Östman and Augsten, Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2009 19: 67–73. Augsten et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 106: 3414–3419 Poster No. 142 Radiation Induces Invasiveness of Pancreatic Cancer via Upregulation of Heparanase Esther Bensoussan 1 , Amichay Meirovitz1, Irit Cohen1, Immanuel Lerner1, Benito Casu2, Israel Vlodavsky3, Michael Elkin1 1 Department Of Oncology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, 2 Ronzoni selleck chemicals llc Institute,

Milan, Italy, 3 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive neoplasms with an extremely low survival rate. Because most pancreatic carcinoma patients miss the opportunity for complete surgical resection at the time of diagnosis, radiotherapy remains a major component of treatment modalities. However, pancreatic cancer often shows resistance to radiation therapy. Ionizing radiation (IR)-induced aggressiveness is emerging as one of the important mechanisms responsible for limited benefit of radiation therapy in pancreatic cancer, but the identity of downstream effectors responsible for this effect remains poorly investigated. Here we report that IR promotes pancreatic

SYN-117 clinical trial cancer aggressiveness through up-regulation of the PtdIns(3,4)P2 heparanase. Heparanase is a predominant mammalian enzyme capable of degrading heparan sulfate (HS), the main polysaccharide component of the basement membrane and other types

of extracellular matrix (ECM). Cleavage of HS by heparanase leads to disassembly of ECM, enables cell invasion, releases HS–bound angiogenic and growth factors from the ECM depots, and generates bioactive HS fragments. We found that clinically relevant doses of IR augment invasive ability of pancreatic cells in vitro and in vivo via induction of heparanase. Our results indicate that effect of IR on heparanase expression is mediated by Egr1 transcription factor. Moreover, specific inhibitor of heparanase enzymatic activity abolished IR-induced invasiveness of pancreatic carcinoma cells in vitro, while combined treatment with IR and the heparanase inhibitor, but not IR alone, attenuated orthotopic pancreatic tumor progression in vivo. The proposed up-regulation of heparanase by IR represents a new molecular pathway through which IR may promote pancreatic tumor aggressiveness, providing explanation for the limited benefit from radiation therapy in pancreatic cancer. Our research is expected to offer a new approach to improve the efficacy of radiation therapy and better define target patient population in which such approach could be particularly beneficial. Poster No.

Crit Rev Oncol Hematol 2005, 53:253–265.PubMedCrossRef 2. Chang Y, Cesarman E, Pessin MS, Lee F, Culpepper J, Knowles DM, Moore PS: Identification of herpesvirus-like DNA sequences in AIDS-associated Kaposi’s sarcoma.

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N: nuclear fraction, C: cytosolic fraction, IB: immunoblot. LMP1 activated the activity of cyclin D1 promoter by the EGFR and STAT3 pathways Because cyclin D1 contains both EGFR and STAT3 binding sites adjacent within three nucleotides [31], we addressed whether nuclear accumulation and the interaction between EGFR and STAT3 learn more at the cyclin D1 promoter was under the regulation of the oncoprotein LMP1. The effect of LMP1 on the transcriptional activation of cyclin D1 was examined using a luciferase reporter construct, pCCD1-wt-Luc, driven by the cyclin D1 promoter that contained

both EGFR and STAT3 binding sites (Figure  3A). First, we constructed a mutant cyclin D1 promoter luciferase reporter plasmid, pCCD1-mt-Luc, to which no transcription factors would bind at a cyclin D1 promoter region according to a database search (TFSEARCH, http://​www.​cbrc.​jp/​research/​db/​TFSEARCH) (Figure  3A). Then, we transfected the plasmid into CNE1 and CNE1-LMP1 cells, and LMP1 increased the cyclin D1 promoter activity while the mutant cyclin D1 promoter decreased the cyclin D1 promoter activity BV-6 supplier (column 5 and column 6 of Figure  3B). As shown in Figure  3B, EGFR increased the luciferase expression in CNE1-LMP1 cells (column 7) but not in CNE1 cells (column 3). Mutations in the cyclin D1 promoter

greatly (column 6) were attenuated its transcriptional activity Histone demethylase in the presence of LMP1 while EGFR rescued the cyclin D1 promoter activity partially (column 8), indicating that LMP1 positively regulates the activity of the

cyclin D1 promoter under EGFR. Furthermore, data in Figure  3C demonstrate that STAT3 increased the activity of the cyclin D1 promoter in the presence of LMP1 (column 7 of Figure  3C) while the cyclin D1 promoter activity were decreased greatly after mutating the EGFR and STAT3 binding sites in the Cyclin D1 promoter (column 8 of Figure  3C), further indicating that LMP1 upregulates the activity of the cyclin D1 promoter through STAT3. Figure 3 Identification of an EGFR and STAT3 response element in the cyclin D1 promoter. (A) Schematic diagram of mutant cyclin D1 promoter constructs are shown. The expansion for EGFR and STAT3 binding site illustrates the wild-type sequence and frames the nucleotides replaced by mutations. (B-C) Dual luciferase-reporter assays were performed in LMP1-negative and LMP-positive CNE1 cells after co-transfection of a wild type or mutant cyclin D1 promoter-reporter construct, plasmids expressing wild-type EGFR or STAT3, and a Renilla luciferase transfection control plasmid. The fold induction by EGFR and STAT3 is displayed as the ratio of promoter activity obtained with wild-type compared to the DNA-binding mutant. (mean ± SD, n = 3, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). mt: mutation, wt: wild-type.

Breast Cancer Res 2003, 5:18–24.CrossRef 18. Stoll BA: Western nutrition and the insulin resistance syndrome: a link to breast cancer. Eur J Clin Nutr 1999, 53:83–7.PubMedCrossRef 19. Friedenreich CM, Courneya KS, Bryant HE: Case control study of anthropometric measures and breast cancer risk. Int J Cancer 2002, 99:445–52.PubMedCrossRef Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions IC realized the protocol design, EE wrote the draft and edited the manuscript. FP revised critically the manuscript. AG has given final approval of the version to be published. MM, AC and MG contributed to the

statistical design. NM recruited metabolic syndrome affected women. GDA and GC conceived the study idea, supervised the study design. SL and TP supervised the protocol development. MDA and AF recruited patients for the study and

selected patients at risk of breast cancer. Aurora Kinase inhibitor EC and GE took blood samples and analyzed them in the lab. GB has contributed in data managing and preparing informed consent. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Introduction Liver metastases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality for more than 45% of patients who present with colorectal PRI-724 order cancer (CRC) [1]. Although chemotherapy regimens combined with biologic agents have improved the control of liver metastases, the occurrence of hepatic metastases continues to present a life-limiting prognosis for most patients with advanced CRC [2] being 5 year survival approximately 11%. In the setting of clinical trials, median overall survival for unresectable metastases have been extended beyond two years using combinations including oxaliplatin, irinotecan, capecitabine and biologic agents (bevacizumab, cetuximab, panitumumab) [3, 4]. In parallel with these developments, the application of

locally ablative procedures, such as radiofrequency ablation, are increasingly considered beneficial for patients with unresectable liver-only disease who present with tumors ≤ 3–4 PJ34 HCl cm in diameter. These regional treatments for liver metastases can also be used to consolidate the treatment response with chemotherapy, in order to further increase the number of patients eligible for resection [5, 6]. Despite these gains, one of the major challenges in advanced CRC are the growing proportion of patients who continue to present with progressive liver involvement having exhausted all other therapeutic options. Radioembolization with yttrium-90 (90Y-RE) and, as recently described, with holmium-166 poly (L-lactic acid) labeled microspheres (166Ho-PLLA-MS) [7], are therapeutic procedures applied to the liver that allow direct delivery of high-dose radiation to liver tumors (both primary and metastatic) by means of endovascular catheters, selectively placed within the hepatic arterial vasculature.

J Struct Biol 2008,161(3):401–410.CrossRefPubMed 25. van Niftrik L, Geerts WJ, van Donselaar EG, Humbel BM, Webb RI, Fuerst JA, Verkleij AJ, Jetten MS, Strous M: Linking ultrastructure and function in four genera of anaerobic Compound Library clinical trial ammonium-oxidizing bacteria: cell plan, glycogen storage, and localization of cytochrome C proteins. J Bacteriol 2008,190(2):708–717.CrossRefPubMed 26. Gade D, Schlesner H, Glockner FO, Amann R, Pfeiffer S, Thomm A: Identification of planctomycetes with order-, genus-, and strain-specific 16S rRNA-targeted probes. Microb Ecol 2004,47(3):243–251.CrossRefPubMed 27. Lindsay MR,

Webb RI, Fuerst JA: Pirellulosomes: A new type of membrane-bounded cell compartment in planctomycete bacteria of the genus Pirellula. Microbiol (UK) 1997,143(3):739–748.CrossRef 28.

Hobot JA, Selleckchem Inhibitor Library Villiger W, Escaig J, Maeder M, Ryter A, Kellenberger E: Shape and fine-structure of nucleoids observed on sections of ultrarapidly frozen and cryosubstituted bacteria. J Bacteriol 1985,162(3):960–971.PubMed 29. Eltsov M, Zuber B: Transmission electron microscopy of the bacterial nucleoid. J Struct Biol 2006,156(2):246–254.CrossRefPubMed 30. Kellenberger E, Arnoldschulzgahmen B: Chromatins of low-protein content – special features of their compaction and condensation. Fems Microbiol Lett 1992,100(1–3):361–370. 31. Petroni G, Spring S, Schleifer K-H, Verni F, Rosati G: Defensive extrusive ectosymbionts of Euplotidium (Ciliophora) that contain microtubule-like structures are bacteria related to Verrucomicrobia. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2000,97(4):1813–1817.CrossRefPubMed 32. Eltsov M, Dubochet J: Fine structure of the Deinococcus radiodurans nucleoid revealed by cryoelectron microscopy of vitreous sections. J Bacteriol

2005,187(23):8047–8054.CrossRefPubMed 33. Kasai H, Katsuta A, Sekiguchi H, Matsuda S, Oxalosuccinic acid Adachi K, Shindo K, Yoon J, Yokota A, Shizuri Y:Rubritalea squalenifaciens sp nov. , a squalene-producing marine bacterium belonging to subdivision 1 of the phylum ‘ Verrucomicrobia ‘. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2007,57(7):1630–1634.CrossRefPubMed 34. Fuerst JA, Webb RI, Garson MJ, Hardy L, Reiswig HM: Membrane-bounded nucleoids in microbial symbionts of marine sponges. Fems Microbiol Lett 1998,166(1):29–34.CrossRef 35. Maldonado M: Intergenerational transmission of symbiotic bacteria in oviparous and viviparous demosponges, with emphasis on intracytoplasmically-compartmented bacterial types. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 2007,87(6):1701–1713.CrossRef 36. Sangwan P, Chen XL, Hugenholtz P, Janssen PH:Chthoniobacter flavus gen. nov., sp nov., the first pure-culture representative of subdivision two, Spartobacteria classis nov., of the phylum Verrucomicrobia. Appl Environ Microbiol 2004,70(10):5875–5881.CrossRefPubMed 37. Sangwan P, Kovac S, Davis KER, Sait M, Janssen PH: Detection and cultivation of soil verrucomicrobia. Appl Environ Microbiol 2005,71(12):8402–8410.CrossRefPubMed 38.

Preparation of N and Zr co-doped TiO2 The as-prepared NTA was mixed with urea (mass ratio of 1:2) and dissolved in a 2% aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide, followed by the addition of pre-calculated amount of Zr(NO3)4 · 5H2O (Zr/Ti atomic ratio, 0%, 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.6%, 1.0%, 5.0%, and 10%). The resultant mixed solution was refluxed for 4 h at 40°C and followed by a vacuum distillation at 50°C to obtain the product of x% Zr/N-NTA. Final Zr/N co-doped TiO2 were prepared by the calcination of x% Zr/N-NTA at a temperature range of 300°C to 600°C for 4 h. The target

nanosized TiO2 powder was obtained, denoted as x% Zr/N-TiO2(temperature), for example 0.6% Zr/N-TiO2(500). For reference, Degussa P25 TiO2 powders were used as precursor under the same conditions FK228 solubility dmso Selleckchem Thiazovivin to prepare Zr/N co-doped TiO2 (denoted as Zr/N-TiO2(P25)). Characterization The phase composition of various Zr/N co-doped TiO2 samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD, Philips X’Pert Pro X-ray diffractometer; Cu-Kα radiation, λ = 0.15418 nm). The morphologies of samples were observed using a transmission electron microscopy (TEM, JEOL JEM-2100,

accelerating voltage 200 kV). Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms were measured at 77 K on a Quantachrome SI automated surface area and pore size analyzer. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) approach was used to evaluate specific surface area from nitrogen adsorption data. The UV-visible diffuse

reflectance spectra (DRS) of the samples were obtained on a UV–vis spectrophotometer (Shimadzu U-3010, Kyoto, Japan) using BaSO4 as the reference. The surface composition of the nanocatalysts was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on a Kratos Axis Ultra System with monochromatic Al Ka X-rays (1486.6 eV). An Axis Ultra X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (Quantera) was used for the chemical characterization of photocatalyst samples. The binding energies (BE) were normalized to the signal for adventitious carbon at 284.8 eV. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra were recorded on a fluorescence spectrometer (fluoroSE). Visible light photocatalytic activity The photocatalytic activities of various Zr/N co-doped else TiO2 samples were evaluated by monitoring the oxidation process of propylene under visible light irradiation. About 25 mg of each photocatalyst sample was spread on one side of a roughened glass plate (ca. 8.4 cm2 active area) and kept in a flat quartz tube reactor. A 300-W xenon lamp (PLS-SXE300/300UV, Beijing Trusttech Co. Ltd., China) was used as the visible light source. A cut filter (λ ≥ 420 nm) was placed between the xenon lamp and reactor. The intensity of visible light irradiated on to be tested samples was ca.17.6 mW · cm−2. Pure C3H6 (99.99%) stored in a high-pressure cylinder was used as the feed gas, and the flow rate of the feed gas was adjusted to 150 mL/h.

PubMed 36. Speit G, Hartmann A: The comet assay (single-cell gel test). A sensitive genotoxicity test for the detection of DNA damage and repair. Methods AZD1152 solubility dmso Mol Biol 1999, 113:203–212.PubMed 37. Picada JN, Flores DG, Zettler CG, Marroni NP, Roesler R, Henriques JA: DNA damage in brain cells of mice treated with an oxidized form of apomorphine. Brain Res Mol Brain Res 2003, 114:80–85.PubMedCrossRef 38. Granger DL, Anstey NM, Miller WC, Weinberg JB: Measuring nitric oxide production in human clinical studies. Methods Enzymol 1999, 301:49–61.PubMedCrossRef 39. Sleep-related breathing disorders in adults: recommendations for syndrome definition and measurement techniques

in clinical research. The Report of an American Academy of Sleep Medicine Task Force Sleep Compound C clinical trial 1999, 22:667–689. 40. Tanne F, Gagnadoux F, Chazouilleres O, Fleury B, Wendum D, Lasnier E, Lebeau B, Poupon R, Serfaty L: Chronic liver injury during obstructive sleep apnea. Hepatology 2005, 41:1290–1296.PubMedCrossRef 41. Tatsumi K, Saibara T: Effects of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome on hepatic

steatosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Hepatol Res 2005, 33:100–104.PubMedCrossRef 42. Gozal D, Crabtree VM, Sans Capdevila O, Witcher LA, Kheirandish-Gozal L: C-reactive protein, obstructive sleep apnea, and cognitive dysfunction in school-aged children. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007, 176:188–193.PubMedCrossRef 43. Capdevila OS, Kheirandish-Gozal L, Dayyat E, Gozal D: Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea: complications, management, and long-term outcomes. Proc Am Thorac Soc 2008, 5:274–282.PubMedCrossRef 44. Gozal D, Kheirandish L: Oxidant stress and inflammation in the snoring child: confluent pathways to upper airway pathogenesis and end-organ morbidity. Sleep Med Rev 2006, 10:83–96.PubMedCrossRef 45. Brunt EM: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: definition and pathology. Semin Liver Dis 2001, 21:3–16.PubMedCrossRef 46. Park AM, Suzuki YJ: Effects of intermittent hypoxia on oxidative stress-induced myocardial damage in mice. J Appl Physiol next 2007, 102:1806–1814.PubMedCrossRef 47. Dutta A, Ray K, Singh VK, Vats P, Singh SN, Singh SB: L-carnitine supplementation attenuates intermittent hypoxia-induced oxidative stress and delays

muscle fatigue in rats. Exp Physiol 2008, 93:1139–1146.PubMedCrossRef 48. Bertuglia S, Reiter RJ: Melatonin reduces microvascular damage and insulin resistance in hamsters due to chronic intermittent hypoxia. J Pineal Res 2009, 46:307–313.PubMedCrossRef 49. Cremonese RV, Pereira-Filho AA, Magalhaes R, de Mattos AA, Marroni CA, Zettler CG, Marroni NP: Experimental cirrhosis induced by carbon tetrachloride inhalation: adaptation of the technique and evaluation of lipid peroxidation. Arquivos de gastroenterologia 2001, 38:40–47.PubMedCrossRef 50. Pavanato A, Tunon MJ, Sanchez-Campos S, Marroni CA, Llesuy S, Gonzalez-Gallego J, Marroni N: Effects of quercetin on liver damage in rats with carbon tetrachloride-induced cirrhosis. Dig Dis Sci 2003, 48:824–829.

coli NfsB protein, suggesting that this gene encoded a nitroreductase. The amino acid sequence of the gonococcal homolog was used to probe the GenBank database, and ORFs that possessed significant similarity to it were identified.

The data presented in Figure 2 is an alignment of proteins that possessed significant similarity to the gonococcal nfsB homolog. All of these proteins have nitroreductase activity. Figure 2 Sequence similarities of nitroreductases. The amino acid sequence encoding various nitroreductases were aligned. Identical residues are highlighted in black, and conserved substitutions are highlighted in grey. The sequences represent (Bacterium, Genebank identification number): Escherichia coli NP_415110.1, N. gonorrhoeae FA1090, NC002946; Haemophilus Selleckchem Emricasan influenzae, Q57431; Bacillus subtilis; O34475; Helicobacter pylori, NP459570; and Agrobacterium tumefaciens str. C58, NP534964. DNA sequence analysis of nfsB from various gonococcal strains The nfsB DNA sequence for N. gonorrhoeae strains F62, FA19, MS11, and PID2 was determined by sequencing PCR products amplified from their respective chromosomes. Sequence data were derived from multiple independent amplicons. The data indicated that the DNA sequence was highly conserved as all sequences obtained

were identical to the nfsB DNA sequence of FA1090, with the exception of strain PID2. This strain possessed a single nucleotide polymorphism (using the adenine of the start codon as base one, at base 575 from the start codon, this base is a guanine in FA1090 and a cytosine in PID2) that would result in an amino acid substitution

in NfsB at residue 192 (a glycine in FA1090 and an alanine in PID2). see more Since these proteins were essentially identical, it suggests that the variability in spontaneous mutation frequencies observed in these strains could reflect different DNA repair capacities for the various strains. Nitroreductase activity in N. gonorrhoeae A spectrophotometric assay was performed to measure nitroreductase activity in GC. Lysates from wild type and Evodiamine nitrofurantoin resistant mutants were assayed for nitroreductase activity using a spectrophotometric assay that detects the loss of the substrate, nitrofurazone, using a method adapted from Whiteway et al. [24]. The data (Fig. 3) show that we were able to detect nitroreductase activity from strain FA1090, but that a spontaneous nitrofurantoin-resistant mutant (FA1090(M1)) lacked any detectable nitroreductase activity. Figure 3 Nitroreductase activity in N. gonorrhoeae strains. Cell sonicates were tested for their ability to produce a loss of absorbance at 400 nm, indicating a reduction of nitrofurazone by an active nitroreductase. The symbols represent: FA1090 (□); FA1090 extract lacking NADPH (□); and FA1090(M1), an nfsB mutant of FA1090 (□). Samples measured every 30 sec for 10 min. The data represents the average of 7 separate experiments with the error bars representing the standard error.

This is somewhat surprising as tree diameter has previously been shown to be positively correlated with the number of species

(Grove 2002; Ranius and Jansson 2000; Sverdrup-Thygeson et al. 2010). However, in the present study, the trap catches and the circumferences are estimates CP673451 relevant on stand scale rather than on the scale of individual trees. Therefore, other variables might have confounded the results. Furthermore, all sites were characterised by trees that had reached a size and age defining them as ancient, and the degree of ancientness may be more important than diameter itself. Pollarding slows down growth and because of that, thin trunks may be ancient trees. In oaks, 50% of trees form hollows by about 250 years of age (Ranius

et al. 2009). For lime trees, this age is probably lower, as lime rots faster than oak and especially so in pollarded trees as the formation of hollows is enhanced where branches are shed. However, hollowness need not imply a rich fauna if the trees are too young, as seen in the case SBE-��-CD cell line of 80-year old hollow limes in the park at Drottningholm, which had fewer species, especially red-listed species, than the old limes in the same park (Jonsell 2008). The amount of habitat, measured as number of hollow lime trees on each site (No. of trees), had significant relationship to species number for all wood and bark living species, and it was negative. This lack of relation, or relation opposite to what should be expected, could be due to that the variables no. of trees and type were confounded with somewhat more trees in parks than in the other type of sites (2.6 compared to 1.9 for the two others). Also problems with quantifying this variable may contribute. First the data collected for each

locality had several uncertainties in itself (see “Materials and methods”). The numbers obtained also give just the present situation, totally disregarding the history of the site. In addition to that, the definition of where the borders for a locality should be drawn is also problematic. Most of these sites are found in regions where old hollow trees may occur here and there. Data on suitable trees for the whole landscape with estimates Vitamin B12 of connectivity related to distance to each of these occurrences should probably be more explanatory (Ranius et al. 2010). Such an analysis would probably suggest that the rich saproxylic beetle fauna on several sites in the Mälaren area is due to a dense patchwork of sites. The number of sites is high, there is a high connectivity between them, several sites are large and the individual trees in them are often a high quality habitat, all factors that contribute to a sustainable metapopulation system (Hanski 1994; Ranius 2007).

For tyrosinase: annealing at 52°C for 30

s, extension at 73°C for 60 s and denaturation at 95°C for 45 s and a final cycle with a 5 min long extension. For E5 the E5P65 sense (TGC ATC CAC AAC ATT ACT GGC G) and E5M3AS antisense (AAC ACC TAA ACG CAG AGG CTG C) primers were used; for human tyrosinase the primers were Hu-TYR1 (TTG GCA GAT TGT CTG TAG CC) and Hu-TYR2 (AGG CAT TGT GCA TGC TGC TT) as suggested by Calogero et al. [32]. Cell viability, cell proliferation and cell specific metabolic activity Cell viability was measured as already described [27], Briefly, cells AZD5582 mw were seeded in 96-well microplates at a density which allowed an exponential growth rate for the following 5 day incubation (i.e. 1.0 × 104/well for M14 and 1.6 × 104/well for FRM). At 24 h intervals the cells were challenged with 1.25 mg/ml MTT in a 100 μl volume of fresh medium containing 0.1% FBS [33]. After 2 h of incubation the monolayers were then decanted, washed twice with PBS and the reduced insoluble dye eluted

by 100 μl of isopropanol/HCl 0.04 N. The cell viability was then assessed through the MTT reducing activity evaluated by the A540 – A750 difference measured by a microplate reader (Labsystem Multiscan MS – Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. Waltham MA). Cell proliferation was measured by the growth curve as already described [34]. Briefly, cells were seeded in 96-well microplates at the same density as above. At 24 h intervals the monolayers were Nutlin-3a molecular weight stained with Crystal

Violet (CV), the dye was eluted by means of 33% acetic acid and the cell number in each well was estimated by the A540 measured in a microplate reader (Labsystem). Considering that cell viability assay does actually measure the total reducing activity within a tissue culture, and considering that such a global activity may largely vary according to culture conditions, cell environment and phenotypic Thiamet G status, to gain information about a possible modulation of the metabolic activity within E5 expressing cells, the cell specific metabolic activity was calculated. This is the simple MTT/CV absorbance ratio, expressed in arbitrary units, and gives information about the average metabolic activity of single cells. For each assay a set of at least four different experiment was considered. Each experiment consisted of eight independent replicas. Acridine orange fluorescent staining To visualize acidic organelles, Acridine orange (AO) was used [35]. AO is a fluorescent probe that emits green at low concentration and orange at high concentration. To determine the effect of treatments on endocellular compartment pH, cell cultures were seeded onto multiwell microscope slides and allowed to attach overnight. The culture medium was then replaced with non supplemented medium or medium containing 10 nM ConA or medium containing the retrovirus.