Action antipaludique et antiléprotique d’immunomodulateurs lysosomotropes: glucane de levure et détergents non hémolytique

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Effets antiinfectieux d'immunomodulateurs dans la lèpre et la malaria, chez la souris.

Immunomodulators, whether natural (polysaccharides) or industrial (non-hemolytic detergents) proved active by themselves, in preventive or curative schemes of experimental leprosy and malaria. However, their activity was most often increased, through joint administration with chemotherapeutic agents.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Rat muscle 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase. Study of the kinase domain by site-directed mutagenesis.

Sequence alignment and modeling of the 2-kinase domain of the liver bifunctional enzyme, 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2, 6-bisphosphatase, on 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus and Escherichia coli (Bazan, J. F., Fletterick, R. J., and Pilkis, S. J. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 9642-9646) suggested that Cys-160 of the 2-kinase would correspond to Asp-127 of the 1-kinase, which acts as a general base catalyst. We have studied the validity of this alignment by site-directed mutagenesis of residues in the 2-kinase domain of skeletal muscle 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase. Cys-160 was mutated to Asp or Ser. Two adjacent residues, Glu-157 and Asp-162, either of which could act as a general base catalyst, were mutated to Ala. Asp-162 corresponds to Asp-129 in the bacterial 1-kinase, which is also essential for catalysis and might bind Mg2+. None of these mutations significantly decreased the Vmax of the 2-kinase, suggesting that the mutated amino acids are not essential for catalysis and therefore do not play the same role as Asp-127 and Asp-129 in the bacterial 1-kinase. Mutation of Glu-157 and Asp-162 to alanine had no effect on the kinetic parameters of the bifunctional enzyme, indicating that these two negatively charged residues are not involved in catalysis and substrate binding

Effects of iron deprivation on Mycobacterium avium growth.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients have increased iron deposition in different tissues which may favour the growth of Mycobacterium avium, a common bacterial opportunist in these patients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Gene expression profiles for radiation-induced thyroid cancer.

The question whether radiation-induced thyroid cancer differs by its molecular biology from sporadic disease still remains. Studies on tissue from patients who developed thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl accident have provided a unique opportunity to look for biological consequences of low-dose irradiation by comparing the gene expression profile of sporadic papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), whose aetiology is unknown, and PTC induced by internal radiation. So far, four transcriptomic studies comparing radiation-induced and sporadic thyroid cancer have been reported. However, no final conclusion has been drawn regarding the presence of a radiation signature, as either no difference was noted or the reported differences were not sufficiently convincing due to the low number of cases analysed or to the presence of confounding factors. The list of putative biological and clinical factors that may influence the PTC gene expression profile is long, but there are sufficient data reported in the literature to link expression profiles with differing pathological variants of PTC. The comparison of expression profiles in the tumour samples allows the search for a radiation signature, whereas the comparison of expression profiles of the normal contralateral tissues offers a substantial opportunity for assessing the existence of a susceptibility to radiation that could be responsible for tumour development. We have undertaken this analysis as part of a European Union-funded project, GENRISK-T. Gene expression profiles were investigated in tumours that have arisen in the population exposed to fallout from Chernobyl (i.e. born before 26 April 1986) and were compared with profiles of tumours of similar pathology arising in an age-matched population, residing in the same geographical area (same ethnicity) and born after 1 January 1987. RNA samples from these tumours and their contralateral normal tissues were obtained from the Chernobyl Tissue Bank. Several lines of evidence suggest that the predisposition to developing cancer after radiation exposure is variable in the general population and may be measurable from gene expression.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tReviewSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine has minor effects on differentiation in human thyroid cancer cell lines, but modulates genes that are involved in adaptation in vitro.

In thyroid cancer, the lack of response to specific treatment, for example, radioactive iodine, can be caused by a loss of differentiation characteristics of tumor cells. It is hypothesized that this loss is due to epigenetic modifications. Therefore, drugs releasing epigenetic repression have been proposed to reverse this silencing.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe