Cancer cells developing multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the most serious clinical problems responsible for the failure of cancer chemotherapy. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) overexpression and inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) overexpression in cancer cells are the two common mechanisms of MDR. However, the relationship between IAPs and P-gp in MDR cancer cells is unknown. We investigated the ...

Magnusson, M. 2003. Reactivity of human and porcine natural interferon-a producing cells to immunostimulatory DNA. Doctor’s dissertation. ISSN 1401-6257, ISBN 91-576-6389-0 The interferon-a (IFN-a) inducing capacity of various forms of immunostimulatory DNA and the identity of the IFN-a producing cells (IPC) were studied in human and porcine leukocytes. The DNA vaccine vector pcDNA3 induced pro...

As a specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor of Rac1, Tiam1 (T-lymphoma invasion and metastasis inducing protein 1) is involved in a number of cellular events, such as cytoskeleton reorganization, cell adhesion, and cell migration. Since Tiam1 was implicated in the invasion and metastasis of T-lymphoma cells and breast tumor cells, we compared the expression level of Tiam1 in two human gian...

We have previously shown that imatinib uptake into chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells is dependent on human organic cation transporter 1 (hOCT1; SLC22A1), and that low hOCT1 expression is an important determinant of clinical outcome to imatinib treatment. We hypothesized that dasatinib might be transported differently than imatinib, possibly accounting for its favorable effects in imatinib-re...

The interferon (IFN) response is the first line of defense against viral infections, and the majority of viruses have developed different strategies to counteract IFN responses in order to ensure their survival in an infected host. In this study, the abilities to inhibit IFN signaling of two closely related West Nile viruses, the New York 99 strain (NY99) and Kunjin virus (KUN), strain MRM61C, ...

Sir, thrombopoietin (TPO) is a regulator of megakaryocyte differentiation that stimulates platelet production and possesses great value in treatment of primary and secondary marrow failure. Previously, we observed that mice that received human TPO (hTPO) cDNA injection were resistant to the toxicity of cyclophosphamide. Here we report the activity of TPO cDNA injection in elevating platelet cou...

BACKGROUND Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a transcription factor that functions to maintain cellular homeostasis in response to hypoxia. There is evidence that HIF-1 can also trigger apoptosis, possibly when cellular responses are inadequate to meet energy demands under hypoxic conditions. METHODS Cardiac derived H9c2 and renal tubular epithelial HK-2 cells expressing either the wild t...

BACKGROUND Long QT syndrome type 2 (LQT2) is the second most common type of all long QT syndromes. It is well-known that trafficking deficient mutant human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) proteins are often involved in LQT2. Cells respond to misfolded and trafficking-deficient proteins by eliciting the unfolded protein response (UPR) and Activating Transcription Factor (ATF6) has been identif...

AIMS Murine CD99 was recently found to be expressed on leukocytes and endothelial cells, where it is concentrated at inter-endothelial contacts. Blockade of CD99 by specific antibodies inhibits leukocyte extravasation to inflamed sites in vivo. The aim of the present study is to show the role of CD99 in atherosclerosis using a CD99 vaccination protocol to block the function of CD99 during ather...