| 1. |
- Halling Linder, Cecilia, 1975-
(författare)
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Biochemical and functional properties of mammalian bone alkaline phosphatase isoforms during osteogenesis
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The human skeleton is a living and dynamic tissue that constantly is being renewed in a process called bone remodeling. Old bone is resorbed by osteoclasts and new bone is formed by osteoblasts. Bone is a composite material made up by mineral crystals in the form of hydroxyapatite (calcium and phosphate) that provides the hardness of bone, and collagen fibrils that provides elasticity and flexibility. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is a family of enzymes that is present in most species and catalyzes the hydrolysis of various phosphomonoesters at alkaline pH. Despite the generalized use of ALP as a biochemical marker of bone formation, the precise function of bone ALP (BALP) is only now becoming clear. Three circulating human BALP isoforms (B1, B2, and B/I) can be distinguished in healthy individuals and a fourth isoform (B1x) has been discovered in patients with chronic kidney disease and in bone tissue.Paper I. Three endogenous phosphocompounds, (i.e., inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP) and phosphoethanolamine (PEA)), have been suggested to serve as physiological substrates for BALP. The BALP isoforms display different catalytic properties towards PPi and PLP, which is attributed to their distinct N-linked glycosylation patterns. The catalytic activity, using PEA as substrate, was barely detectable for all BALP isoforms indicating that PEA is not a physiological substrate for BALP.Paper II. Mouse serum ALP is frequently measured and interpreted in mammalian bone research. However, little is known about the circulating ALPs in mice and their relation to human ALP. We characterized the circulating and tissue-derived mouse ALP isozymes and isoforms from mixed strains of wild-type and knockout mice. All four BALP isoforms (B/I, B1x, B1, and B2) were identified in mouse serum and bone tissues, in good correspondence with those found in human bones. All mouse tissues, except liver, contained significant ALP activities. This is a notable difference as human liver contains vast amounts of ALP.Paper III. The objective of this study was to investigate the binding properties of human collagen type I to human BALP, including the two BALP isoforms B1 and B2, together with ALP from human liver, human placenta and E. coli. A surface plasmon resonance-based analysis showed that BALP binds stronger to collagen type I in comparison with ALPs expressed in non-mineralizing tissues. The B2 isoform binds significantly stronger to collagen type I in comparison with the B1 isoform, indicating that glycosylation differences in human ALPs are of crucial importance for protein–protein interactions with collagen type I.Paper IV. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is highly expressed in osteoclasts and frequently used as a marker of bone resorption. Intriguingly, recent studies show that TRAP is also expressed in osteoblasts and osteocytes. TRAP displays enzymatic activity towards the endogenous substrates for BALP, i.e., PPi and PLP. Both TRAP and BALP can alleviate the inhibitory effect of osteopontin on mineralization by dephosphorylation, which suggests a novel role for TRAP in skeletal mineralization.
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| 2. |
- Eriksson, David, 1974-
(författare)
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Experimental radioimmunotherapy and effector mechanisms
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Radioimmunotherapy is becoming important as a new therapeutic strategy for treatment of tumour diseases. Lately monoclonal antibodies tagged with radionuclides have demonstrated encouraging results in treatment of hematological malignancies. The progress in treatment of solid tumours using radioimmunotherapy, however, has been slow. New strategies to improve the treatment response need to be evaluated. Such new strategies include the combination of radioimmunotherapy with other treatment modalities but also elucidation and exploration of the death effector mechanisms involved in tumour eradication. As the combination of radioimmunotherapy and radiotherapy provides several potential synergistic effects, we started out by optimising a treatment schedule to detect benefits combining these treatment modalities. An anti-cytokeratin antibody labelled with 125I administered before, after, or simultaneously with radiotherapy, indicated that the highest dose to the tumour was delivered when radiotherapy was given prior to the antibody administration. The optimised treatment schedule was then applied therapeutically in an experimental study on HeLa Hep2 tumour bearing nude mice given radiotherapy prior to administration of 131I-labelled monoclonal antibodies. Combining these treatment regimes enhanced the effect of either of the treatment modalities given alone, and a significant reduction in tumour volumes could be demonstrated. This treatment caused a dramatic change in tumour morphology, with increased amounts of connective tissue, giant cells and cysts. Furthermore cellular alterations like heterogeneity of nuclear and cytoplasmic size and shape were observed, and at least a fraction of the tumour cells presented some characteristics of apoptosis. The induced sequential events in Hela Hep2 cells exposed to 2.5-10 Gy of ionizing radiation were studied further, with special emphasis on cell cycle arrest, mitotic aberrations and finally cell death. Following radiation HeLa Hep2 cells initiated a transient G2/M arrest trying to repair cellular damage. This arrest was followed by a sequence of disturbed mitoses with anaphase bridges, lagging chromosomal material, hyperamplification of centrosomes and multipolar mitotic spindles. These mitotic disturbances produced multinuclear polyploid cells and cells with multiple micronuclei, cells that were destined to die via mitotic catastrophes and delayed apoptosis. Induction of apoptosis in HeLa Hep2 cells following radiation doses and dose-rates equivalent to those delivered at radioimmunotherapy was concurrently studied in vitro. Significant induction of apoptosis was obtained and found to be induced relatively slowly, peaking 72-168 hours post irradiation. Caspases from the intrinsic pathway as well as the extrinsic pathway were found to be activated in response to ionizing radiation. Furthermore caspase-2, which has recently been acknowledged for its role as an initiator caspase was found to be activated following radiation and seems to play an important role in this delayed apoptosis.
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| 3. |
- Mayo, Susan L, 1962-
(författare)
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Non-invasive Antibody Production in the Chicken
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The production of antibodies for analytical purposes using invasive procedures on small mammals is common practice in biomedical research. The aim of this study was to develop an efficient method for non-invasive antibody production in the chicken. This thesis presents an alternative method that eliminates the discomfort, pain and distress invoked by traditional immunization procedures on mammals by instead harvesting antibodies (IgY) from the yolk of eggs laid by orally immunized hens. An efficient oral immunization regime was developed by first trying out a suitable non-aggressive oral adjuvant with Bovine Serum Albumine (BSA) as the model antigen. It was found that the pegylated mono/diglyceride RhinoVax® (Softigen®) at a concentration of 20% (v/v) produced a good humoral antibody response in chickens as well as development of IgY antibodies in the egg yolk. The age of the chicken is important in order to have a proper humoral immune response. We found that chicken older than 22 days produced circulating immunospecific anti BSA-antibodies of of IgG, IgM and IgA class when orally immunized with BSA alone, whereas chickens 15 days old only produced IgM and IgA antibodies. This is the first report of oral immunizations with a high dose (250–300mg) of BSA in 20% RhinoVax® consisting of 3 or 5 consecutive daily doses resulting in high concentrations of immunospecific IgY antibodies in the yolk. Using this technique of three consecutive daily doses repeated after 7 weeks and after 18 weeks, a booster effect was induced after the third immunization. This is the first demonstration of a clear anamnestic immune response in orally immunized chickens. The results suggest that it may be possible to further increase the concentration of immunospecific IgY antibodies by modifying the immunization regime. It seems plausible to develop a procedure where the immunogen can be fed to the chickens as in an ordinary egg producing farm thus making antibody production not classified as an animal experiment.
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| 4. |
- Cheng, Junping, 1965-
(författare)
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Radioimmunotherapy in Experimental Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma : Tumour-targeting in vitro and in vivo
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) has been shown to be a practicable way to treat head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. A specific antibody recognizes the charasteristic structure of tumour cells when loaded with cytotoxic agents (toxins, drugs, radionuclides, etc). But RIT kills not only tumour cells with attached radionuclides but also adjacent tumour cells due to the “cross fire effect”. To be efficacious, RIT depends closely on suitable monoclonal antibody, on the properties of the chosen radionuclides, and on a suitable labelling method for attaching radionuclide to antibody. In this study we initially used radionuclide-labelled cMAB U36, via linker DABI in order to improve the retention of radio-conjugates in the tumour cells. Improved retention is important because the longer the radionuclide remains in tumour cells, the more effective will the tumour cells be eradicated. In the investigation, both normal mice and HNSCC-bearing nude mice were used to compare our form of treatment against other radio-iodination methods. In the biodistribution study, normal mice showed that radioactive uptake in organs diminished with time, irrespectively of whether the conjugate was directly or indirectly labelled. But in thyroid, there was a tenfold greater accumulation of direct-labelled than of indirectly labelled conjugate.In tumour-bearing nude mice, by contrast, the results showed promising uptake of radioactivity, but little uptake in direct-labelled conjugate in thyroid. Significant differences were observed on comparing tumour: organ ratios between 131I-cMAb U36 vs. 125I-DABI-cMAb U36.In the present study, cMAb U36 labelled with 211Astatine was initially used to treat HNSCC in nude mice. The biodistribution of 211At-cMAb U36 did not reveal any significant difference between an antibody-blocked group and a non-blocked group. But it did highlight the characteristics of a successful targeting conjugate in HNSCC-bearing nude mice.In the subcutaneous therapy experiment, most of the treated tumours (n=18) had disappeared by the 26th day, in both U36-blocked and non-blocked groups. Treatment in the intravenous therapy experiment had also proved effective. In the antibody non-blocked group, the smallest tumour volume was 25 mm3 (average 111 mm3) vis-á-vis 65 mm3 (average 145 mm3) in the blocked group. None of tumours grew again following treatment.
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| 5. |
- Häggblad Sahlberg, Sara, 1980-
(författare)
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Colorectal cancer and radiation response : The role of EGFR, AKT and cancer stem cell markers
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The primary treatment for colorectal cancer is surgery. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy, sometimes combined, are also frequently used to diminish recurrence risk. In response to radiation exposure, several cellular signaling cascades are activated to repair DNA breaks, prevent apoptosis and to keep the cells proliferating. Several proteins in the radiation response and cell survival pathways are potential targets to enhance the effects of radiation. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is frequently upregulated in colorectal cancer and exhibits a radiation protective function, is an attractive target for treatment. EGFR is activated by radiation which in turn activates numerous signaling pathways such as the PI3 kinase/AKT cascade, the RAS/RAF/ERK pathway and STAT leading to tumor cell proliferation. EGFR is also believed to interact with proteins in the DNA repair process, such as DNA-PKcs and MRE11. The cytotoxic effect of an affibody molecule (ZEGFR:1907)2, with high affinity to EGFR, in combination with radiation produced a small, but significant, reduction in survival in a KRAS mutated cell line. However, not in the BRAF mutated cell line. The next step was therefore to target proteins downstream of EGFR such as AKT. There was an interaction between AKT and the DNA repair proteins DNA-PKcs and MRE11 and both AKT1 and AKT2 were involved in the radiation response. The knockout of both AKT isoforms impaired the DNA double strand break rejoining after radiation and suppression of DNA-PKcs increased the radiations sensitivity and decreased the DNA repair further. The AKT isoforms also affected the expression of cancer stem cell markers CD133 and CD44 which are associated with the formation of metastasis as well as radiation and drug resistance. The CD133 expression was associated with AKT1 but not AKT2, whereas the CD44 expression was influenced by the presence of either AKT1 or AKT2. AKT was also involved in cell migration, cell-adhesion and metabolism. Overall, these results illustrate the complexity in response to radiation and drugs in cells with different mutations and the need for combining inhibitors against several targets such as EGFR, AKT, DNA-PKcs, CD133 or CD44.
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| 6. |
- Lindgren, Theres
(författare)
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Optimizing experimental radioimmunotherapy : investigating the different mechanisms behind radiation induced cell deaths
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background. Radiation therapy is an important treatment regimen for malignant disease. Radiation therapy uses ionizing radiation to induce DNA damage in tumor cells in order to kill them. Tumor cells are more sensitive than normal cells, since they have an increased proliferation rate and often lack the ability to properly repair the induced damage. Radiation can be delivered by an external source outside the body, by brachytherapy delivered inside the patient near the tumor, or systemically by injection into the blood stream. When delivered systemically, the radiation is administered as radioisotope alone or conjugated to antibodies targeting tumor antigens (radioimmunotherapy). Radiotherapy (RT) usually is administered using high doses, causing necrotic cell death. Low doses of radiation (by RT or RIT) have been observed to induce different types of cell deaths, like apoptosis, mitotic catastrophe or senescence.Aims. We wanted to elucidate the molecular and cellular events responsible for the induction of cell death in cells of different origin and p53 status. We also wanted to identify the kinetics behind gene expression alterations induced in response to irradiation and correlate these to cell death specific molecular and cellular events. In the end this research aims to identify key regulators of the main radiation induced cell death modalities in order to improve our understanding and potentially use this knowledge to increase treatment efficacy of radiation therapy.Methods. Four different cell lines were used in these studies to elucidate the role of p53 status cell origin in radiation induced cell death. HeLa Hep2 tumor cells have been used previously in our group in several RIT and RT studies. During these studies we observed morphological alterations in shrinking tumors that were typical for mitotic catastrophe. This led to studies on the underlying mechanisms causing these aberrations. Isogenic solid tumor cell lines HCT116 p53 +/+ and HCT116 p53 -/- were included to further elucidate the role of p53, and also to study senescence, one of the main outcomes in irradiated tumor cells. MOLT-4 was finally included to compare these finding to classical apoptosis. Gene expression analysis was done using Illumina bead chip arrays, and pathway analysis was performed using MetaCore (Thomson Reuters).Results. In paper I, II, and III, transient G2/M arrests were observed in HeLa Hep2 and HCT116 p53 -/- cells following irradiation. The lack of p53 in these cells caused checkpoint adaptation due to an unscheduled accumulation of genes promoting mitosis. Anaphase bridges were observedivin HeLa Hep2 cells, as a consequence of premature mitotic entry with unrepaired DNA damage. Centrosome amplification, as well as deregulation of genes involved in centrosome amplification and clustering was observed in both cell lines. We observed changes in expression of several genes responsible for maintaining the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) arrest. A prolonged SAC arrest has been shown to be important for execution of mitotic catastrophe. SAC activation was followed by mitotic slippage and a subsequent failure of cytokinesis. We observed multipolar mitoses (both cell lines), multiple- and micronuclei (HeLa Hep2, paper I), and an increased frequency of tetraploid cells (HeLa Hep2 and HCT116 p53 -/- cells). A fraction of HeLa Hep2 cells also displayed apoptotic features, including caspase activation and DNA fragmentation (paper I). These findings indicate that mitotic catastrophe and the activation of a delayed type of apoptosis are involved in cell death following RIT.HCT116 p53 +/+ cells induced both G1 and G2 arrest following irradiation (paper III). Gene expression analysis revealed significantly decreased expression of genes responsible for cell cycle progression (pronounced decrease compared to HeLa Hep2 and HCT116 p53 -/-), especially mitotic genes. The prolonged arrest transitioned into senescence starting 3 days following irradiation and peaked after 7 days. Several genes associated with SASP were upregulated in the same time frame as senescence was induced, further supporting the fact that senescence is the main radiation induced response in HCT116 p53 +/+ cells.MOLT-4 cells, similar to HCT116 p53 +/+ cells, induced both G1 and G2 arrests in response to irradiation (paper IV). Morphological studies revealed apoptotic features like shrunken cells with condensed DNA. Caspase assays showed increased activity of caspases -3, -8, and -9. Gene expression analysis confirmed an increased expression of genes important for both extrinsic (FAS and TRAIL) and intrinsic (BAX) apoptosis. Furthermore, changed expression also included genes involved in cell cycle checkpoints and their regulation and genes important for T-cell activation/proliferation.Conclusions. RIT is successfully used to treat lymphoma, but treatment of solid tumors with RIT is still difficult. This thesis elucidates cellular alterations characteristic for the 3 main radiation death modalities, i.e. mitotic catastrophe, senescence and apoptosis. Furthermore, cell death specific traits are correlated to alterations in gene expression. Treatment efficacy can potentially be improved by finding key cell death mediators to inhibit in combination with radiation.
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| 7. |
- Persdotter Hedlund, Gabriella, 1973-
(författare)
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Protein and mRNA Studies of Rat FA1/Pref-1/dlk
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The timing of cell differentiation is important for development and renewal of well functioning organs and tissues. One protein involved in this process is Preadipocyte factor 1 (Pref-1). Most likely, the role of this protein is to maintain cells in an undifferentiated state.The work presented in this thesis, has employed the rat as an animal model for the studies of Pref-1. Rat models of obesity (Zucker, ZO) and type II diabetes (Goto-Kakizaki, GK) were used to determine metabolic influence on Pref-1 and adipokine mRNA expression in adipose tissues.The Pref-1 cleavage product was purified from rat amniotic fluid and physicochemically characterised. Concentration of Pref-1 in serum, amniotic fluid and urine was determined by ELISA. Soluble Pref-1 and the compartmentalisation of the protein were highly similar to what had previously been demonstrated in mice and humans.Immunohistochemistry studies displayed similar staining patterns of Pref-1 in adrenal glands, ovaries and pituitary glands of non-pregnant and pregnant rats. This suggests that pregnancy do not influence the protein expression of Pref-1 in these organs.In the GK rats, Pref-1 mRNA was altered and a decrease in the visceral compared to subcutaneous adipose depots was demonstrated, in contrast to the ZO rats. Additionally, adiponectin, leptin, IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA levels were altered in the diabetic strain, indicating that this animal model expresses many of the typical features of type II diabetes.In conclusion, the rat is an appropriate model for studies of FA1/Pref-1/dlk. Pref-1 is highly elevated in fetal and maternal serum during pregnancy. However, the expression of Pref-1 in some endocrine tissues did not alter due to pregnancy. The mRNA expression of Pref-1 was altered between adipose depots and demonstrated to be affected by metabolic disturbances in the animals.
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| 8. |
- Ullenhag, Gustav, 1968-
(författare)
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Vaccine Therapy of Colorectal Cancer Patients with Tumor Associated Antigens
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis, two different vaccines were evaluated as adjuvant therapy for patients with colorectal cancer. The ability of the two candidate vaccines to generate antigen-specific cellular and humoral responses, respectively, was studied. The effectiveness of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as a cytokine adjuvant to augment the immune response was also examined.The first vaccination strategy involved immunization with the recombinant tumor-associated protein, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Recombinant CEA was administered at 4 different dose levels 7 times during one year. Peripheral blood samples were regularly analyzed during 36 months. This vaccination regimen induced a strong immunoglobulin 1 (IgG1) and IgG4 response, a moderate IgG2 response and a weak IgG3 response against CEA. GM-CSF markedly augmented the effect on IgG1 and IgG4 as well as the T cell response. In contrast, dose of rCEA had no or modest effect on induced immune responses. The response gradually increased during the 12 months immunization period. Responses of all three IgG subclasses and of T cells were protracted up to 36 months. The anti-CEA IgG titers related significantly to survival. Functional HLA-DR epitopes of CEA could be defined. These major histocompatibility class II epitopes may serve as putative components of a peptide-based vaccination strategy. The other vaccine strategy consisted of the tumor-associated antigen epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-Cam) expressed as a transgene in a viral vector, ALVAC. Patients were immunized subcutaneously/intradermally 3 times over 6 weeks and monitored for immune responses for 46 weeks. No anti-Ep-Cam specific humoral response was induced, but Ep-Cam specific type 1 T cells (interpheron-gamma production) were induced, mainly in the GM-CSF group. The cytotoxic cellular response appeared late, or a few months after the last immunization.Both vaccines were well tolerated. Since GM-CSF was an important component for both regimens, immungenicity of this cytokine was assessed. Multiple immunizations with low dose GM-CSF were associated with a low incidence of GM-CSF antibodies that did not neutralize the biological effect of GM-CSF. In conclusion, both vaccines are promising candidate vaccines. GM-CSF is necessary to induce a strong humoral and cellular immune response. Large clinical trials are urgently warranted to evaluate the clinical efficacy.
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