Background: Promoter hyper-methylation of tumor suppressor genes is a common event that occurs in cancer. As methylation is a reversible modification, agents capable of reversing an abnormal methylation status should help to combat cancer. 5-Aza-CdR is a DNA methyl-transferase inhibitor. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of 5-Aza-CdR on the proliferation of human pancreatic cancer ...

Background: Due to high mortality of patients with metastatic breast cancer and limited strategies for management this malignancy, development novel therapeutic approaches anti-cancer agents is essential. Objectives: In the present study, we investigated in vitro anti-proliferative effects hydroxytyrosol, as a natural chemotherapeutic agent, against cells MDA-MB-231 MCF-7. Methods: The anti-pro...

Objective(s): To investigate the role of the microRNA-125a (miR-125a) and BAK1 in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Materials and Methods: Degenerative lumbar nucleus pulposus (NP) tissues were obtained from 193 patients who underwent resection, and normal controls consisted of normal NP tissues from 32 patients with traumatic lumbar fracture in our hospital. All patients were graded acco...

Objective(s): Several researchers have reported the relationship between infertility in male and varicocele for so many years but the implication of varicocele in female patients is remains elusive. Here, we aim to examine the effects of unilateral varicose ovarian vein on antioxidant capacity and oocyte quality of rat ovary after the experimental creation of varicocele in female rats. Material...

Using a rat model of moderate hypothermic (26 degrees C-28 degrees C) cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with hemodilution, we investigated hippocampal apoptotic gene expression and neuronal apoptosis up to 6 h after CPB. The CPB was performed on male rats (380-400 g) under general anesthesia with isoflurane and fentanyl. The right atrium and tail artery were cannulated, and a peristaltic pump and me...

Targeted gene disruption studies have established that the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) is required for the stress-induced release of mitochondrial cytochrome c and apoptosis, and that the Bax subfamily of Bcl-2-related proteins is essential for JNK-dependent apoptosis. However, the mechanism by which JNK regulates Bax has remained unsolved. Here we demonstrate that activated JNK promotes Ba...

AIMS AND BACKGROUND BAX and BAK are both pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins and are essential for the pathway of intrinsic apoptosis. Apoptosis in cancer cells is frequently inactivated by somatic mutations. The aim of the study was to see whether somatic mutations of BAX and BAK genes are characteristics of common human cancers. METHODS We analyzed somatic mutation of BAX and BAK genes in 47 gastr...

Pro-apoptotic Bax is essential for RGC (retinal ganglion cell) death. Gene dosage experiments in mice, yielding a single wild-type Bax allele, indicated that genetic background was able to influence the cell death phenotype. DBA/2J(Bax+/-) mice exhibited complete resistance to nerve damage after 2 weeks (similar to Bax(-/-) mice), but 129B6(Bax+/-) mice exhibited significant cell loss (similar ...

A remarkable instability at simple repeated sequences characterizes gastrointestinal cancer of the microsatellite mutator phenotype (MMP). Mutations in the DNA mismatch repair gene family underlie the MMP, a landmark for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. These tumors define a distinctive pathway for carcinogenesis because they display a particular spectrum of mutated cancer genes conta...