Activated protein C protects vascular endothelial cells from apoptosis in malaria and in sepsis.

Objective: In malaria and sepsis, apoptotic endothelial damage is preventable in vitro by antioxidants and protease inhibitors. Activated protein C, which has anti-apoptotic effects, improves survival in sepsis. Therefore, we studied whether activated protein C prevents endothelial cell apoptosis, induced by serum from patients with malaria or sepsis.

Malaria and bacterial sepsis: similar mechanisms of endothelial apoptosis and its prevention in vitro.

Objective And Design: Apoptotic endothelial damage contributes to multiorgan failure in Plasmodium falciparum malaria and in sepsis. In malaria, endothelial apoptosis is amplified by neutrophils and their secretory products, and reduced by inhibitors of neutrophil-derived substances in vitro. We compared the mechanisms of endothelial apoptosis in malaria and in sepsis, using the human umbilical vein endothelial cell as a model.

Plasmodium falciparum Malaria: reduction of endothelial cell apoptosis in vitro.

Organ failure in Plasmodium falciparum malaria is associated with neutrophil activation and endothelial damage. This study investigates whether neutrophil-induced endothelial damage involves apoptosis and whether it can be prevented by neutralization of neutrophil secretory products. Endothelial cells from human umbilical veins were coincubated with neutrophils from healthy donors and with sera from eight patients with P.

Mutational analysis of the PTEN/MMAC1 tumour suppressor gene in primary human malignant mesotheliomas.

Eighteen primary human malignant mesotheliomas obtained from 18 patients were screened for point mutations and microdeletions/insertions in all exons of the tumour suppressor gene PTEN/MMAC1 by SSCP analysis. No mutation could be found. Our preliminary data indicate that disarrangements of PTEN/MMAC1 are at least not frequently involved in mesothelioma formation.