We investigated the cytotoxicity of eight vitamin K3 (VK3) analogs against neuroblastoma cell lines (IMR-32, LA-N-1, NB-39, and SK-N-SH) and normal cell lines (human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human dermal fibroblasts (HDF)) using a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. 2-[(2-Methoxy)ethylthio]-3-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (VK3-OCH(3)) showed...

A large body of evidence has shown that stromal cells play a significant role in determining the fate of neighboring tumor cells through the secretion of various cytokines. How cytokine secretion by stromal cells is regulated in this context is poorly understood. In this study, we used a bioengineered human tissue model of skin squamous cell carcinoma progression to reveal that RalA function in...

Collagenase-3 (matrix metalloproteinase-13, MMP-13) is a recently identified human MMP with an exceptionally wide substrate specificity and restricted tissue-specific expression. Here we show that MMP-13 expression is induced in normal human skin fibroblasts cultured within three-dimensional collagen gel resulting in production and proteolytic activation of MMP-13. Induction of MMP-13 mRNAs by ...

Plasma and cell-derived fibronectin are potent chemoattractants for human dermal fibroblasts in vitro. The chemotactic property of fibronectin resides in a major 140,000-mol wt non-gelatin-binding fragment of the native molecule. Human monocytes and neutrophils do not recognize fibronectin as a chemotactic stimulus. These findings suggest that fibronectin and perhaps certain fragments of fibron...

It is well-established that some product(s) or metabolite(s) of mevalonate is (are) critical for growth of mammalian cells. In the search for this (these) compound(s) it seems meaningful to distinguish between compounds needed for cell cycle progression in proliferating cells and compounds needed for growth activation of arrested cells. By using time-lapse video recording we have studied the po...

In the dermis, fibroblasts play an important role in the turnover of the dermal extracellular matrix. Collagen I and III, the most important dermal proteins of the extracellular matrix, are progressively altered during ageing and diabetes. For mimicking diabetic conditions, the cultured human dermal fibroblasts were incubated with increasing amounts of AGE-modified BSA and D-glucose for 24 hour...

The purpose of this study was to examine regulation of collagen synthesis in human colon fibroblasts and compare the results from colon fibroblasts with those obtained in fibroblasts from human skin. The effects of interleukin-1 beta, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma, transforming growth factor-beta, dexamethasone, and the calcium ionophore A23187 were investigated. All compounds ...