In this study, the effect of thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine, T(3)) on the secretion of mitogenic growth factors in astrocytes and C6 glioma cells was examined. The proliferating activity of T(3) could be due, at least in part, to the astrocyte secretion of acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF and bFGF), tumor necrosis factor-beta, and transforming growth factor-beta. In contrast, ...

Limited digestion of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) with trypsin resulted in the generation of a 12-Kda amino-terminal fragment and a 17-Kda carboxy-terminal fragment which were isolated by preparative iso-electric focusing. The carboxy-terminal fragment exhibited significant mitogenic activity for murine splenocytes, whereas the isolated amino-terminal fragment possessed little detectable ...

The mitogenic effects of isotypically diverse antibodies to the T3 molecule were examined in genetically diverse population groups. Whereas the OKT3 antibody (IgG2a) was mitogenic for blood mononuclear cells from all individuals tested, the 38.1 antibody (IgM) was consistently nonmitogenic. In contrast, studies of the mitogenic effects of the Leu-4 antibody (IgG1) revealed striking ethnic diffe...

Abstract Background Pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cell (PASMC) proliferation plays a crucial role in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension (HPH). Previous studies have found that resistin-like molecule ? (RELM-?) is upregulated de novo response to hypoxia cultured human PASMCs (hPASMCs). RELM-? has been reported promote hPASMC and involved vascular remodeling patients with PAH. However, the...

The capacity of various mycoplasma strains and species to induce lymphocyte transformation in vitro was studied. Of six strains of Mycoplasma pulmonis studied, five displayed mitogenic activity with rat lymphocytes. Among those M. pulmonis strains, our MP15 isolate and the Negroni strain exhibited particularly potent mitogenic capacity. The murine mycoplasmas M. neurolyticum and M. arthritidis ...

Lipopolysaccharides with different structure, isolated from different mutant strains of Escherichia coli and Salmonella bacteria, and chemical degradation products of these lipopolysaccharides have been employed to investigate which part of the lipopolysaccharide molecule exerts mitogenic effects on bone marrow-derived mouse lymphocytes. Within the structure of lipopolysaccharide consisting of ...

Two models have been proposed to explain triggering of B cells by so-called "T-independent antigen." Feldmann and Basten (1) proposed that the interaction of multiple repeating determinants on polymeric antigens with specific Ig receptors on the B-cell surface is sufficient to provide the signals for division of these cells and differentiation to antibody-forming cells. In contrast, coutinho et...

The zinc metalloprotease, neprilysin (NEP), plays a role in the metabolism of cardiovascular, inflammatory and neuropeptides, including mitogenic peptides such as bombesin. In the cardiovascular system, NEP has a primary role in the inactivation of natriuretic peptides but also contributes to local metabolism of angiotensin, endothelins and bradykinin. Hence NEP is seen as a potential therapeut...

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in repair of vascular injury and neovascularization. Molecular mechanisms underlying vascular effects of EPCs are not fully understood. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that human EPCs exert a strong paracrine mitogenic effect on mature endothelial cells. Levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) were significantly higher in c...