Caspase-8 is a member of the cysteine protease family that modulates apoptosis induced by a variety of cell death signals and has recently been found to be activated during the process of anoikis, which is a form of apoptosis caused by loss of anchorage in epithelial cells. We previously demonstrated that the inhibition of anoikis promotes peritoneal dissemination of human gastric carcinoma MKN...

For the enhancement of fracture healing, either purified proteins or vectors for expression of growth factors in situ may be used. Adenoviral vectors directly convert cells to express a transgene. However, the cell types which are preferentially infected and the time of expression during fracture healing are currently not known. The adenoviral type 5 vectors used in this study are replication i...

Tumor-specific adenoviral vectors comprise a fruitful gene-based diagnostic imaging and therapy research area for advanced stage of cancer, including metastatic disease. However, clinical translation of viral vectors has encountered considerable obstacles, largely due to host immune responses against the virus. Here, we explored the utilization of an immunosuppressant, rapamycin, to circumvent ...

Despite the utility of recombinant adenoviral vectors in basic research, their therapeutic promise remains unfulfilled. Most engineered adenoviral vectors use a heterologous promoter to transcribe a foreign gene. We show that adenoviruses containing the cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter induce the expression of the proapoptotic cellular protein TAp73 via the cyclin-dependent kinase-retin...

Adenoviruses (Ad) have a long history as DNA-transfer vehicles in various medical applications including vivo gene therapy [1]. In this context, the favorable safety profile of Ad has been considered major benefit, since lack integration into host cell genome eliminates potential risks associated with insertional mutagenesis. This is combined comparatively high packaging capacity for foreign DN...