Recent pinniped die-offs have led to the speculation that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are immunomodulatory, making individuals more susceptible to viral infections. Eighteen healthy harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) pups (aged 3-4 weeks) were live-captured from southern British Columbia, Canada, and maintained temporarily in captivity for an immunotoxicological assessment. The relationships...

BACKGROUND Mechanical ventilation causes ventilator-induced lung injury in animals and humans. Mitogen-activated protein kinases have been implicated in ventilator-induced lung injury though their functional significance remains incomplete. We characterize the role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase/mitogen activated protein kinase kinase-3 and c-Jun-NH(2)-terminal kinase-1 in ventilator-i...

Specific mitogens stimulate the proliferation and repress the differentiation of mouse myoblasts (MM14). When mitogens are depleted, MM14 cells cease proliferation, commit to terminal differentiation, and become refractory to growth stimulation. The behavior of mitogen receptors during the transition from a proliferative to a permanently postmitotic state was examined using the epidermal growth...

Human peripheral blood lymphocytes were cultured for 48 hr in the presence of an ultrasonicate supernatant fraction of A~~tinonr.vces r~i~c~os~,s (AV-SUP). After washing to remove AV-SUP, the lymphocytes were cultured in the presence of concanavalin A or pokeweed mitogen for an additional 72 hr. Measurement of [,‘H]thymidine incorporation into DNA indicated that AV-SUP preculture resulted in an...

AIMS To determine whether the routine measurement of lymphocyte transformation responses to mitogenic stimuli provide any information additional to that available from routine T cell CD4 and CD8 analysis in patients with HIV infection. METHODS The case records of 197 immunologically investigated HIV seropositive patients were reviewed. The influence of disease stage on T lymphocyte subsets an...

The Rat sarcoma virus (RAS) family of proteins, which includes the Kristen (KRAS), is linked to nearly one-fourth all human cancers. KRAS mutations, in particular, are associated with Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC), colorectal cancer, adenocarcinomas, ovarian carcinoma, and endometrial tumors. activates 80 different signaling pathways, including Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) P...