Cell-surface nucleolin acts as a central mediator for carcinogenic, anti-carcinogenic, and disease-related ligands

PURPOSE: Cell-surface nucleolin in human gastric cancer cell lines is a receptor for TNF-α-inducing protein (Tipα) of Helicobacter pylori. The binding complex of nucleolin and Tipα is internalized into the cells and then induces tumor progression of human gastric cancer. Surface nucleolin is also a receptor of human immunodeficiency virus-1, and the anti-HIV pseudopeptide (HB-19) showed anti-carcinogenic activity in vivo. Surface nucleolin has dual functions depending on the ligands: In order to understand the mechanisms of surface nucleolin, it is necessary to review surface nucleolin and its relation to carcinogenic ligands and anti-carcinogenic ligands. Other ligands can be grouped among disease-related ligands, which is an important new topic for the prevention of various ailments. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This paper mainly deals with two ligands of surface nucleolin, Tipα and pseudopeptide HB-19. The binding complex of nucleolin and Tipα induces expression of TNF-α and chemokine genes and activates NF-κB in gastric cancer cells of humans and mice. However, when human gastric cancer cell line MKN-1 was transfected with nucleolin-targeted siRNA, the result was inhibition of cell migration and elongation induced by Tipα. The amount of surface nucleolin was reduced in membrane fraction of the nucleolin knockdown MKN-1 cells, but the amount of nucleolin in the cytosol or nuclear fractions of the cells did not change. The results indicate that surface nucleolin acts as a carcinogenic mediator for Tipα of H. pylori. In contrast, both the viral external envelop glycoprotein gp120 of HIV and the anti-HIV pseudopeptide HB-19 bind to surface nucleolin. Through this binding, treatment with HB-19 inhibited tumor development in human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and rhabdoid tumor cell line derived from Wilms’s tumor in xenograft nude mouse models. The results show that surface nucleolin acts as an anti-carcinogenic mediator for HB-19. CONCLUSION: Based on these discrete functions of surface nucleolin, the binding complex of carcinogenic ligands and surface nucleolin seems to be competing with that of anti-carcinogenic ligands and surface nucleolin. Moreover, carcinogenic ligands derived from endogenous sources play a significant role in human cancer development, and the interaction of surface nucleolin with disease-related ligands will be a new research subject for the prevention and treatment of various ailments

Meso-chlorination of chlorophyll a in the course of pigment extraction

AbstractHPLC analysis has shown that the meso δ-carbon of chlorophyll (Chl) a undergoes chlorination to give δ-chloro Chl a (Cl-Chl a), possibly by an enzymatic reaction with chloride ion in the wet medium of crushed plant tissue. A sizeable amount, occasionally a 1% fraction, of the whole Chl a is chlorinated during tissue crushing/pigment extraction. The chlorination can be neatly or completely suppressed if plant materials are kneaded with a sufficient amount of a desiccant or with Cl−-scavenging silver ion before pigment extraction

Safety Considerations for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Pathology Department Workers Exposed to Infected Materials and Patients

The risk of occupational transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to health care workers with intensive exposure to HIV infected patients was considered, because the author autopsied an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patient in February 1990. A few case reports suggested that the risk of HIV infection incurred when health care workers are exposed to blood or body fluids of HIV infected patients through accidental needle-stick exposure or contamination of an open wound or mucous membrane. For the prevention of AIDS, the pathologists and staff must use double-gloves, gown, mask, apron, shoes cover, medical cap, undershirt, pant, and goggle when in contact with AIDS patient-related materials during postmortem procedure and treatment of surgical speciments

Beta-Subunit of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in Malignant Lymphoma : An Immunohistochemical Study

We present a rare case of a 77-year-old Japanese man with malignant lymphoma associated with production of beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin in the cytoplasms of lymphoma cells in the lymph nodes. By immunoperoxidase staining, numerous tumor cells were reacted with beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin. To the best of our knowledge, production of beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin in the cytoplasm of lymphoma cells has not been reported. This patient evidences that beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin may be produced by tumor cells, therefore, beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin may be used as a tumor maker in some malignant lymphoma patients

Dynamin 2 Cooperates with Amphiphysin 1 in Phagocytosis in Sertoli Cells

Testicular Sertoli cells highly express dynamin 2 and amphiphysin 1. Here we demonstrate that dynamin 2 is implicated in phosphatidylserine (PS)-dependent phagocytosis in Sertoli cells. Immunofluorescence and dual-live imaging revealed that dynamin 2 and amphiphysin 1 accumulate simultaneously at ruffles. These proteins are specifically bound in vitro. Over-expression of dominant negative dynamin 2 (K44A) inhibits liposome-uptake and leads to the mis-localization of amphiphysin 1. Thus, the cooperative function of dynamin 2 and amphiphysin 1 in PS-dependent phagocytosis is strongly suggested.</p

THE KINETIC LINKAGE IN PITCHING MOTION

The objective of this study was to analyze three-dimensional motion chains of pitching movement, and determine how the chains of movement of the limbs were working together from the lower extremities to the upper extremities. There were devided three experimentals group for compareing the motion skills: professional (n=9), amateur (n=9), and high school (n=9) baseball players. The pitching motion recorded for all subjects performed the maximum their effort from the mound for throwing the ball. It was recorded in videotapes by two high-speed cameras to arrange places. Then four points of every picture were digitized per 1/500 second. Three-dimensional coordinates for the segment endpoints were computed by a direct linear transformation (DLT) method. The resultof this study, linking the lower and upper body, professional picher could move the body efficiant and give the speed for ball. on the other hand, it was found that amatur and high school picher could not move the body efficient becouse to move the shoulder of piching side to piching direction

A Rare Complication:Misdirection of an Indwelling Urethral Catheter into the Ureter

We report 3 patients with the rare complication of an indwelling urethral catheter misdirected into the ureter. This is the largest series to date. Patients were referred to us for a variety of reasons following exchange of their chronic indwelling urinary catheters. CT in all cases demonstrated the urinary catheters residing in the left ureter. The ages of the patients were 37, 67 and 81 years old. All patients suffered from neurogenic bladder. Two patients were female, one was male, and 2 of the 3 had a sensory disorder inhibiting their pain response. The catheters were replaced with open-end Foley catheters. Extensive follow-up CT scans were obtained in one case, demonstrating improvement of hydronephrosis and no evidence of ureteral stenosis. Cystoscopy in this patient demonstrated normally positioned and functioning ureteral orifices. Although the placement of an indwelling urethral catheter is a comparatively safe procedure, one must keep in mind that this complication can occur, particularly in female patients with neurogenic bladder. CT without contrast is a noninvasive, definitive diagnostic tool

Unsupervised Detection of Cell-Assembly Sequences by Similarity-Based Clustering

Neurons which fire in a fixed temporal pattern (i.e., "cell assemblies") are hypothesized to be a fundamental unit of neural information processing. Several methods are available for the detection of cell assemblies without a time structure. However, the systematic detection of cell assemblies with time structure has been challenging, especially in large datasets, due to the lack of efficient methods for handling the time structure. Here, we show a method to detect a variety of cell-assembly activity patterns, recurring in noisy neural population activities at multiple timescales. The key innovation is the use of a computer science method to comparing strings ("edit similarity"), to group spikes into assemblies. We validated the method using artificial data and experimental data, which were previously recorded from the hippocampus of male Long-Evans rats and the prefrontal cortex of male Brown Norway/Fisher hybrid rats. From the hippocampus, we could simultaneously extract place-cell sequences occurring on different timescales during navigation and awake replay. From the prefrontal cortex, we could discover multiple spike sequences of neurons encoding different segments of a goal-directed task. Unlike conventional event-driven statistical approaches, our method detects cell assemblies without creating event-locked averages. Thus, the method offers a novel analytical tool for deciphering the neural code during arbitrary behavioral and mental processes