Anti-ribosomal-phosphoprotein autoantibodies penetrate to neuronal cells via neuronal growth associated protein, affecting neuronal cells in vitro.

Objective: Anti-ribosomal-phosphoprotein antibodies (anti-Ribos.P Abs) are detected in 10-45% of NPSLE patients. Intracerebroventricular administration of anti-ribosomal-P Abs induces depression-like behaviour in mice.

Epitope presentation is an important determinant of the utility of antigens identified from protein arrays in the development of autoantibody diagnostic assays.

Autoantibodies represent an attractive biomarker for diagnostic assays principally due to the stability of immunoglobulin in patient serum facilitating measurement with conventional assays. Immune responses to tumorigenesis may facilitate detection of ovarian cancer in the early stages of the disease with identification of a panel of tumour specific autoantibodies. Despite the reporting of many tumour associated autoantibodies using arrays of tumour antigens, this has not led to the advance in diagnostic capability as rapidly as was initially expected.

Optimized autoantibody profiling on protein arrays.

Profiling the autoantibody (AAb) repertoire in serum has been routinely used for many years for the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and lupus. In recent years, AAb profiling of cancers has become a prominent field in oncology research. Protein arrays enable high-throughput screening of clinical samples, characterising the serum profile using low volumes of samples.

Integrated protein array screening and high throughput validation of 70 novel neural calmodulin-binding proteins.

Calmodulin is an essential regulator of intracellular processes in response to extracellular stimuli mediated by a rise in Ca(2+) ion concentration. To profile protein-protein interactions of calmodulin in human brain, we probed a high content human protein array with fluorophore-labeled calmodulin in the presence of Ca(2+). This protein array contains 37,200 redundant proteins, incorporating over 10,000 unique human neural proteins from a human brain cDNA library.

COX-2 specific inhibitors enhance the cytotoxic effects of pemetrexed in mesothelioma cell lines.

Background: Although malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare tumour, its incidence is increasing. The prognosis remains very poor with an average survival of 10 months from diagnosis. The choice of chemotherapy regimens for mesothelioma patients is limited and new approaches are required.

The analysis of doxorubicin resistance in human breast cancer cells using antibody microarrays.

Doxorubicin is considered to be the most effective agent in the treatment of breast cancer patients. Unfortunately, resistance to this agent is common, representing a major obstacle to successful treatment. The identification of novel biomarkers that are able to predict treatment response may allow therapy to be tailored to individual patients.

Expression of bcl-2 family members in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Little is known about the Bcl-2 family members in mesothelioma. These proteins are involved in the control of apoptosis, carrying out both pro- and anti- apoptotic functions. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of p53 and Bcl-2 family members in 54 archival mesothelioma samples (39 epithelial, 15 sarcomatoid tumours).

Implication of the BRCA2 and putative "BRCA3" genes in Dukes' stage C, replication error-negative colon cancer.

Background: Although BRCA genes have been implicated in certain tumors, particularly breast tumors, their role in colon tumorigenesis has not been fully explored. We aimed to investigate the association of the BRCA2 and putative "BRCA3" genes in a homogeneous series of right-sided colon cancer specimens.

Methods: Twenty-three Dukes' stage C, replication error-negative carcinomas were selected from patients with right-sided colon cancer.

Immunohistochemical detection of apoptotic markers in gastric cancer.

Apoptosis proteins may play a role in prognosis and therapy response; however, they have not been fully investigated in gastric cancer. We aimed to assess the expression of proteins in the Bcl-2 family. Immunohistochemistry was employed to examine the expression of the antiapoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL and the proapoptotic proteins Bad, Bak, Bax, Bid, Bim, and p53 in 21 cases of gastric cancer.

Hsp27 may allow prediction of the response to single-agent vinorelbine chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.

One of the most valuable objectives for oncologists is the ability to predict patient response to chemotherapy before drugs are administered in order to maximise the therapeutic benefit of treatment whilst limiting the toxicity. This is particularly relevant in non-small cell lung cancer as the initial treatment decision is important due to the inherent drug resistance of many tumours and short survival times of patients. We established a homogeneous series of pre-treatment archival biopsy samples from patients receiving first-line single-agent vinorelbine for non-small cell lung cancer.

The expression of Bcl-2 family proteins differs between nonsmall cell lung carcinoma subtypes.

Background: Proteins of the Bcl-2 family play a key role in the control of apoptosis and carry out both proapoptotic and antiapoptotic functions. However, with the exception of Bcl-2 itself, little is known about the expression of these potentially critical proteins in nonsmall cell lung carcinoma.

Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to study the expression of Bcl-2 and 6 other Bcl-2 family proteins in a pilot series of 41 archival nonsmall cell lung carcinoma specimens (19 adenocarcinomas and 22 squamous cell carcinomas).