Activated macrophages and granulocytes lyse tumor cells in the presence of phorbol myristate acetate or antitumor antibody via the secretion of reactive oxygen intermediates, such as HzOz. We compared the lysis of GSH-depleted or normal tumor cells by oxidants generated with glucose oxidase or activated macrophages and granulocytes. Two independent methods were employed to deplete cells specifi...

Taxol is a naturally occurring chemotherapeutic agent that is active against a variety of tumors. Taxol is believed to act by binding tightly to microtubules and preventing their disaggregation. Others have shown that depletion of cellular glutathione results in the disaggregation of microtubules, presumably by allowing the oxidation of some or all of the cysteine residues in tubulins. We studi...

Oxidative stress and genomic rearrangements play a role in cancer development. l-Buthionine-sulfoximine (BSO) induces oxidative stress in a cell by irreversibly inhibiting gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, an essential enzyme for the synthesis of glutathione (GSH). We postulated that oxidative stress induced by GSH depletion might lead to genomic rearrangements, such as DNA deletions, and that...

A novel nanomedicine, constructed by simultaneously binding L-buthionine-sulfoximine (BSO) and thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the surface of 100 nm hollow gold nanoparticles (HAuNS), was expected be used in effective therapeutics cancer. The current study is aimed at evaluating vitro antitumor efficacy newly synthesized BSO-loaded PEG-SH-HAuNS (BSO@HAuNS) with strong resonances near-inf...