Разработка ингибиторов коррозии сталей на основе тиомочевины и наночастиц металлов

Despite the essential role of the fibrinogen gamma-chain as a blood clotting factor, the fibrinogen gamma-chain contains a number of interaction sites to recruit other factors such as leukocytes important for prevention of pathogen entry and propagation of the repair process. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is known as the major inducer of gamma-fibrinogen synthesis in hepatocytes, whereas IL-1beta has been shown to act as a potent inhibitor of gamma-fibrinogen expression. Studies on the rat fibrinogen gamma-chain promoter suggest that nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB replaces the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 from binding to overlapping NF-kappaB/STAT3 binding sites within the 5' regulatory region of the rat gamma-chain gene promoter. However, despite its physiological relevance, the underlying mechanism responsible for the inhibitory effect of IL-1beta in humans is still not understood and apparently more complex. In contrast to the mechanism described for the rat gene our results indicate that IL-1beta suppresses the IL-6-induced activation of the human gamma-fibrinogen gene particularly by blocking the late phase STAT3-tyrosine phosphorylation NF-kappaB-dependently but independent from de novo protein synthesis. Consequently, blocking NF-kappaB activation restores specifically late phase STAT3 activation as well as the induction of the human gamma-fibrinogen gene. In contrast, specifically early STAT3 activation could be restored by a block of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38(MAPK)) pathway. In summary, our results indicate that expression of the gamma-fibrinogen gene is mainly controlled by the strength of late phase STAT3 activation, which in turn is negatively regulated by the extent of IL-1beta-mediated NF-kappaB activity

Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: No effective systemic therapy exists for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. A preliminary study suggested that sorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, the platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and Raf may be effective in hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS: In this multicenter, phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we randomly assigned 602 patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who had not received previous systemic treatment to receive either sorafenib (at a dose of 400 mg twice daily) or placebo. Primary outcomes were overall survival and the time to symptomatic progression. Secondary outcomes included the time to radiologic progression and safety. RESULTS: At the second planned interim analysis, 321 deaths had occurred, and the study was stopped. Median overall survival was 10.7 months in the sorafenib group and 7.9 months in the placebo group (hazard ratio in the sorafenib group, 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.55 to 0.87; P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the median time to symptomatic progression (4.1 months vs. 4.9 months, respectively, P=0.77). The median time to radiologic progression was 5.5 months in the sorafenib group and 2.8 months in the placebo group (P<0.001). Seven patients in the sorafenib group (2%) and two patients in the placebo group (1%) had a partial response; no patients had a complete response. Diarrhea, weight loss, hand-foot skin reaction, and hypophosphatemia were more frequent in the sorafenib group. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, median survival and the time to radiologic progression were nearly 3 months longer for patients treated with sorafenib than for those given placebo. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00105443.) 2008 Massachusetts Medical Societ

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy in higher eukaryotes

Research in autophagy continues to accelerate,(1) and as a result many new scientists are entering the field. Accordingly, it is important to establish a standard set of criteria for monitoring macroautophagy in different organisms. Recent reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose.(2,3) There are many useful and convenient methods that can be used to monitor macroautophagy in yeast, but relatively few in other model systems, and there is much confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure macroautophagy in higher eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers of autophagosomes versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway; thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from fully functional autophagy that includes delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of the methods that can be used by investigators who are attempting to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as by reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that investigate these processes. This set of guidelines is not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify an autophagic response