Intravenous injection of irradiated tumor cell vaccine carrying oncolytic adenovirus suppressed the growth of multiple lung tumors in a mouse squamous cell carcinoma model.

Background: Although cancer therapy using replication-selective oncolytic adenoviruses has been available for many years, its anti-tumor efficacy is suboptimal as a result of low and nonspecific infectivity that depends on coxsackie adenovirus receptor expression of the target cancer and normal cells, and generation of an anti-adenovirus neutralizing antibody. In addition, concerns of triggering a severe innate immune response against the adenovirus limit the systemic administration. We developed the carrier cell-based oncolytic virus system (CBOVS) using irradiated tumor cells as carrier cells and concealing the adenovirus (Ad-IAI.

A third-generation, long-acting, dihydropyridine calcium antagonist, azelnidipine, attenuates stent-associated neointimal formation in non-human primates.

Background: Calcium antagonists have been shown to reduce atherogenesis and improve clinical outcomes in atherosclerotic vascular disease. No study has so far, however, addressed the effects of calcium antagonists on stent-associated neointimal formation. We therefore investigated whether a third-generation calcium antagonist, azelnidipine, attenuates in-stent neointimal formation in non-human primates.

Cholesterol-lowering independent regression and stabilization of atherosclerotic lesions by pravastatin and by antimonocyte chemoattractant protein-1 therapy in nonhuman primates.

Objective: Anti-atherosclerotic effects of statins might be mediated partly by pleiotropic cholesterol-lowering independent mechanisms. We used nonhuman primates and examined whether treatment with pravastatin or antimonocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) therapy can induce regression and stabilization of established atherosclerotic lesions through cholesterol-lowering independent mechanisms.

Methods And Results: Advanced atherosclerosis was induced in the abdominal aorta and the common iliac artery of cynomolgus monkeys by undergoing balloon injury and giving atherogenic diet for 6 months.

Blue light inhibits the growth of skin tumors in the v-Ha-ras transgenic mouse.

12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was applied to the back skin of v-Ha-ras (TG-AC) female transgenic mice at a dose of 2.5 microg/200 microl twice a week for 9 weeks. The back skin was then exposed to blue light (wavelength, 470 nm; irradiance, 5.

Effects of kojic acid on thyroidal functions in rats by single-dose administration and in cultured rat thyroid cells (FRTL-5 cells).

The effects of kojic acid (KA) on thyroidal function were studied by single-dose administration in rats and in cultured rat thyroid cells (FRTL-5 cells). In rats receiving a single dose of 1,000 mg/kg KA orally, the 125I uptake from blood into the thyroid gland was significantly lower than that of the control group from 30 min to 24 hr after administration. The 125I organification activity of the KA groups was significantly lower than control from 30 min to 6 hr after administration.

Inhibition of lung metastasis of B16 melanoma cells exposed to blue light in mice.

The effects of blue light on B16 melanoma cells and on the metastasis of these cells to the lungs were investigated in mice. The exposure of B16 melanoma cells to blue light in two 20-min sessions resulted in marked suppression of cell growth measured at 7 days after exposure. When these cells were harvested, re-inoculated into medium and incubated for a further 7 days, their growth activity returned to almost the same level as that of cultured cells from the non-exposure control group.

Effects of blue-light-exposure on growth of extracorporeally circulated leukemic cells in rats with leukemia induced by 1-ethyl-1-nitrosourea.

To explore the possibility of using blue light for extracorporeal circulation therapy in patients with leukemia, the effects of blue light on cell growth in vitro and in extracorporeally circulated blood of rats with leukemia were evaluated. When HL60 cells circulated extracorporeally using a peristaltic pump were exposed to blue light for 5 h, the growth of the cells was found to be markedly suppressed. Then, the blood of rats with erythroblastic leukemia, induced by the administration of tap water containing l-ethyl-l-nitrosourea (ENU) for 9-16 weeks, was circulated extracorporeally and exposed to blue light for 3 h.