Background: Novel roles for the interaction of cardiotonic steroids to Na+/K+-ATPase have been established in recent years. The aim of the present study was to investigate the intracellular signaling events downstream the action of ouabain on Na+/K+-ATPase in Sertoli cell obtained from immature rats. Treatment of Sertoli cells with ouabain (1 μM) induced a rapid and transient increase in the ex...

Constitutive overexpression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in myocytes protects them from apoptosis and interferes with myocyte hypertrophy in the normal and pathological heart. Conversely, angiotensin II (Ang II) triggers cell death and promotes myocyte hypertrophy. Moreover, activation of p53 upregulates the cellular renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Therefore, IGF-1 overexpression in ...

Cytokines have been implicated in the process of pancreatic -cell destruction that leads to type 1 diabetes. This study investigates the -cell expression of proand antiapoptotic proteins from the Bcl-2 family and their variation during cytokine-mediated apoptosis. Exposure of rat -cells to the combination of IL-1 plus interferoncauses a time-dependent increase in apoptotic cells starting after ...

conclusions the results of this study suggest that app reduction by hdacis can apparently play an important role in the treatment of colon cancer. background amyloid precursor protein (app), which is involved in cell proliferation, is observed to be over expressed in human cancer. thus, it is crucial to investigate its role in cancer and suggest treatment strategies to alter its effects on cell...

Bax inhibitor-1 (BI-1) is an anti-apoptotic gene whose expression is upregulated in a wide range of human cancers. Studies in both mammalian and plant cells suggest that the BI-1 protein resides in the endoplasmic reticulum and is involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR) that is triggered by ER stress. It is thought to act via a mechanism involving altered calcium dynamics. In this paper...

In general, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells are relatively resistant to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-mediated apoptosis during culture in vitro. Here, we studied the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-K)/Akt in survival and apoptosis of these cells. The PI 3-K inhibitors wortmannin and LY294002 markedly suppressed phosphorylation of Akt and ...

The tumor suppressor p53 is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers. Active p53 is able to stimulate the transcription of a variety of genes including the pro-apoptotic gene bax, as well as p21, a cell cycle regulator. In this study we produced novel zinc finger transcription factors that would selectively increase the expression of bax, but not of other p53 targets. Reporter gene assay...

Caveolin-1, the structural protein component of caveolae, acts as a scaffolding protein that functionally regulates signaling molecules. We show that knockdown of caveolin-1 protein expression enhances chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis and inhibits long-term survival of colon cancer cells. In vitro studies demonstrate that caveolin-1 is a novel Ku70-binding protein, as shown by the bindin...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to determine the effects of electroacupuncture stimulation at the Baihui (GV20) and Fengfu (GV16) acupoints, at frequencies of 5Hz (EA-5Hz) and 25Hz (EA-25Hz), 7 days after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, and to evaluate the possible signaling mechanisms involved in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. METHODS Rats were subjected to 30 min ...