0000000000828577
AUTHOR
Marco Tomasetti
Inhibiting proliferation in KB cancer cells by RNA interference-mediated knockdown of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase expression.
The enzyme Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) catalyzes the methylation of nicotinamide and other pyridines, playing a pivotal role in the biotransformation and detoxification of many drugs and xenobiotic compounds. Several tumours have been associated with abnormal NNMT expression, however its role in tumour development remains largely unknown. In this study we investigated expression levels of Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase in a cancer cell line and we evaluated the effect of shRNA-mediated silencing of NNMT on cell proliferation. Cancer cells were examined for NNMT expression by semiquantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. A HPLC-based catalytic assay was performed to asses…
CD38 expression enhances sensitivity of lymphoma T and B cell lines to biochemical and receptor-mediated apoptosis
CD38 has been widely characterised both as an ectoenzyme and as a receptor. In the present paper, we investigated the role of CD38 as possible modulator of apoptosis. CD38-positive (CD38(+)) and negative (CD38(-)) fractions, obtained by sorting CD38(+) cells from lymphoma T (Jurkat) and lymphoma B (Raji) and by transfecting lymphoma LG14 and myeloid leukemia K562 cell lines, were used. Cellular subpopulations were exposed to different triggers (H(2)O(2), UV-B, alpha-TOS and hrTRAIL) and the extent of apoptosis was determined by Annexin V-FITC/PI assay. Our data showed that, in lymphoma cells, propensity to apoptosis was significantly linked to CD38 expression and that, remarkably, such resp…