Hypercholesterolemia accelerates vascular calcification induced by excessive vitamin D via oxidative stress

Hypercholesterolemia plays an important role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis and has a positive correlation with cardiovascular disease. Calcification is a common feature of atherosclerotic lesions and contributes to cardiovascular dysfunctions. The present study investigated the role of hypercholesterolemia in vascular calcification and its potential mechanism. Models of vascular calcification were established by administering vitamin D2 (VD) to rats alone or combined with a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) and by treating rat aorta smooth muscle cells (RASMCs) with beta-glycerophosphate (GP) alone or combined with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in vitro. In rats, the combination of VD with HCD significantly enhanced vessel calcium deposition and the activity and mRNA expression of vessel alkaline phosphatase (ALP) compared to treatment with VD alone. This combination also enhanced serum levels of total cholesterol, oxLDL, and malondialdehyde as well as vascular production of superoxide anion, while it reduced the vascular activity of superoxide dismutase. Both simvastatin, a cholesterol-lowering agent, and antioxidant vitamin E antagonized the effects of the above combination. In RASMCs, oxLDL accumulation dependently accelerated calcium deposition in cell layers initiated by GP alone. Also, oxLDL stimulated ALP activity and mRNA expression in RASMCs in a concentration-dependent manner. Taken together, these results suggest that acceleration of vascular calcification by hypercholesterolemia might be attributed to oxidative stress and such calcification may be another target of statin or antioxidant action in antiatherosclerosis.

Crocetin improves endothelium-dependent relaxation of thoracic aorta in hypercholesterolemic rabbit by increasing eNOS activity

Our previous studies have proven that crocetin (CCT), extracted from Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, possesses the anti-atherosclerotic effect. Because endothelial dysfunction strongly contributes to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis, the present study aims to investigate whether CCT is capable of improving this dysfunction and to explore the possible mechanisms. Endothelial dysfunction was induced by in vivo feeding high cholesterol diet (HCD) to rabbit and by in vitro treating bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) with oxidized LDL (oxLDL). Endothelium-dependent relaxation (EDR) evoked by acetylcholine (Ach) and endothelium-independent relaxation (RIDR) mediated by sodium nitroprusside (SNP) of thoracic aorta isolated from rabbit were measured. The results indicated that the EDR in HCD alone treated rabbits was seriously impaired and the maximal relaxation induced by Ach (10(-5.5) M) was only 54% that in control rabbit fed with regular diet. Oral complementation with CCT (15, 30 mg/kg) dose-dependently improved this impairment and restored the maximal relaxation to 68% and 80% that in control group, respectively. However, the EIDR maintained comparable in all groups. Complementation with CCT (15, 30 mg/kg) simultaneously increased serum level of nitric oxide (NO), upregulated vessel activity and mRNA expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) as well as vessel cyclic GMP (cGMP) content compared with those in rabbit treated with HCD alone. Inducible NOS (iNOS) activity remained unchangeable in all groups. In BAECs, oxLDL treatment decreased NO production, downregulated both activity and mRNA expression of eNOS. While those decrease or downregulation were inhibited by co-treatment with CCT (0.1, 1, 10 microM) in a dose-dependent manner. These findings suggested that CCT significantly restored the EDR of thoracic aorta in hypercholesterolemic rabbit, which might be explained by its action to increase the vessel eNOS activity, leading to elevation of NO production.

[Studies on a new tumor marker with monoclonal antibody against human colorectal carcinoma antigen]

A hybridoma 1 G 10 clone was derived from fusion between SP 2/0- Ag14 myeloma cells and spleen cells of BALB/C mice immunized with the soluble Noridet P40 extracts from a human colonic adenocarcinoma cell line SW 620. The 1 G 10 clone was identified to be able to produce monoclonal antibody of IgG1 subclass which had sufficient titer for immunoreactivity to both extracts from SW 620 cells and surgical colonic carcinoma tissues, but no immunoreactivity to both extracts from normal adult colorectal tissues, mixed human lymphocytes and normal human serum (NHS) as well as carcinoma embryonic antigen (CEA) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). By affinity column on Sepharose 4 B coupled with 1 G 10 IgG, colonic carcinoma-associated antigen (CCA) was purified from SW 620 cell extracts and thoracic ascitic fluid of a patient with lung adenocarcinoma. Western blotting analysis with 1 G 10 IgG demonstrated that one immunoreactive bands corresponding to 55 Kd molecule was observed in the samples of ascitic fluid and SW 620 cell extracts. The 55 Kd band could be stained with Alcian blue. The immunoreactivity of CCA to 1 G 10 antibody could be abolished completely by the treatment of the antigen with NaIO4 and proteinase K. These results indicated that the determinants of CCA reacted with 1 G 10 monoclonal antibody are probably both present in polysaccharide and protein part of the molecule. The specificity of anti-CCA 1 G 10 monoclonal antibody and its possible application for clinical oncology were discussed.

[Biological characterization of a monoclonal antibody TB 21 against human transforming growth factor-beta 1]

A hybridoma TB 21 clone was derived from fusion between Sp 2/0-Ag 14 myeloma cells and spleen cells of BALB/c mice immunized with transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) purified from human platelets. The TB 21 clone was identified to produce monoclonal antibody with IgG1 subclass and had sufficient titer for immunoreactivity to both human platelets-derived TGF-beta 1 and recombinant human TGF-beta 1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Western blotting studies demonstrated that two immunoreactive bands corresponding to 25 Kda and 12.5 Kda molecules were observed in the sample of acid/ethanol extracts from human platelets. The affinity constant (Kaff) was determined as 1.47 x 10(8) M-1 with non-competitive ELISA. Moreover, using bioassay for the effects of TGF-beta 1 on the growth of mink lung epithelial cells (CCL/64 cell line) and fibroblast cells (NRK 49 F cell line), TB 21 IgG was shown to be able to neutralize the action of TGF-beta 1 on the growth of these target cells. Therefore, this monoclonal antibody may be a useful probe for studying the growth modulatory activity of TGF-beta 1 in a variety of cells and tissues.