The enzyme/prodrug strategy using bacterial cytosine deaminase (bCD) and 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) is currently under investigation for cancer gene therapy. A major limitation for the use of bCD is that it is inefficient in the conversion of 5-FC into 5-fluorouracil. In the present study, we show that the K(m) of yeast cytosine deaminase (yCD) for 5-FC was 22-fold lower when compared with that of...

Epithelial cells participate in the innate immune response to pathogenic bacteria by elaborating chemokines. This study examined the effect of Vibrio cholerae and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG on inflammatory chemokine gene expression in the HT29 human intestinal epithelial cell line. HT29 cells were exposed to V. cholerae 0139, Lactobacillus or both for 2 h and cultured further thereafter for 4 h...

background programmed cell death (apoptosis) is a physiological process needed to remove unwanted or damaged cells. it has been hypothesized that any failure of programmed cell death leads to the development of neoplasm. identifying new agents which induce apoptosis in tumor cells is of great significance in treatment of neo­plasms. numerous studies suggest that exposure of tumor cells to stati...

soybean isoflavone genistein has multiple anticancer properties and its pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects have been studied in different cancer cells. however, the mechanisms of action of genistein and its molecular targets on human colon cells have not been fully elucidated. therefore, caspase-3 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 mapk) as the main therapeutic targets were...

UNLABELLED β-lapachone (β-lap), an NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) targeting antitumor drug candidate in phase II clinical trials, is metabolically eliminated via NQO1 mediated quinone reduction and subsequent UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) catalyzed glucuronidation. This study intends to explore the inner link between the cellular glucuronidation and pharmacokinetics of β-lap an...

We have purified a protein from serum-free conditioned medium of the HT29 human colon adenocarcinoma cell line based on its ability to inhibit the proliferation of the same cell line. The purification procedure consisted of acid gel permeation, semipreparative, and analytical reversed-phase chromatographies. The high-pressure liquid chromatography-purified colon cancer cell growth inhibitor mig...

BACKGROUND Serotonin (5HT) has been shown to be a mitogenic factor in several carcinomas. Its mitogenic effect is elicited through a wide range of 5HT receptor subtypes. In this study, the effects of 5HT, 5HT3 (1-phenylbiguanide hydrochloride) and 5HT4 (cisapride) agonists in promoting the growth of the HT29 cell line and the growth-inhibition effect of the 5HT3 receptor antagonist (Y-25130 hyd...

The inhibitory effect of matrine (MA) was studied in combination with irinotecan (CPT-11) on proliferation of human colon carcinoma cell line HT29. We also explored the mechanism of cell apoptosis induction in HT29. HT29 cells were treated with different concentrations of MA and CPT-11 alone and in combination. The growth inhibition in HT29 cells was evaluated using MTT assay. Apoptosis was det...