Sphingosine kinases (Sphk1/2 EC 2.7.1.91) are responsible for synthesis of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and for regulation of the bioactive sphingolipids homeostasis. Sphingosine-1-phosphate can act as a potent messenger in an autocrine/paracrine manner through five specific G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) S1P1-5. This sphingolipid is involved in the mechanism of transcription, mitochondria...

The survival of neurons is maintained primarily by neurotrophic factors that suppress the apoptotic program. Axotomy or removal of peripheral targets causes neuronal cell death, but the mechanisms involved in the induction of this type of cell death remain poorly understood. Here, we show that DP5/Harakiri, a Bcl-2 homology domain 3-only member of the Bcl-2 family, is induced in motoneurons aft...

Osteosarcoma is a malignant musculoskeletal tumor that has high-rate morbidity and mortality worldwide. Alginate oligosaccharide (AOS), a natural product, has antitumor activities and may have therapeutic effects in osteosarcoma, the molecular mechanisms of which remain unclear. AOS was prepared from alginate sodium using alginate lyase. The fractions of AOS were further isolated by size-exclus...

Breast cancer has been recorded as a frequent malignant cancer. The side effects of current chemotherapy drugs are still severe problem. Hence, naturally occurring phytochemicals can be possible solution to overcome this issue. Therefore, hyperforin was used assess its anticancer effect against triple-negative breast cells (MDA-MB-231) and effectiveness taxol (clinically drug). Both compounds’ ...

Th e symposium with international participation entitled Experiences in the Implementation of Healthcare Reform in the Republic of Croatia took place on October 27-29, 2009 at Plitvice Lakes. Th e Symposium was organized by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Republic of Croatia and Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, under the persona...

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a powerful tool with many different applications in Molecular Biology and related disciplines. Amplification of the inserts cloned into a vector directly from the bacterial colony is one of them. This technique allows a fast screening of many different clones in order to detect which one of them contains the desired construction. The primers used to direct thi...

Apoptosis is now recognized as a predominant mechanism by which b cells are destroyed in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (1). Proand antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family are central regulators involved in b-cell fate decision between life and death in response to physiological insults. The intricate interplay and balance between members of this family regulate apoptosis by controlling mito...

STUDY QUESTION How does maternal cigarette smoking disturb development of the human fetal ovary? SUMMARY ANSWER Maternal smoking increases fetal estrogen titres and dysregulates several developmental processes in the fetal ovary. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Exposure to maternal cigarette smoking during gestation reduces human fetal ovarian cell numbers, germ cell proliferation and subsequent adul...

Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), driven by translocation and overexpression of the c-MYC gene, is an aggressive, highly proliferative lymphoma, and novel therapeutic strategies are required to overcome drug resistance following conventional treatments. The importance of the prosurvival BCL-2 family member BCL-XL in BL cell survival suggests that antagonistic BH3-mimetic compoundsmay have therapeutic po...