It has been established that the invasive behavior of cancer cells can be regulated by alterations in their extracellular environment. We investigated whether extracellular matrix isolated from nulliparous and postlactating (involuting) rat mammary glands differentially modulated the metastatic behavior of human breast cancer cells. Using modified Boyden chamber and three-dimensional culture as...

BACKGROUND A recent clinical trial demonstrated that selective progesterone receptor modulator asoprisnil is effective in reducing uterine leiomyoma volume. We investigated the effects of asoprisnil in vitro on the expression of the extracellular matrix (ECM)-remodeling enzymes and collagens in cultured leiomyoma and matching normal myometrial cells. METHODS The expression of extracellular ma...

results there were 39 cases with lymph node metastasis in 59 malignant tumors, and 0 cases in 6 benign follicular type tumors. the staining scores by jt-95 of the 39 tumors with lymph node metastasis were 5+ in eight cases and 6+ in 31 cases. on the other hand, the scores of 20 malignant tumors without lymph node metastasis were < 4+ in all of the cases. in the co-cultured assay, numerous adhes...

introduction: the process of wound healing sets in motion a complex and dynamic series of events, which includes the remodeling of the extracellular matrix degradation of matrix proteins, predominantly collagen fibers, mediated by matrix metalloproteinase (mmps). our aim was to demonstrate whether fibroblasts derived from various strains of human fetal foreskin (fs) and adult skin (as), when cu...

BACKGROUND The molecular mechanisms by which myocardial ischemia translates into ventricular remodeling remain unclear. METHODS We investigated whether hypoxia and proinflammatory cytokines are specific inducers of remodeling signals in an in vitro model of cultured adult human ventricular myocytes (AC16 cells). RESULTS Hypoxia modified the ratio of matrix remodeling factors by increasing t...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of permanent, irreversible, central blindness (scotoma in the central visual field that makes reading and writing impossible, stereoscopic vision, recognition of colors and details) in patients over the age of 50 years in European and North America countries, and an important role is attributed to disorders in the regulation of the ext...

Over the last few years, immunotherapy targeting proinflammatory cytokines has been the main goal of research into rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and recently the new anti-(tumour necrosis factor) blocking agents have dramatically improved the course of the disease by stabilising the symptoms. However, this treatment has no eVect on regeneration of articular cartilage damaged during the inflammator...

glycoconjugates and their programmed changes during the course of development in the cell-surface as well as in the extracellular matrix, are known to affect cell differentiation, cellular interaction and other developmental phenomena during embryogenesis. the purpose of this study was to localize n-acetylgalactosamin as well as fucose-containing glycoconjugates in situ during thymus developmen...

BACKGROUND Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) regulates several biological functions involving the modulation of cell behaviors via cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. According to its diverse functions, we hypothesized that EMMPRIN may play an important role in endometrial remodeling and establishment of pregnancy in cow. METHODS In this study, endometrial tissues f...

Angiogenesis is a prominent feature of numerous diseases, including cancer and arthritis, and appears to play an important role in kidney disease and hypertension. The matrix metalloproteinases, especially matrix metalloproteinase-2, play a vital role during angiogenesis by degrading the surrounding extracellular matrix and allowing endothelial cell invasion. Membrane type 1 matrix metalloprote...