Colorectal cancer is a major cause of cancer deaths in Western countries, but epidemiological data suggest that dietary modi®cation might reduce these by as much as 90%. Cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX2), an inducible isoform of prostaglandin H synthase, which mediates prostaglandin synthesis during in¯ammation, and which is selectively overexpressed in colon tumours, is thought to play an important role in colon carcinogenesis. Curcumin, a constituent of turmeric, possesses potent anti-in¯amma-tory activity and prevents colon cancer in animal models. However, its mechanism of action is not fully understood. We found that in human colon epithelial cells, curcumin inhibits COX2 induction by the colon tumour promoters, tumour necrosis factor a or fecapentaene-12. Induction of COX2 by in¯ammatory cytokines or hypoxia-induced oxidative stress can be mediated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). Since curcumin inhibits NF-kB activation, we examined whether its chemopreventive activity is related to modulation of the signalling pathway which regulates the stability of the NF-kBsequestering protein, IkB. Recently components of this pathway, NF-kB-inducing kinase and IkB kinases, IKKa and b, which phosphorylate IkB to release NF-kB, have been characterised. Curcumin prevents phosphorylation of IkB by inhibiting the activity of the IKKs. This property, together with a long history of consumption without adverse health e ects, makes curcumin an important candidate for consideration in colon cancer prevention.

Vascular dysfunction is emerging as a key pathological hallmark in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A leaky blood–brain barrier (BBB) has been described in AD patient tissue and in vivo AD mouse models. Brain endothelial cells (BECs) are linked together by tight junctional (TJ) proteins, which are a key determinant in restricting the permeability of the BBB. The amyloid β (Aβ) peptides of 1–40 and 1–42 amino acids are believed to be pivotal in AD pathogenesis. We therefore decided to investigate the effect of Aβ 1–40, the Aβ variant found at the highest concentration in human plasma, on the permeability of an immortalized human BEC line, hCMEC/D3. Aβ 1–40 induced a marked increase in hCMEC/D3 cell permeability to the paracellular tracer 70 kD FITC-dextran when compared with cells incubated with the scrambled Aβ 1–40 peptide. Increased permeability was associated with a specific decrease, both at the protein and mRNA level, in the TJ protein occludin, whereas claudin-5 and ZO-1 were unaffected. JNK and p38MAPK inhibition prevented both Aβ 1–40-mediated down-regulation of occludin and the increase in paracellular permeability in hCMEC/D3 cells. Our findings suggest that the JNK and p38MAPK pathways might represent attractive therapeutic targets for preventing BBB dysfunction in AD.

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We investigated the effect of OKT3 antibody and interleukin 2 (IL-2) on Tac antigen expression and the proliferation of human peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes. OKT3 monoclonal antibody at low, nonmitogenic concentrations (25 pg/ml) or IL-2 alone at optimal concentrations (20 U/ml) did not induce IL-2 receptor expression, as measured by Tac antibody or by T cell proliferation. However, costimulation with these concentrations of OKT3 antibody and IL-2 led to Tac antigen expression and T cell proliferation. These data suggest that the T cells are activated in two steps: OKT3 antibody at 25 pg/ml does not induce Tac antigen expression, but preactivates T cells to become responsive to IL-2. The addition of exogenous IL-2 then leads to expression of the IL-2 receptor, as recognized by Tac antibody, and to subsequent proliferation.

Endothelium differentiates in response to tissue-specific signals; brain endothelium expresses tight junctions and transporters which are absent from other endothelia. The promoter of the tight junction protein occludin exhibited strong activity in a brain endothelial cell line, hCMEC/D3 but was inactive in lung endothelial cells. Expression of occludin in brain endothelium corresponded with binding of Sp3 to a minimal promoter segment close to the transcription-start site. However, in lung endothelium Sp-transcription factors did not bind to this site although they are present in the cell nucleus. In contrast, repression of occludin in lung endothelium was associated with the binding of YY1 to a remote site in the promoter region, which was functionally inactive in brain endothelium. The work identified a group of transcription factors including Sp3 and YY1, which differentially interact with the occludin promoter to induce expression of occludin in brain endothelium and repression in other endothelia. The mechanism controlling occludin expression is similar to that which controls tissue-specific expression of the transferrin receptor in brain endothelium, leading to a scheme for endothelial differentiation, in which activation or repression of tissue-specific proteins is maintained by a set of transcription factors which include Sp3 and YY1.