We have earlier shown that dystroglycan (DG) is a lamininbinding protein and as such is a cell adhesion molecule. DG is a heterodimer of alpha and beta DG subunits. beta-dystroglycan (betaDG) is the membrane spanning subunit, whereas the alpha subunit is bound to the extracellular domain of betaDG. To study physiological function of the protein, we expressed full-length DG (FL-DG) and the cytop...

Inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), BRAF, and MAP-ERK kinase (MEK) induce tumor regression in the majority of patients with BRAF-mutant metastatic melanoma. The clinical benefit of MAPK inhibitors is restricted by the development of acquired resistance with half of those who benefit having progressed by 6 to 7 months and long-term responders uncommon. There remains no ag...

Unrepaired or misrepaired DNA damage has been implicated as a causal factor in cancer and aging. Xpd(TTD) mice, harboring defects in nucleotide excision repair and transcription due to a mutation in the Xpd gene (R722W), display severe symptoms of premature aging but have a reduced incidence of cancer. To gain further insight into the molecular basis of the mutant-specific manifestation of age-...

background: stem cell factor (scf) is a transcriptional factor which plays crucial roles in normal proliferation, differentiation and survival in a range of stem cells. objective: the aim of the present study was to examine the proliferation effect of different concentrations of scf on expansion of human endometrial cd146+ cells. materials and methods: in this experimental study, total populati...

Endothelial cell proliferation and migration is essential to angiogenesis. Typically, proliferation and chemotaxis of endothelial cells is driven by growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). VEGF activates phospholipases (PLCs) - specifically PLCgamma1 - that are important for tubulogenesis, differentiation and DNA synthesis. How...

Estrogens play central roles in sexual development, reproduction, and hepatocyte proliferation. The ovaries are one of the main organs for estradiol (E2) production. Ovariectomies (OVXs) were performed on the female mice, and hepatocyte proliferation was analyzed. The ovariectomized mice exhibited delayed hepatocyte proliferation after partial hepatectomy (PH) and also exhibited delayed and red...

PURPOSE To investigate the expression significance of PPAR β/δ in relation to radiotherapy (RT), clinicopathologic, and prognostic variables of rectal cancer patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We included 141 primary rectal cancer patients who participated in a Swedish clinical trial of preoperative RT. Tissue microarray samples from the excised rectal cancers and the adjacent or distant normal mu...

Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a NAD(+)-dependent histone deacetylase, is involved in a wide array of cellular processes including glucose homeostasis, energy metabolism, proliferation and apoptosis, and immune response. However, it is unknown whether SIRT1 plays any physiological role in the regulation of intestinal homeostasis and motility. Thus the aim was to define SIRT1 expression and function in the ...

Ready-to-eat table grapes are a product with severe shelf life problems. Mass loss, colour changes, accelerated softening and mould proliferation can greatly influence quality decay of berries. Hence, the effects of different dipping treatments on the quality of packaged ready-to-eat table grapes have been successfully assessed. Various antimicrobial compounds (trans-2-hexenal, potassium sorbat...

Müller glia (MG) function as inducible retinal stem cells in zebrafish, completely repairing the eye after damage. The innate immune system has recently been shown to promote tissue regeneration in which classic wound-healing responses predominate. However, regulatory roles for leukocytes during cellular regeneration-i.e., selective cell-loss paradigms akin to degenerative disease-are less well...