BACKGROUND Hypericin (HYP) is a naturally occurring photosensitizer. Cellular uptake and photodynamic inactivation after incubation with this photosensitizer have neither been examined in medulloblastoma cells in vitro, nor compared with 5-aminolevulinic acid-derived protoporphyrin IX (5-ALA-derived PpIX). METHODS In 3 medulloblastoma cell lines (D283 Med, Daoy, and D341 Med) the time- and co...

Mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) or 2 (IDH2) are found in a subset of gliomas. Among the many phenotypic differences between mutant and wild-type IDH1/2 gliomas, the most salient is that IDH1/2 mutant glioma patients demonstrate markedly improved survival compared with IDH1/2 wild-type glioma patients. To address the mechanism underlying the superior clinical outcome of IDH1/2 mut...

Malignant gliomas are typically angiogenic and secrete high levels of VEGF. Hypoxia has been identified as an important regulator of VEGF. However, malignant gliomas express high levels of VEGF in both hypoxic perinecrotic and vital tumor areas. In this study, we examined intracellular signaling pathways involved in the secretion of VEGF in glioma cells under normoxic conditions. Human malignan...

The wild-type p53 gene has been widely implicated in the regulation of hypermethylated in cancer-1 (HIC-1) transcription, a master growth regulatory gene with multiple promoters and, consequently, multiple alternatively spliced transcripts. We investigated the role of p53 (wild type and mutant, both endogenous and exogenous) in modulating the various HIC-1 transcripts. We discovered a novel uns...

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is known to cause neuronal injury and dementia in a significant proportion of patients. However, the mechanism by which HIV-1 mediates its deleterious effects in the brain is poorly defined. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the HIV-1 tat gene on the expression of inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) in human U3...

UNC5A is an axon-guidance molecule, and plays a critical role in neuronal development and differentiation as a netrin-1 receptor. Emerging evidence suggests that axon guidance molecules including UNC5A regulate apoptosis in non-neuronal cells. Here, we report that UNC5A regulates apoptosis as a downstream target of p53. UNC5A expression was strongly induced by exogenous and endogenous p53. Chro...

One of the major complications in cancer chemotherapy is the development of resistance, and cisplatin, as one of the important medicines in treatment regimens of different cancers is not excluded. One of the most described cellular defense mechanisms involved in resistance is glutathione (GSH) and in this study, the effects of cisplatin on the total intracellular GSH level (GSHi) in some sensit...

The wild-type p53 gene has been widely implicated in the regulation of hypermethylated in cancer-1 (HIC-1) transcription, a master growth regulatory gene with multiple promoters and, consequently, multiple alternatively spliced transcripts. We investigated the role of p53 (wild type and mutant, both endogenous and exogenous) in modulating the various HIC-1 transcripts. We discovered a novel uns...

The biochemical and pharmacological properties of a novel antagonist of the tachykinin neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor, SSR240600 [(R)-2-(1-[2-[4-[2-[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]acetyl]-2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-morpholinyl]ethyl]-4-piperidinyl)-2-methylpropanamide], were evaluated. SSR240600 inhibited the binding of radioactive substance P to tachykinin NK1 receptors in human lymphoblastic IM9 c...