Human anti-MIF antibodies inhibit growth of human prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine, originally discovered for its eponymous effect and now known for its pleiotropic properties, in particular for its ability to override the action of glucocorticoids. Circulating MIF levels are elevated in several types of human cancer including prostate cancer. MIF is released presumably by both, stromal and tumour cells and enhances malignant growth and metastasis by diverse mechanisms, e.g., by (i) stimulating tumour cell proliferation, (ii) suppressing apoptotic death, (iii) facilitating invasion of the extracellular matrix. Recently developed fully human anti-MIF antibodies were tested in vitro and in vivo for their ability to influence growth rate and invasion of the human PC3 prostate cancer cell line. In vitro, the selected candidate antibodies BaxG03, BaxB01 and BaxM159 reduced cell growth and viability and inhibited MIF-promoted invasion/chemokinesis. The antibodies inhibited MIF-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 (=mitogen-activated protein kinase) and AKT. Incubation of cells in the presence of the antibody also promoted activation of caspases 3/7. Pharmacokinetic parameters (half-life, volume of distribution and bioavailability) of the antibodies were determined and an in vivo proof of concept was obtained by injecting 2x106 PC3 cells subcutaneously into the flank of MF-1 nude mice: treatment with human anti-MIF antibodies blunted xenograft tumour growth in a dose-dependent manner. These observations support the conclusion that anti-MIF antibodies neutralize the proliferative actions of MIF and thus limit tumour growth in vivo.submitted by Filza HussainAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZsfassung in dt. SpracheWien, Med. Univ., Diss., 2012OeBB(VLID)188343

Innovation and Employee Performance: Mediating Role of Psychological Well Being

Purpose: Today, the organizational innovation is considered as the most important factor to experience the increased productivity in organizations. Many previous studies focused on the innovation and its’ effectiveness for performance at different organizational levels. This study mainly focused on the relationship between organizational innovation and the employee performance. Organizational innovation comprises both creation of new and innovative ideas as well as their successful implementation. Another purpose of this study was to empirical test the mediating role of employee psychological wellbeing in the relationship of organizational innovation and employee performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: The convenient sampling methodology was used to collect the data. The researchers collected the data from 700 employees and their immediate supervisors. The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Findings: The findings revealed that innovation has an impact on workers performance and their psychological well-being mediates the connection between the organizational innovation and performance of employees. Implications/Originality/Value: The proposed model was tested and validated through the empirical data, which is an important contribution of current study. These study findings are helpful for academicians, managers, and entrepreneurs

Abusive Supervision and Turnover Intentions: A Mediation-Moderation Perspective

This study intended to provide and test a unique model describing how abusive supervision increases workers’ turnover intentions, with a mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating role of self-esteem. We argued that emotional exhaustion exacerbates the association between abusive supervision and turnover intentions of the workers, while self-esteem buffers this relationship, based on the unfolding model of voluntary turnover as an overarching theory. The study design reflected that abusive supervision and turnover intentions are mediated by emotional exhaustion, while the relationship between abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion is further moderated by self-esteem. A well-structured and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 290 respondents. The data were analyzed, and hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM. The study findings confirmed that there exists a positive and significant link between abusive supervision and turnover intentions through the indirect effect of emotional exhaustion. On the other hand, the findings regarding moderating effect indicates that self-esteem has a significant impact among abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion. This research identified a feasible way for supervisors to grasp how diverse the responses of various workers may be using the unfolding model. These research findings have important academic and practical implications for government representatives, policymakers, and entrepreneurial educational institutes that can use these findings