Authors:Megumi Funakoshi-Tago, Saeko Tanabe, Kenji Tago, Hiroshi Itoh, Tadahiko Mashino, Yoshiko Sonoda and Tadashi Kasahara   Glycyrrhiza inflata has been used as a traditional medicine with anti-inflammatory activity; however, its mechanism has not been fully understood. Licochalcone A is a major and biogenetically characteristic chalcone isolated from G. inflata. Here, we found that licochalcone A strongly inhibited tumor necrosis (TNF)-α-induced nuclear localization, DNA binding activity, and the transcriptional activity of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Whereas licochalcone A had no effect on the recruitment of receptor-interacting protein 1 and IκB kinase β (IKKβ) to TNF receptor I by TNFα, it significantly inhibited TNF-α-induced IκB kinase complex (IKK) activation and inhibitor of nuclear…

Authors:Gro Vatne Røsland, Agnete Svendsen, Anja Torsvik, Ewa Sobala, Emmet McCormack, Heike Immervoll, Josef Mysliwietz, Joerg-Christian Tonn, Roland Goldbrunner, Per Eystein Lønning, Rolf Bjerkvig, and Christian Schichor   Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) aid in tissue maintenance and repair by differentiating into specialized cell types. Due to this ability, hMSC are currently being evaluated for cell-based therapies of tissue injury and degenerative diseases. However, extensive expansion ex vivo is a prerequisite to obtain the cell numbers required for human cell-based therapy protocols. Recent studies indicate that hMSC may contribute to cancer development and progression either by acting as cancer-initiating cells or through interactions with stromal elements. If spontaneous transformation ex vivo occurs, this may…

Authors:Taro Ishigaki, Kazuhiro Sudo, Takashi Hiroyama, Kenichi Miharada, Haruhiko Ninomiya, Shigeru Chiba, Toshiro Nagasawa, and Yukio Nakamura   We previously reported that long-lasting in vitro hematopoiesis could be achieved using the cells differentiated from primate embryonic stem (ES) cells. Thus, we speculated that hematopoietic stem cells differentiated from ES cells could sustain long-lasting in vitro hematopoiesis. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether human hematopoietic stem cells could similarly sustain long-lasting in vitro hematopoiesis in the same culture system. Although the results varied between experiments, presumably due to differences in the quality of each hematopoietic stem cell sample, long-lasting in vitro hematopoiesis was observed to last up to nine months.…

Authors:Miho Tsuchiya, Masahiro Hosaka, Tomohisa Moriguchi, Shaojuan Zhang, Masayuki Suda, Hiromi Yokota-Hashimoto, Kazuo Shinozuka and Toshiyuki Takeuchi   Cholesterol is reportedly abundant in the endocrine secretory granule (SG) membrane. In this study, we examined the involvement of cholesterol biosynthesis intermediates and inhibitors in insulin secretion and SG formation mechanisms. There are two routes for the supply of cholesterol to the cells: one via de novo biosynthesis and the other via low-density lipoprotein receptormediated endocytosis. We found that insulin secretion and content are diminished by β-hydroxy-βmethylglutaryl-coenzyme A inhibitor lovastatin but not by lipoprotein depletion from the culture medium in MIN6 β-cells. Cholesterol biosynthesis intermediates mevalonate, squalene, and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate enhanced glucose-stimulated…

Nobel Prize 2012 winning article on Stem Cells by Dr Yamanaka in magazine CELL (Volume 131 – Issue 5 – November 30, 2007 – Pages 861-872). The FBS used in the project was from Chile and Mexico, delivered by Japan BioSerum, working with Biowest for sourcing, processing and batch selection. Dr Yamanaka’s paper and poster can be found below: Read the publication

Authors Yen-ying WU, Chin-chu CHEN, Charng-cherng CHYAU, Sin-yi CHUNG, Yi-wen LIU   AimTo investigate the effect of water soluble-ethanol precipitation fraction (AC-1) and alkaline extraction-isoelectric precipitation fraction (AC-2) from Antrodia camphorata (Polyporaceae, Aphyllophorales) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced gene activation in mouse macrophages.   MethodsThe AC-1 and AC-2 fractions were prepared, and their effects on LPSinduced gene expression were monitored by Western blotting and RT-PCR.   ResultsOur results indicated that AC-2, but not AC-1 dose-dependently (50_200 mg/L) inhibited LPS-induced nitric oxide production as well as the protein and the mRNA expression of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene. Neither AC-1 nor AC-2 inhibited LPS-induced cyclooxygenase-2 gene expression. Using the cytokine array…