Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is a plant polyphenol with known antioxidant properties. Although some studies suggest that CGA has anticancer properties, others indicate that this dietary constituent may cause DNA damage and induce carcinogenic effects. Because CGA is widely consumed in the form of coffee, it is important to further evaluate the putative DNA-damaging activity of CGA. Here we have emplo...

Lung cancer has long been one of the most deadly forms of cancer. The majority of lung cancers are of the non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) type. Here we used the non-small-cell lung carcinoma cell line A549 to screen 15 different traditional Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) formulae to explore the possible mechanisms of alternative medicine in lung cancer therapy. We identified three formulae (F...

Members of the caspase family of cysteine proteases coordinate cell death through restricted proteolysis of diverse protein substrates and play a conserved role in apoptosis from nematodes to man. However, while numerous substrates for the mammalian cell death-associated caspases have now been described, few caspase substrates have been identified in other organisms. Here, we have utilized a pr...

Running Title : ADAM33 mRNA profile and postranscriptional effect of 3'UTR Abstract We examined transcript expression and post-transcriptional regulation of human ADAM33, a recently identified asthma gene. A detailed mRNA expression profile was obtained using Northern, RT-PCR and ISH analyses. ADAM33 mRNA was expressed significantly in smooth muscle-containing organs, minimally in immune organs...

SNX-2112, a novel 2-aminobenzamide inhibitor of Hsp90, previously showed a broad spectrum of anticancer activity. However, subsequent development has been discontinued due to ocular toxicity as identified in a phase I study. SNX-7081, another closely related Hsp90 inhibitor with a side chain of indole instead of indazole, has recently attracted attention. The aim of the present study was to inv...

ARID1A mutations are observed in various tumors, including ovarian clear cell (OCCC) and endometrioid carcinomas, endometrial, and breast carcinomas. They commonly result in loss of ARID1A-protein expression and frequently co-occur with PI3K/AKT-pathway activating mechanisms. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis as to whether PI3K/AKT-pathway activation is a critical mechanism in AR...

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic pathogen causing severe outbreaks in humans and livestock in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Human infections are characterized by fever, sometimes leading to encephalitis, retinitis, hemorrhagic fever, and occasionally death. There are currently no fully licensed vaccines or effective therapies for human use. Gene silenc...

Interleukin (IL)-6, a multifunctional cytokine, is widely used as an index for illnesses such as inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, coronary artery disease, neurological disease, and gestational problems. It is thus very important to be able to precisely quantify the level of IL-6 for disease diagnosis and any subsequent therapy. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors are sensitive in d...

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. Success of current therapies is still limited and outcome is particularly poor for metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (aRMS). We previously identified the proprotein convertase furin as potential target for specific drug delivery with RMS-homing peptides. Furin is a protease that converts inactive precursor proteins in...

In this study we investigated whether the sodium transport inhibitor, inhibitin, originally isolated from leukemic promyelocytes, was also elaborated by some other neoplastic cells in culture. Like culture medium from the leukemic promyelocytes (HL60), the media from two other leukemic cell lines (erythroblasts K562 and monoblasts U937) also showed significant inhibitory activity on ouabain-ins...