Cell Resistance (cell + resistance)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Evaluating budesonide efficacy in nasal polyposis and predicting the resistance to treatment

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY, Issue 1 2009
F. C. P. Valera
Summary Background Cell resistance to glucocorticoids is a major problem in the treatment of nasal polyposis (NP). Objectives The objectives of this study were to observe the effect of budesonide on the expression of IL-1,, TNF-,, granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, basic fibroblast growth factor, eotaxin-2, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-,, GR-,, c-Fos and p65 in nasal polyps and to correlate their expression to clinical response. Methods Biopsies from nasal polyps were obtained from 20 patients before and after treatment with topical budesonide. Clinical response to treatment was monitored by a questionnaire and nasal endoscopy. The mRNA levels of the studied genes were measured by real-time quantitative (RQ)-PCR. Results There was a significant decrease in the expression of TNF-, (P<0.05), eotaxin-2 (P<0.05) and p65 (P<0.05) in NP after treatment. Poor responders to glucocorticoids showed higher expression of IL-1, (3.74 vs. 0.14; P<0.005), ICAM-1 (1.91 vs. 0.29; P<0.05) and p65 (0.70 vs. 0.16; P<0.05) before treatment. Following treatment, IL-1, (4.18 vs. 0.42; P<0.005) and GR-, (0.95 vs. 0.28; P<0.05) mRNA expression was higher in this group. Conclusion Topical budesonide reduced the expression of TNF-,, eotaxin-2 and p65. Poor responders to topical budesonide exhibit higher levels of IL-1,, ICAM-1 and nuclear factor (NF)-,B at diagnosis and higher expression of both IL-1, and GR-, after treatment. These results emphasize the anti-inflammatory action of topical budesonide at the molecular level and its importance in the treatment of NP. Nevertheless, IL-1,, ICAM-1 and NF-,B may be associated with primary resistance to glucocorticoids in NP, whereas higher expression of GR-, in poor responders only after glucocorticoid treatment may represent a secondary drug resistance mechanism in this disease. [source]


Octamer 4 (Oct4) mediates chemotherapeutic drug resistance in liver cancer cells through a potential Oct4,AKT,ATP-binding cassette G2 pathway,

HEPATOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Xiao Qi Wang
Chemoresistance presents a major obstacle to the efficacy of chemotherapeutic treatment of cancers. Using chemotherapeutic drugs to select drug-resistant cancer cells in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and several other cancer cell lines, we demonstrate that chemoresistant cells displayed cancer stem cell features, such as increased self-renewal ability, cell motility, multiple drug resistance, and tumorigenicity. Octamer 4 (Oct4) messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were dramatically increased in chemoresistant cancer cells due to DNA demethylation regulation of Oct4. By functional study, Oct4 overexpression enhanced whereas Oct4 knockdown reduced liver cancer cell resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs in vitro and in xenograft tumors. It is known that the Oct4-TCL1-AKT pathway acts on embryonic stem cells and cancer stem cells in cell proliferation through inhibition of apoptosis. We further demonstrate that Oct4 overexpression induced activation of TCL1, AKT, and ABCG2 to mediate chemoresistance, which can be overcome by addition of the PI3K/AKT inhibitor; therefore, a direct pathway of Oct4-TCL1-AKT-ABCG2 or a combination of Oct4-TCL1-AKT with the AKT-ABCG2 pathway could be a potential new mechanism involved in liver cancer cell chemoresistance. Moreover, the clinical significance of the Oct4-AKT-ABCG2 pathway can be demonstrated in HCC patients, with a strong correlation of expression patterns in human HCC tumors. The role of the Oct4-AKT-ABCG2 axis in cancer cell chemoresistant machinery suggests that AKT pathway inhibition (PI3K inhibitors) not only inhibits cancer cell proliferation, but may also enhance chemosensitivity by target potential chemoresistant cells. Conclusion: Oct4, a transcriptional factor of pluripotent cells, can mediate chemoresistance through a potential Oct4-AKT-ABCG2 pathway. (HEPATOLOGY 2010;) [source]


In Pursuit of Zero: Polymer Brushes that Resist the Adsorption of Proteins

ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 23 2009
Angus Hucknall
Abstract Protein resistant or "non-fouling" surfaces are of great interest for a variety of biomedical and biotechnology applications. This article briefly reviews the development of protein resistant surfaces, followed by recent research on a new methodology to fabricate non-fouling surfaces by surface-initiated polymerization. We show that polymer brushes synthesized by surface-initiated polymerization that present short oligo(ethylene glycol) side chains are exceptionally resistant to protein adsorption and cell adhesion. The importance of the protein and cell resistance conferred by these polymer brushes is illustrated by their use as substrates for the fabrication of antibody microarrays that exhibit femtomolar limits of detection in complex fluids such as serum and blood with relaxed requirements for intermediate wash steps. This example highlights the important point that the reduction in background noise afforded by protein-resistant surfaces can greatly simplify the development of ultrasensitive heterogeneous, surface-based clinical and proteomic assays with increased sensitivity and utility. [source]


Hypoxia increases normal prostate epithelial cell resistance to receptor-mediated apoptosis via AKT activation

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 8 2009
Sinead Walsh
Abstract The aging prostate is associated with changes in its vascular structure, which could lead to changes in oxygen levels. Hypoxia is an important environmental change that leads to the progression of many cancers mediated through a number of cellular changes, which included resistance to apoptosis. The role of hypoxia in initiating tumour development has not been previously investigated. We demonstrate that normal prostate epithelial cells develop a resistance to receptor-mediated apoptosis following 24 hr of 1% hypoxia. This effect is associated with the altered expression of a number of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins, which leads to inhibition of Cytochrome c release and downstream caspase activation. This is mediated via decreased Bax translocation and upstream Caspase 8 activity. Despite increased expression of cIAP-2, small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown does not restore susceptibility to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Gene expression analysis indicated potential changes in AKT activation, which was confirmed by increased phosphorylation of AKT. Inhibition of this phosphorylation reversed the resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. AKT activation is emerging as a key survival signal in prostate cancer. This study demonstrates that short exposure to low oxygen can increase resistance to immune surveillance mechanisms and might confer a survival advantage onto normal prostate epithelial cells so that they can survive subsequent genomic instability and other carcinogenetic insults leading to the early development of prostate cancer. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor celecoxib augments chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis by enhancing activation of caspase-3 and -9 in prostate cancer cells

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 3 2005
Devendra S. Dandekar
Abstract Many tumors constitutively express high levels of the inducible form of proinflammatory enzyme, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Increased COX-2 expression is associated with tumor cell resistance to many cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs. Furthermore, increased resistance to cytotoxic antitumor drugs is also known to be dependent on associated stromal cells in many tumors. We investigated whether prostate tumor-associated stromal cells, marrow-derived osteoblasts, affect cytotoxicity of 2 antitumor drugs, COL-3 and docetaxel (TXTR), and whether it is dependent on COX-2 activity. We further examined whether inhibiting the activity of COX-2 negate the stroma-induced decrease in drug sensitivity in tumor cells. COX-2-specific inhibitor celecoxib (CXB) was used to inhibit COX-2 activity and associated alteration in cell death signaling was investigated. Coculturing PC-3ML cells with osteoblasts decreased the cytotoxicity of the tested antitumor drugs and was associated with increased COX-2 activity in PC-3ML cells. A significant decrease in drug-induced PGE2 increase and an increase in cytotoxicity were observed when cells were treated with COL-3 or TXTR combined with CXB. Cytotoxicity of single or combination treatment increased apoptosis, which was associated with caspase-3 and -9 activation, PARP cleavage, increased BAD protein, but decreased protein levels of XIAP and BCL- xL. Oral administration of CXB (40 mg/kg) to mice with PC-3ML tumors for 42 days increased tumor latency, decreased tumor growth and enhanced tumor control with COL-3 or TXTR. Overall, a synergistic enhancement of antitumor activity in combination treatment was observed in vitro and an additive effect in vivo. These observations suggest a potential clinical use of combined dosing of COX-2 inhibitors and cytotoxic drugs at lower, nontoxic dose than currently used to treat advanced prostate cancer. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Survivin as a target for new anticancer interventions

JOURNAL OF CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE, Issue 2 2005
Nadia Zaffaroni
Abstract Survivin is a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, that has been implicated in both control of cell division and inhibition of apoptosis. Specifically, its anti-apoptosis function seems to be related to the ability to directly or indirectly inhibit caspases. Survivin is selectively expressed in the most common human neoplasms and appears to be involved in tumour cell resistance to some anticancer agents and ionizing radiation. On the basis of these findings survivin has been proposed and and attractive target for new anticancer interventions. Several preclinical studies have demonstrated that down-regulation of survivin expression/function, accomplished through the use of antisense oligonucleotides, dominant negative mutants, ribozymes, small interfering RNAs and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, increased the apoptotic rate, reduced tumor-growth potential and sensitized tumor cells to chemotherapeutic drugs with different action mechanisms and ,-irradiation in in vitro and in vivo models of different human tumor types. [source]


The persisting challenge of selective and specific proteasome inhibition,

JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE, Issue 2 2009
Michael Groll
Abstract Since the discovery of the proteasome and its structure elucidation intensive research programs in academic institutions and pharmaceutical industries led to identification of a wide spectrum of synthetic and natural small proteasomal inhibitors. Activity studies with these small molecules helped to deeply understand the complex biochemical organization and functioning of the proteasome. The new structural and biochemical insights placed the proteasome as an important anti-cancer drug target, as revealed by the dipeptide boronate proteasome inhibitor, bortezomib, which is currently used for treatment of multiple myeloma. Serious side effects and partial cell resistance against bortezomib demand creation and discovery of new improved generations of more specific and potent proteasomal inhibitors. Copyright © 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Thin Yttrium-Stabilized Zirconia Electrolyte Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Centrifugal Casting

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 12 2002
Jiang Liu
A centrifugal casting technique was developed for depositing thin 8-mol%-yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte layers on porous NiO-YSZ anode substrates. After the bilayers were cosintered at 1400°C, dense pinhole-free YSZ coatings with thicknesses of ,25 ,m were obtained, while the Ni-YSZ retained porosity. After La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF)-Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (GDC) or La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM)-YSZ cathodes were deposited, single SOFCs produced near-theoretical open-circuit voltages and power densities of ,1 W/cm2 at 800°C. Impedance spectra measured during cell tests showed that polarization resistances accounted for ,70%,80% of the total cell resistance. [source]


Reduced CD4+,CD25, T cell sensitivity to the suppressive function of CD4+,CD25high,CD127,/low regulatory T cells in patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 7 2008
Ram Kumar Chowdary Venigalla
Objective CD4+,CD25high regulatory T (Treg) cells play a crucial role in the maintenance of self tolerance and prevention of organ-specific autoimmunity. The presence of many in vivo,preactivated CD4+,CD25++ T cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) poses a difficulty in discriminating CD25++ activated T cells from CD25high Treg cells. To overcome this problem, we analyzed the phenotype and function of CD4+,CD25high,CD127,/low natural Treg (nTreg) cells isolated from the peripheral blood of patients with SLE. Methods CD4+,CD25high,CD127,/low nTreg cells and CD4+,CD25, responder T (Tresp) cells from patients with SLE and normal donors were separated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Cell proliferation was quantified by 3H-thymidine incorporation, and immunophenotyping of the cells was done using FACScan. Results Comparable percentages of CD4+,CD25high,FoxP3+ T cells were observed in patients with SLE and normal donors. Proliferation of SLE nTreg cells sorted into the subset CD4+,CD25high,CD127,/low was significantly decreased compared with that of SLE nTreg cells sorted into the subset CD4+,CD25high (mean ± SEM 2,223 ± 351 counts per minute versus 9,104 ± 1,720 cpm, respectively), while in normal donors, these values were 802 ± 177 cpm and 2,028 ± 548 cpm, respectively, confirming that effector cell contamination was reduced. Notably, the suppressive activity of nTreg cells was intact in all groups. However, CD4+,CD25, Tresp cells isolated from patients with active SLE were significantly less sensitive than those from patients with inactive SLE to the suppressive function of autologous or normal donor CD4+,CD25high,CD127,/low nTreg cells. Furthermore, a significant inverse correlation was observed between the extent of T cell regulation in suppressor assays and the level of lupus disease activity. Conclusion This study is the first to show that, in human SLE, impaired sensitivity of Tresp cells to the suppressive effects of a comparably functional, highly purified nTreg cell population leads to a defective suppression of T cell proliferation in active SLE. Studies aiming to define the mechanisms leading to Tresp cell resistance might help in the development of highly specific, alternative immunotherapeutic tools for the control of systemic autoimmune diseases such as SLE. [source]


Functional defect of circulating regulatory CD4+ T cells in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis in remission

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 6 2007
Wayel H. Abdulahad
Objective Accumulating data support the role of regulatory T cells, a subset of CD4+ T cells that expresses CD25high and the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (FoxP3), in controlling and preventing autoimmunity. In Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), an autoimmune vasculitis, up-regulation of CD25 on circulating CD4+ T cells has been observed, even in patients in remission. The objective of this study was to test whether the frequency and/or function of Treg cells from WG patients in remission are disturbed. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were freshly isolated from 52 WG patients in remission and from 27 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. The proportion of circulating Treg cells was assessed by flow cytometry using CD4, CD25, FoxP3, and CD45RO markers. Anergy and suppressive function of CD25high,CD4+ T cells were determined using polyclonal stimulants and coculture assay in 10 WG patients in remission and in 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Results In WG patients, a significant increase was observed in the percentage of circulating CD25high,CD4+ and CD25low,CD4+ T cells, whereas CD25,,CD4+ T cells were decreased, as compared with healthy controls. Among circulating CD4+ T cells, an expanded percentage of Treg cells (CD25high,FoxP3+) with memory phenotype was present in WG patients. However, when the suppressive function of CD25high,CD4+ T cells was tested, CD25high,CD4+ T cells from WG patients showed diminished or absent suppression of responder T cell proliferation. The impaired suppression was not due to responder cell resistance (as shown by crisscross experiments with T cells from healthy controls) or altered survival of Treg cells. Conclusion These data indicate that WG patients in remission have an expanded proportion of Treg cells that are functionally defective. This observation may be relevant to the development and relapsing course of this autoimmune vasculitis. [source]


The effect of Bcl-2, YAMA, and XIAP over-expression on apoptosis and adenovirus production in HEK293 cell line

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 4 2009
Kalbinder Singh Sandhu
Abstract Many viruses induce cell death and lysis as part of their replication and dissemination strategy, and in many cases features of apoptosis are observed. Attempts have been made to further increase productivity by prolonging cell survival via the over-expression of anti-apoptotic genes. Here, we extend the study to investigate the association between virus replication and apoptosis, pertinent to large-scale vector production for gene therapy. Infection of an HEK293 cell line with a replication defective type-5-adenovirus expressing a GFP reporter (Ad5GFP) resulted in rapid decline in viability associated with increased virus titer. The over-expression of bcl-2 resulted in improved cell resistance to apoptosis and prolonged culture duration, but reduced virus specific and total productivity. In contrast, the over-expression of pro-caspase-3 (Yama/CPP32/apopain) resulted in reduced cell survival but increased virus productivity. The treatment of infected cells with caspase inhibitors support the preposition that caspase-3 dependent apoptosis, and to a lesser degree caspase-9 dependent apoptosis, represent important steps in virus production, thus implicating the intrinsic apoptosis pathway in the production of adenovirus from HEK293 cells. The suppression of apoptosis by the over-expression of XIAP (inhibitors of caspase family cell death proteases) further shows that caspase-mediated activation plays an important role in virus infection and maturation. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009; 104: 752,765 © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Cellular resistance to mitomycin C is associated with overexpression of MDR-1 in a urothelial cancer cell line (MGH-U1)

BJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2001
M.C. Hayes
Objective To compare multidrug resistance (MDR)-1 and MDR-3 gene expression in a new urothelial cancer cell line (MGHU-1, with resistance to mitomycin C) against controls and the established (epirubicin-resistant) MDR clone, and to correlate MDR with cytotoxicity data. Materials and methods Resistance to mitomycin C was induced by the long-term exposure of wild-type MGHU-1 cells to increasing concentrations (20,400 nmol/L) of mitomycin C. The cytotoxicity of mitomycin C or epirubicin was then compared in MGHU-1, MGHU-MMC (mitomycin C-resistant) and MGHU-1R (established MDR) cells, using the tetrazolium biomass assay. The expression of MDR-1 and -3 was investigated by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, using cDNA-specific primers after titration, and compared with DNA and negative controls. Results MDR-1 and -3 were significantly and equally overexpressed in MGHU-1R, and associated with a dramatic increase in the 50% inhibitory drug concentration (P < 0.001) for mitomycin C and epirubicin against controls. In MGHU-MMC, the overexpression of MDR-1 was three times greater than that of MDR-3. The cytotoxicity profile for both agents was very similar to that of MGHU-1R. Trace amounts of MDR-1, but not MDR-3, were identified in the MGHU-1 wild-type. Conclusions Urothelial cancer cell resistance to mitomycin C is associated with cross-resistance to epirubicin and overexpression of MDR-1, suggesting that mitomycin C falls within the MDR category. Clinical application of this methodology may allow patients to be identified who are unlikely to benefit from intravesical chemotherapy. [source]


Vascular and Biology 05

BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY (NOW INCLUDES EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY), Issue S1 2002
L. Yea
Background: Tight junctions govern the permeability of endothelial and epithelial cells. Changes in tight junction function are thus an early and key event in cancer metastasis and tissue permeability. This study sought to determine the role of oestrogen in the regulation of tight junctions and expression of occludin in endothelial cells. Methods: Human vascular endothelial cell line was incubated with 17-,-oestradiol at different concentrations (from 10,11m to 10,7m) over 1,24 h. Expression of occludin mRNA was determined using RT-PCR, and change of occludin protein using Western blotting. Transendothelial resistance (TER) was measured with an EVOM, and transendothelial cell permeability was determined using fluorescence labelled dextran (FITC-dextran 10) with a multichannel fluorescence reader. Results: 17-,-oestradiol reduced the expression of occludin mRNA in a time and concentration dependent manner with an obvious effect starting from 4 h. Reduced level of occludin protein was similarly seen after treatment with 17-,-oestradiol. Incubation of HECV with 17-,-oestradiol resulted in an increase in paracellular permeability by 9.9 ± 8.9 per cent at 10,10m (P > 0.05 versus control), 42.1 ± 15.2 per cent at 10,9m (P < 0.05 versus control), and 40.1 ± 22.4 per cent at 10,8m (P < 0.05, versus control). A decrease in the transendothelial cell resistance (TER) was seen with oestradiol (a reduction by 18.6 ± 16.6 per cent (P > 0.05 versus control), 31.5 ± 10.6 per cent (P < 0.01), or 44.4 ± 18.4 per cent (P < 0.01), at concentration 10,10, 10,9, 10,8m, respectively. Conclusions: This study shows a perturbation of tight junction functions in endothelial cells by oestrogen, which may have implications in the aetiology of mastalgia and vascular spread of breast cancer. [source]


Overexpression of the cytoprotective protein clusterin decreases radiosensitivity in the human LNCaP prostate tumour model

BJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2003
T. Zellweger
The paper by Zellweger et al. builds on the continuing story of clusterin (TRPM-2) in the development and progression of prostate cancer. This group have published a series of papers on this protein, showing that it correlates with progression to androgen-independence and resistance to apoptosis. One of their recent papers has shown that ,knocking out' clusterin increases radiation sensitivity in prostate cancer cells. The current paper reports that increasing the expression of clusterin in LNCaP cells increases the cell's resistance to radiation-induced apoptosis. Manipulating identified survival proteins has important implications in preventing androgen-independent progression. Clusterin is such a survival protein and represents an important drug target in the near future. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of clusterin overexpression on radiation-induced tumour growth rates and apoptosis in human prostate LNCaP cells, as prostate cancer cells are relatively resistant to radiation-induced apoptosis and local recurrences are common, but overexpression of the anti-apoptotic protein clusterin can accelerate progression to androgen-independence and to confer a chemoresistant phenotype in various prostate cancer models. MATERIALS AND METHODS Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry were used to compare clusterin expression levels in parental (P) and clusterin-transfected (T) LNCaP cells in vitro and in vivo. The effects of radiation on clusterin-expression in both parental LNCaP/P and clusterin-transfected LNCaP/T tumours were analysed by Northern blot analysis. The cellular response to radiation was determined up to 3 weeks after irradiation using tetrazolium and re-growth assays, and cell-cycle analysis by flow cytometry. RESULTS Clusterin mRNA expression increased from undetectable to low levels in LNCaP/P tumours after radiation and more than three-fold in LNCaP/T tumours. Clusterin overexpression decreased the radiosensitivity in a time-dependent manner, reducing the extent of growth arrest and apoptosis by up to 54%. Re-growth assays showed that the improved survival rates of LNCaP/T cells after radiation did not change after 3 days, remaining constant over 3 weeks. CONCLUSIONS These results identify clusterin as a promoter of cell survival that may help mediate resistance to radiation-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, clusterin overexpression seems to provide an extended protection against radiation-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. [source]