Continuous DC-CIK infusions restore CD8+ cellular immunity, physical activity and improve clinical efficacy in advanced cancer patients unresponsive to conventional treatments.

Background: There are few choices for treatment of advanced cancer patients who do not respond to or tolerate conventional anti-cancer treatments. Therefore this study aimed to deploy the benefits and clinical efficacy of continuous dendritic cell-cytokine induced killer cell infusions in such patients.

Materials And Methods: A total of 381 infusions (from 67 advanced cases recruited) were included in this study.

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 was involved in the immuno-modulatory defect of mesenchymal stem cell from chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

Background: Overwhelming evidences on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) indicate that patients harbor quiescent CML stem cells that are responsible for blast crisis. While the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) origin of CML was first suggested over 30 years ago, recently CML-initiating cells beyond HSCs are also being investigated.

Methods: We have previously isolated fetal liver kinase-1-positive (Flk1(+)) cells carrying the BCR/ABL fusion gene from the bone marrow of Ph(+) patients with hemangioblast property.

Damage to the oxygen-evolving complex by superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radical in photoinhibition of photosystem II.

Under strong illumination of a photosystem II (PSII) membrane, endogenous superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radical were successively produced. These compounds then cooperatively resulted in a release of manganese from the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) and an inhibition of oxygen evolution activity. The OEC inactivation was initiated by an acceptor-side generated superoxide anion, and hydrogen peroxide was most probably responsible for the transportation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) across the PSII membrane from the acceptor-side to the donor-side.

Highly efficient photoactivation of Mn-depleted photosystem II by imidazole-liganded manganese complexes.

The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of Mn-depleted photosystem II (PSII) can be reconstituted in the presence of exogenous Mn or a Mn complex under weak illumination, a process called photoactivation. Synthetic Mn complexes could provide a powerful system to analyze the assembly of the OEC. In this work, four mononuclear Mn complexes, [(terpy)2Mn(II)(OOCH3)] x 2 H2O (where terpy is 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine), Mn(II)(bzimpy)2, Mn(II)(bp)2(CH3CH2OH)2 [where bzimpy is 2,6-bis(2-benzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine] and [Mn(III)(HL)(L)(py)(CH3OH)]CH3OH (where py is pyridine) were used in photoactivation experiments.

An exploratory theoretical elucidation on the peroxyl-radical-scavenging mechanism and structure-activity relationship of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

The peroxyl-radical-scavenging mechanism of some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), namely tolmetin, ketorolac, indomethacin, acemetacin, and oxaprozin, is clarified by combined density functional theory (DFT) calculations. It is revealed that H-atom-abstraction rather than electron transfer reaction is involved in the radical-scavenging process of these NSAIDs in polar aqueous solution. This seems contrary to the common viewpoint that the latter is predominant in polar media.

Superoxide, Hydrogen Peroxide and Hydroxyl Radical in D1/D2/cytochrome b-559 Photosystem II Reaction Center Complex.

Spin-trapping electron spin resonance (ESR) was used to monitor the formation of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals in D1/D2/cytochrome b-559 Photosystem II reaction center (PS II RC) Complex. When the PS II RC complex was strongly illuminated, superoxide was detected in the presence of ubiquinone. SOD activity was detected in the PS II RC complex.

A novel spin trap for targeting sulfhydryl-containing polypeptides.

A novel spin trap containing an iodoacetamide group has been synthesized and then used to target polypeptides, i.e. glutathione and bovine serum albumin, by which the resulting covalently bonded bioconjugates exhibit great potential for the application of spin trapping of transient radicals in biological systems.