OBJECTIVE Blood monocytes are known to express endothelial-like genes during co-culture with endothelium. In this study, the time-dependent change in the phenotype pattern of primary blood monocytes after adhering to endothelium is reported using a novel HLA-A2 mistyped co-culture model. METHODS AND RESULTS Freshly isolated human PBMCs were co-cultured with human umbilical vein endothelial ce...

Cinatrins A, B and C3 inhibited phospholipase A2 purified from rat platelets in a dose-dependent manner. Cinatrin C3, the most potent component (IC50 70 microM), was noncompetitive with a Ki value of 36 microM. Cinatrins B and C3 also inhibited both porcine pancreas and Naja naja venom phospholipase A2. Inhibition of rat platelet phospholipase A2 by cinatrin C3 was independent of Ca2+ and subst...

In the course of our screening for antithrombotic compounds using platelet rich plasma from bovine slaughter blood, 2-methoxy-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone (1) has been isolated from mycelial cultures of Lentinus adhaerens. The compound inhibits the U46619-induced aggregation of human blood platelets with an IC50 of 2.5 micrograms/ml (16.45 microM) and is a new thromboxane A2 receptor antagonist. T...

We investigated the feasibility of the combined detection of HLA-A2/MAGE-A3 epitope-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for specific diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We detected the frequency of MAGE-A3 epitopes (p112-120, KVAELVHFL) in spontaneous CTLs in the peripheral blood of HCC patients, liver cirrhosis patients, and healthy subjects with ...

INTRODUCTION Beekeepers are a group of people with high exposure to honeybee stings and with a very high risk of allergy to bee venom. Therefore, they are a proper population to study the correlations between clinical symptoms and results of diagnostic tests. AIM The primary aim of our study was to assess the correlations between total IgE, venom- and phospholipase A2-specific IgE and clinica...

In response to blood vessel injury, hemostasis is initiated by platelet activation, advanced by thrombin generation, and tempered by fibrinolysis. The primary fibrinolytic protease, plasmin, can be activated either on a fibrin-containing thrombus or on cells. Annexin A2 (A2) heterotetramer (A2·p11)(2) is a key profibrinolytic complex that assembles plasminogen and tissue plasminogen activator a...

AIMS To examine the potential role of the lipolytic enzyme phospholipase A2, produced by Helicobacter pylori in ulcer formation. METHODS Phospholipase A2 activity in H pylori was compared with that in 10 commonly occurring pathogenic bacteria. Phospholipase A2 activity and its cytotoxic metabolite, lysolecithin, in the basal gastric aspirates of 12 patients infected with H pylori were compare...