Nucleic acid ligands (aptamers) are potentially well suited for the therapeutic targeting of drug encapsulated controlled release polymer particles in a cell- or tissue-specific manner. We synthesized a bioconjugate composed of controlled release polymer nanoparticles and aptamers and examined its efficacy for targeted delivery to prostate cancer cells. Specifically, we synthesized poly(lactic ...

Airway smooth muscle (ASM) mass appears to be increased in the bronchi of patients with chronic severe asthma. Although the precise mechanisms that induce these changes are unknown, increases in ASM mass are caused, in part, by ASM cell proliferation. After allergen challenge in rats, it has been possible to demonstrate an increase in ASM mass by morphometric techniques. To examine whether hype...

Progress has been made in identifying and characterizing basement membrane macromolecules, including type IV collagen, laminin, a heparan sulfate proteoglycan and bullous pemphigoid antigen. Basement membrane contains a unique collagen, type IV collagen, which is formed of pro alpha 1(IV) (Mr = 185,000) and pro alpha 2(IV) (Mr = 170,000) chains. As opposed to the fibrillar pattern seen with oth...

Background & objective:Primary pleural neoplasms are rare entities compared with the pleural involvement by metastatic carcinoma. The current study aimed at investigating the complete spectrum of pleural neoplasms and differentiating between them with the aid of immunohistochemistry (IHC). Methods: Consecutive pleu...

Background and Objective: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are two common tumors of the skin. In some cases, distinction between BCC and SCC can be difficult. This study aimed to clarify this uncertainty through immunohistochemical analysis. In this respect, epithelial membran...

Background & Objectives:  CD10 is a cell surface enzyme with metalloendopeptidase activity, also known as Common Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Antigen, which mainly serves as a marker for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To date and to the best of our knowledge, only few comparative immunohistochemical studies have assessed CD10 expression in cutaneous epithelial neoplasms. Our goal was to d...

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) is a 70 kD membrane regulatory protein that prevents the activation of autologous complement on cell surfaces. Using immunohistochemical methods and a radioimmunometric assay based on mAbs to DAF, we found large amounts of membrane-associated DAF antigen on the epithelial surface of cornea, conjunctiva, oral and gastrointestinal mucosa, exocrine glands, renal tub...

Conditionally immortalized gastric epithelial cell lines were established from transgenic rats harboring temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 (tsSV40) large T-antigen gene. Gastric mucosal cells and epithelial tissues isolated from the stomach of the transgenic rats were cultured at permissive temperature (33 degrees C), and proliferative cells were cloned by colony formation. Six cell lines (...