Publications by authors named "Petrina Koumarianou"

Several individual olive oil phenols (OOPs) and their secoiridoid derivatives have been shown to exert anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activity in treatments of human cancer cell lines originating from several tissues. This study evaluated the synergistic anti-proliferative/cytotoxic effects of five olive secoiridoid derivatives (oleocanthal, oleacein, oleuropein aglycone, ligstroside aglycone and oleomissional) in all possible double combinations and of total phenolic extracts (TPEs) on eleven human cancer cell lines representing eight cell-culture-based cancer models. Individual OOPs were used to treat cells for 72 h in half of their EC values for each cell line and their synergistic, additive or antagonistic interactions were evaluated by calculating the coefficient for drug interactions (CDI) for each double combination of OOPs.

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Olive oil phenols (OOPs) are associated with the prevention of many human cancers. Some of these have been shown to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. However, no systematic comparative study exists for all the investigated compounds under the same conditions, due to difficulties in their isolation or synthesis.

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The sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) is a transmembrane protein located on the basolateral membrane of thyrocytes. Despite its physiological and clinical relevance, little is known about the mechanisms that mediate NIS subcellular sorting. In the present study, we examined NIS basolateral trafficking using non-thyroid and thyroid epithelial cells.

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The intracellular protozoan parasites of the genus are responsible for Leishmaniases, vector borne diseases with a wide range of clinical manifestations. causes visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar), the most severe of these diseases. Along their biological cycle, parasites undergo distinct developmental transitions including metacyclogenesis and differentiation of metacyclic promastigotes (MPs) to amastigotes.

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Organization of epithelial cells during follicular lumen formation is crucial for thyroid morphogenesis and function of the thyroid gland; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this are poorly understood. To investigate this process, we established three-dimensional (3D) epithelial culture model systems using Fischer rat thyroid (FRT) cells or murine primary thyrocytes that developed polarized spherical structures with a central lumen, mimicking thyroid follicles. Using microarray-based differential expression analysis of FRT cells grown under 2D or 3D conditions, followed by RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) and morphogenetic analysis, we identified a key role for the thyroid transcription factor Pax8 and its target cadherin-16 (Cdh16) in the generation of polarized follicle-like structures.

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In the silkworm Bombyx mori the ribosomal stalk P-protein family consists of two low MW acidic proteins, BmP1 and BmP2, and of one higher MW protein, BmP0, as shown by electrophoretical and immunoblotting western blot analysis of purified ribosomes. Treatment of ribosomes with alkaline phosphatase followed by electrofocusing shifted the isoelectric points to higher pH, implying phosphorylation of the proteins. The cDNAs encoding BmP1 and BmP2 proteins were constructed and expressed in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant strains defective in either the endogenous P1 or P2 proteins.

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