Production of biologically active CXC chemokines by Lactococcus lactis: evaluation of its potential as a novel mucosal vaccine adjuvant.

Chemokines have been described as essential mediators in leukocytes migration to inflammatory sites and to secondary lymphoid organs. Mig and IP-10 are two CXC chemokines that recruit mononuclear cells in vivo and inhibit angiogenesis. In addition to their chemotactic roles, Mig and IP-10 have also an important role in the adaptative immune response.

Genotoxicity of aminohydroxynaphthoquinones in bacteria, yeast, and Chinese hamster lung fibroblast cells.

There are few studies on the biological activity of aminohydroxy derivates of 1,4-naphthoquinone (1,4-NQ) on prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. We determined the mutagenic activity of 5-amino-8-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (ANQ) and 5-amino-2,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (ANQ-OH) as compared to the unsubstituted 1,4-NQ in Salmonella/microsome assay. Potential mutagenic and recombinogenic effects and cytotoxicity were analyzed in haploid and diploid cultures of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Synthesis and spectroscopic characterisation of new ESIPT fluorescent protein probes.

Three new benzazole isothiocyanate fluorescent dyes, 2-(4'-isothiocyanate-2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole, 2-(4'-isothiocyanate-2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole and 2-(4'-isothiocyanate-2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazole were synthesised, purified until optical purity grade and characterised by spectroscopic techniques. UV/VIS and steady-state fluorescence were also applied to characterise the photophysical behaviour of the dyes. These dyes exhibit an intense fluorescence emission with a large Stokes shift, inherent to the class of benzazoles which relax by the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism.