Publications by authors named "Litong Du"

Myeloid sarcoma (MS) is a rare extra-medullary solid tumor of immature myeloid cells. While it can be an isolated diagnosis, MS is frequently associated with acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic disorders. Although there have been few cases documented that demonstrate the presence of MS in multiple organs at presentation, concomitant involvement of ileum and appendix has never been described.

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Background: Laparoscopy has emerged as the "gold standard" procedure for many diseases that require surgical treatment. Our goal was to assess the outcomes of laparoscopic vs open partial gastrectomies for the management of gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the stomach (gGIST) using a national database.

Methods: Using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database (2006-2009), we identified patients who underwent laparoscopic and open partial gastrectomy gGIST.

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We previously reported that angiotensin II stimulates an increase in nitric oxide production in pulmonary artery endothelial cells. The aims of this study were to determine which receptor subtype mediates the angiotensin II-dependent increase in nitric oxide production and to investigate the roles of the angiotensin type 1 and type 2 receptors in modulating angiotensin II-dependent vasoconstriction in pulmonary arteries. Pulmonary artery endothelial cells express both angiotensin II type 1 and type 2 receptors as assessed by RT-PCR, Western blot analysis, and flow cytometry.

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By preventing deacetylation of histones, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) transcriptionally induce p21. Here we show that the HDIs sodium butyrate (Bu), trichostatin A (TSA) and depsipeptide (FR901228) all induced p21, but only TSA and FR901228 caused mitotic arrest (in addition to arrest in G1 and G2). The ability to cause mitotic arrest correlated with the higher cytotoxicity of these compounds.

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Analogous to caspases, serine (Ser) proteases are involved in protein degradation during apoptosis. It is unknown, however, whether Ser proteases are activated concurrently, sequentially, or as an alternative to the activation of caspases. Using fluorescent inhibitors of caspases (FLICA) and Ser proteases (FLISP), novel methods to detect activation of these enzymes in apoptotic cells, we demonstrate that two types of Ser protease sites become accessible to these inhibitors during apoptosis of HL-60 cells.

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Onconase (ONC) is a ribonuclease isolated from amphibian oocytes that is cytostatic and cytotoxic to numerous tumor lines. ONC shows in vivo anti-tumor activity in mouse tumor models and is currently in Phase III clinical trials. Previous studies indicated that ONC induces apoptosis of the target cells most likely along the mitochondrial pathway involving caspase-9 as the initiator caspase.

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