Hemoglobin variants having electrophoretic mobility more rapid than that of HbA were identified in combination with sickle hemoglobin in two patients at the Cook County Hospital. Neither individual had symptomatic hematologic disease. In one patient, the rapidly migrating hemoglobin had the amino acid substitution characteristic of Hb Tacoma (beta-40 arg leads to ser), a mildly unstable variant...

Several observations correlate increased expression of transforming growth factor (TGF) beta 1 with tumorigenesis, suggesting that expression of this multifunctional growth factor may provide an advantage in tumor formation. However, many tumor cells are inhibited in their proliferation by TGF-beta in vitro, thus suggesting that TGF-beta synthesis could exert an antiproliferative effect on tumo...

Regulation of argA operon expression in Escherichia coli K-12 was studied in a cell-free, deoxyribonucleic acid-dependent, enzyme-synthesizing system. lambdaAZ-7 deoxyribonucleic acid, which carries a fusion of the lacZ structural gene to the argA operon so that beta-galactosidase synthesis is under argA regulation, was used as the template. To eliminate extraneous readthrough from lambda promo...

This study demonstrates that rat islet beta cells constitutively express an apoptotic program which is activated when mRNA or protein synthesis is blocked. Apoptotic beta cells were detectable by electron microscopy after treatment with actinomycin D or cycloheximide. With a fluorescence microscopic assay both agents were found to increase the number of apoptotic beta cells dose- and time-depen...

The effects of angiotensin II (Ang II) on the expression and characteristics of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) receptors on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were investigated. TGF-beta-induced stimulation of DNA synthesis by VSMC from WKY rats was abolished with Ang II, whereas basal and TGF-beta-stimulated DN...

This study examines the hypothesis that mediators from lung endothelial cells could promote lung collagen synthesis in pulmonary fibrosis. Since bleomycin induces pulmonary fibrosis in humans and animals, the effects of this drug on endothelial cells were examined. Endothelial cell conditioned media were prepared in the presence of various doses of bleomycin, and tested for their ability to sti...

Tranilast, an anti-allergic drug that inhibits the release of substances such as histamine and prostaglandins from mast cells, has been reported to improve keloids and hypertrophic scars which originate from the abnormal proliferation and excessive collagen accumulation of fibroblasts. It has been considered that various chemical mediators produced by inflammatory cells play important roles in ...