OBJECTIVE High circulating levels of group IIA secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IIA) activity and mass are independent cardiovascular risk factors. Therefore, inhibition of sPLA2-IIA may be a target for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The present study evaluated the effects of sPLA2-IIA inhibition with varespladib acid in a novel mouse model, human apolipoprotein B (ap...

PURPOSE Arachidonate release contributes to prostate tumor progression as arachidonate is metabolized into prostaglandins and leukotrienes, potent mediators of immune suppression, cellular proliferation, tumor motility, and invasion. The group IIa sPLA2 (sPLA2-IIa) can facilitate arachidonate release from cellular phospholipids. We therefore sought to determine whether sPLA2-IIa expression migh...

Expression of group IIA secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IIA) is documented in the cerebral cortex (CTX) after ischemia, suggesting that sPLA2-IIA is associated with neurodegeneration. However, how sPLA2-IIA is involved in the neurodegeneration remains obscure. To clarify the pathologic role of sPLA2-IIA, we examined its neurotoxicity in rats that had the middle cerebral artery occluded and in...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. There is an urgent need for early diagnostic tools and novel therapies in order to increase lung cancer survival. Secretory phospholipase A2 group IIa (sPLA2-IIa) is involved in inflammation, tumorigenesis and metastasis. We were the first to uncover that cancer cells secrete sPLA2‑IIa. sPLA2‑IIa is overexpressed in almost all specimen...

Principle Investigators: Georg von Freymann and Martin Wegener CFN-Financed Scientists: C. Becker (3/4 BAT IIa, 4 months), Markus Deubel (3/4 BAT IIa, 9 months), Martin Hermatschweiler (3/4 BAT IIa, 14.5 months), Nina Meinzer (3/4 BAT IIa, 1 month), Daniel Meisel (3/4 BAT IIa, 5.5 months), Michael S. Rill (3/4 BAT IIa, 32 months), Isabelle Staude (3/4 BAT IIa, 14 months) On average, this corres...

Principle Investigators: Hilbert v. Löhneysen, Christoph Sürgers, Regina Hoffmann CFN-Financed Scientists: Timofey Balashov (1/2 BAT IIa, 3 months), B. Gopalakrishnan (3/4 BAT IIa, 6 months), Daniel Kaufmann (1/2 BAT IIa, 2 months), Markus Sauter (3/4 BAT IIa, 16 months), Richard Montbrun (38,6% BAT IIa, 44 months), Marc Müller (1/2 BAT IIa, 24 months) Further Scientists: Dominik Stöffler, Gerd...

Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA), one of the major lipophilic components isolated from the root of Salviae Miltiorrhizae, has been found to exhibit anticancer activity in various cancer cells. We have demonstrated that Tan-IIA induces apoptosis in several human cancer cells through caspase- and mitochondria-dependent pathways. Here we explored the anticancer effect of Tan-IIA in human bladder cancer ce...

objective: escherichia coli is the most prevalent etiologic agent of urinary tract infections which is the cause of about 80% of cases. enzymatic inactivation of aminoglycosides by aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes is the main mechanism of resistance to these antibiotics in escherichia coli. the aim of this study was the detection of aac(3)-iia gene among aminoglycoside resistant clinical isolat...

There is a considerable body of evidence supporting the role of secretory type II-A phospholipase A(2) (sPLA(2)-IIA) as an effector of the innate immune response. This enzyme also exhibits bactericidal activity especially toward Gram-positive bacteria. In this study we examined the ability of sPLA(2)-IIA to kill Bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax. Our results show that both ge...