Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a human autoimmune disease mediated by anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies. The thymus is probably the site where the autoimmune response is triggered and maintained. Recent reports have linked various autoimmune disease with defective Fas expression. We thus analyzed Fas expression in thymocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from MG patients. The pr...

BACKGROUND The Fas system regulates a number of physiological and pathological processes of cell death. Many types of cancer cells are resistant to Fas-mediated apoptosis by several mechanisms, including mutations of the genes involved in Fas-mediated apoptosis. The present study aimed to detect Fas pathway gene alterations in primary resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHOD...

The sensitivity of primary splenic B cells to Fas-mediated apoptosis is modulated in a receptor-specific fashion. Here we used a differential display strategy to detect cDNAs present in B cells rendered Fas resistant but absent in those rendered Fas sensitive. This led to the cloning and characterization of a novel 1.2-kb gene that encodes a Fas apoptosis inhibitory molecule (FAIM). faim-transf...

Fas (Tnfrsf6, Apo-1, CD95) is a death receptor involved in apoptosis induced in many cell types. Fas have been shown to be expressed by insulin-producing beta cells in mice and humans. However, the importance of Fas in the development of autoimmune diabetes remains controversial. To further evaluate the importance of Fas in pathogenesis of diabetes, we generated NOD mice (nonobese diabetic mice...

Multiple studies showed the prognostic capacities of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but not in other subtypes. We evaluated tumor expression of FAS, a key receptor in T-cell mediated apoptosis, as possible explanation for this differential prognostic value of TILs. Furthermore, we evaluated the prognostic relevance of FAS, both as an independent b...

BACKGROUND Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is highly expressed in various types of cancer, and elevated expression of FAS has been suggested to be a predictor of tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis. We examined whether FAS expression in prostate biopsy cores could predict the pathological characteristics of radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens. METHODS Paraffin-embedded prostate biopsy cores, o...

Interferon gamma (IFNgamma) inhibits the growth and differentiation of highly purified human erythroid colony-forming cells (ECFCs) and induces erythroblast apoptosis. These effects are dose- and time-dependent. Because the cell surface receptor known as Fas (APO-1; CD95) triggers programmed cell death after activation by its ligand and because incubation of human ECFCs with IFNgamma produces a...

MicroRNA-155 (miR-155) was previously found involved in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other autoimmune diseases and the inflammatory response; however, the detailed mechanism of miR-155 in SLE is not fully understood. To explore the in vivo role of miR-155 in the pathogenesis of SLE, miR-155-deficient Fas(lpr/lpr) (miR-155(-/-)Fas(lpr/lpr)) mice were obtained by cros...

Leukemic CD34(+) immature acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells express Fas receptor but are frequently resistant to Fas agonistic reagents. Fas plays an important role in T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and recently it has been suggested that altered Fas signaling may contribute to drug resistance. Therefore, Fas resistance could be one of the mechanisms by which AML progenitors escape chemotherapy...

BACKGROUND We previously reported that Fas antigen was strongly expressed on salivary duct epithelial cells and that some salivary infiltrating cells showed the Fas ligand in patients with severe sialoadenitis due to Sjögren's syndrome (SS). Apoptotic changes were observed in ductal epithelial cells and some infiltrating cells by DNA nick end labeling methods. These findings suggest that the Fa...