Abstract: . . .  growth response gene-1; p21, cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor; PAF, platelet activating factor; SERP-1, viral serine proteinase inhibitor-1, TF, tissue factor; TSP-1, thrombospodin-1. Page 20 20 Platelet-derived growth factor. PDGF is a polypeptide growth factor, originally purified from platelets (Antoniades et al., 1979). Four different PDGF genes, PDGFA, PDGFB, PDGFC, and PDGFD have been identified so far and all of them can be . . .
. . .  SMC and endothelial cells (Robaye et al., 1991; Geng et al., 1996; Krown et al., 1996). On the other hand, TNF- a provokes hypertrophic growth response in human cardiac myocytes (Yokoyama et al., 1997) and facilitates SMC growth by inducing PDGF release from cultured endothelial cells (Hajjar et al., 1987). During acute allograft rejection, both IL-1 and TNF- a mRNA levels are elevated in the cardiac allograft (Dallman . . .
. . .  considerably from patient to patient. Clinical trials indicate that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors are beneficial in the reduction of TxCAD (Kobashigawa et al., 1995; Wenke et al., 2003). Elimination of other classical cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood glucose levels, high blood pressure, and smoking, is considered important among heart transplant patients although no clear-cut evidence for their influence on TxCAD has been established so far. Hypertension develops . . .
. . .  2003 Slab Gel Dryer, LKB, Bromma, Sweden), exposed to imaging plate (Fuji Photo Film Co., Tokyo, Japan) and the gels were quantified using a Fuji BAS1500 phosphoimager. The mean values of three determinations were used for final analysis and the normalized mRNA levels were Page 31 31 derived by dividing the mean of the mRNA of the gene of interest by the mean of GAPDH mRNA for each tissue sample. To identify the optimal PCR conditions for . . .
. . .  Increase survival and decrease incidence of TxCAD Kobashigawa et al., 1995; Wenke et al., 2003 Page 26 26 AIMS The purpose of this study was to investigate crosstalk between PDGF and proinflammatory cytokines (TNF- a , IL-1 , ET-1) during the development of TxCAD and to identify new therapeutic tools to prevent this fibroproliferative disorder using experimental rabbit and rat heart transplantation . . .
. . .  Ltd., Poole, UK). Specificity controls were performed by stainings using the same immunoglobulin concentrations of species and isotype- matched antibodies and staining after overnight incubation with a 10 to 20-molar excess of recombinant cytokines or peptides. Antibodies, their specificities, sources, and dilutions used in immunostainings are given in the original publications I-IV. Quantitation of immunohistochemistry. The immunohistochemical analysis was done in a blind . . .
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