Calculosis in paraplegia.
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Stromal fibroblasts interact with invading cancer cells by secreting and activating matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). To elucidate the mechanisms involved in the expression and activation patterns of MMPs, human colon-cancer cell lines Caco-2 and LoVo and colon-fibroblast cell line CCD18-Co were co-cultivated in non-contact and contact conditions which mimic in vivo interaction between cancer cells and fibroblasts before and after cancer invasion respectively. Gelatin zymography disclosed that MMP-2 was secreted from the fibroblasts but not from the cancer cells. The quantity of fibroblast-derived MMP-2 in conditioned medium was not significantly changed in either the contact or the non-contact co-cultures when compared with that of individual cultures of CCD18-Co fibroblasts. Cancer cells in non-contact co-cultures, however, enhanced the activation of fibroblast-derived MMP-2. Transcripts of membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MT1-MMP), which is thought to be present on the cell surface and to work as a candidate activator of MMP-2, were detected in both cancer cell lines. Plasma membrane extracts of cancer cells also activated MMP-2 in conditioned media in cell-free conditions. This activation of MMP-2 may be caused by MT1-MMP of the cancer cells, since it was inhibited by a series of MMP inhibitors, including ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2), and the MMP inhibitor CGS 27023A, but not by TIMP-1. Our data demonstrate that in non-contact co-cultures colon-cancer cells activate fibroblast-derived MMP-2 on their plasma membranes. These findings should help to elucidate the mechanism involved in the initial destruction of basement membrane by cancer cells.
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The kinetics of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) decomposition was examined in erythrocyte suspension from C57B1/6 mice by the chemiluminescence method. The reaction with horseradish peroxidase, t-BHP (20 nmol/ml), and luminol was accompanied by a rapid chemiluminescence increase. The integral value of the chemiluminescence signal correlated with the t-BHP concentration at every moment of time. In the erythrocyte suspension, the half-life of t-BHP decomposition was 23.8 s. The decomposition rate significantly decreased after pretreatment of the erythrocytes with o-phenanthroline (0.1 mM), EDTA (1 mM), benzohydroxamic acid (0.1 mM) or adriamycin (30 microM). These effects were not associated with the changes in the glutathione peroxidase activity and, more likely, could be related to the modification of the membrane iron-binding sites. The influence of iron chelators on the kinetics of t-BHP decomposition suggests the existence of various Fe-binding sites, that can decompose organic hydroperoxides upon their interaction with cell plasma membranes.
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Four primary zinc-binding pharmacophores (thiols, carboxylates, phosphorus acids, and hydroxamates) have been utilized in generating inhibitors of zinc metalloproteases such as ACE, NEP, the MMPs, and ECE. Although compounds which inhibit the activity of both ACE and NEP (vasopeptidase inhibitors, VPIs) have been reported which incorporate a thiol, carboxylate, or phosphorus acid pharmacophore, the generation of hydroxamate based vasopeptidase inhibitors has remained elusive. Herein we report the first potent vasopeptidase inhibitors which were generated from the incorporation of conformationally restricted dipeptide mimetics to an N-formyl hydroxylamine zinc-binding group. Compounds such as 13c and 13d are among the most potent in this series, exhibiting in vitro activity comparable to other classes of inhibitors.
Subplastidic preparations from cotyledons of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) were tested for their ability to synthesize protoporphyrin IX from the substrate 5-aminolevulinic acid. Envelope or thylakoid membranes failed to synthesize protoporphyrin IX from the substrate 5-aminolevulinic acid. Stromal preparations synthesized a very low amount of protoporphyrin IX. In a reconstitution experiment using stroma + envelope membranes, protoporphyrin IX synthesis from 5-aminolevulinic acid was enhanced by 660% over that of stroma alone. However, when thylakoids were added to the stroma + envelope mixture, protoporphyrin IX synthesis from 5-aminolevulinic acid was completely inhibited. In the reconstituted stroma + envelope membrane mixture, the reducing agent dithiothreitol enhanced the protoporphyrin IX-synthesizing ability and completely abolished the inhibition of protoporphyrin IX synthesis by thylakoids. This suggested that the oxidizing agents usually associated with the thylakoid membranes inhibited protoporphyrin IX biosynthesis and the inhibition was alleviated by the reducing power of dithiothreitol. This study exposes the weakness of in vitro reconstitution experiments in mimicking the in vivo-conditions. Addition of ATP stimulated protoporphyrin IX synthesis by 50% in the supernatant fraction of chloroplast lysate. This ATP-induced stimulation of protoporphyrin IX synthesis was due to the enhancement of the activities of uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase and protoporphyrinogen oxidase, involved in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis. The ATP-induced stimulation of porphyrinogen oxidase activity was an energy-dependent reaction.
Soybean lipoxygenase is rapidly inactivated when incubated with arachidonic acid and any of several lipoxygenase inhibitors, including NDGA, the aminopyrazolines BW 755C and BW 540C, and the acetohydroxamic acid derivatives BW A4C and BW A137C. Little or no inactivation was found when the enzyme was incubated with substrate or with inhibitors alone. 15-HPETE was as effective as arachidonic acid in promoting inactivation, but linoleic acid and 13-HPOD were much less effective. The UV absorption at 235 nm, due to the conjugated diene in 15-HPETE or 13-HPOD, was rapidly destroyed in the presence of soybean lipoxygenase and inhibitor in a presumed pseudoperoxidase reaction. The products of the reaction between linoleic acid, BW A137C and soybean lipoxygenase have been partially characterized. A derivative of arachidonic acid is postulated to be the inactivating agent.
Envenoming by the West African saw-scaled viper, Echis ocellatus resembles that of most vipers, in that it results in local blistering, necrosis and sometimes life-threatening systemic haemorrhage. While effective against systemic envenoming, current antivenoms have little or no effect against local tissue damage. The major mediators of local venom pathology are the zinc-dependant snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs). The high degree of structural and functional homology between SVMPs and their mammalian relatives the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) suggests that substrate/inhibitor interactions between these subfamilies are likely to be analogous. In this study, four recently developed MMP inhibitors (MMPIs) (Marimastat, AG-3340, CGS-270 23A and Bay-12 9566) are evaluated in addition to three metal ion chelators (EDTA, TPEN and BAPTA) for their ability to inhibit the haemorrhagic activities of the medically important E. ocellatus venom and one of its haemorrhagic SVMPs, EoVMP2. As expected, the metal ion chelators significantly inhibited the haemorrhagic activities of both whole E. ocellatus venom and EoVMP2, while the synthetic MMPIs show more variation in their efficacies. These variations suggest that individual MMPIs show specificity towards SVMPs and that their application to the neutralization of local haemorrhage may require a synthetic MMPI mixture, ensuring that a close structural component for each SVMP is represented.
TRAIL appears to be a promising anticancer agent in that it induces apoptosis in a wide range of cancer cells but not normal tissues. Sensitivity of melanoma cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis varied considerably because of their development of various resistance mechanisms against apoptosis. We discuss in this report the potential effect of a histone deacetylase inhibitor SBHA on TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors regulate histone acetylation and thereby modulate the transcriptional activity of certain genes leading to cell growth arrest, cellular differentiation, and apoptosis. Suberic bishydroxamate (SBHA) is a relatively new HDAC inhibitor that induced apoptosis in the majority of melanoma cell lines through a mitochondrial and caspase-dependent pathway. This was due to its regulation of the expression of multiple proteins that are involved in either the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway (Bcl-2 family members) or the final phase of apoptosis (caspase-3 and XIAP). Co-treatment with SBHA at nontoxic doses and TRAIL resulted in a marked increase in TRAIL-induced apoptosis of melanoma, but showed no toxicity to melanocytes. SBHA appeared to sensitize melanoma to TRAIL-induced apoptosis by up-regulation of pro-apoptotic proteins in the TRAIL-induced apoptotic pathway such as caspase-8, caspase-3, Bid, Bak, and Bax, and up-regulation of the BH3 domain only protein, Bim. This, together with activated Bid, may have acted synergistically to cause changes in mitochondria. Treatment with SBHA also resulted in down-regulation of antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family, Bcl-X(L) and Mcl-1, and the IAP member, XIAP. These changes would further facilitate apoptotic signaling. SBHA appeared therefore to be a potent agent in overcoming resistance of melanoma to TRAIL-induced apoptosis.