BACKGROUND Khat (Catha edulis) is a controversial plant having a euphoretic effect, at the same time part of culture in many countries such as Africa and Arabian Peninsula. The presence of amphetamine-like substance, cathinone and cathine make this plant banned in many countries. Many neurological and other system related studies have been carried out in this plant, but the lack of toxicity stu...

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in men. Sodium phenylbutyrate (SPB) has shown its potential as an anticancer therapy in numerous cancer types. In the present study, we attempted to assess the effect of SPB against PCa and whether this treatment was associated with the regulation of survivin. METHODS Two human PCa cancer cell lines, DU145 and PC3, we...

The effects of human recombinant erythropoietin (rEpo) in the presence of other stimulators on the growth of clonogenic leukemic blast cells from ten Japanese patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia were studied with an in vitro leukemic blast colony assay in methylcellulose culture. With the addition of rEpo alone, no leukemic blast colony formation was stimulated in any of the cases examine...

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to be a population of tumor cells, which are responsible for tumor initiation and progression. They are also involved in metastasizing and may be a possible cause of multidrug resistance and tumor recurrence. CSCs possess the ability to self  renew and show a tumorigenic potential. Functional assays, which enable the detection of these properties, represe...

Human recombinant interleukin-4 (IL-4) was studied for its effects on myeloid progenitor cells from normal and leukemic bone marrow cells in the presence and absence of additional growth factors. IL-4 itself did not support myeloid cluster or colony formation (CFU-GM). However, cultures supplied with IL-4 (300 U/mL) and IL-3 demonstrated a significant decline in myeloid colony numbers (CFU-GM) ...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed at exploring the role of microRNA-21 (miR-21) in predicting brain metastases (BM) from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS A total of 132 NSCLC patients, including 68 patients with BM and 64 patients without BM, were included in the study. NSCLC cells were collected and assigned to the inhibitor (IN) group, the mock group, and the negative control (NC) group...

We have evaluated the possible involvement of TGF-beta in rheumatoid arthritis by assay of 16 cell-free synovial fluids for the presence of its active and "latent" forms. Evidence has been obtained for TGF-beta-like activity in synovial effusions by four criteria: (a) TGF-beta receptor competition, (b) soft-agar colony formation of AKR-2B and NRK-49F indicator cells, (c) immunological neutraliz...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that play an important role in cancer development where they can act as oncogenes or as tumor-suppressors. miR-34a is a tumor-suppressor that is frequently downregulated in a number of tumor types. However, little is known about the role of miR-34a in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS AND RESULTS miR-34a expression in ...

Recent researches have demonstrated improved survival in oncologic patients treated with low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) which are anticoagulant drugs. We evaluated "second generation" LMWH bemiparin and its in vitro anti-tumor effects on HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma and MIA PaCa-2 cancer cells. The aim of the study is to investigate anti-cancer mechanism of bemiparin in HepG2 and Mia-P...