Abnormal Expression of c-Myc Oncogene in NK Cells in Patients with Cancer

Natural killer (NK) cells have received a lot of attention in recent years for the roles they play in immunity and particularly in antitumor immune responses. Although defects in NK cell functions are recognized as important mechanisms for immune evasion of malignant cells, molecular pathways regulating NK cell dysfunction and exhaustion in cancer are largely unknown. Here we tested whether the c-myc proto-oncogene, known to promote cell proliferation, growth, differentiation, and apoptosis by regulating the expression of numerous target genes, may be involved in the mechanism of NK cell abnormalities in patients with lung and gastric cancer. Analysis of c-myc mRNA and protein expression in peripheral blood NK cells, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity, cell cycle, and cell longevity revealed a significantly decreased expression of c-myc mRNA and protein and mitotic arrest of NK cells in different phases of cell cycle. In addition, a significant decrease of NK cell death was also detected. These data allow the suggestion that defects of NK cell-mediated tumor surveillance may be associated with disturbed c-myc expression in NK cells in cancer patients. A better understanding of the mechanisms of NK cell dysfunction in cancer will help in the NK cell-mediated therapeutic eradication of primary and metastatic cancer cells and prolong patient survival

Post-Exercise Effect of Anabolic Drug on Blood Cell Apoptosis

Intake of anabolic phytoecdysteroid “Ekdifit” conduces to the immune system reinforcement and apoptosis activation due to the high rate of metabolism and antioxidant effect of the drug, regulating stability of pro- and antioxidant balance in the blood cell

Results of external quality control study in flow cytometric acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnostics

Comparison of interpretation of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) flow cytometric diagnostics data was the aim of the study. Immunophenotyping data obtained from 10 patients with ALL were analysed separately in 26 laboratories from Russian Federation and Kazahstan. Results comparison showed four main type of discordance: B-lineage ALL diagnostics during heavy bone marrow regeneration, great variability of T-ALL interpretation, complexity of ambiguous lineage acute leukemia and, finally, very different report types, unique for each laboratory. All these problems are the serious obstacles for standardization of flow cytometric ALL diagnostics in multicenter setting. Continuation of similar QC rounds following by consecutive discussions with further development of consensus diagnostic algorithm could be the first step for standardization of ALL immunophenotyping in Russian Federation and CIS countries