Functional impairment of the Fas/CD95 receptor-ligand system is associated with the development and progression of malignancies. One possible cause might be the inhibition of the formation of a functional Fas/CD95-FasL complex by soluble Fas/CD95 molecules (sFas/CD95). In the present study we determined sFas/CD95 serum concentration in 125 melanoma patients of different clinical stages of disea...

A comparative analysis of the plasma concentrations of soluble Fas-L (sFas-L) and their correlation with hemoglobin levels and malaria severity was carried out in cohorts of P. falciparum-infected patients from Gabon and India. Young patients from Gabon had plasma levels of sFas-L that increased with disease severity. In contrast, in Indian adults plasmatic sFas-L levels were more elevated in U...

We have developed and characterized a highly sensitive ELISA for soluble Fas (sFas) in the serum. The linearity of calibrator range was 0.06-2.00 micrograms/L and the detection limit was 0.01 microgram/L. The average within- and between-run CVs were 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively. The recovery of added sFas to serum was 93-118%. The effects of possible interferences (tryglyceride, hemoglobin, bili...

Randomized computations can be very powerful with respect to space complexity, e. g., for logarithmic space, LasVegas is equivalent to nondeterminism. This power depends on the possibility of infinite computations, however, it is an open question if they are necessary. We answer this question for rotating finite automata (rfas) and sweeping finite automata (sfas). We show that LasVegas rfas (sf...

Obesity increases the risk for a number of diseases including cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Excess saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in obesity play a significant role in cardiovascular diseases by activating innate immunity responses. However, the mechanisms by which SFAs activate the innate immune system are not fully known. Here we report that palmitic acid (PA), the most abundant ...

Deregulation of soluble apoptosis stimulating fragment (sFas) plays an important role in glomerulonephritis (GN). The study assed the influence of immunosuppressive treatment on serum and urine sFas in patients with proliferative (PGN) and non-proliferative (NPGN) GN, and evaluated the potential of sFas measurements in predicting outcomes. Eighty-four patients with GN (45 males and 39 females) ...

OBJECTIVE Toll-like receptors (TLRs) initiate inflammatory signaling in response to conserved microbial molecules. It has been proposed that dietary saturated fatty acids (SFAs) may also serve as endogenous ligands of TLR2 or TLR4, thereby promoting diseases associated with inflammation and dyslipidemia, including atherosclerosis and insulin resistance. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated the...

PURPOSE To examine the role of soluble Fas (sFas) in patients with Behcet's uveitis. METHODS We measured the sFas levels in both sera and aqueous humor (AH) of patients (n = 40) with uveitis and of non-uveitis controls (n = 27) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The patients with uveitis comprised 24 with Behcet's disease, 6 pan-uveitis, 5 anterior uveitis, 2 lens-induced uveitis, 1 ...

The Fas/Fas Ligand system is a major apoptosis signaling pathway that is up-regulated in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Serum soluble Fas (sFas) levels increase in proportion to the CHF severity and may have prognostic value, therefore, sFas is a promising biomarker of heart failure. In this study, we attempted to identify the determinants of sFas levels in patients with CHF. Serum ...

To the Editor: In HIV infection, the mechanism of destruction of the CD41 T cells is unknown. Apoptosis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of HIV. One apoptotic pathway is mediated through the Fas-Fas ligand pathway. Soluble Fas (sFas) in serum is thought to act as an inhibitor of Fas-Fas ligand binding and to block Fas-mediated apoptosis (1 ). We studied the role of sFas as a marke...