Phagocytosis is a fundamental feature of the innate immune system, required for antimicrobial defense, resolution of inflammation, and tissue remodeling. Furthermore, phagocytosis is coupled to a diverse range of cytotoxic effector mechanisms, including the respiratory burst, secretion of inflammatory mediators and Ag presentation. Phospholipase D (PLD) has been linked to the regulation of phag...

Based on BLAST analysis of the human and mouse genome databases using the human CMP sialic acid; alpha2,8-sialyltransferase cDNA (hST8Sia I; EC 2.4.99.8), a putative sialyltransferase gene, was identified on human chromosome 10. The genomic organization was found to be similar to that of hST8Sia I and hST8Sia V. Transcriptional expression analysis showed that the newly identified gene was const...

the influenza viruses are major etiologic agents of human respiratory infections, and inflict a sizable health and economic burden. this study examines the antiinfluenza virus activity of hydroalcoholic extract of olive leaves (olhe). olive leaves were collected from gardens around the city of shiraz, characterized, dried, ground to powder, and its hydroalcoholic extract was prepared. the influ...

background: rna interference (rnai) is the mechanism of gene silencing-mediated messenger rna degradation by small interference rna (sirna), which becomes a powerful tool for in vivo research, especially in the areas of cancer. in this research, the potential use of an expression vector as a specific sirna producing tool for silencing of bcr-abl in k562 cell line has been investigated. methods:...

expression of receptor tyrosine kinase ror1 in a wide variety of cancers has emerged as a new era focusing on targeting this receptor in cancer therapy. our preliminary re-sults indicate the presence of a truncated transcript of ror1 in tumor cells. the trun-cated ror1 encompasses extracellular and transmembrane domains, lacking catalytic kinase domain (ror1-ecd). as enzyme activity is highly d...

ER and ER serve classically as transcription factors, and ER also mediates nongenomic responses to E2 such as the activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). In contrast, the nongenomic capacities of endogenous ER are poorly understood. We evaluated eNOS activation by E2 in cultured endothelial cells that express endogenous ER to determine whether the ER isoform has nongenomic actio...

Sequestration of porcine muscarinic acetylcholine receptor m2 subtypes (m2 receptors) expressed in COS-7 cells is facilitated by coexpression of G protein-coupled receptor kinases 2 (GRK2). We examined the effect of coexpression of GRK2, GRK4 delta, GRK5 and GRK6 on sequestration of human m1-m5 receptors expressed in COS-7 cells, which was assessed as loss of [3H]N-methylscopolamine binding act...

Semaphorins are a family of secreted and membrane-bound proteins known as axonal pathfinders. Sema4A, a member of class 4 semaphorins, induces growth cone collapse of hippocampal neurons. The binding of Sema4A to growth cones indicates the presence of receptors transmitting signals through the intracellular effectors to induce growth cone collapse in hippocampal neurons. Transfection experiment...