The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a key determinant for drug transport through brain vessels. It restricts the pharmacological efficacy in numerous neurological diseases, including brain tumors. A major functional constituent of BBB is P-glycoprotein, which is also a major obstacle for effective chemotherapy of brain tumors. An appealing strategy is to selectively modulate BBB function using P-g...

Thirty-two murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the external domain of the human transferrin (Tf) receptor have been obtained using human Tf receptor glycoprotein produced in a baculovirus expression system as immunogen. The MAbs were tested separately, and in combination, for their ability to inhibit growth of CCRF-CEM leukemic T-cells in tissue culture. One MAb, D65.30, an IgG1, inhibi...

Previous studies showed that human blood cells exhibited varying sensitivities to ricin. To investigate the basis for these differences, ricin binding to human hematopoietic cell lines was assessed and correlated with in vitro ricin sensitivities. Resistant mutants were also isolated and characterized. Ricin binding to CEM cells was rapid, time-dependent, and blocked by unlabeled ricin, but not...

Infection of the lymphoblastoid CEM cell line with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 results in a persistent infection with production of infectious virus. Evidence suggests that the persistent infection was not maintained by interferon or non-interferon-soluble antiviral inhibitors. Treatment of persistently infected cells with anti-HSV serum (termed CEMACR cells) or elevated temperature (39 d...

BACKGROUND Interaction of antiretrovirals with drug transporters such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP), breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and solute carrier organic anion transporter (SLCO) may influence the emergence of viral mutants by altering intracellular drug concentrations. Here we characterize the effect of transporter expression in a variety...

MIF is a potent proinflammatory cytokine involved in inflammatory arthritis. Glucocorticoids (GC) have been reported to induce secretion of MIF in rodent cells, and as MIF counteracts the anti-inflammatory effects of GC, this has implications for human inflammatory disease. Transient transfection studies showed that the MIF promoter was repressed by dexamethasone (Dex) (10 nM) in CEM C7A cells,...

PURPOSE Topical preparations of cyclosporine (CsA) are common therapeutics for the treatment of dry eye. However, they are not devoid of side effects, such as allergy and irritation. The present study aimed at evaluating the safety profile of a new CsA formulation in cationic emulsion (CEm) in vitro with a dynamic corneal wound healing assay using human corneal epithelial (HCE) cells, and in vi...

In an attempt to elucidate the role of somatic mutation in the development of resistance to cancer chemotherapy, an assay was sought to measure the frequency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) mutants in human tumors. Based on the same principle as [3H]thymidine/autoradiography, a method was developed to identify cell proliferation using the thymidine analog 5-bromo-2'-deo...

We compared the effects of 9-/?-o-arabinofuranosyladenine (ara-A) and its 2-fluoro derivative (F-ara-A) on DMA synthesis and viability in human leukemic lymphoblasts (CCRF-CEM). The relative DNA content and cloning capacity of the cells were determined by flow cytometry and growth in methylcellulose, respectively. Incubation with either 1 /IM ara-A in the presence of 2'-deoxycoformycin, a poten...