When activated, E2F1 can induce cell proliferation and/or apoptosis. In addition, E2F1 overexpression sensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. In a screen for genes that are regulated synergistically by E2F1 and chemotherapy in cancer cells, we identified the proapoptotic tumor suppressor gene maspin (mammary serine protease inhibitor) as

CH5183284 supplier a novel E2F1-regulated gene. In line with being an E2F-regulated gene, maspin expression is inhibited by short hairpin RNA directed against E2F1 and increases upon activation of endogenous E2F. Furthermore, maspin mRNA and protein levels are elevated upon activation of exogenous E2F1. Importantly, we show that E2F1-mediated upregulation of maspin is enhanced by chemotherapeutic drugs, and inhibition of maspin expression significantly impairs the ability of E2F1 to promote chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Summarily, our data indicate that maspin is an important effector of E2F1-induced chemosensitization.

Mol Cancer Res; 8(3); 363-72. (C)2010 AACR.”
“Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito-borne pathogenic flavivirus responsible for acute viral encephalitis in humans. The cellular entry of JEV is poorly selleck chemicals characterized in terms of molecular requirements and pathways. Here we present a systematic study of the internalization mechanism of JEV in fibroblasts and neuroblastoma cells. To verify the roles of distinct pathways of cell entry, we used fluorescently labeled virus particles, a combination of pharmacological inhibitors, RNA interference (RNAi), and dominant-negative (DN) mutants of regulatory proteins involved in endocytosis. Our study demonstrates that JEV infects fibroblasts in a clathrin-dependent manner, but it deploys a clathrin-independent mechanism to infect neuronal cells. The clathrin-independent pathway requires dynamin and plasma membrane cholesterol. Virus binding to neuronal cells leads to rapid actin rearrangements and an intact and dynamic actin cytoskeleton, and the small GTPase RhoA plays an important role in viral entry. Immunofluorescence analysis of

viral selleck chemicals llc colocalization with endocytic markers showed that JEV traffics through Rab5-positive early endosomes and that release of the viral nucleocapsid occurs at the level of the early and not the late endosomes.”
“Tissue factor (TF) is a cell surface glycoprotein playing an important role in the initiation of the blood coagulation cascade. The functions of TF in other physiological or pathological activities, such as tumor cell migration, are also acknowledged gradually in recent years. A recombinant protein of mouse tissue factor (mTF) extracellular part fused with His tag was constructed, and it was expressed and purified successfully in high-level soluble form. This recombinant mTF can effectively initiate plasma clotting in vitro and enhance blood coagulation in vivo, which prove its biological activity.