Search results for "Agoni"
showing 10 items of 2493 documents
Procalcitonin and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children
2015
The role of procalcitonin (PCT) as a biomarker for sepsis in adults is well documented, while its role in infections affecting neonatal children remains controversial. Among these infections, Community-Acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been studied extensively, because it's the second cause of death in children in developing countries, and one of the most frequent causes of hospitalization in industrialized countries. The PubMed database and the Cochrane Library were used to search for the following keywords: CAP, procalcitonin, and children. Thirteen articles were studied to determine the role of PCT in CAP management, specifically its usefulness for distinguishing pneumococcal infections from …
Increased Gastrin and Calcitonin Secretion after Oral Calcium or Peptones Administration in Patients with Hypercalciuria: A Clue to an Alteration in …
2005
The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) has been detected in human antral gastrin-secreting cells, where, upon calcium and/or amino acid allosteric activation, it stimulates gastrin secretion. Patients with absorptive hypercalciuria (AH) display an enhanced gastric acid output; therefore, we evaluated the secretion of gastrin in subjects with AH ( 30 subjects vs. 30 healthy female controls, all postmenopausal) after oral calcium administration ( 1 g calcium gluconate) and, on a separate occasion, after peptone loading test ( protein hydrolyzed, 10 g). Gastrin and monomeric calcitonin responses were higher in AH after both oral calcium administration ( P < 0.01) and peptone loading ( P< 0.01). B…
Procalcitonin levels in plasma in oncohaematologic patients with and without bacterial infections.
2004
Abstract Background: The flogosis markers currently in use show both low sensitivity and specificity, particularly in neoplastic and degenerative diseases. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a pro-peptide of calcitonin produced mainly but not only in the C-cells of the thyroid glands and, as several studies show, PCT levels in plasma increase during infections. Bacterial infections are also the main cause of death in oncological patients. Furthermore, in patients with leukaemia in chemotherapy recovery, infections often induce relapses. The aim of the present study is to detect PCT levels in plasma in oncohaematologic patients with and without infections. Methods: The study was carried out on 54 patien…
MS4A12 is a colon-selective store-operated calcium channel promoting malignant cell processes.
2008
AbstractUsing a data mining approach for the discovery of new targets for antibody therapy of colon cancer, we identified MS4A12, a sequence homologue of CD20. We show that MS4A12 is a cell surface protein. Expression analysis and immunohistochemistry revealed MS4A12 to be a colonic epithelial cell lineage gene confined to the apical membrane of colonocytes with strict transcriptional repression in all other normal tissue types. Expression is maintained upon malignant transformation in 63% of colon cancers. Ca2+ flux analyses disclosed that MS4A12 is a novel component of store-operated Ca2+ entry in intestinal cells. Using RNAi-mediated gene silencing, we show that loss of MS4A12 in LoVo co…
Excitotoxic Hippocampal Membrane Breakdown and its Inhibition by Bilobalide: Role of Chloride Fluxes
2003
We have previously shown that hypoxia and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation induce breakdown of choline-containing phospholipids in rat hippocampus, a process which is mediated by calcium influx and phospholipase A (2) activation. Bilobalide, a constituent of Ginkgo biloba, inhibited this process in a potent manner (Weichel et al., Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 360, 609-615, 1999). In this study, we used fluorescence microscopy and radioactive flux measurements to show that bilobalide does not interfere with NMDA-induced calcium influx. Instead, bilobalide seems to inhibit NMDA-induced fluxes of chloride ions through ligand-operated chloride channels. In our experimen…
Nonenzymatic Transformation of Amorphous CaCO3 into Calcium Phosphate Mineral after Exposure to Sodium Phosphate in Vitro: Implications for in Vivo H…
2015
Studies indicate that mammalian bone formation is initiated at calcium carbonate bioseeds, a process that is driven enzymatically by carbonic anhydrase (CA). We show that amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) and bicarbonate (HCO3 (-) ) cause induction of expression of the CA in human osteogenic SaOS-2 cells. The mineral deposits formed on the surface of the cells are rich in C, Ca and P. FTIR analysis revealed that ACC, vaterite, and aragonite, after exposure to phosphate, undergo transformation into calcium phosphate. This exchange was not seen for calcite. The changes to ACC, vaterite, and aragonite depended on the concentration of phosphate. The rate of incorporation of phosphate into ACC, …
Some effects of salmon calcitonin on calcium metabolism in the crustaceanOrchestia during the molt cycle
1989
In the terrestrial amphipod Orchestia cavimana, investigations of the variations of the total hemolymphatic calcium during the normal molt cycle revealed that a calcium balance is maintained in intermolt, as observed in numerous crustaceans. During premolt, hypercalcemia occurs, related to the marked calcium reabsorption from the old cuticle, which may promote the storage of a part of this calcium within the midgut posterior caeca. The calcium levels fall after exuviation to late postmolt to the low basal levels of intermolt; this may reflect the imbalance between the rates of calcification of the newly secreted cuticle and uptake of calcium within the posterior caeca. Administration of sal…
Mid-region parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) binds chromatin of MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells and isolated oligonucleotides “in vitro”
2006
We have previously shown that PTHrP(38-94)-amide restrains growth and invasion "in vitro", causes striking toxicity and accelerates death of some breast cancer cell lines, the most responsive being MDA-MB231 whose tumorigenesis was also attenuated "in vivo". PTHrP(38-94)-amide contains the domain implicated in the nuclear import of PTHrP. Although the nucleus was identified as a destination for mid-region PTHrP, evidence for direct DNA-binding capability is lacking to date. Here, we examined the localization of PTHrP(38-94)-amide within MDA-MB231 cells and within metaphase spread preparations and characterized its DNA-binding properties, employing a combination of immunocytochemical, cytoge…
Balixafortide (a CXCR4 antagonist) + eribulin in HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC): Survival outcomes of the phase I trial.
2019
2606 Background: Balixafortide (B) is a potent antagonist of the chemokine receptor CXCR4. Preclinical evidence suggests that disrupting CXCR4 dependent pathways prevents development of breast cancer metastases, enhances the cytotoxic effect of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and counteracts tumor cell evasion of the immune system. Encouraging safety and efficacy data were published recently from the ongoing Phase 1 trial investigating B + eribulin (E) in patients with HER2 negative MBC (Pernas S. et al. Lancet Oncol. 2018; 19: 812−24). The objective response rate, median progression free survival and median overall survival (OS) for the expanded cohort (EC) and the overall efficacy popula…
Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein (PTHrP): A Key Regulator of Life/Death Decisions by Tumor Cells with Potential Clinical Applications
2010
Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), classically regarded as the mediator of the humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy syndrome, is a polyhormone that undergoes proteolytic processing into smaller bioactive forms. These bioactive forms comprise an N-terminal- as well as midregion- and C-terminal peptides, which have been shown to regulate various biological events, such as survival, proliferation and differentiation, in diverse cell model systems, both normal and pathological. A number of experimental data have demonstrated that PTHrP is also able to modulate tumor-relevant phenotypic expressions, thereby playing a role in early and advanced tumorigenesis, and in the response to treat…