Reduced mammary tumor progression in a transgenic mouse model fed an isoflavone-poor soy protein concentrate.

Dietary exposure to soy has been associated with reduced breast cancer incidence. Soy isoflavones and protein components, such as protease inhibitors and the lunasin peptide, have been indicated as potential agents reducing carcinogenesis. In this study, the effect of soy-based diets was evaluated in a transgenic mouse model of breast carcinoma, overexpressing the neu oncogene.

Hydrolytic degradation of azimsulfuron, a sulfonylurea herbicide.

The chemical degradation of the herbicide azimsulfuron was investigated in aqueous solutions at different pH values. The hydrolysis rate, determined by HPLC analyses, was pH dependent and was much faster in acidic than in neutral or weakly basic conditions. The metabolites formed at different pH values were compared with standards when possible or isolated and identified using ESI-LC-MS/MS, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR.

Soy protein diet improves endothelial dysfunction in renal transplant patients.

Background: Since it has been demonstrated that soy diet can improve endothelial function, in the present study we evaluated the effect of dietary substitution of 25 g of animal proteins with soy proteins on endothelial dysfunction in renal transplant patients.

Methods: In 20 renal transplant patients (55 +/- 11 years, serum creatinine 1.7 +/- 0.

Preliminary approaches for the development of a high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method for the detection and label-free semi-quantitation of the main storage proteins of Lupinus albus in foods.

Since recent literature has indicated that white lupin (Lupinus albus) may be a useful source of hypocholesterolemic proteins to be used in functional food formulation, our final goal is the development of a fast and automated high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS/MS) method for the detection and the label-free semi-quantitation of the main lupin globulins in lupin foods and food ingredients. We present here some preliminary results in this direction. As a first step a total protein extract (TPE-WF) from lupin flakes was pre-fractionated by anion-exchange chromatography and each fraction was digested with trypsin and analyzed by HPLC/ESI-MS/MS.

Characterization and quantification of soy isoflavone metabolites in serum of renal transplanted patients by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

During a dietary intervention study on 16 renal transplanted patients, in which 25 g/day of animal proteins were replaced with 25 g of soy proteins, the metabolic profile of soy isoflavones in serum was characterized. This paper describes a reliable and fast liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) method, in negative ion mode, allowing the characterization and simultaneous quantification of several soy isoflavone metabolites. Six metabolites were identified and quantified: daidzein ([M-H](-) at m/z 252.

A simple method for the characterization and quantification of soy isoflavone metabolites in the serum of MMTV-Neu mice using high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring.

In a study aimed at elucidation of the possible role of dietary phytoestrogens in the growth of breast cancer, it was necessary to develop a convenient, accurate, and reproducible method for the characterization and quantification of isoflavone metabolites in the serum of MMTV mice that were fed diets containing different amounts of these polyphenols. The analytical method is based on liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode, using deuterated genistein as internal standard. The identified metabolites were genistein and dihydrodaidzein (DHD); their average concentrations in serum were 0.

Failure to warfarin to affect the tissue factor activity and the metastatic potential of murine fibrosarcoma cells.

Vitamin K deficiency, either dietary or pharmacologically induced by warfarin, was unable to affect the metastatic capacity of cells from a benzopyrene-induced fibrosarcoma in C57BL/6J mice. The same cells had a procoagulant activity, of tissue thromboplastin type, which was also completely unaffected by vitamin K antagonism or deficiency. In another murine model of spontaneous metastasis we previously suggested that depression of a particular procoagulant such as a direct factor X activator might contribute to the antimetastatic activity of warfarin.

Direct induction of tissue factor synthesis by endotoxin in human macrophages from diverse anatomical sites.

On exposure to endotoxin and other stimuli, human peripheral-blood mononuclear cells generate a potent procoagulant activity (PCA), identified as tissue factor. Although it is now recognized that the monocytes are the source of PCA, the question whether these cells per se are capable of procoagulant response to endotoxin or require lymphocyte collaboration remains unsettled. We have investigated the capacity of highly purified human macrophages from diverse anatomical sites to generate PCA following endotoxin stimulation.

Generation of procoagulant activity by mononuclear phagocytes: a possible mechanism contributing to blood clotting activation within malignant tissues.

This study investigated the procoagulant activity (PCA) of mononuclear phagocytes from rabbits bearing the V2 carcinoma. Macrophages harvested from either intraperitoneally or subcutaneously growing tumors were found to express a very strong procoagulant activity as compared with peritoneal macrophages and circulating mononuclear cells from the same animals. On the other hand, when incubated with or without endotoxin in short-term cultures, circulating mononuclear cells from tumor-bearing animals generated significantly more procoagulant activity than those from control animals.

Warfarin inhibits both procoagulant activity and metastatic capacity of Lewis lung carcinoma cells. Role of vitamin K deficiency.

Chronic vitamin K deficiency, either dietary or pharmacologically induced with warfarin, depressed significantly the growth of lung secondaries in a spontaneously metastasizing murine tumor, the Lewis Lung Carcinoma. This effect was associated with a marked depression of the procoagulant activity of cancer cells, which could contribute to fibrin deposition around the tumor. Cellular anticoagulation may thus be an important mechanism in the antimetastatic effect of warfarin.

Cultured human endothelial cells generate tissue factor in response to endotoxin.

Bacterial infection is associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation and fibrin deposition in the microcirculation; the mechanism of these effects in humans is still unclear. We have studied the generation of procoagulant activity (PCA) by cultured human endothelial cells (EC) in response to endotoxin. Cells from umbilical cord veins were grown in Eagle's minimum essential medium with 20% fetal calf serum till confluence.

Occurrence of disseminated intravascular coagulation in rat BNML leukaemia despite lack of leucocyte procoagulant activity.

Signs of disseminated intravascular clotting were observed during the development of BNML myelomonocytic leukaemia in rats, when the peripheral leucocyte count exceeded 20,000/microliters and more than 50% blasts were present in the circulation. BNML cells, harvested from blood and tested in appropriate systems, were found devoid of any procoagulant activity (PCA) even following prolonged in vitro incubation with endotoxin. Thus, it appears that these rat leukaemic cells share the same inability to express PCA which had been previously described in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal rats.

Leucocyte-dependent platelet activation: an alternative pathway for initiation of blood clotting in inflammation.

Fibrin deposition is a prominent feature of several inflammatory diseases but the extract mechanism(s) leading to fibrinogen-fibrin conversion has not been completely clarified. We describe here a new cellular pathway for initiation of blood clotting resulting from a leucocyte-platelet interaction. Human washed platelet suspensions, free of leucocytes, isolated from whole blood or leucocyte-enriched platelet-rich plasma (PRP) after four hours' incubation with bacterial endotoxin, had strong procoagulant activity (40-100-fold that of control platelets).