Heparan sulfate proteoglycans is a major component of the cell surface and extracellular matrix and functions as a barrier against cationic molecules and macromolecules. Heparanase is an endoglucuronidase capable of specifically degrading heparan sulfate, and its activity is associated with the metastatic potential of tumor cells. To inhibit human heparanase expression in human cancer cells, we...

BACKGROUND Hepatoerythropoietic porphyria (HEP) is usually a severe form of cutaneous porphyria, characterized biochemically by an increased urinary excretion of polycarboxylated porphyrins. The disease is the result of a profound deficiency (<10% of normal activity) of uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase (UROD) activity. Hepatoerythropoietic porphyria is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, w...

Reactions of HgX(2) (X = Cl(-), Br(-), l(-)) with the ligand hep-H (hep-H = 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)pyridine) in methanol at 298 K result in 1D-polymeric chains of [(X)Hg(mu-X)(2)(hep-H)](infinity), 1-3, respectively, where hep-H binds to the Hg(ii) ions in a monodentate fashion exclusively with the pyridine nitrogen donor and the suitably ortho-positioned -(CH(2))(2)OH group of hep-H remains pendant...

The single crystals of discrete hydrated [(OAc)Cu(mu-hep)(2)Cu(OAc)].2H(2)O (.2H(2)O) and [(OAc)Cu(mu-hep)(2) Cu(O(n)Pr)].2H(2)O (.2H(2)O) (the lattice H(2)O molecules exist as a tetrameric water cluster, hep-H = 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)pyridine), OAc(-) = acetate and O(n)Pr(-) = n-propionate) undergo single-crystal to single-crystal (SCSC) transformations to the dehydrated and , respectively, under ...

The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57 in EB1089-inhibited proliferation of human laryngeal squamous carcinoma cells (HEp-2). HEp-2 cells were treated with the vitamin D3 analogue EB1089 for 48 h and total RNA was extracted for reverse transcription-PCR amplification using primers for the p57 coding sequence. Proteins were detected by We...

Thrombospondin (TSP) signals focal adhesion disassembly (the intermediate adhesive state) through interactions with cell surface calreticulin (CRT). TSP or a peptide (hep I) of the active site induces focal adhesion disassembly through binding to CRT, which activates phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) through Galphai2 proteins. Because CRT is not a tr...

Most of the extant literature investigating the health effects of mindfulness interventions relies on wait-list control comparisons. The current article specifies and validates an active control condition, the Health Enhancement Program (HEP), thus providing the foundation necessary for rigorous investigations of the relative efficacy of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and for testing...

Though gallotannin was known to have anti-oxidant and antitumor activity, the underlying antitumor mechanism of gallotannin still remains unclear. Thus, in the present study, antitumor mechanism of gallotannin was elucidated in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Gallotannin significantly exerted cytotoxicity against Hep G2 and Chang hepatocellular carcinoma cells with the accumulation of the sub-G...

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which causes gastroenteritis, wound infection, and septicemia, has two sets of type III secretion systems (TTSS), TTSS1 and TTSS2. A TTSS1- deficient vcrD1 mutant of V. parahaemolyticus showed an attenuated cytotoxicity against HEp-2 cells, and a significant reduction in mouse lethality, which were both restored by complementation with the intact vcrD1 gene. V. parahaem...

Endogenous serine protease inhibitors (serpins) are anti-inflammatory mediators with multiple biologic functions. Several serpins have been reported to modulate HIV pathogenesis, or exhibit potent anti-HIV activity in vitro, but the efficacy of serpins as therapeutic agents for HIV in vivo has not yet been demonstrated. In the present study, we show that heparin-activated antithrombin III (hep-...