27 research outputs found
PARTICIPANCY AND THE CONTEMPORARY IN INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCTION IN SLOVENIA
No full textV dobrem stoletju svojega obstoja je dokumentarni film doživel radikalne spremembe tako v svoji reprezentaciji kot v samem izgledu. Dandanes je dokumentarizem eno glavnih orodij za razumevanje globalnih kontekstov na nivoju širše javnosti. Tudi v Sloveniji je dokumentarna produkcija, predvsem neodvisna, v zelo hitrem razvoju, krog ustvarjalcev in tudi občinstva dokumentarnih filmov pa je širši kot kdajkoli prej. V diplomskem delu se, po pregledu trenutnega stanja neodvisne dokumentarne produkcije v Sloveniji, poglobimo v različne teorije dokumentarne reprezentacije. Nato pa preko pogovora z režiserko Anjo Medved in analizo njenih filmov skušamo raziskati, kakšne so značilnosti sodobnih dokumentarnih vsebin, v katero smer pelje njihov razvoj ter kakšni so cilji, ki si jih njihovi režiserji zastavljajo.In more than one hundred years of its history, the documentary film was marked by radical changes in representational and visual meanings. Nowadays, the main efforts of documentarism are focused toward the understanding of global contexts on a large public scale. The independent documentary in Slovenia is developing extremely fast. The consequences are fast growing production teams and audiences. We begin the following thesis with a short overview on documentary tradition and a structural research on some documentary theories. The core part is based on the director Anja Medved, starting with an interview and followed by an analysis of four of her films. The goal is to find some specifics of the contemporary documentary film and understand the meanings which today\u27s directors impose on documentarism
Differential role of cathepsins B and L in autophagy-associated cell death induced by arsenic trioxide in U87 human glioblastoma cells
No full textArsenic trioxide (arsenite) was the first chemotherapeutic drug to be described and is now being rediscovered in cancer treatment, including glioblastoma multiforme. Arsenite toxicity triggers autophagy in cancer cells, although final stages of the process involve executive caspases, suggesting an interplay between autophagic and apoptotic pathways that awaits to be explained at a molecular level. We evaluated the contribution of the lysosomal cathepsins (Cat) L and B, which are upregulated in glioblastomas, in the mechanism of arsenite toxicity in human glioblastoma cells. Arsenite treatment induced autophagosome formation and permeabilization of mitochondria, followed by caspase 3/7-mediated apoptosis. The autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine protected from arsenite toxicity, whereas bafilomycin A1 did not. Furthermore, arsenite significantly decreased CatB levels and selectively inhibited its cellular and recombinant protein activity, while not affecting CatL. However, downregulation of CatL greatly enhanced apoptosis by arsenite. Our results show that arsenite toxicity involves a complex interplay between autophagy and apoptosis in human glioblastoma cells and is associated with inhibition of CatB, and that this toxicity is highly exacerbated by simultaneous CatL inhibition. The latter points to a synergy that could be used in clinical treatment to lower the therapeutic dose, thus avoiding the toxic side effects of arsenite in glioblastoma management
Resveratrol Reduces the Invasive Growth and Promotes the Acquisition of a Long-Lasting Differentiated Phenotype in Human Glioblastoma Cells
No full textMalignant glioblastoma represents a challenge in the chemotherapy of brain
tumors, because of its aggressive behavior characterized by chemoresistance,
infiltrative diffusion, and high rate of recurrence and death. In this study, we
used cultured human U87MG cells and primary human glioblastoma cultures to test
the anticancer properties of resveratrol (RV), a phytoalexin abundantly present
in a variety of dietary products. In U87MG cells, 100 μM RV elicited cell growth
arrest by 48 h and bax-mediated cell toxicity by 96 h and greatly limited cell
migration and invasion through matrigel. Both in U87MG cells and in primary
glioblastoma cultures, the chronic administration of RV (100 μM for up to 96 h)
decreased the expression of nestin (a brain (cancer) stem cells marker) but
increased that of glial acidic fibrillary protein (a mature glial cell marker)
and of βIII-tubulin (a neuronal differentiation marker). Chronic treatment with
RV increased the proportion of cells positive for senescence-associated
β-galactosidase activity. This is the first report showing the ability of RV to
induce glial-like and neuronal-like differentiation in glioblastoma cells. The
beneficial effects of chronic RV supplementation lasted up to 96 h after its
withdrawal from the culture medium. The present findings support the introduction
of pulsed administration of this food-derived molecule in the chemotherapy
regimen of astrocytomas
Open Access
No full textGroup X secreted phospholipase A 2 induces lipid droplet formation and prolongs breast cancer cell surviva
Investigation of adhesion and mechanical properties of human glioma cells by single cell force spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy.
No full textActive cell migration and invasion is a peculiar feature of glioma that makes this tumor able to rapidly infiltrate into the surrounding brain tissue. In our recent work, we identified a novel class of glioma-associated-stem cells (defined as GASC for high-grade glioma--HG--and Gasc for low-grade glioma--LG) that, although not tumorigenic, act supporting the biological aggressiveness of glioma-initiating stem cells (defined as GSC for HG and Gsc for LG) favoring also their motility. Migrating cancer cells undergo considerable molecular and cellular changes by remodeling their cytoskeleton and cell interactions with surrounding environment. To get a better understanding about the role of the glioma-associated-stem cells in tumor progression, cell deformability and interactions between glioma-initiating stem cells and glioma-associated-stem cells were investigated. Adhesion of HG/LG-cancer cells on HG/LG-glioma-associated stem cells was studied by time-lapse microscopy, while cell deformability and cell-cell adhesion strengths were quantified by indentation measurements by atomic force microscopy and single cell force spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that for both HG and LG glioma, cancer-initiating-stem cells are softer than glioma-associated-stem cells, in agreement with their neoplastic features. The adhesion strength of GSC on GASC appears to be significantly lower than that observed for Gsc on Gasc. Whereas, GSC spread and firmly adhere on Gasc with an adhesion strength increased as compared to that obtained on GASC. These findings highlight that the grade of glioma-associated-stem cells plays an important role in modulating cancer cell adhesion, which could affect glioma cell migration, invasion and thus cancer aggressiveness. Moreover this work provides evidence about the importance of investigating cell adhesion and elasticity for new developments in disease diagnostics and therapeutics
Inhibition of cathepsin L lowers the apoptotic threshold of glioblastoma cells by up-regulating p53 and transcription of caspases 3 and 7
No full textRole of Tumor Associated Fibroblasts in Human Liver Regeneration, Cirrhosis, and Cancer
No full textTumor associated fibroblasts (TAFs) are considered a microenvironmental element critical for tumor growth and progression. Experimental studies suggest that their origin could be from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from the bone marrow. However, the role played by TAFs in cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma development, and progression is largely unknown, and in vitro human models are missing. This paper for the first time demonstrates that (1) human neoplastic livers possess a population of multipotent adult stem cells (MASCs) with properties of TAFs; (2) a population of MASC-derived TAFs is already present in cirrhotic, not yet neoplastic, livers; (3) MASCs isolated from nonneoplastic and noncirrhotic liver scan acquire a TAF phenotype when grown in a medium conditioned by tumor cell lines, supporting the notion that TAF could originate from resident primitive cells (MASCs), possibly through a paracrine mechanism
Recombinant human erythropoietin alters gene expression and stimulates proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells
No full textBackground. Functional erythropoietin (EPO) signaling is not specific only to erythroid lineages and has been confirmed in several solid tumors, including breast. Three different isoforms of erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) have been reported, the soluble (EPOR-S) and truncated (EPOR-T) forms acting antagonistically to the functional EPOR. In this study, we investigated the effect of human recombinant erythropoietin (rHuEPO) on cell proliferation, early gene response and the expression of EPOR isoforms in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.Materials and methods. The MCF-7 cells were cultured with or without rHuEPO for 72 h or 10 weeks and assessed for their growth characteristics, expression of early response genes and different EPOR isoforms. The expression profile of EPOR and EPOR-T was determined in a range of breast cancer cell lines and compared with their invasive properties.Results. MCF-7 cell proliferation after rHuEPO treatment was dependent on the time of treatment and the concentration used. High rHuEPO concentrations (40 U/ml) stimulated cell proliferation independently of a preceding long-term exposure of MCF-7 cells to rHuEPO, while lower concentrations increased MCF-7 proliferation only after 10 weeks of treatment. Gene expression analysis showed activation of EGR1 and FOS, confirming the functionality of EPOR. rHuEPO treatment also slightly increased the expression of the functional EPOR isoform, which, however, persisted throughout the 10 weeks of treatment. The expression levels of EPOR-T were not influenced. There were no correlations between EPOR expression and the invasiveness of MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, Hs578T, Hs578Bst, SKBR3, T-47D and MCF-10A cell lines.Conclusions. rHuEPO modulates MCF-7 cell proliferation in time- and concentration-dependent manner. We confirmed EGR1, FOS and EPOR as transcription targets of the EPO-EPOR signaling loop, but could not correlate the expression of different EPOR isoforms with the invasiveness of breast cancer cell lines
Differential role of cathepsins B and L in autophagy-associated cell death induced by arsenic trioxide in U87 human glioblastoma cells
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