Flow Cytometry

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Terminalia chebula has an esteemed origin in Indian mythology; its fruits are used to treat many diseases such as digestive, diabetes, colic pain, chronic cough, sore throat, asthma, etc. AIM OF THE STUDY: The water or ethanolic extracts of the fruits were reported to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and radio-protector properties. The present study is to isolate and identify the compounds that inhibit COX and 5-LOX, the key enzymes involved in inflammation and carcinogenesis.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric cancer. Due to its high global prevalence and uprising resistance to available antibiotics, efforts are now directed to identify alternative source to treat and prevent associated disorders.

Infection of normal human diploid fibroblasts (HF) with the DNA tumor virus simian virus 40 (SV) leads to an extension of lifespan and concomitant increase in the levels of the viral large tumor antigen (T antigen) and the cellular protein p53. The intracellular localization of T antigen and p53 was mostly nuclear in both SVpre-crisis and SVpost-crisis cells, however certain population doubling (PD) of the SVpre-crisis cells exhibited some cytoplasmic staining. The DNA content of SVpre-crisis cells shifted to tetraploidy and the SVpost-crisis cells were near-tetraploid.

Lymphocytes have a finite and predictable proliferative life span in culture similar to that observed in fibroblasts. In general, the senescence of human fibroblasts is inevitable and irreversible, but their proliferative life span can be extended by certain DNA tumor virus oncogenes, such as the large T antigen of the SV40 virus. Here, we show that human T lymphocytes (HTL) can be stably transfected with SV40 large T and that expression of T antigen extended the life span of T cell cultures.

Telomere is the repetitive DNA sequence at the end of chromosomes, which shortens progressively with cell division and limits the replicative potential of normal human somatic cells. L-carnosine, a naturally occurring dipeptide, has been reported to delay the replicative senescence, and extend the lifespan of cultured human diploid fibroblasts. In this work, we studied the effect of carnosine on the telomeric DNA of cultured human fetal lung fibroblast cells.

Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a key cytokine for the generation and stimulation of dendritic cells (DCs), and it may also play a pivotal role in promoting the survival of DCs. In this study, the feasibility of creating a cancer vaccine using DCs adenovirally transduced with the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene and the GM-CSF gene was examined. In addition, the effect of the co-transduction of GM-CSF gene on the lifespan of these genetically modified DCs was determined.

The performance of cell lines used for the production of biotherapeutic proteins typically depends on the number of cells in culture, their specific growth rate, their viability and the cell specific productivity (qP). Therefore both cell line development and process development are trying to (a) improve cell proliferation to reduce lag-phase and achieve high number of cells; (b) delay cell death to prolong the production phase and improve culture longevity; (c) and finally, increase qP.

The performance of cell lines used for the production of biotherapeutic proteins typically depends on the number of cells in culture, their specific growth rate, their viability and the cell specific productivity (qP). Therefore both cell line development and process development are trying to (a) improve cell proliferation to reduce lag-phase and achieve high number of cells; (b) delay cell death to prolong the production phase and improve culture longevity; (c) and finally, increase qP.

The low percentages of naÔve T cells commonly observed in elderly people are thought to be causally associated with mortality, primarily from infectious disease, and are taken as a hallmark of "immunosenescence". Whether low levels of naive cells actually do associate with mortality has, however, not been tested in longitudinal studies. Here, we present correlations between peripheral T-cell phenotypes and 8-year survival in individuals from the population-based prospective Leiden 85-plus Study.

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a critical regulator of many physiological functions, ranging from longevity to immunity. However, little is known about the role of IGF-1 in natural killer cell development and function. Here, we identify an essential role for IGF-1 in the positive regulation of human natural killer cell development and cytotoxicity. Specifically, we show that human natural killer cells have the ability to produce IGF-1 and that differential endogenous IGF-1 expression leads to disparate cytotoxicity in human primary natural killer cells.