Therapeutic efficacy of cisplatin-based treatment of late stage urothelial carcinoma (UC) is limited by chemoresistance. To elucidate underlying mechanisms and to develop new approaches for overcoming resistance, we generated long-term cisplatin treated (LTT) UC cell lines, characterised their cisplatin response, and determined the expression of molecules involved in cisplatin transport and det...

Metallothioneins (MTs) are low weight proteins involved in several key cellular processes such as metal ions homeostasis, detoxification and scavenging of free radicals. Four groups of MTs are distinguished: MT-1, MT-2, MT-3 and MT-4. Regardless of the type, MTs are characterized by high content of cysteine, responsible for their biological properties such as binding of relevant zinc and copper...

Biochemistry and genetics are both required to elucidate the function of macromolecules. There is no question that metallothioneins (MTs) have unique biochemical properties, but genetic experiments have not substantiated the importance of MTs under physiological conditions. Even after thousands of studies describing the structure, biochemical characteristics, tissue distribution, induction, and...

Rat liver and horse kidney metallothioneins react with 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (Nbs2) to release 5-thio-2-nitrobenzoate and metal ions. The reactions are slow and exhibit biphasic kinetics with each process having an empirical rate law of the form: rate - k[RSM] X [Nbs2] + k'[RSM], where RSM represents mental-bound thiolate groups. The pseudo-first-order rates are insensitive to pH...

Metallothioneins (MT) were obtained after purification from metal-exposed clams (Ruditapes decussatus) using gel-permeation and ion-exchange chromatography. Four cadmium-metallothioneins (CdMTs) were resolved by ion-exchange chromatography and they all had similar molecular weights, high cadmium content and an absorption spectra indicative of the presence of characteristic Cd-S aggregates. The ...

Free radicals are chemical particles containing one or more unpaired electrons, which may be part of the molecule. They cause the molecule to become highly reactive. The free radicals are also known to play a dual role in biological systems, as they can be either beneficial or harmful for living systems. It is clear that there are numerous mechanisms participating on the protection of a cell ag...

Serum and follicular fluid zinc concentrations were investigated in patients undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. No correlation was found between zinc and oestradiol concentrations in serum. At the time of oocyte retrieval, zinc concentrations in follicular fluid were significantly lower than serum concentrations (P<0.0001). The expression of the two families of zinc transporters, ZnT a...

Increasing emissions of heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, and arsenic into the environment pose an acute problem for all organisms. Considerations of the biochemical basis of heavy metal detoxification in animals have focused exclusively on two classes of peptides, the thiol tripeptide, glutathione (GSH, gamma-Glu-Cys-Gly), and a diverse family of cysteine-rich low molecular weight protein...

More than 30 years have passed since the discovery of the first plant metallothionein in wheat embryos, from which the emergence of a uniquely diverse metallothionein family with a fascinating array of structural nuances and molecular properties has been witnessed. Metallothioneins are not only constitutively expressed, but the production of different types of plant metallothionein is also stim...