Granzyme A (GrA) and B (GrB) together with perforin are the main constituents of cytotoxic granules of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and natural killer (NK) cells. The cytotoxic proteins are released to deliver a lethal hit during contact between the CTL or NK cell and target cell. With the use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antigenic levels, we showed in a recent study that plasm...

The involvement of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) in the regulation of acute-phase protein synthesis is currently under discussion. In this study the effect of human recombinant TNF alpha on the regulation of the 4 acute-phase proteins alpha 2-macroglobulin, albumin, alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor and alpha 1-acute-phase globulin was investigated in rat hepatocyte primary cultures. No ch...

BACKGROUND Inflammatory and proteolytic activity occurs in sputum from patients with stable purulent bronchiectasis and has been proposed as the main pathogenetic mechanism of the disease. This study was designed to define further the role of inflammation and proteolysis in bronchiectasis. METHODS Neutrophil elastase activity, sputum concentrations of the serum derived inhibitors alpha 1 anti...

Metastasis is a serious and often life-threatening condition, representing the leading cause of death among women with breast cancer (BC). Although current clinical classification BC well-established, addition minimally invasive laboratory tests based on peripheral blood biomarkers that reflect pathological changes in body utmost importance. In study, serum proteome lipidome profiles for 50 pat...

AIMS/INTRODUCTION Studies suggest that salivary proteins can be used as potential non-invasive markers for clinical diagnosis and screening for diabetes. Previous reports showed that plasma alpha 2-macroglobulin (A2MG) levels were higher in diabetic patients, especially with diabetic complications. We investigated the relationship between salivary A2MG values and clinical characteristics in pat...

The effect of a secretory proteinase from the pathogenic amoebae Acanthamoeba castellanii on host's defense-oriented or regulatory proteins such as immunoglobulins, interleukin-1, and protease inhibitors was investigated. The enzyme was found to degrade secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), IgG, and IgM. It also degraded interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and IL-1 beta. Its activity was not inhibite...

A three-stage method for isolation of a, macroglobulin and a2 macroglobulin from the serum of normal and injured rats is described. The methods successively used, namely gel filtration, ultracentrifugation and chromnatography on DEAE-cellulose, were chosen to minimize loss of tryptic esterase-protecting activity. The two proteins differed slightly with respect to the following properties: mol.w...