Apoptosis plays a critical role during development and in the maintenance of the vascular system. B-cell leukemia lymphoma 2 (bcl-2) protects endothelial cells (EC) from apoptosis in response to a variety of stimuli. Previous work from this laboratory demonstrated attenuation of postnatal retinal vascular development and retinal neovascularization during oxygen-induced ischemic retinopathy in b...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to clarify the association between P53 and the Bcl-2 family (Bcl-2, Bax, Bcl-xL, Bcl-xS) expression and apoptosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). SUBJECTS AND METHODS A total of 70 patients with PDAC were studied. The expression of P53 protein in PDAC was assessed using the immunohistochemical method, which categorized the PDAC patients into...

The proto-oncogene Bcl-2 is expressed in membranes of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum and mediates resistance against a broad range of apoptotic stimuli. Although several mechanisms of Bcl-2 action have been proposed, its role in different cellular organelles remains elusive. Here, we analyzed the function of Bcl-2 targeted specifically to certain subcellular compartments in Jurkat cells...

the current challenges in the management of esophageal cancer are to obtain a better understanding of underlying molecular alterations to provide new treatment options. we studied the p53 and bcl-2 protein expression in esophageal carcinomas to correlate molecular alterations with clinicopathological findings. tissue samples of 37 patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma were analyzed by imm...

The Bcl-2 family of proteins plays a critical role regulating apoptosis, and pro-survival Bcl-2 family members are important therapeutic targets due to their overexpression in different cancers. Pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3)-only proteins antagonize pro-survival Bcl-2 protein functions by binding directly to them, and a sub-class of BH3-only proteins termed sensitizers can initiate apopt...

The proapoptotic protein Bim is expressed de novo following withdrawal of serum survival factors. Here, we show that Bim-/- fibroblasts and epithelial cells exhibit reduced cell death following serum withdrawal in comparison with their wild-type counterparts. In viable cells, Bax associates with Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L) and Mcl-1. Upon serum withdrawal, newly expressed Bim(EL) associates with Bcl-x(L) a...

background and aims: epigallocatechin-3-gallate (egcg) is a polyphenolic compound from green tea, which its anticancer effects on many types of cancers have been confirmed, but the molecular mechanism by which egcg induces apoptosis remains unknown. the aim of the present study was to investigate anti-proliferative properties and apoptotic signaling pathway of egcg on pc3 human prostate cancer ...

The Bcl-2 family of proteins plays a central regulatory role in apoptosis. We have identified a novel, widely expressed Bcl-2 member which we have named Bcl-rambo. Bcl-rambo shows overall structural homology to the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 members containing conserved Bcl-2 homology (BH) motifs 1, 2, 3, and 4. Unlike Bcl-2, however, the C-terminal membrane anchor region is preceded by a unique 250 ...