Islets of Langerhans are microorgans scattered throughout the pancreas, and are responsible for synthesizing and secreting pancreatic hormones. While progress has recently been made concerning cell differentiation of the islets of Langerhans, the mechanism controlling islet morphogenesis is not known. It is thought that these islets are formed by mature cell association, first differentiating i...

INTRODUCTION Single nucleotide polymorphisms within promoter or other regulatory sequences of cytokine genes mainly influence the level of production and secretion of proteins. A large amount of evidence has shown that cytokine gene variations alter graft survival length after kidney transplantation. We studied the association of gene polymorphisms in the interlekin-10 gene (IL10; -1082 G/A), i...

Themolecular mechanisms of hypoxia induced breast cell migration remain incompletely understood. Our results show that hypoxia through hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) brings about a time-dependent increase in the level of an oncogenicmicroRNA,miR-191 in various breast cancer cell lines.miR-191 enhances breast cancer aggressiveness by promoting cell proliferation, migration and survival under hyp...

During the last decades, changes have been observed in the frequency of different histologic subtypes of lung cancer, one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality, with a declining proportion of squamous cell carcinomas and an increasing proportion of adenocarcinomas, particularly in developed countries. This suggests the emergence of new etiologic factors and mechanisms, including ...

During the last decades, changes have been observed in the frequency of different histologic subtypes of lung cancer, one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality, with a declining proportion of squamous cell carcinomas and an increasing proportion of adenocarcinomas, particularly in developed countries. This suggests the emergence of new etiologic factors and mechanisms, including ...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a cardiovascular disorder associated with enhanced proliferation and suppressed apoptosis of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). Heterozygous mutations in the type II receptor for bone morphogenetic protein (BMPR2) underlie the majority of the inherited and familial forms of PAH. The transforming growth factor b (TGFb) pathway is activated i...

Activin, a member of the transforming growth factor B (TGFB) superfamily, regulates diverse processes, such as cellular growth and differentiation. There is increasing evidence that TGFB and its signaling effectors are key determinants of tumor cell behavior. Loss of sensitivity to TGFB-induced growth arrest is an important step toward malignancy. We previously characterized FLRG as an extracel...

Within T cell–rich areas of secondary lymphoid organs, interdigitating dendritic cells recruit antigen-specific T cells that then induce B cells to secrete Igs. This study investigates the possible role(s) of dendritic cells in the regulation of human B cell responses. In the absence of exogenous cytokines, in vitro generated dendritic cells (referred to as Dendritic Langerhans cells, D-Lc) ind...

Purpose: Lung adenocarcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are the most common non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) subtypes. This study was designed to determine whether reduced expression of TGFb type II receptor (TGFbRII) promotes lung adenocarcinoma and SCC

We have quantified levels of CD105, its ligand TGFb and receptor-ligand complexes in sera from healthy individuals (n=31), patients with triple vessel disease documented by coronary angiography (TVD; n=36) and patients with chest pain and a positive exercise electrocardiogram but with normal coronary angiogram (NCA; n=30). Both active TGFb1 and active plus acid-activatable TGFb1 [(a+ l)TGFb1] w...