This study was conducted to determine whether the ERK1/2 family of MAPKs can be modulated by physiological regulators of the human corpus luteum, and whether this activation is important for progesterone secretion in human granulosa-lutein (hGL) cells. Human LH (hLH), hCG, and agents that indirectly elevate cAMP [cholera toxin, forskolin, (Bu)(2)cAMP], time- and dose-dependently activated ERK1/...

Peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) is an 18-kDa high-affinity cholesterol and drug ligand-binding protein involved in various cell functions, including cholesterol transport and steroid biosynthesis. To aid our investigation of the biological function of PBR, we have set out to identify functional antagonists. By screening phage display libraries, we have identified peptides that dis...

We previously defined a cholesterol recognition/interaction amino acid consensus (CRAC; ATVLNYYVWRDNS) in the carboxyl terminus of the peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor (PBR), an outer mitochondrial membrane protein involved in the regulation of cholesterol transport into the mitochondria, the rate-determining step in steroid biosynthesis. We examined (i) the PBR-cholesterol interaction b...

In this paper, we introduce a new interconnection network, the dual-cube, its topological properties, and the routing/broadcasting algorithms in the dual-cube. The advanced subjects such as fault-tolerant routing and constructing multiple disjoint paths in dual-cubes are also included in this paper. The binary hypercube, or r-cube, can connect 2r nodes. In contrast, a dual-cube with r links for...

Two new furostanol saponins 1-2 and a new spirostanol saponin 3 were isolated together with two known furostanol saponins 4-5 from the roots and rhizomes of Tupistra chinensis. Their structures were characterized as 1β,2β,3β,4β,5β,26-hexahydroxyfurost-20(22), 25(27)-dien-5,26-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1), 1β,2β,3β,4β,5β,6β,7α,23ξ,26-nona-hydroxyfurost- 20(22),25(27)-dien-26-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (...

IL-10-related cytokines include IL-20 and IL-22, which induce, respectively, keratinocyte proliferation and acute phase production by hepatocytes, as well as IL-19, melanoma differentiation-associated gene 7, and AK155, three cytokines for which no activity nor receptor complex has been described thus far. Here, we show that mda-7 and IL-19 bind to the previously described IL-20R complex, compo...

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects the human gastric mucosa and causes various gastric diseases. H. pylori infection induces the production of inflammatory chemokine CCL20 in gastric mucosa and leads to gastric inflammation. Given that the IL-22/IL-22R axis plays a critical role in the regulation of homeostasis and inflammation of epithelial cells at barrier surfaces,...