Peripheral blood (PB) eosinophils rapidly undergo apoptosis and cell death in vitro unless cultured in the presence of cytokines such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in which their survival is prolonged for up to 10 days. CD69 is a type II membrane antigen expressed by cytokine-activated, but not freshly isolated, PB human eosinophils. We have examined the effect of...

Backgrounds/aims: Staining of internal limiting membrane with indocyanine green (ICG) has been reported to be associated with postoperative atrophic retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) change. Here the authors examined whether removing sodium from the solvent reduces ICG induced RPE cytotoxicity. Methods: Human RPE cells were exposed to ICG (0.25 and 0.025 mg/ml) reconstituted with balanced salt s...

OBJECTIVE We investigated the effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined with low-dose chemotherapy on breast cancer cells. Photodynamic treatment was administered by irradiating indocyanine green-preloaded MCF-7 cells with an IR diode laser source at 805 nm; cisplatin was used for chemotherapy. METHODS The dose-response phenomena associated with the two treatments administered individual...

Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of death of women between 40 and 55 years of age and is the second overall cause of death of women. Fortunately, the mortality rate from BC has decreased in recent years due to an increased emphasis on early detection and more effective treatments. Despite early detection and conventional methods of treatment, about 7% of women diagnosed with BC still die...