVS infection.

Francisella tularensis, a facultative intracellular Gram-negative bacterium, causes the illness tularemia. The infection of mice with live vaccine strain is considered to be a model of human tularemia. F.

Radio-sensitization of human leukaemic MOLT-4 cells by DNA-dependent protein kinase inhibitor, NU7441.

We studied the effect of pre-incubation with NU7441, a specific inhibitor of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), on molecular mechanisms triggered by ionizing radiation (IR). The experimental design involved four groups of human T-lymphocyte leukaemic MOLT-4 cells: control, NU7441-treated (1 μM), IR-treated (1 Gy), and combination of NU7441 and IR. We used flow cytometry for apoptosis assessment, Western blotting and ELISA for detection of proteins involved in DNA repair signalling and epifluorescence microscopy for detection of IR-induced phosphorylation of histone H2A.

Inhibition of ATR kinase with the selective inhibitor VE-821 results in radiosensitization of cells of promyelocytic leukaemia (HL-60).

We compared the effects of inhibitors of kinases ATM (KU55933) and ATR (VE-821) (incubated for 30 min before irradiation) on the radiosensitization of human promyelocyte leukaemia cells (HL-60), lacking functional protein p53. VE-821 reduces phosphorylation of check-point kinase 1 at serine 345, and KU55933 reduces phosphorylation of check-point kinase 2 on threonine 68 as assayed 4 h after irradiation by the dose of 6 Gy. Within 24 h after gamma-irradiation with a dose of 3 Gy, the cells accumulated in the G2 phase (67 %) and the number of cells in S phase decreased.

Radio-sensitization of human leukaemic molt-4 cells by DNA-dependent protein kinase inhibitor, NU7026.

In this paper we describe the influence of NU7026, a specific inhibitor of DNA-dependent protein kinase, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, and ATM-kinase on molecular and cellular mechanisms triggered by ionising irradiation in human T-lymphocyte leukaemic MOLT-4 cells. We studied the effect of this inhibitor (10 1microM) combined with gamma-radiation (1 Gy) leading to DNA damage response and induction of apoptosis. We used methods for apoptosis assessment (cell viability count and flow-cytometric analysis) and cell cycle analysis (DNA content measurement) and we detected expression and post-translational modifications (Western blotting) of proteins involved in DNA repair signalling pathways.

Lymphocyte subsets and their H2AX phosphorylation in response to in vivo irradiation in rats.

Purpose: The objective of the study was to investigate differences in the radiosensitivity of rat peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets identified by expression of surface clusters of differentiation markers (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD45RA, CD161) after whole-body in vivo gamma-ray irradiation and to assess their individual histone H2AX phosphorylation as an early cell response to irradiation.

Materials And Methods: The relative representations of CD45RA B-lymphocytes, CD161 natural killer cells (NK cells), CD3CD4 T-lymphocyte subset and CD3CD8 T-lymphocyte subset in the rat peripheral blood were studied 24-72 hours after irradiation in a dose range of 0-5 Gy. Their intracellular H2AX phosphorylation (γ-H2AX) after 4 Gy and 9 Gy whole-body in vivo irradiation was assessed by multicolour flow cytometry.

Activation of p38 MAPK and expression of TGF-β1 in rat colon enterocytes after whole body γ-irradiation.

Purpose: To examine the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38) phosphorylation and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) expression in rat colon enterocytes after irradiation and their contribution to pathology of intestinal radiation disease.

Materials And Methods: Male Wistar rats were irradiated with whole body γ-radiation of 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 Gy ((60)Co, 1.

Sensitivity of porcine peripheral blood leukocytes to gamma irradiation in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo.

Purpose: The large white pig is a useful experimental model to compare in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo sensitivity of peripheral blood leukocytes to ionising radiation. Such studies are impossible to perform in humans and laboratory rodents due to ethical reasons and body size, respectively. We analysed dose- and time-dependent changes of lymphocyte and granulocyte absolute numbers in porcine peripheral blood after either whole-body irradiation (in vivo and ex vivo experiments) or exposure of porcine whole blood to γ-irradiation (in vitro experiments).

Exposure to fractionated dose of 60 Gy affects molecular response of HL-60 cells to irradiation.

In this work we evaluated changes in molecular response of human promyelocyte leukemia cells HL-60 and HL-60-IR cells (HL-60 irradiated by 10 cycles of radiation with total dose of 60 Gy, given over a period of 3 months) to irradiation by the dose of 2 and 8 Gy. Analysis of CD11b and apoptosis by flow-cytometry revealed that on 3rd day after irradiation by 8 Gy the HL-60-IR are more resistant to radiation-induced apoptosis and more differentiated (increase in CD11b in non-apoptotic cells) than regular HL-60. We found that both types of cells have high basal level of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinases Erk1/2 .

Soman poisoning alters p38 MAPK pathway in rat cerebellar Purkinje cells.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) and MAPK-activated transcription factors elk-1, c-jun and c-myc in rat cerebellar Purkinje cells after soman poisoning to investigate the pathogenetic mechanism of non-specific long-term adverse effects of nerve agents. Male Wistar rats were poisoned by intramuscular administration of soman at a dose 60 microg kg(-1) (80% LD(50)), while control animals were administered physiological saline. Samples were taken 1, 7 and 14 days after poisoning, immunohistochemically stained and p-p38MAPK, p-c-jun, p-c-myc, and p-elk-1 expressions were measured using computer image analysis.