Induction of HL-60 cells to undergo apoptosis is determined by high levels of wild-type p53 protein whereas differentiation of the cells is mediated by lower p53 levels.

The observation that wild-type p53 may induce cells to undergo either apoptosis or differentiation raises the question of whether these two events share similar p53-dependent pathways. To evaluate the interrelationship between these two p53-dependent processes, our study focused on the human HL-60, a promyelocytic p53 nonproducer cell line in which p53 expression was introduced and the induction of apoptosis and differentiation was followed under controlled conditions. p53 expression was induced in the HL-60 cell line by infection with the recombinant wild-type p53 (p53WT) vaccinia virus.

Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus by N-methylisatin-beta 4':4'-diethylthiosemicarbazone and N-allylisatin-beta-4':4'-diallythiosemicarbazone.

N-methylisatin-beta 4':4'-diethylthiosemicarbazone(M-IBDET) and N-allylisatin-beta-4':4'-diallylthiosemicarbazone(A-IBDAT ) inhibit the production of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Virus inhibition was related to the thiosemicarbazone derivative (TSCD) concentrations and time of treatment. Inhibition of HIV production was confirmed by various parameters of virus assay employing reverse transcriptase activity, plaque forming units (PFU) and levels of viral structural proteins.

Transformation, growth rate, and the heme biosynthetic pathway in V-abl-transfected fibroblasts.

The relationship between growth rate and various parameters of the heme biosynthetic pathway was studied in two cell lines of rat fibroblasts (REabl-1 and REabl-3) transfected with v-abl oncogene, coded by the Abelson murine leukemia virus, and subjected to glucocorticoid dependent transformation. In the REabl-1 cell line, whose growth rate was only slightly affected by dexamethasone (DX), almost no change was noticed either in heme content or in the enzymatic activities of aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS), porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD), and ferrochelatase (FC) in the presence of various concentrations of DX. In the REabl-3 cell line, exhibiting a growth rate highly sensitive to DX, a significant reduction in intracellular heme concomitantly with decreases in ALAS and FC activities and a threefold increase in PBGD were noted.

Relationships between structure and antiretroviral activity of thiosemicarbazone derivatives.

In an attempt to develop anti-AIDS drugs, the compound isatin beta-thiosemicarbazone has been subjected to systematic structural modifications. The resulting synthesized thiosemicarbazone derivatives (TSCDs) were examined for their ability to act as antiretrovirus agents in a model system--2M3/M cell system--consisting of B lymphocytes transformed by the v-abl oncogene and chronically infected with a retrovirus, the Moloney leukemia virus (M-MuLV). The efficacy of the synthesized TSCDs against retroviruses was determined by assaying the therapeutic index (TI) values of the compounds.

Selective repression of v-abl-encoded protein by N-methylisatin-beta-4',4'-diethylthiosemicarbazone and N-allylisatin-beta-4',4'-diallylthiosemicarbazone.

N-Methylisatin-beta-4',4'-diethylthiosemicarbazone (M-IBDET) and N-allylisatin-beta-4',4'-diallylthiosemicarbazone (A-IBDAT) selectively inhibited v-abl protein (P120), an oncogene product associated with tyrosine kinase activity. Concentrations of M-IBDET ranging between 0.17 and 0.