Is the Gly82Ser polymorphism in the RAGE gene relevant to schizophrenia and the personality trait psychoticism?

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is the main receptor for S100B, an astrogial proinflammatory mediator that has been suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. To further elucidate the possible relevance of inflammation for mental functions, we investigated a functional polymorphism in the gene coding for RAGE in relation to personality traits and susceptibility to schizophrenia

Cytotoxicity, cellular uptake, glutathione and DNA interactions of an antitumor large-ring PtII chelate complex incorporating the cis-1,4-diaminocyclohexane carrier ligand

International audienceEarlier studies have described promising antitumor activity of a large-ring chelate complex [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] (DACH = diaminocyclohexane). Encouraging antitumor activity of this analogue of cisplatin prompted us to perform studies focused on the mechanistic basis of pharmacological effects of this complex. Four early steps in the mechanism of biological activity of cisplatin have been delineated: cell entry, reactions with sulfur-containing compounds, platinum–DNA binding along with processing platinated DNA by proteins (enzymes) and DNA repair. Here, we describe comparative experiments (involving also cisplatin) revealing: (i) improved cytotoxicity (3.4 – 5.4-fold) of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] in human tumor ovarian cell lines; (ii) enhanced cellular uptake (∼1.5-fold) of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)]; (iii) somewhat enhanced rate of reactions of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] with glutathione (∼1.5-fold), but a similar rate of reactions with metallothionenin-2; (iv) enhanced rate of DNA binding of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] in cell-free media (∼2-fold); (v) similar sequence preference of DNA binding of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] in cell-free media; (vi) identical DNA interstrand crosslinking efficiency (6%); (vii) similar bending (32 °) and enhanced local unwinding (∼1.5-fold) induced in DNA by the major 1,2-GG-intrastrand crosslink; (viii) markedly enhanced inhibiting effects of DNA adducts of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] on processivity of DNA polymerase; and (ix) a slightly lower efficiency of DNA repair systems to remove the adducts of [PtCl(-1,4-DACH)] from DNA