Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common paediatric cancer. Despite cure rates approaching 80%, resistance to treatment and disease relapse remain a significant clinical problem. Identification of the genes and biological pathways responsible for chemoresistance is therefore crucial for the design of novel therapeutic approaches aiming to improve patient survival. Mutations in the...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is one of the causes of morbidity and mortality in valvular heart disease. The phenomenon of apoptosis, though rare in cardiac muscle may contribute to loss of its function. Role of apoptosis in RV in patients with rheumatic valvular heart disease is investigated in this study. METHODS Patients with rheumatic mitral valve stenosis for...

The principal secretory product of the thyroid gland, L-thyroxine (T4), is anti-apoptotic at physiological concentrations in a number of cancer cell lines. Among the mechanisms of anti-apoptosis activated by the hormone are interference with the Ser-15 phosphorylation (activation) of p53 and with TNFα/Fas-induced apoptosis. The hormone also decreases cellular abundance and activation of proteol...

Environmental factors contribute to over 70% of crop yield losses worldwide. Of these drought and salinity are the most significant causes of crop yield reduction. Rice is an important staple crop that feeds more than half of the world's population. However among the agronomically important cereals rice is the most sensitive to salinity. In the present study we show that exogenous expression of...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves interaction of a photosensitizer, light, and molecular oxygen which produces singlet oxygen and subsequent tumour eradication. The development of second generation photosensitizers, such as phthalocyanines, has improved this technology. Customary monolayer cell culture techniques are, unfortunately, too simple to replicate treatment effects in vivo. Multicell...

Boric acid and its less-known derivative lithium metaborate are inorganic acids used in a wide diverse array of industrial clinical applications. In particular, boric is accepted as natural antimicrobial agent due to activity on many different microbial species. We have examined the possible dependency metaborate-induced yeast toxicity deletion antioxidative CTT1, TRR2 GSH2 genes expressions ce...

Arthropod-borne pathogens account for millions of deaths each year. Understanding the genetic mechanisms controlling vector susceptibility to pathogens has profound implications for developing novel strategies for controlling insect-transmitted infectious diseases. The fact that many viruses carry genes that have anti-apoptotic activity has long led to the hypothesis that induction of apoptosis...

Background: Cancer progression requires mechanisms that support proliferation and metastatic capacity. Detached cells must resist anoikis concurrently acquire metabolic flexibility to survive the limiting oxygen nutrients during transit secondary sites. MNRR1 (CHCHD2) is a biorganellar protein, which in mitochondria can bind Bcl-xL enhance its pro-apoptotic function, or respiratory chain comple...

The OVCAR-3 cell line expressing the long (ObRb) and short (ObRt) isoforms of leptin receptor mRNA was used to analyze the effect of leptin on the expression of selected genes and proteins involved in the cell cycle and apoptosis. OVCAR-3 cells were exposed to 2, 20, 40, and 100 ng/ml of leptin. Cell proliferation was determined using the alamarBlue cell viability test and flow cytometry. Apopt...