TY - JOUR A1 - Immel, Timo A1 - Grützke, Martin A1 - Späte, Anne-Katrin A1 - Groth, Ulrich A1 - Öhlschläger, Peter A1 - Huhn, Thomas T1 - Synthesis and X-ray structure analysis of a heptacoordinate titanium(IV)-bis-chelate with enhanced in vivo antitumor efficacy JF - Chemical Communications N2 - Chelate stabilization of a titanium(IV)–salan alkoxide by ligand exchange with 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid (dipic) resulted in heptacoordinate complex 3 which is not redox-active, stable on silica gel and has increased aqueous stability. 3 is highly toxic in HeLa S3 and Hep G2 and has enhanced antitumor efficacy in a mouse cervical-cancer model. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C2CC31624B SN - 1364-548X VL - 48 IS - 46 SP - 5790 EP - 5792 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Henken, F. E. A1 - Oosterhuis, K. A1 - Öhlschläger, Peter A1 - Bosch, L. A1 - Hooijberg, E. A1 - Haanen, J. B. A. G. A1 - Steenbergen, R. D. M. T1 - Preclinical safety evaluation of DNA vaccines encoding modified HPV16 E6 and E7 JF - Vaccine N2 - Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPV) can result in the formation of anogenital cancers. As hrHPV proteins E6 and E7 are required for cancer initiation and maintenance, they are ideal targets for immunotherapeutic interventions. Previously, we have described the development of DNA vaccines for the induction of HPV16 E6 and E7 specific T cell immunity. These vaccines consist of ‘gene-shuffled’ (SH) versions of HPV16 E6 and E7 that were fused to Tetanus Toxin Fragment C domain 1 (TTFC) and were named TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH. Gene-shuffling was performed to avoid the risk of inducing malignant transformation at the vaccination site. Here, we describe the preclinical safety evaluation of these candidate vaccines by analysis of their transforming capacity in vitro using established murine fibroblasts (NIH 3T3 cells) and primary human foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs). We demonstrate that neither ectopic expression of TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH alone or in combination enabled NIH 3T3 cells to form colonies in soft agar. In contrast, expression of HPV16 E6WT and E7WT alone or in combination resulted in effective transformation. Similarly, retroviral transduction of HFKs from three independent donors with both TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH alone or in combination did not show any signs of immortalization. In contrast, the combined expression of E6WT and E7WT induced immortalization in HFKs from all donors. Based on these results we consider it justified to proceed to clinical evaluation of DNA vaccines encoding TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH in patients with HPV16 associated (pre)malignancies. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.04.013 SN - 0264-410X VL - 30 IS - 28 SP - 4259 EP - 4266 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bäcker, Matthias A1 - Raue, Markus A1 - Schusser, Sebastian A1 - Jeitner, C. A1 - Breuer, L. A1 - Wagner, P. A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Förster, Arnold A1 - Mang, Thomas A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Microfluidic chip with integrated microvalves based on temperature- and pH-responsive hydrogel thin films JF - Physica Status Solidi (a) N2 - Two types of microvalves based on temperature-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) and pH-responsive poly(sodium acrylate) (PSA) hydrogel films have been developed and tested. The PNIPAAm and PSA hydrogel films were prepared by means of in situ photopolymerization directly inside the fluidic channel of a microfluidic chip fabricated by combining Si and SU-8 technologies. The swelling/shrinking properties and height changes of the PNIPAAm and PSA films inside the fluidic channel were studied at temperatures of deionized water from 14 to 36 °C and different pH values (pH 3–12) of Titrisol buffer, respectively. Additionally, in separate experiments, the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the PNIPAAm hydrogel was investigated by means of a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) method. Mass-flow measurements have shown the feasibility of the prepared hydrogel films to work as an on-chip integrated temperature- or pH-responsive microvalve capable to switch the flow channel on/off. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201100763 SN - 1862-6319 VL - 209 IS - 5 SP - 839 EP - 845 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Borgmeier, Claudia A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Meinhardt, Friedhelm T1 - Genetic analysis of the Bacillus licheniformis degSU operon and the impact of regulatory mutations on protease production JF - Journal of biotechnology N2 - Disruption experiments targeted at the Bacillus licheniformis degSU operon and GFP-reporter analysis provided evidence for promoter activity immediately upstream of degU. pMutin mediated concomitant introduction of the degU32 allele – known to cause hypersecretion in Bacillus subtilis – resulted in a marked increase in protease activity. Application of 5-fluorouracil based counterselection through establishment of a phosphoribosyltransferase deficient Δupp strain eventually facilitated the marker-free introduction of degU32 leading to further protease enhancement achieving levels as for hypersecreting wild strains in which degU was overexpressed. Surprisingly, deletion of rapG – known to interfere with DegU DNA-binding in B. subtilis – did not enhance protease production neither in the wild type nor in the degU32 strain. The combination of degU32 and Δupp counterselection in the type strain is not only equally effective as in hypersecreting wild strains with respect to protease production but furthermore facilitates genetic strain improvement aiming at biological containment and effectiveness of biotechnological processes. KW - Marker-free mutagenesis KW - Extracellular enzymes KW - Uracil-phosphoribosyltransferase KW - Hypersecretion Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2012.02.011 SN - 1873-4863 (E-Journal); 0168-1656 (Print) VL - 159 IS - 1-2 SP - 12 EP - 20 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aggarwal, P. A1 - Dhiman, S. A1 - Kumar, G. A1 - Scherer, Ulrich W. A1 - Singla, M. L. A1 - Srivastava, A. T1 - Optical study of poly(ethyleneterephthalate) modified by different ionizing radiation dose JF - Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Physics N2 - Thin films of poly(ethyleneterephthalate) [PET]were exposed to radiation dose ranging from 10 to 30 kGy by using gamma rays in the range 12.8-177.8 MGy using swift light ions of hydrogen. There was no effect of the radiation dose on the optical behaviour of PET as a result of exposure to radiation dose up to 30 kGy brought about by gamma rays but a significant decrease in the optical band gap values was observed when PET was exposed to swift light ions of hydrogen. The data obtained are discussed in terms of optical studies carried out on PET using swift heavy ions. Y1 - 2012 SN - 0019-5596 VL - 50 IS - 2 SP - 129 EP - 132 ER -