The cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin, derived from Rosaceae kernels, is employed by many patients as an alternative anti-cancer treatment. However, whether amygdalin indeed acts as an anti-tumor agent is not clear. Metastasis blocking properties of amygdalin on bladder cancer cell lines was, therefore, investigated. Amygdalin (10 mg/ml) was applied to UMUC-3, TCCSUP or RT112 bladder cancer cell...

Incubation of UV-irradiated plasmid DNA with a protein extract prepared from Escherichia coli cells led to the production of mutations in the cro gene residing on the plasmid. The mutations were detected in a subsequent bioassay step, which involved transformation of an indicator strain with the plasmid DNA that was retrieved from the reaction mixture, followed by plating on lactose/MacConkey p...

In bladder cancer, increased caveolin-1 (Cav-1) expression and decreased Src expression and kinase activity correlate with tumor aggressiveness. Here, we investigate the clinical and functional significance, if any, of this reciprocal expression in bladder cancer metastasis. We evaluated the ability of tumor Cav-1 and Src RNA and protein expression to predict outcome following cystectomy in 257...

The Ral family of small G proteins has been implicated in tumorigenesis, invasion, and metastasis. However, little emphasis has been placed on clarifying the individual roles of the two Ral proteins, RalA and RalB, in these processes in view of their high sequence homology. Here we analyze the separate contributions of RalA and RalB in regulating cell migration, a necessary component of the inv...

The replication of damaged nucleotides that have escaped DNA repair leads to the formation of mutations caused by misincorporation opposite the lesion. In Escherichia coli, this process is under tight regulation of the SOS stress response and is carried out by DNA polymerase III in a process that involves also the RecA, UmuD' and UmuC proteins. We have shown that DNA polymerase III holoenzyme i...

DNA is constantly exposed to chemical and environmental mutagens, causing lesions that can stall replication. In order to deal with DNA damage and other stresses, Escherichia coli utilizes the SOS response, which regulates the expression of at least 57 genes, including umuDC. The gene products of umuDC, UmuC and the cleaved form of UmuD, UmuD', form the specialized E. coli Y-family DNA polymera...

Bladder cancer is observed worldwide having been associated with a host of environmental and lifestyle risk factors. Recent investigations on anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid signaling point to a pathway that may impact bladder cancer. Here we show an inverse effect on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) isoform signaling that may lead to bladder cancer. We found similar GRα expression levels in t...