Factors underlying growth regulation in human pituitary tumors are largely unknown. Activin functions as an antiproliferative cytokine in a number of cell types and is endogenously expressed in normal and neoplastic human pituicytes. We investigated the effect of activin on proliferation in 16 clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas in primary culture. Treatment for 24 h with activin (0-10...

Silibinin, a naturally occurring flavonoid antioxidant found in the milk thistle, has recently been shown to have potent antiproliferative effects against various malignant cell lines, but the underlying mechanism of action remains to be elucidated. We investigated the effect of silibinin on androgen-independent prostate cancer PC-3 cells. At pharmacologically achievable silibinin concentration...

SCOPE Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, making the identification of new counteracting agents and their mechanisms of action relevant. Ginger and its constituents have been reported to improve cardiovascular health, but no studies exist addressing a potential interference with VSMC proliferation. METHODS AND RESULTS The...

Hybrid interferon DNA recombinants were constructed from the IFLrA and IFLrD leukocyte interferon-coding sequences. Each of the hybrid interferons was purified with the use of a monoclonal antibody to human leukocyte interferon. Three amino acid residues were identified, one or all of which function to potentiate antiviral activity on feline cells and reduce activity on human cells. Because at ...

As an extension of our studies on the antitumour properties of various hemocyanins, we sought to compare the antiproliferative effects of hemocyanins derived from two snail species: Helix lucorum (HIH) and Helix aspersa (HaH). This is the first report on the antitumour effects of HaH. We hypothesized that HaH has antitumour effects not only against bladder cancer, as previously shown with other...

Novel curcumin analogues with α,β-unsaturated ketone moiety and/or α,β-saturated ketone structure were synthesized from curcumin via alkylation at the central carbon and the phenolic hydroxy groups, and hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated ketone moiety. The antiproliferative activities were tested in five human solid tumor cell lines in vitro. Most of the compounds exhibited increased antiprolifer...

This study examined the antiproliferative effects of β-escin (E) in cancer cells. The study showed that E inhibited cancer cells growth in a dose-dependent manner. The flow cytometric analysis revealed an escin-induced increase in the sub-G1 DNA content, which is considered to be a marker of apoptosis. Apoptosis was also confirmed by annexin V staining and DNA fragmentation assay. These effects...

In our search for new anticancer medicinal plants, the antiproliferative activity of the methanol extract of Daphne mucronata (Thymelaeaceae) was evaluated using human myelogenous leukemia K562 cells. The cells responded to plant treatments in a dose dependent manner and the IC50 of the crude extract (equivalent to 1 g of plant leaves powder per ml) and the purified active component were found ...