Browsing by Subject "Adhesion molecule"

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    Adhesion molecules as targets for cancer therapy
    (Murcia : F. Hernández, 1997) Huang, Y.W.; Baluna, R.; Vitetta, E.S.
    Adhesion molecules mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions and are essential for numerous physiological and pathological processes. Recent evidence from many laboratories suggests that adhesion molecules play an important role in tumor progression and may promote tumor growth and organ-specific metastasis. Certain adhesion molecules may also function as tumor suppressors. In this review, we describe current concepts concerning the role of the adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of cancer and the development of therapeutic approaches which make use of this information. Hence, by preventing tumor cells from interacting with each other or with their microenvironment, tumor growth and metastasis can be suppressed. The feasibility of using anti-adhesion strategies to treat cancer has been demonstrated in many animal models. Thus, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against adhesion molecules, synthetic peptidic and nonpeptidic analogues of the recognition sequences on their receptors, soluble adhesion molecules and antisense oligonucleotides can inhibit tumor growth and gene therapy can restore the functions of altered tumorsuppressive adhesion molecules.
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    Expression of adhesion molecules and mucins in human and rhesus macaque gastrointestinal epithelial cells
    (F. Hernández y J.F. Madrid. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología., 2011) Zhang, Hong-Yu; Chang, Hong; Fan, Xiao-Na; Zhang, Kui-Dong; Yu, Lu; Cao, Yi
    Epithelial junctions and mucins play key roles in the gastrointestinal mucosal barrier, and their alterations are associated with numerous diseases, including carcinomas. The systematic expression of adhesion molecules and mucins in normal and malignant human gastrointestinal cells was investigated in this study. In normal human gastrointestinal cells, zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), α-catenin, ß-catenin, γ-catenin and desmoglein-2 (DSG2) were located in the cytoplasmic membranes, whereas symplekin stained in the nuclei. ZO-1, the three catenins, and DSG2 were observed in the gastric and colorectal carcinomas with reduced and heterogeneous expression and with abnormal distribution. Symplekin was detected in the nuclei of tumor cells in most tumors but not observed in some others. The immunohistochemical results for ZO-1 and symplekin on the tissues were consistent with the data for the cultured cells obtained by immunocytochemical staining and Western blot analysis. MUC1 was not stained in the normal gastrointestinal cells without periodate oxidation, but it was strongly labeled in the malignant gastrointestinal cells. MUC2 was detected in the normal and malignant gastrointestinal cells without the periodate treatment. These findings indicate that alterations in the expression of the epithelial junctions and mucins are associated with the malignant transformation of gastrointestinal cells. In addition, the gastrointestinal epithelial cells of rhesus macaques expressed these adhesion molecules and mucins, as did the human cells, suggesting that the rhesus monkey is a suitable experimental animal model for research on adhesion molecules and mucins.
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    lntraocular neovascularization
    (Murcia : F. Hernández, 1999) Yoshida, A.; Yoshida, S.; Ishibashi, T.; Inomata, H.
    An important character of the eye is transparency, so intraocular neovascularization, which is fragile and likely to result in hemorrhage, would cause a functional disorder of the eye and contribute to loss of vision associated with such diseases as retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and age-related macular degeneration. Recently interest in the mechanisms of intraocular neovascularization has increased, and the mechanisms have been gradually elucidated using several in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis models. Blood vessels in the eye are composed of, and surrounded by, various types of cells that produce multiple factors. Neovascularization is regulated by complex interactions among these angiogenic factors, angiostatic factors, and adhesion molecules, and some of these angiogenesis-related molecules have also been suggested as new targets for novel therapeutic agents of intraocular neo-vascularization. This review focuses on in vivo representative angiogenesis models of the corneal pocket model and the model of oxygen-induced retinopathy, and discusses the role of some angiogenesisrelated factors and adhesion molecules in intraocular neovascularization.