Lipodystrophy-linked LMNA p.R482W mutation induces clinical early atherosclerosis and in vitro endothelial dysfunction.

Objective: Some mutations in LMNA, encoding A-type lamins, are responsible for Dunnigan-type-familial partial lipodystrophy (FPLD2), with altered fat distribution and metabolism. The high prevalence of early and severe cardiovascular outcomes in these patients suggests that, in addition to metabolic risk factors, FPLD2-associated LMNA mutations could have a direct role on the vascular wall cells.

Approach And Results: We analyzed the cardiovascular phenotype of 19 FPLD2 patients aged >30 years with LMNA p.

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 inhibitors augment TRAIL-induced apoptotic death in human hepatoma cells.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) displays a striking resistance to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). Therefore, the characterization of pharmacological agents that overcome this resistance may provide new therapeutic modalities for HCC. Here, we examined whether glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) inhibitors could restore TRAIL sensitivity in hepatoma cells.

Efficient adenoviral transduction of 3T3-F442A preadipocytes without affecting adipocyte differentiation.

The preadipocyte cell lines 3T3-L1 and 3T3-F442A are widely used to study the cellular mechanisms of preadipocyte differentiation and mature adipocyte functions. However, transfection with naked DNA is inefficient in these cell lines. Adenoviral gene transfer is a powerful technique to induce high levels of transgene expression.

Nuclear localisation sequence templated nonviral gene delivery vectors: investigation of intracellular trafficking events of LMD and LD vector systems.

The impact of a peptide that contains a nuclear localisation sequence (NLS) on intracellular DNA trafficking was studied. We used the adenoviral core peptide mu and an SV40 NLS peptide to condense plasmid DNA (pDNA) prior to formulation with 3beta-[N-(N', N'-dimethylaminoethane)carbamoyl]cholesterol/dioleoyl-L-alpha-phosphatidyl ethanolamine (DC-Chol/DOPE) liposomes to give LMD and LND vectors, respectively. Fluorescent-labelled lipid and peptides plus dye-labelled pDNA components were used to investigate gene delivery in dividing and S-phase growth-arrested cells.

Ad-IFN gamma induces antiproliferative and antitumoral responses in malignant mesothelioma.

Purpose: The aim of the work was to investigate the effects of adenovirus(Ad)-mediated IFN gamma gene transfer on human mesothelioma (HM) cell proliferation in vitro and growth in nude mice.

Experimental Design: We constructed an E1E3-deleted replication-defective recombinant Ad carrying the human IFN gamma gene (Ad-IFN gamma) and tested its activity in vitro on HM cell lines established in our laboratory and in a nude mice model.

Results: In vitro, infection of HM cells with Ad-IFN gamma led to a prolonged production of an active cytokine in the 10 HM cell lines tested and also led to an antiproliferative effect on the HM cells previously demonstrated as responsive to exogenous recombinant human IFN gamma.