Muscle inflammation following exercise is characterized by expression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Exercise also increases muscle macrophages derived from circulating monocytes. However, it is unknown whether muscle cells themselves attract circulating monocytes, or what is the underlying mechanism. We used an in vitro system of electrical stimulation (ES) causing C2C12 myotube con...

BACKGROUND Activated platelets exert a pro-inflammatory action that can be largely ascribed to their ability to interact with leukocytes and modulate their activity. We hypothesized that platelet activation and consequent formation of monocyte-platelet aggregates (MPA) induces a pro-inflammatory phenotype in circulating monocytes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS CD62P(+) platelets and MPA were...

BACKGROUND Levels of circulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have widely been used as biomarker for angiogenic activity in cancer. For this purpose, non-standardized measurements in plasma and serum were used, without correction for artificial VEGF release by platelets activated ex vivo. We hypothesize that "true" circulating (c)VEGF levels in most cancer patients are low and unre...

Microvascular injury initiates the pathogenesis of radiation enteropathy. As previously demonstrated, the secretome from mesenchymal stem cells contains various angiogenic cytokines that exhibited therapeutic potential for ischemic lesions. As such, the present study aimed to investigate whether cytokines derived from mesenchymal stem cells can repair endothelial injuries from irradiated intest...

Cancer patients often have an activated clotting system and are at increased risk for venous thrombosis. In the present study, we analyzed tissue factor (TF) expression in 4 different human pancreatic tumor cell lines for the purpose of producing derivative tumors in vivo. We found that 2 of the lines expressed TF and released TF-positive microparticles (MPs) into the culture medium. The majori...

BACKGROUND A number of experimental investigations in vivo suggest that in humans a decrease of circulating erythrocyte number ensues whenever erythropoietin (EPO) plasma level decreases. Since the process seems to selectively eliminate young red cells (neocytes), it has been named neocytolysis. The experimental models in vivo have revealed and documented multiple forms of neocytolysis but have...

Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), which is primarily produced by osteocytes in bone, regulates renal phosphate excretion and 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)(2)D(3)] metabolism. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have increased levels of circulating serum FGF23, but the direct effect on circulating FGF23 levels in renal insufficiency is still unclear. To identify the major regulato...

OBJECTIVE Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) play a main role in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) progression. We have analyzed circulating PMNs isolated from AAA patients and controls by a proteomic approach to identify proteins potentially involved in AAA pathogenesis. METHODS AND RESULTS PMNs from 8 AAA patients (4 large AAA >5 cm and 4 small AAA 3-5 cm) and 4 controls were analyzed by 2D...

various basidiomycetes and deuteromycetes, grown in liquid and solid culture media, were compared for their laccase-producing ability and for the inducing effect of soil and agricultural residues on laccase production. laccase activity in extracts of all solid media was higher than that of the liquid media. in liquid cultures, fungal laccase activity in ex-tracts of pea (pisum sativum) straw-tr...