Search results for "Cellular differentiation"
showing 10 items of 482 documents
Normalization of sphingomyelin levels by 2-hydroxyoleic acid induces autophagic cell death of SF767 cancer cells
2012
The very high mortality rate of gliomas reflects the unmet therapeutic need associated with this type of brain tumor. We have discovered that the plasma membrane fulfills a critical role in the propagation of tumorigenic signals, whereby changes in membrane lipid content can either activate or silence relevant pathways. We have designed a synthetic fatty acid, 2-hydroxyoleic acid (2OHOA), that specifically activates sphingomyelin synthase (SGMS), thereby modifying the lipid content of cancer cell membranes and restoring lipid levels to those found in normal cells. In reverting, the structure of the membrane by activating SGMS, 2OHOA inhibits the RAS-MAPK pathway, which in turn fails to acti…
Differentiation-associated apoptosis of neural stem cells is effected by Bcl-2 overexpression: impact on cell lineage determination
2001
Apoptosis is an integral part of neural development. To elucidate the importance of programmed cell death on cell lineage determination we utilized murine PCC7-Mzl cells, a model system for neural differentiation. Treatment of pluripotent PCC7-Mzl stem cells with 0.1 microM all-trans retinoic acid (RA) causes a cease of proliferation and an initiation of differentiation into neurons, glial cells and fibroblasts. Simultaneously, a fraction of the cell culture (ca. 25%) dies within 24 h by apoptosis. We transfected PCC7-Mzl cells with the human bcl-2 cDNA and generated PCC7-Mz-Bcl-2 cell lines expressing two- to tenfold higher levels of Bcl-2 than parental cells. Overexpression of Bcl-2 resul…
Knockout of myeloid cell leukemia-1 induces liver damage and increases apoptosis susceptibility of murine hepatocytes
2008
Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, regulates tissue development and homeostasis in multi-cellular organisms. Extrinsic or intrinsic death signals activate pro-apoptotic pathways, resulting in the activation of caspases and finally in cell death. An important event during apoptosis process is the permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM). Integrity of the OMM is regulated by the Bcl-2 protein family, which is divided into three groups: anti-apoptotic members Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1), pro-apoptotic multidomain members Bax and Bak, and pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins. Mitochondrial activation is regulated by selective interactions of Bcl-2 proteins v…
Selective loss of regulatory T cells in thymomas
2004
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is the prime autoimmune manifestation of thymomas. We investigated the generation of T cells with a regulatory phenotype (T(R)) in thymomas with and without associated MG. In patients with MG(+) thymomas, maturation and export of T(R) cells but not of other T-cell subsets was significantly reduced. We conclude that imbalance between effector and regulatory T cells in thymomas may be involved in modulation of onset and/or severity of MG.
The N-glycan processing in HT-29 cells is a function of their state of enterocytic differentiation. Evidence for an atypical traffic associated with …
1991
International audience; When the human colon cancer cells HT-29 undergo enterocytic differentiation, they correctly process their N-glycans, whereas their undifferentiated counterpart are unable to process Man9-8-GlcNAc2 species, the natural substrate of alpha-mannosidase I. As this enzyme is fully active in both HT-29 cell populations, we hypothesize that N-glycoproteins are unable to reach the cis Golgi, the site where alpha-mannosidase I has been localized. We have demonstrated this point by using 1-deoxymannojirimycin, leupeptin, and monensin. In the presence of 1-deoxymannojirimycin, a specific inhibitor of alpha-mannosidase I, differentiated HT-29 cells, as expected, accumulate Man9-8…
Heat shock proteins in hematopoietic malignancies
2012
Inducible heat shock proteins are molecular chaperones whose expression is increased after many different types of stress. They have a protective function helping the cell to cope with lethal conditions. Their basal expression is low in nonstressed, normal and nontransformed cells. However, in cancer cells and particularly in hematological malignancies, they are surprisingly abundant. Malignant cells have to rewire their metabolic requirements and therefore have a higher need for chaperones. This cancer cell addiction for HSPs is the basis for the use of HSP inhibitors in cancer therapy. HSPs have been shown to interact with different key apoptotic proteins. As a result, HSPs can essentiall…
Morpholino knockdown of the ubiquitously expressed transmembrane serine protease TMPRSS4a in zebrafish embryos exhibits severe defects in organogenes…
2011
AbstractOver the past years the members of the type II transmembrane serine protease (TTSP) family have emerged as new players in mammalian biology. TMPRSS4 (transmembraneprotease/serine) is overexpressed in several human cancer tissues, promoting invasion, migration, and metastasis. However, the physiological function has not yet been elucidated. Here, we present morpholino knockdown studies targeting TMPRSS4a, a homolog of human TMPRSS4 in zebrafish embryos. By RT-PCR, we could demonstrate an expression of this protease already 5 h post-fertilization, suggesting important functions in the early stages of embryonic development. Indeed,in vivogene silencing caused severe defects in tissue d…
Osteogenic commitment and differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells by low‐intensity pulsed ultrasound stimulation
2018
Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) as an adjuvant therapy in in vitro and in vivo bone engineering has proven to be extremely useful. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of 30 mW/cm(2) LIPUS stimulation on commercially available human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) cultured in basal or osteogenic medium at different experimental time points (7d, 14d, 21d). The hypothesis was that LIPUS would improve the osteogenic differentiation of hMSC and guarantying the maintenance of osteogenic committed fraction, as demonstrated by cell vitality and proteomic analysis. LIPUS stimulation (a) regulated the balance between osteoblast commitment and differentiation by specific network…
Proteomic differentiation pattern in the U937 cell line
2011
The U937 cell line, originally established from a histiocytic lymphoma, has been widely used as a powerful in vitro model for haematological studies. These cells retain the immature cell phenotype and can be induced to differentiate by several factors, among which 12-O-tetradecanoyl-13-phorbol acetate (TPA). Fully differentiated cells acquire the adherent phenotype and exhibit various properties typical of macrophages. However, in spite of a great deal of research devoted to the U937 cellular model, the molecular basis of biological processes involved in the monocyte/macrophage differentiation remains unclear. The present study has been undertaken to contribute to this knowledge, in order t…
Morphological, biochemical, and molecular biological characterization of a rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line during differentiation induction in vitro.
1990
BA-HAN-1C is a clonal rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line consisting of proliferating mononuclear tumor cells, some of which spontaneously fuse to form terminally differentiated postmitotic myotubelike giant cells. Exposure to retinoic acid resulted in an inhibition of proliferation and a marked increase in cellular differentiation. The number of myotubelike giant cells significantly increased, and about 30% of the mononuclear tumor cells exhibited morphological features of rhabdomyogenic differentiation which were not observed in the mononuclear cells of untreated cultures. Morphological differentiation was paralleled by an increase in total creatine kinase activity as a biochemical marker of d…