The present study intended to demonstrate the effects of long noncoding RNA growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) on the migration and invasion of melanoma cells. We first detected the expression of GAS5 among four kinds of melanoma cell lines, followed by constructing GAS5-knocked down and overexpressed stable cells. Next, we evaluated the effects of GAS5 on cell migration and invasion us...

Medicinal plants have long been used as a source of therapeutic agents. They are thought to be important anti-aging ingredients in prophylactic medicines. The aim of this study was to screen extracts from Taiwanese plant materials for phenolic contents and measure the corresponding matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) activity. We extracted biological ingredients from eight plants native to Taiwa...

BACKGROUND Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is the most common long-term cause of morbidity and mortality after heart-lung or lung transplantation. One pathologic feature of BOS is infiltration of fibroblasts and connective tissue products into the airway lumen, which form a fibrous, collagen-rich occlusion. Heterotopically transplanted allogeneic murine tracheal stenosis resemble BOS in...

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitors have been identified as potential therapeutic candidates for metastasis, arthritis, chronic inflammation and wrinkle formation. For the first time here we report a detailed study on the inhibitory effects of phlorotannins in brown algae, Ecklonia cava (EC) on MMP activities in cultured human cell lines. A novel gelatin digestion assay could visualize co...

Vascular gelatinase activity is essential for pregnancy- and relaxin (Rlx)-induced renal vasodilation and hyperfiltration in rats. The objective of this study was to further elucidate the mechanisms for the increase in vascular matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 activity caused by pregnancy and Rlx. We first corroborated our earlier work by showing that pro- and active forms of MMP-2 were increas...

MACROPHAGES CONSIST OF TWO MAIN SUBSETS the proinflammatory M1 subset and the anti-inflammatory M2 one. 7-oxo-cholesterol, the most abundant cholesterol autoxidation product within atherosclerotic plaque, is able to skew the M1/M2 balance towards a proinflammatory profile. In the present study, we explored the ability of the polyphenolic compound resveratrol to counteract the 7-oxo-cholesterol-...

PURPOSE To determine the role of gelatinase in the hepatic metastatic process of colorectal cancer, we correlated gelatinolytic activity in colorectal tumor tissue both to the presence of intravasated colorectal epithelial cells and to the formation of liver metastasis. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The gelatinolytic activity was analyzed in tumor tissue samples from 68 colorectal cancer patients by us...

PURPOSE Pterygia are a proliferative and inflammatory growth of limbal epithelial stem cell origin, characterized by corneal tissue invasion and extensive matrix remodeling including the destruction of Bowman's layer (BL). The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) at the advancing pterygium edge. METHODS...