Purpose: Activating extrinsic apoptotic pathways targeting death receptors (DR) using agonistic antibodies or TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is promising for cancer therapy. However, most pancreatic cancers are resistant to TRAIL therapy. The present studies aimed to identify combination therapies that enhance the efficacy of TRAIL therapy and to investigate the underlying

The effect of the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E5 protein on apoptosis was investigated by using the polyclonal HaCaT-cell lines stably transfected either with E5 (HaCaT/E5) or the empty vector (HaCaT/pMSG) as reference. Apoptosis was triggered either by Fas ligand (FasL) or by tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and was monitored by detection of cleavage of...

Nurr1 is an orphan nuclear receptor and a member of the nerve growth factor I-B subfamily of transcription factors with no known endogenous ligand or stimulator. We show, for the first time, evidence that Nurr1 is expressed in a panel of 11 human bladder cancer cell lines. A new class of methylene-substituted diindolylmethanes (C-DIM) were screened and 1,1-bis(3'-indolyl)-1-(p-chlorophenyl)meth...

BACKGROUND The death of cardiac cells during ischemia and reperfusion is partially mediated by apoptosis, as seen, eg, in autopsy material of patients after acute myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS To study the role of CD95/Fas/Apo1 for induction of postischemic cell death, we used an ischemia/reperfusion model of isolated rat and mouse hearts in Langendorff perfusion. In this model, ...

Apoptosis-inducing tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligands and receptors have been reported in human placentas, but the expression patterns of family members lacking this function [a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS), CD30L/CD153, CD40L/CD154, TNF-related activation-induced cytokine, CD27L/CD70, OX40L, activation-inducible TNF receptor ligand (AITRL)] are incompl...

Expression of the K1 gene of human herpesvirus 8 activates nuclear factor-kappaB and induces lymph node hyperplasia and lymphomas in transgenic mice. To further delineate its role in cell survival, we determined whether K1 altered apoptosis of lymphoma cells. K1 protein is expressed in Kaposi sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma. We retrovirally transfected BJAB lymphoma, THP-1, U937, and Kapo...