We studied the molecular basis of the up to 46-fold increased accumulation of folates and methotrexate (MTX) in human leukemia CEM-7A cells established by gradual deprivation of leucovorin (LCV). CEM-7A cells consequently exhibited 10- and 68-fold decreased LCV and folic acid growth requirements and 23-25-fold hypersensitivity to MTX and edatrexate. Although CEM-7A cells displayed a 74-86-fold ...

Full-length Drosophila myosin 7a (myosin 7a-FL) has a complex tail containing a short predicted coiled coil followed by a MyTH4-FERM domain, an SH3 domain, and a C-terminal MyTH4-FERM domain. Myosin 7a-FL expressed in Sf9 cells is monomeric despite the predicted coiled coil. We showed previously that Subfragment-1 (S1) from this myosin has MgATPase of V(max) approximately 1 s(-1) and K(ATPase) ...

Regulation of the MYC oncogene remains unclear. Using 10058-F4, a compound that inhibits MYC-MAX transcription factor, MYC protein and gene expression were down-regulated in Namalwa cells, a Burkitt lymphoma. Compound 10058-F4 decreased MYC mRNA (45%), MYC protein (50%), and cell growth (32%). MYC-MAX transcription factor was disrupted 24 h after treatment, resulting in transcriptional inhibiti...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously expressed non-coding RNAs, which are involved in the gene expression regulation. Lethal-7a (let-7a) is a founding member of miRNA family and recently it was found to be associated with several cancers, such as lung and colon cancers. In the present study, we found that let-7a miRNA expression was significantly downregulated both in human laryngeal squamous ca...

Myc oncogenic transcription factor is known to inhibit tumor suppressive microRNAs (miRNAs), resulting in greater expression of their target protein related to cell cycle, invasion or anti-apoptotic factors in human cancer cells. To explore possible oncogenic factors in Ewing's sarcoma (ES), we conducted microarray-based approach to profile the changes in the expression of miRNAs and its downst...

The spin labeled nitrosoureas 7a-e and 12 were synthesized and evaluated in vivo for their anticancer activities against the murine lymphocytic leukemia P388. Compounds 7a-c, 7e and 12 possessed activities ranging from 31 to 542 percent increase in life span (%ILS), whereas compound 7d was marginal (%ILS = 21). All CD2F1 male mice treated with the most active compounds (7a and 12) at 35 mg/kg f...

Cholesteatomas are benign epidermally‑derived lesions of the temporal bone that are caused by migration of hyperproliferative keratinocytes into the middle ear and mastoid cavity. The molecular mechanisms that regulate the pathogenesis of cholesteatomas are currently not fully understood. The present study demonstrated the antigrowth and anti‑invasive effects of let‑7a microRNA (miRNA) on chole...

Let-7 microRNAs (miRNAs) are highly conserved well-established promoters of terminal differentiation that are expressed in healthy adult tissues and frequently repressed in cancer cells. The tumor suppressive role of let-7 in a variety of cancers in vitro and in vivo has been widely documented and prompted these miRNAs to be candidate genes for miRNA replacement therapy. In this study we descri...

Recombinant capsid protein VP1 (rVP1) of foot-andmouth disease virus is a protein exhibiting potent cytotoxicity to a variety of cancer cells. We have recently found that rVP1 is capable of decreasing cancer cell motility but increasing macrophages motility. The underlying molecular mechanism for such paradoxical effects of rVP1 on cancer and immune cells are still largely unclear. Here, we sho...