Heat is one of the most potent radiosensitizers known. Several randomized trials have shown that hyperthermia is a good adjuvant for radiotherapy at several different cancer sites. However, the mechanism(s) involved in the interaction of heat and radiation that lead to radiosensitization remain to be elucidated. In this report, we have determined that heat induces perturbations in some of the e...

Ionizing radiation is applied as the standard treatment for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). However, radiotherapy remains merely palliative, not curative, because of the existence of glioma stem cells (GSCs), which are regarded as highly radioresistant to low linear-energy-transfer (LET) photons. Here we analyzed whether or not high-LET particles can overcome the radioresistance of GSCs. Glioma ...

Selective introduction of genes conferring chemosensitivity into proliferating tumor cells may be used to treat cancer. We investigated the bystander effect of retrovirus-mediated gene transfer of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) gene to murine neuroblastoma cell line (neuro-2a) in vitro and in vivo, and we examined whether the mechanism of bystander effect in neuroblastoma would ...

Cytokines play a key role in maintaining communication between organs and in so doing modulate the interaction between concurrent infections. The extent of these effects depends on the properties of the organ infected and the intensity and type of infections. To determine systemic bystander effects among organs, IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 gene expression was quantified at 7 days post-challenge in di...

To investigate the potential role of the local expression of alternative complement factor B (hBf) in human sepsis, we examined the induction of Bf gene expression in human peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) from patients with septic shock and the mechanisms of hBf gene regulation by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interferon (IFN)-gamma, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in human monocytes. PBMC...

Rev7p has been suggested to play an important role in regulating DNA damage response in yeast, and recently, the human homologue (i.e., MAD2B) has been identified, which shares significant homology to the mitotic checkpoint protein MAD2. In this study, we investigated whether MAD2B played a key role in cellular sensitivity to DNA-damaging anticancer drugs by suppressing its expression using RNA...

Changes in the thymic microenvironment lead to radiation-induced thymic lymphomagenesis, but the phenomena are not fully understood. Here we show that radiation-induced chromosomal instability and bystander effects occur in thymocytes and are involved in lymphomagenesis in C57BL/6 mice that have been irradiated four times with 1.8-Gy γ-rays. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated in desce...

Phosphorylation of the histone variant H2AX forms c-H2AX that marks DNA double-strand break (DSB). Here, we generated the sequencing-based maps of H2AX and c-H2AX positioning in resting and proliferating cells before and after ionizing irradiation. Genome-wide locations of possible endogenous and exogenous DSBs were identified based on c-H2AX distribution in dividing cancer cells without irradi...