Equol is more active than soy isoflavone itself to compete for binding to thromboxane A(2) receptor in human platelets.

Introduction: Several dietary intervention studies examining the health effect of soy isoflavones allude to the importance of equol in establishing the cardiovascular response to soy protein. Although, the specific mechanism by which this action occurs has not been established. The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of soy-isoflavones and the metabolite of daidzein, equol, on agonist-induced platelet responses dependent on thromboxane A(2) (TxA(2)) receptor.

Nerve growth factor and its high-affinity receptor trkA participate in the control of vascular endothelial growth factor expression in epithelial ovarian cancer.

Objectives: To compare the expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) and its high-affinity receptor trkA in normal ovaries and in epithelial ovarian carcinomas. Given NGF acts as an angiogenic factor through a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-mediated mechanism in several types of tissues, we examined whether NGF regulates the expression of VEGF isoforms in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

Methods: The expression and localization of NGF and tyrosine kinase receptor A (trkA) in normal ovarian samples and in ovarian cancer samples were analyzed by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.