Multifunctional mast cells (MC) have been recently reported as effectors in the human innate and even adaptive immune system, besides their known roles in allergic disorders. First in vivo observations in the 1950`s suggested their possible role as anti-tumor cells around certain solid tumors and questioned their interactions with tumor cells (Prior, 1953). Later, in vitro murine mast cell cyto...

Crosslinking of the antigen receptors on the immature B-cell lymphoma, WEHI-231, leads to growth arrest and apoptosis. Commitment to such B-cell receptor (BCR)-mediated apoptosis correlates with mitochondrial phospholipase A2 activation, disruption of mitochondrial function, and cathepsin B activation. CD40 signaling has been reported to rescue WEHI-231 B cells from BCR-driven apoptosis primari...

Leukemia, one of the causes of cancer-related death in humans, is an aggressive malignancy via the rapid growth of abnormal white blood cells. The aim of this study was to determine the anti-leukemia effect of glycyrrhizic acid (GA) on a mouse leukemia cell line, WEHI-3. GA, an active compound in Glycyrrhiza glabra, has been proven to induce cytot...

Granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is a tissue-derived 25,000 Mr glycoprotein that stimulates neutrophilic granulocyte colony formation from murine bone marrow progenitor cells in vitro. It is also a potent inducer of terminal differentiation and suppressor of stem cell renewal in the murine myelomonocytic leukemic cell line WEHI-3B. Purified G-CSF was radioiodinated to high specific...

Isolated murine splenic B cells gradually undergo spontaneous apoptosis while WEHI-231 B lymphoma cells undergo activation-induced apoptosis. Unmethylated CpG dinucleotides in a particular sequence context (CpG motif) in bacterial DNA or in synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG DNA) rescue both splenic B cells and WEHI-231 cells from apoptosis, an effect which could potentially contribute to aut...

Emodin is one of major compounds in rhubarb (Rheum palmatum L.), a plant used as herbal medicine in Chinese population. Although many reports have shown that emodin exhibits anticancer activity in many tumor cell types, there is no available information addressing emodin-affected apoptotic responses in the murine leukemia cell line (WEHI-3) and modulation of the immune response in leukemia mice...

Treatment of WEHI 231 immature B lymphoma cells with an antibody against their surface immunoglobulin M (anti-IgM) induces apoptosis and has been studied extensively as a model of self-induced B cell tolerance. Since the tumor suppressor protein p53 has been implicated in apoptosis in a large number of cell types and has been found to be mutated in a variety of B cell tumors, here we sought to ...