The decision phase of apoptosis is mainly regulated by the Bcl-2 family, which renders these proteins potential targets for cancer therapy through apoptotic mechanisms. Bcl2 family members have homology clustered within four conserved Bcl2 homology (BH) domains (BH1, BH2, BH3 and BH4). Only the antiapoptotic proteins, such as Bcl2, Bcl-XL, Bcl-w and A1, bear the NH 2-terminal BH4 domain [1]. Mc...

BCL2 suppresses apoptosis by binding the BH3 domain of proapoptotic factors and thereby regulating outer mitochondrial membrane permeabilization. Many tumor types, including B-cell lymphomas and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, are dependent on BCL2 for survival but become resistant to apoptosis after treatment. Here, we identified a direct interaction between the antiapoptotic protein BCL2 and th...

objectives : squamous cell carcinoma (scc) is the most common malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity and a public health threat. tumor progression is believed to be influenced by angiogenesis as well as tumor cell proliferation; however, the correlation of these two factors in tongue scc still remains unclear. this study aimed to assess the correlation of these two factors in tongue scc. materia...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Angiogenesis is essential for growth and metastasis of solid malignancies. Tumor vessel count and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent angiogenic factor, have been associated with prognosis. This study was designed to assess vessels density by using CD31 and CD105 (Endoglin) and their correlation with expression of VEGF and proliferative in...

BACKGROUND Angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis are the processes of neovascularization that evolve from preexisting blood and lymphatic vessels. There are few studies on angiogenesis and none on lymphangiogenesis in leprosy. Thus, the role of neovascularization in the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease was studied across the spectrum of leprosy, its reactional states and its residual l...

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common human leukemia and is characterized by predominantly nondividing malignant B cells overexpressing the antiapoptotic B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) protein. miR-15a and miR-16-1 are deleted or down-regulated in the majority of CLLs. Here, we demonstrate that miR-15a and miR-16-1 expression is inversely correlated to Bcl2 expression in CLL and that ...

The BCL2 gene product has been demonstrated to prevent apoptosis and provide a selective growth advantage to many cell types. We report an unexpected effect of bcl2 expression on the in vitro growth of several solid tumor cell lines. Expression of bcl2 in these cell lines resulted in growth inhibition similar to that seen with p53. In contrast, a COOH-terminal deletion mutant of bcl2 was unable...

BACKGROUND Goeckerman's therapy (GT) of psoriasis is based on daily application of pharmacy grade coal tar on affected skin with subsequent exposure to UV light. Disturbances in angiogenic activity are characteristic for the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis. The aim of study was to evaluate the influence of GT of psoriasis on proinflammatory and angiogenic activities expressed as changes in leve...

Increasing evidence suggests that endoglin (CD105) is a new powerful marker of neovascularization in solid malignancies; thus, using breast cancer as a model, we investigated whether targeting of CD105 by monoclonal antibody (mAb) MAEND3 can be used for in vivo imaging of solid tumors. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry identified differential expression of CD105 on breast cancer and endot...

Fetal kidney cells may contain multiple populations of kidney stem cells and thus appear to be a suitable cellular therapy for the treatment of acute renal failure (ARF) but their biological characteristics and therapeutic potential have not been adequately explored. We have culture expanded fetal kidney cells derived from rat fetal kidneys, characterized them and evaluated their therapeutic ef...