Human CMV (HCMV) infection promotes a variable and persistent expansion of functionally mature NKG2C bright NK cells. We analyzed NKG2C bright NK cell responses triggered by Abs from HCMV + sera against HCMV-infected MRC5 fibroblasts. Specific Abs promoted the degranulation (i.e., CD107a expression) and the production of cytokines (TNF-a and IFN-g) by a significant fraction of NK cells, exceedi...

The efficacy of rifabutin (RIFA) alone or in combination with atovaquone (ATO) was examined in vitro and in a murine model of acute toxoplasmosis. In vitro studies were performed with MRC5 fibroblast tissue cultures, with quantification of Toxoplasma growth by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. For in vivo studies, mice were acutely infected with 10(4) tachyzoites of the virulent RH strain and ...

BACKGROUND Cancer has been one of the leading causes of mortality in this era. Ruta angustifolia L. Pers has been traditionally used as an abortifacient, antihelmintic, emmenagogue and ophthalmic. In Malaysia and Singapore, the local Chinese community used it for the treatment of cancer. METHODS In this study, the methanol and fractionated extracts (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water...

Oxidized low density lipoproteins (LDLs) play a central role in atherosclerosis, and their toxicity is due, at least in part, to the formation of oxysterols that have been shown to induce apoptosis in various cell types. As 7b-hydroxycholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol are the major oxysterols found in oxidized LDLs, we have investigated and compared the mode of cell death, apoptosis versus necro...

Cancer statistics show that the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world is lung cancer, that over 50% of patients diagnosed with this cancer have distant metastasis, and that only 4% of these patients manage to survive more than 5 years. The limited selective cytotoxicity of the drugs used for the treatment of these patients probably accounts for these high mortality rates. In this work, we...

Alopecosa Simon, 1885 is a large genus of wolf spiders containing more than 166 named species (World Spider Catalog 2015), of which 81 valid species have been recorded from the territory of ex-USSR (Mikhailov 2013). In the mountains of South Siberia, to which the Altai Mts belong, 35 species of Alopecosa have been recorded to date (Mikhailov 2013), but findings of some of them require confirmat...

Background: There is increasing evidence that the toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) is an interesting target for anti-cancer therapy. Unfortunately, most laboratory investigations about the impact of TLR3 stimulation on human malignant cells have been performed with very high concentrations 5 to 100 μg/ml of the prototype TLR3 ligand, poly(I:C). In a previous study focused on a specific type of human...

Normal tissue radiation response involves morphological and functional changes and is of great importance to populations subjected to medical, accidental or intentional exposure. Furthermore, Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi disasters have demonstrated that the first responders to such emergencies show high risk of radiation exposure. The kinetics of these responses appears to vary with radiatio...