Identification of interleukin-16 production on tumor aggravation in hepatocellular carcinoma by a proteomics approach.

Background: Cytokines play an important role in the immune response, angiogenesis, cell growth, and differentiation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Objective: We performed a comprehensive study to identify tumor-related cytokines and pathways involved in HCC pathogenesis.

Methods: Cytokine production was evaluated in human HCC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues using an antibody-based protein array technique.

Roles of Reelin/Disabled1 pathway on functional recovery of hemiplegic mice after neural cell transplantation; Reelin promotes migration toward motor cortex and maturation to motoneurons of neural grafts.

Reelin is a large glycoprotein which regulates central nervous system (CNS) development. Dysfunctions of Reelin were reported on certain neuropsychiatric diseases. We examined involvement of Reelin pathway in functional recovery of hemiplegic mice after neural transplantation.

Nicotine inhibits the production of proinflammatory mediators in human monocytes by suppression of I-kappaB phosphorylation and nuclear factor-kappaB transcriptional activity through nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha7.

Macrophages/monocytes and the proinflammatory mediators, such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1alpha and MIP-1alpha, play a critical role in the progression of immunological disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, Behçet's disease and Crohn's disease. In addition, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-alpha7 (alpha7nAChR) subunit is an essential regulator of inflammation. In this study, we evaluated the expression of the alpha7nAChR subunit on human peripheral monocytes and the effect of nicotine on the production of these proinflammatory mediators by activated monocytes.