16,16-Dimethyl-PGE2 (PGE2) may interact with one of four prostaglandin type E (EP) receptors, which signal via cAMP (via EP2 or EP4 receptors) or intracellular Ca(2+) (via EP1 receptors). Furthermore, EP3 receptors have several splice variants, which may signal via cAMP or intracellular Ca(2+). We sought to determine the PGE2 receptor interactions that mediate recovery of transmucosal resistanc...

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a principal fever mediator that induces hyperthermia when injected into the organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT) and the adjacent preoptic area of the hypothalamus (POA). PGE (EP) receptors have four subtypes, i.e. EP1, EP2, EP3, and EP4. In the rat OVLT/POA region, at least three of these receptors, i.e. EP1, EP3, and EP4 receptors, have distinctively differen...

The prostaglandin (PG) receptors EP4 and FP have the potential to exert negative effects on adipogenesis, but the exact contribution of endogenous PG-driven receptor signaling to this process is not fully understood. In this study, we employed an adipocyte differentiation system from mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) and compared the effects of each PG receptor-deficiency on adipocyte different...

BACKGROUND The widespread threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to human health has made urgent the development of fast and accurate analytical methods for its early diagnosis and a safe and efficient antiviral vaccine for preventive use. For this purpose, we investigated the antigenicity of different regions of the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) nucleocapsid (N) protein. METHODS Th...

Although micrometastatic cancer cells in lymph nodes can be detected by monoclonal antibodies against epithelial or tumor-associated antigens, it remains unclear whether these cells are precursors of overt metastases or shedded tumor cells with a limited life span. Here we used esophageal cancer as a model to evaluate the prognostic significance and biological characteristics of such micrometas...

The pro-inflammatory chemokine CCL2 [chemokine (Cys-Cys motif) ligand 2; also known as MCP-1 (monocyte chemotactic protein-1)] is up-regulated in the glomerular compartment during the early phase of LPS (lipopolysaccharide)-induced nephritis. This up-regulation also occurs in cultured MCs (mesangial cells) and is more pronounced in MCs lacking the PGE2 (prostaglandin E2) receptor EP2 or in MCs ...

To identify the E-prostanoid (EP) receptors that mediate the hemodynamic actions of PGE2, we studied acute vascular responses to infusions of PGE2using lines of mice in which each of four EP receptors (EP1 through EP4) have been disrupted by gene targeting. In mixed groups of males and females, vasodepressor responses after infusions of PGE2were significantly diminished in the EP2 -/- and EP4 -...

Cyclooxygenase-2-derived prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) stimulates tumor cell growth and progression. However, the mechanisms by which PGE(2) increases tumor growth remain incompletely understood. In studies performed in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells, we found that PGE(2) stimulates the expression of integrin-linked kinase (ILK). ILK small interfering RNA (siRNA) inhibited the mitoge...

B cell receptor (BCR) signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of B cell malignancies, and most B cell lymphomas depend on BCR signals for survival. Identification of genes that restrain BCR-mediated proliferation is therefore an important goal toward improving the therapy of B cell lymphoma. Here, we identify Ptger4 as a negative feedback regulator of proliferation in response to BCR signals ...

In cancer management, the cyclooxygenase (COX)-targeted approach has shown great promise in anticancer therapeutics. However, the use of COX-2 inhibitors has side effects and health hazards; thus, targeting its major metabolite prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2))-mediated signaling pathway might be a rational approach for the next generation of cancer management. Recent studies on several in vitro and ...