The length polymorphism of guanosine thymidine dinucleotide repeats in the heme oxygenase-1 gene promoter is associated with cardiovascular events and mortality in high-risk populations. Experimental data suggest that heme oxygenase-1 protects against kidney disease. However, the association between this polymorphism and long-term risk of CKD in high-risk patients is unknown. We analyzed the al...

Gaseous monoxides such as nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) have recently attracted great interest as a regulator of cell and organ functions. When exposed to endotoxin, cytokines or ischemia-reperfusion, the liver produces larger amounts of NO than those in the control via the activity of inducible NO synthase which can alter a variety of organ functions such as sensitivity of vascula...

The chemokine fractalkine modulates microglial responses in neurodegenerative diseases, including tauopathies, but the mechanistic processes and their relevance in human brain pathologies is not yet known. Here, we show that hippocampal HT22 cells expressing human TAU(P301L) mutant protein produce fractalkine, which in microglia activates AKT, inhibits glycogen synthase kinase-3β and upregulate...

Gaseous monoxides such as nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) have recently attracted great interest as a regutator of cell and organ functions. When exposed to endotoxin, cytokines or ischemia-reperfusion, the liver produces larger amounts of NO than those in the control via the activity of inducible NO synthase which can alter a variety of organ functions such as sensitivity of vascula...

Overproduction of reactive oxygen species under pathophysiological conditions, including dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking, is integral in the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The reactive oxygen species released from all types of vascular cells regulate various signaling pathways that mediate not only vascular inflammation in atherogenesis but also antioxidative an...

In mammalian cells, heme can be degraded by heme-oxygenases (HO). Heme-oxygenase 1 (HO-1) is known to be the heme inducible isoform, whereas heme-oxygenase 2 (HO-2) is the constitutive enzyme. Here we investigated the presence of HO during erythroid differentiation in human bone marrow erythroid precursors and K562 cells. HO-1 mRNA and protein expression levels were below limits of detection in...