Mammalian thioredoxin reductases are selenoproteins. For native catalytic activity, these enzymes utilize a C-terminal -Gly-Cys-Sec-Gly-COOH sequence (where Sec is selenocysteine) forming a redox active selenenylsulfide/selenolthiol motif. A range of cellular systems depend upon or are regulated by thioredoxin reductase and its major protein substrate thioredoxin, including apoptosis signal-reg...

Nuclear apoptosis-inducing factor 1 (NAIF1) was previously reported to induce apoptosis. Moreover, the expression of NAIF1 was significantly down-regulated in human gastric cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. However, the mechanism by which the NAIF1 gene induces apoptosis is not fully understood. Our results show that NAIF1 was minimally expressed in all the tested gastric canc...

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element with a wide spectrum of biological activity and as a potential anticancer agent, it has gained a lot of scientific attention. Since the first hypothesis concerning chemopreventive properties of selenium was formulated (in 1969), numerous studies on Se and cancer, including human randomized controlled trials, have been conducted. Whereas studies in viv...

The hepatoprotective effects of eburicoic acid (TR1) and dehydroeburicoic acid (TR2) from Antrodia camphorata (AC) against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver damage were investigated in mice. TR1 and TR2 was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) for 7 days prior to the administration of CCl4. Pretreatment with TR1 and TR2 prevented the elevation of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alani...

Introduction: Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) is widely applied to assess tissue perfusion and vascular permeability [1]. In most of these applications, a T1 map, obtained prior to contrast agent (CA) administration, is used to convert the signal intensity from a series of T1-weighted spoiled gradient-echo images into CA concentration. The accuracy of the approach is mainly affected by ...