BCG cell wall skeletons (SK) derived from BCG cell walls (CW) by treatment with proteolytic enzymes and organic solvents were tested for their potency to cause regression of a transplanted guinea pig hepatoma. On a weight basic, SK were as effective as CW in causing tumor regression, and they, as well as purified protein derivative of mycobacteria, provoked delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity re...

BCG cell wall skeletons (SK) derived from BCG cell walls (CW) by treatment with proteolytic enzymes and organic solvents were tested for their potency to cause regression of a transplanted guinea pig hepatoma. On a weight basis, SK were as effective as CW in causing tumor regression, and they, as well as purified protein derivative of mycobacteria, provoked delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity re...

Small conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels (SK channels) contribute to the long lasting afterhyperpolarization (AHP) that follows an action potential in many central neurones. The biophysical and pharmacological attributes of cloned SK channels strongly suggest that one or more of them underlie the medium component of the AHP that regulates interspike interval and plays an important role ...

We have developed previously a class of synthetic hybrid histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which were built from hydroxamic acid of trichostatin A and pyridyl ring of MS-275. In this study we evaluated the antitumor effects of these novel hybrid synthetic HDAC inhibitors, SK-7041 and SK-7068, on human cancer cells. Both SK-7041 and SK-7068 effectively inhibited cellular HDAC activity at na...

When streptokinase is incubated with human or rabbit plasminogen, one event which occurs is a specific fragmentation of streptokinase. At least five major identifiable streptokinase fragments appear with time, and they possess molecular weights of approximately 40,000 (SK I), 36,000 (SK 2), 31,000 (SK 3), 26,000 (SK 4), and 10,000 (SK 5) under denaturing conditions, as observed on calibrated so...

Biological Systems M. Jake Pushie,† Ingrid J. Pickering,†,‡,§ Malgorzata Korbas, Mark J. Hackett,† and Graham N. George*,†,‡,§ †Molecular and Environmental Sciences Research Group, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada ‡Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada Department of Chemistry, University of Saskat...

Endothelial cells (ECs) regulate the barrier function of blood vessels. Here we show that basal and angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1)-regulated control of EC permeability is mediated by 2 different functional states of sphingosine kinase-1 (SK-1). Mice depleted of SK-1 have increased vascular leakiness, whereas mice transgenic for SK-1 in ECs show attenuation of leakiness. Furthermore, Ang-1 rapidly and t...

The efficacy of three different treatment protocols was compared: 1) simple chest tube drainage (Drain); 2) adjunctive intrapleural streptokinase (IP-SK); and 3) an aggressive empirical approach incorporating SK and early surgical drainage (SK+early OP) in patients with pleural empyema and high-risk parapneumonic effusions. This was a nonrandomized, prospective, controlled time series study of ...