BACKGROUND The glycation of human serum albumin (HSA) during diabetes can affect the ability of this protein to bind drugs and small solutes in blood. This study describes the use of (16)O/(18)O-labeling and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry to compare the levels of modification that occur throughout HSA under various glycation conditions in vitro. The...

K-Ras mutant pancreatic cancer cells display intensive macropinocytosis, indicating that this process may be exploited in the design of anticancer targeted therapies. In this study, we constructed a macropinocytosis-oriented recombinantly tailored defensin (DF-HSA) which consists of human β-defensin-2 (DF) and human serum albumin (HSA). The macropinocytosis intensity and cytotoxicity of DF-HSA ...

S-Nitrosated human serum albumin (SNO-HSA) is a large molecular weight nitric oxide carrier in human plasma, and because of its many beneficial effects in different tests, it is currently under investigation as a cytoprotective agent. However, making SNO-HSA preparations is a complicated and time-consuming process. We found that binding of caprylic acid (CA) and N-acetyl-l-tryptophan (N-AcTrp) ...

Multidrug resistance–associated protein 1 (MRP1/ABCC1) is an important membrane transporter that contributes to cellular disposition of many endobiotic and xenobiotic agents, and it can also confer multidrug resistance. This study aimed to investigate the role of human noncoding microRNA-1291 (hsa-miR-1291) in regulation of ABCC1 and drug disposition. Bioinformatics analyses indicated that hsa-...

Chronic accumulation of plasma advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) promotes renal fibrosis. However, the mechanism at the cellular level has not been clarified. In the present study, endocytic assay of human proximal tubular cells (HK-2 cells) demonstrated that AOPPs-human serum albumin (HSA) (in vitro preparations of chloramine- modified HSA) were significantly endocytosed in a dose-de...

The kidney has long been invoked in the etiology of essential hypertension. This could involve alterations in expression of specific genes and microRNAs (miRNAs). The aim of the present study was to identify, at the transcriptome-wide level, mRNAs and miRNAs that were differentially expressed between kidneys of 15 untreated hypertensive and 7 normotensive white male subjects of white European a...

Streptococcus gordonii colonizes multiple sites within the human oral cavity. This colonization depends upon the initial interactions of streptococcal adhesins with host receptors. The adhesins that bind salivary agglutinin glycoprotein (gp340) and human cell surface receptors include the antigen I/II (AgI/II) family polypeptides SspA and SspB and a sialic acid-binding surface protein designate...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an emerging effective treatment for cancer. However, the great promise of PDT for bladder cancer therapy has not yet been realized because of tumor hypoxia. To address this challenge, we fabricated O2-generating HSA-MnO2-Ce6 NPs (HSA for human serum albumin, Ce6 for chlorin e6, and NPs for nanoparticles) to overcome tumor hypoxia and thus enhance the photodynamic e...

Human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant protein in human plasma, could be considered as a prototypic monomeric allosteric protein, since the ligand-dependent conformational adaptability of HSA spreads beyond the immediate proximity of the binding site(s). As a matter of fact, HSA is a major transport protein in the bloodstream and the regulation of the functional allosteric interrelationsh...

BACKGROUND Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most aggressive malignant gastrointestinal tumors; however the traditional therapies for EC are not effective enough. Great improvements are needed to explore new and valid treatments for EC. We aimed to screen the differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in esophageal cancer and explore the pathogenesis of esophageal cancer along with functions and...