A panning method has been developed to enrich Langerhans cells (LC) from murine epidermis. In standard culture media, the enriched populations progressively lose viability over a 3-d interval. When the cultures are supplemented with keratinocyte-conditioned medium, LC viability is improved and the cells increase in size and number of dendritic processes. Accessory function, as monitored by stim...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been found to be stable in the circulation of cancer patients raising their potential as circulating biomarkers of disease. The specific source and role, however, of miRNAs in the circulation is unknown and requires elucidation to determine their true potential. In this study, along with primary tissue explants and primary stromal cells, three breast cancer cell lines we...

Primary gonadal failure frequently occurs in male patients with serious illness. This has suggested that activation of the immune system may affect the endocrine function of the testis. Most previous studies have evaluated the effects of individual cytokines on testosterone (T) production but with conflicting results. The present study was performed to compare the effects on Leydig cell functio...

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are potent mitogens for FRTL5 rat thyroid follicular cells. IGFs also synergize the independent mitogenic effects of thyrotropin-stimulating hormone (TSH) and other agents that increase intracellular AMP concentration. We examined whether FRTL5 cells and M12 cells, a TSH-independent mutant cell line derived therefrom, secrete IGF that regulates the growth of r...

Much research has focused on studying complex phenomena through their reflection in social media, from drawing neighborhood boundaries to inferring relationships between medicines and diseases. While it is generally recognized in the social sciences that such studies should be conditioned on gender, time and other confounding factors, few of the studies that attempt to extract information from ...

This thesis focuses on evaluation, improvement and development of mass spectrometry based proteomic strategies for identification and quantitation of proteins. Development of such strategies is important to achieve a better understanding of regulatory mechanisms of individual cell types, both during normal development and during the onset and progression of diseases. Cells derived from the cent...