Apoptosis and platelet activation share common morphological and biochemical features. Because caspases are essential mediators of apoptosis, we examined whether platelets contain these proteinases and use them during platelet activation. Human platelets contained caspase-9, caspase-3, and the caspase activators APAF-1 and cytochrome c as shown by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel elect...

We report mechanism-based evidence for the anticancer efficacy of a protein fraction, SF2 (Sesbania fraction 2) isolated from the flower of the medicinal plant, Sesbania grandiflora (S. grandiflora). The fraction was evaluated in two murine ascites tumour cell lines and human cancer cell lines of different origin for its anticancer effect. SF2 inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis ...

Apoptosis and platelet activation share common morphological and biochemical features. Because caspases are essential mediators of apoptosis, we examined whether platelets contain these proteinases and use them during platelet activation. Human platelets contained caspase-9, caspase-3, and the caspase activators APAF-1 and cytochrome c as shown by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel elect...

The molecular nature and configuration of the opiate receptor is a problem under intensive investigation in a number of laboratories (1,2,3). Our interest in the problem developed as a result of a finding of others (4) that a proteolipid fraction from brain may be responsible for stereospecific opiate binding observed in various preparations of brain tissue. Upon examining various lipids, prote...

It is well established that granzymes A and B play a role in CTL killing of target cells by the perforin-dependent granule exocytosis pathway. The functions of multiple additional granzymes expressed in CTL are less well defined. In the present studies, CTL generated from mice deficient in dipeptidyl peptidase 1 (DPP1) were used to investigate the contribution of granzyme C to CTL killing of al...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by the intracellular parasite Leishmania donovani accounts for an estimated 12 million cases of human infection. It is almost always associated with anemia, which severely complicates the disease course. However, the pathological processes leading to anemia in VL have thus far not been adequately characterized to date. In studying the glycosylation patterns of...

Experimental data are presented on the intracellular localization in rat liver of three enzymes which are involved in the biosynthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine and diphosphatidylglycerol. These enzymes are phosphatidylserine decarboxylase, CDP-diglyceride-l-alpha-glycerophosphate phosphatidyl transferase, and phosphatidylethanolamine-l-serine phosphatidyl transferase. It was found that the f...

Improved methods for lipid analysis that have been developed recently were employed to reevaluate the phospholipid composition, the fatty acid and fatty aldehyde composition of the total phospholipid, and the fatty acid composition of the individual phospholipids of normal human red cells. Thirty-three fatty acids and five fatty aldehydes were estimated and tentatively identified in the total p...

1. Histamine release by antigen from three sensitized rat tissues is potentiated by phosphatidyl serine (PS). The effect is greatest with isolated peritoneal cells. Phosphatidyl inositol, ethanolamine, choline and phosphatidic acid are inactive.2. PS greatly increases the rate of antigen-induced histamine release and only slightly prolongs the duration of the release process.3. PS shows a conce...