PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Therese Resink

Publications and source records attributed to Therese Resink.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Oxidized phospholipids stimulate angiogenesis via autocrine mechanisms, implicating a novel role for lipid oxidation in the evolution of atherosclerotic lesions.

Angiogenesis is a common feature observed in advanced atherosclerotic lesions. We hypothesized that oxidized phospholipids (OxPLs), which accumulate in atherosclerotic vessels can stimulate angiogenesis. We found that oxidized 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (OxPAPC) stimulated the formation of sprouts from endothelial cell spheroids and promoted growth of capillaries into Matrigel plugs in mice. OxPLs stimulated expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in vivo and in several normal and tumor cell types in vitro. In addition, OxPAPC upregulated cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and interleukin (IL)-8. COX-2 inhibitors, as well as blocking antibodies to IL-8 suppressed activation of sprouting by OxPAPC. We conclude that OxPAPC stimulates angiogenesis via autocrine mechanisms involving VEGF, IL-8, and COX-2-generated prostanoids. Our data suggest that accumulation of OxPLs may contribute to increased growth of blood capillaries in advanced lesions, thus leading to progression and destabilization of atherosclerotic plaques.

ADAM Proteins↗

Expression of T-cadherin in tumor cells influences invasive potential of human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Overexpression of T-cadherin (T-cad) transcripts occurs in approximately 50% of human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). To elucidate T-cad functions in HCC, we examined T-cad protein expression in normal and tumoral human livers and hepatoma cell lines and investigated its influence on invasive potential of HCC using RNA interference silencing of T-cad expression in Mahlavu cells. Whereas T-cad expression was restricted to endothelial cells (EC) from large blood vessels in normal livers, it was up-regulated in sinusoidal EC from 8/15 invasive HCCs. Importantly, in three of them (38%) T-cad was detected in tumor cells within regions in which E-cadherin expression was absent. Among six hepatoma cell lines, only Mahlavu expressed T-cad but not E-cadherin. T-cad exhibited a globally punctuate distribution in quiescent Mahlavu and additionally it concentrated at the leading edge of migrating cells. Matrigel invasion assay revealed that Mahlavu possess a high invasive potential that was significantly inhibited by T-cad silencing. Wound healing and random motility assays demonstrated that inhibition of T-cad expression in Mahlavu significantly reduced their motility. We propose that T-cad expression in tumor cells might occur by cadherin-switching during epithelial-mesenchymal transition and may represent an additional mechanism contributing to HCC metastasis.

Animals↗

Brachytherapy: potential therapy for refractory coronary spasm.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to demonstrate that brachytherapy reduces coronary spasm in refractory and highly symptomatic variant angina. BACKGROUND: In some patients with variant angina due to extensive vasoconstriction, intensive drug therapy fails to sufficiently relieve symptoms. METHODS: In 18 patients with frequent angina episodes despite triple anti-anginal therapy, coronary spasm was induced by intracoronary acetylcholine (ACh) infusion. Five patients had spasm in a second vessel. Intracoronary radiation (20 Gy) was applied to vasospastic segments using a beta-emitting ((32)P) wire source centered within a Galileo balloon. Parameters of vessel function before and after brachytherapy were investigated. RESULTS: Before brachytherapy, artery diameters decreased (p < 0.0001) from 2.8 +/- 0.4 mm to 1.0 +/- 0.4 mm for the first vessels and from 3.1 +/- 0.3 mm to 1.0 +/- 0.2 mm for the second vessels. After brachytherapy (143 +/- 106 and 80 +/- 52 days for first and second vessels, respectively), ACh-induced vasoconstriction was significantly reduced. The ACh-induced changes in artery diameter before and after brachytherapy were -1.5 +/- 0.5 mm and -0.5 +/- 0.3 mm (p < 0.0001) for the first vessels and -1.4 +/- 0.3 mm and -0.4 +/- 0.2 mm (p < 0.01) for the second vessels, respectively. In non-irradiated spastic vessels, ACh-induced vasoconstriction remained unchanged (e.g., -1.7 +/- 0.6 mm, -1.6 +/- 0.3 mm, and -1.5 +/- 0.5 mm for second vessels, at first investigation, first follow-up, and immediately before brachytherapy, respectively). Angina frequency decreased from 15.6 +/- 6.0 to 2.2 +/- 2.4 angina episodes/week (p < 0.001) in treated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Brachytherapy is a potential therapy in patients with highly symptomatic variant angina.

Adult↗