First Trimester Pregnancy Loss and the Expression of Alternatively Spliced NKp30 Isoforms in Maternal Blood and Placental Tissue.

Capsule: We observed that first trimester pregnancy loss is associated with an altered expression profile of the three isoforms of the NK receptor NKp30 expressed by NKs in PBMC and placental tissue. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether first trimester pregnancy loss is associated with differences in expression of NKp30 splice variants (isoforms) in maternal peripheral blood or placental tissue. We conducted a prospective case-control study; a total of 33 women undergoing dilation and curettage due to first trimester pregnancy loss were further subdivided into groups with sporadic or recurrent pregnancy loss.

Tumor-initiating cells of various tumor types exhibit differential angiogenic properties and react differently to antiangiogenic drugs.

Tumor-initiating cells (TICs) are a subtype of tumor cells believed to be critical for initiating tumorigenesis. We sought to determine the angiogenic properties of TICs in different tumor types including U-87MG (glioblastoma), HT29 (colon), MCF7 (breast), A549 (non-small-cell lung), and PANC1 (pancreatic) cancers. Long-term cultures grown either as monolayers ("TIC-low") or as nonadherent tumor spheres ("TIC-high") were generated.