BACKGROUND The prognosis for patients with brain cancer is poor, and new therapies are urgently needed. Recombinant toxic proteins that specifically target tumor cells appear to be promising. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) receptor (uPAR) is expressed on the surface of glioblastoma and some other tumor cells and endothelial cells. We synthesized a recombinant fusion protein, DTAT, w...

During human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, a rapid increase in AP-1 activity is detected. In this study, activation of transcription from promoters containing AP-1-binding sites by the IE1 protein of HCMV was examined. In transient transfection assays with reporter plasmids, it was found that IE1 strongly induced AP-1-driven transcription. Cells stably expressing IE1 also showed higher leve...

PURPOSE Recombinant adenoviral vectors are widely used in clinical and experimental studies to treat malignant tumors. Recently, host immune responses have been proposed as a major limitation in using adenoviral vectors for repeated gene delivery. We demonstrate another limitation unrelated to host immunity. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We repeatedly transduced an adenoviral vector expressing the huma...

The antiapoptotic protein PED/PEA-15 features an Akt phosphorylation motif upstream from Ser(116). In vitro, recombinant PED/PEA-15 was phosphorylated by Akt with a stoichiometry close to 1. Based on Western blotting with specific phospho-Ser(116) PED/PEA-15 antibodies, Akt phosphorylation of PED/PEA-15 occurred mainly at Ser(116). In addition, a mutant of PED/PEA-15 featuring the substitution ...

Oxidative stress-energy depletion therapy using oxidative stress induced by D-amino acid oxidase (DAO) and energy depletion induced by 3-bromopyruvate (3BP) was reported recently (El Sayed et al., Cancer Gene Ther., 19, 1-18, 2012). Even in the presence of oxygen, cancer cells oxidize glucose preferentially to produce lactate (Warburg effect) which seems vital for cancer microenvironment and pr...

OBJECTIVE Pituitary adenomas (PA), especially invasive ones, are often not completely resectable. Usage of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) for fluorescence guided surgery could improve the rate of total resection and, additionally, open the doors for photodynamic therapy (PDT) in case of unresectable or partially resected PAs. The aim of this study was to investigate the uptake of 5-ALA and the e...

PURPOSE Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha elicits two opposing effects, the induction of apoptosis and the transcription of antiapoptotic genes. We have recently shown that cisplatin sensitizes glioma cells to TNF-induced apoptosis, but only in some cell lines. To understand the mechanism involved in the different susceptibilities, we examined both the activation of caspases and cytoprotective ...