Stress-rest dynamic-CT myocardial perfusion imaging in the management of myocardial bridging: A "one-stop shop" exam.

Unlabelled: Myocardial bridging (MB) is a congenital anomaly characterized by the intramyocardial coronary course that can cause coronary compression during systole leading to myocardial ischemia, often with the concomitant presence of endothelial dysfunction.Improvements in computed tomography (CT) technology have increased the burden of MB detection during coronary-CT (cCT) but their anatomical and functional assessment is often challenging. A stress-rest myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) by single-photon emission CT (SPECT) is usually required to decide the correct patient management.

Third generation dual source CT with ultra-high pitch protocol for TAVI planning and coronary tree assessment: feasibility, image quality and diagnostic performance.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility, image quality (IQ) and diagnostic performance of third generation 192 × 2 dual source computer tomography (DSCT) with ultra-high pitch acquisition for trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) planning and coronary tree assessment.

Method: In this prospective study, 223 patients underwent to DSCT for TAVI. Coronary calcium scoring (CCS) was calculated.

Stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha/CXCL12) stimulates ovarian cancer cell growth through the EGF receptor transactivation.

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death in gynecologic diseases in which there is evidence for a complex chemokine network. Chemokines are a family of proteins that play an important role in tumor progression influencing cell proliferation, angiogenic/angiostatic processes, cell migration and metastasis, and, finally, regulating the immune cells recruitment into the tumor mass. We previously demonstrated that astrocytes and glioblastoma cells express both the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), and that SDF-1alpha treatment induced cell proliferation, supporting the hypothesis that chemokines may play an important role in tumor cells' growth in vitro.

CXCR4 activation induces epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation in an ovarian cancer cell line.

Chemokines are a family of proteins that have pleiotropic biological effects. They are well known to regulate the recruitment and trafficking of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. Chemokines are grouped into four classes based on the positions of key cysteine residues: C, CC, CXC, and CX3C.

The expression of the phosphotyrosine phosphatase DEP-1/PTPeta dictates the responsivity of glioma cells to somatostatin inhibition of cell proliferation.

Here we characterize the intracellular effectors of the antiproliferative activity of somatostatin in glioma cell lines and post-surgical specimens. The responsiveness to somatostatin correlated with the expression of the phosphotyrosine phosphatase DEP-1/PTPeta, identified in C6 and U87MG cells, in which somatostatin inhibited cell growth. The expression of a dominant negative mutant of DEP-1/PTPeta in C6 cells abolished somatostatin effects, confirming the involvement of this phosphotyrosine phosphatase in such effects.

Expression of somatostatin receptor mRNA in human meningiomas and their implication in in vitro antiproliferative activity.

Somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) have been detected in many normal and malignant tissues. This wide expression has been used for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Five SSTR subtypes (SSTR 1-5) have been identified whose activation is responsible for the signal transduction through many different intracellular pathways.

Enhanced effectiveness of last generation antiblastic compounds vs. cisplatin on malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines.

The purpose of this study was to examine the antiproliferative potentialities of a pool of new generation compounds (Paclitaxel, Docetaxel, Gemcitabine, Topotecan, SN-38) together with fenretinide, a synthetic derivative of retinoic acid, in comparison with the current first choice treatment cisplatin molecule, on a pool of human malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines derived from either bioptic and pleural effusions samples. To evaluate the chemosensitivity features of malignant mesothelioma cells in vitro, we resorted to a rapid and reproducible colorimetric assay, a useful widely recognized tool for preclinical drug screening. In addition, by DNA content analysis and cellular morphologic assessment, we focused on the apoptosis as a potential mechanism of drug activity.

Stromal cell-derived factor 1alpha stimulates human glioblastoma cell growth through the activation of both extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 and Akt.

In this paper, we describe the role of chemokine receptor CXCR4 activation by its natural ligand, the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor (SDF-1) (CXCL12), in glioblastoma cell growth in vitro. We show that both CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and SDF-1 mRNA are expressed in several human glioblastoma multiforme tumor tissues and in two human glioblastoma cell lines, U87-MG and DBTRG-05MG. These cells are able to secrete SDF-1 under basal conditions, and the rate of secretion is highly increased after lipopolysaccharide or 1% fetal bovine serum treatment.

Chemokines and their receptors in the CNS: expression of CXCL12/SDF-1 and CXCR4 and their role in astrocyte proliferation.

The study of chemokine role in the CNS indubitably represents an important step to understanding many aspects of brain pathology, physiology and development. Here we discuss our recent research on the expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors in brain tissues and in cultured CNS cells, with particular regard to the CXCL12/SDF-1-CXCR4 system. We showed their expression in both glial and neuronal cells in basal conditions and their modulation upon stimulation.

Expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand stromal cell-derived factor 1 in human brain tumors and their involvement in glial proliferation in vitro.

Chemokines are a family of proteins that chemoattract and activate cells by interacting with specific receptors on the surface of their targets. They are grouped into four classes based on the position of key cysteine residues: C, CC, CXC, and CX3C. Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF1), the ligand of the CXCR4 receptor, is a CXC chemokine involved in chemotaxis and brain development that also acts as coreceptor for HIV-1 infection.