Mast cells are involved in various immunological responses, although it remains unknown how their terminal differentiation is regulated. We previously established a culture model that mimics the process of mast cell maturation in the cutaneous tissue and found that growth factor independent 1 (Gfi1) was up-regulated whereas its paralogue Gfi1b down-regulated. Here we investigated the roles of G...

background: the rh antigens are expressed as parts of a protein complex in the rbc membrane. this complex is a tetramer, consisting of two molecules of rhag and two molecules of rh proteins. to express rhd in rbc membrane, expression of rhag is essential. this co-expression only occurs in the erythroid lineage. k562 cell line has an erythroid lineage. materials and methods: cord blood was used ...

Clostridium difficile toxins A and B (TcdA and TcdB) are the causative agents of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis. Mucosal mast cells play a crucial role in the inflammatory processes underlying this disease. We studied the direct effects of TcdA and TcdB on the human mast cell line HMC-1 with respect to degranulation, cytokine release, and the activation of proinflammatory signal...

background & objectives: odontogenic cysts are among the most frequent destructive lesions of jaws which their pathogenesis and growth mechanism are not cleared. with respect to different roles of mast cells, they may play a role in the pathogenesis and growth of odontogenic cysts. the aim of present study was to evaluate mast cells in the most common odontogenic cyst. methods: thirty  para...

Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that can cause mast cell dependent diseases in sensitive individuals. ASA induced asthma is believed to be related to an overproduction of cysteinyl leukotriene C4 (LTC4) secondary to cyclooxygenase inhibition. It remains to be elucidated whether and by which mechanisms ASA may also influence systemic anaphylactic reactions. In...

BACKGROUND Prevalence and morbidity of allergic diseases have increased over the last decades. Based on the recently recognized differences in asthma prevalence between the sexes, we have examined the effect of endogenous estrogens on a key element of the allergic response. Some lipophilic pollutants have estrogen-like activities and are termed environmental estrogens. These pollutants tend to ...

Homeostasis of mature tissue-resident mast cells is dependent on the relative activation of pro- and antiapoptotic regulators. In this study, we investigated the role of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) in the survival of neoplastic and nonneoplastic human mast cells. GSK3β was observed to be phosphorylated at the Y(216) activating residue under resting conditions in both the neoplastic HMC1...

BACKGROUND Exosomes are nanosized vesicles of endocytic origin that are released into the extracellular environment by many different cells. It has been shown that exosomes from various cellular origins contain a substantial amount of RNA (mainly mRNA and microRNA). More importantly, exosomes are capable of delivering their RNA content to target cells, which is a novel way of cell-to-cell commu...

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases globally. Mast cells are known to be the main source of brain histamine, which is identified as  being involved in seizure modulation. Sodium cromoglycate is a popular mast cell stabilizer and is proposed as the first line therapy in chronic asthma and systemic mastocytosis. Considering the importance of gestational period in ...