A BSTRACT Background Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with cirrhosis is difficult to treat. In patients with chronic hepatitis C but without cirrhosis, once-weekly administration of interferon modified by the attachment of a 40-kd branched-chain polyethylene glycol moiety (peginterferon alfa-2a) is more efficacious than a regimen of unmodified interferon. We examined the ef...

The effect of endocytosis inhibitors on 5-hydroxytryptamine(2A) (5-HT(2A)) receptor desensitization and resensitization was examined in transiently transfected human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells and in C6 glioma cells that endogenously express 5-HT(2A) receptors. In HEK-293 cells, 5-HT(2A) receptor desensitization was unaffected by cotransfection with a dominant-negative mutant of dynamin (...

To investigate the role of A(2A) adenosine receptors in adaptive responses to chronic intermittent dopamine receptor stimulation, we compared the behavioral sensitization elicited by repeated l-DOPA treatment in hemiparkinsonian wild-type (WT) and A(2A) adenosine receptor knock-out (A(2A) KO) mice. Although the unilateral nigrostriatal lesion produced by intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopa...

BACKGROUND Treatment with peginterferon alfa-2a alone produces significantly higher sustained virologic responses than treatment with interferon alfa-2a alone in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We compared the efficacy and safety of peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin, interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin, and peginterferon alfa-2a alone in the initial treatment of chroni...

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with cirrhosis is difficult to treat. In patients with chronic hepatitis C but without cirrhosis, once-weekly administration of interferon modified by the attachment of a 40-kd branched-chain polyethylene glycol moiety (peginterferon alfa-2a) is more efficacious than a regimen of unmodified interferon. We examined the efficacy and...

Thomas W. Marshall: Characterization of Coronin 2A and its role in regulating Cofilin activity (under the direction of Dr. James E. Bear) Coronins are conserved F-actin binding proteins that are important for motility and actin dynamics. Mammalian Coronin proteins can be broken down into three subtypes: Three Type I Coronins (consisting of Coronin 1A, 1B and 1C), two Type II Coronins (Coronin 2...

The polymorphic variants of CYP1A1 and the deletion GSTM1 are present in Peruvian mestizo population. Wild type mutated genotypes (WT/*2A *2A/ *2A) were identified, whose allele frequencies 0.31 (T allele) 0.69 (C allele), respectively; 53% with wild (+) 47% null . frequency Iquiteño emigrants was 0.72 CYP1A1*2A 25% (-); from Lima 0.67 33% (-). Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test for studied popula...

OBJECTIVE Myocyte enhancer factor-2A (MEF 2A) has been shown to be involved in atherosclerotic lesion development, but its role in preexisting lesions is still unclear. In the present study we aim to assess the role of MEF 2A in the progression of pre-existing atherosclerosis. METHODS Eighty apolipoprotein E-deficient mice (APOE KO) were randomly allocated to control, scramble and MEF 2A RNA ...

UK-2A is a potent antifungal antibiotic and its structure is highly similar to that of antimycin A3 (AA). UK-2A and AA inhibit mitochondrial electron transport at complex III. C9-UK-2A, which has been prepared to improve the duration of the antifungal activity of UK-2A, shows durable fungicidal activities against various species of fungi and induces both membrane injury and the generation of ce...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the motor and neuroprotective effects of adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) antagonists are mediated by distinct cell types in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) model of Parkinson's disease. METHODS We used the forebrain A(2A)R knock-out mice coupled with flow cytometric analyses and intracerebroventricular injection to determine the contr...