[Department of molecular immunology]. / Viddil molekuliarnoï imunolohiï.

The Department of Molecular Immunology was created at the Institute in 1982. It was founded by S. V. Komissarenko, a pupil of the well-known Ukrainian biochemist M. F. Guly. Today, S. V. Komissarenko is the Academician of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences and one of the leading specialists in the field of Molecular Immunology. The main scientific problems studied at the Department now are molecular mechanisms of the immune recognition, antigenic structures of proteins and peptides as well as the mechanisms of lymphocyte activation underlying their proliferation and differentiation. Over the last years, special attention was payed to developing the approaches of immunochemical analysis of certain proteins and peptides of blood coagulation system to control thrombus formation. The results of these investigations are to be used for designing the immunodiagnostic test-systems and for creating synthetic vaccines for clinical practice.

[Inorganic pyrophosphatase activity of the mouse spleen in the immune response and after treatment with bis-phosphonates]. / Aktivnost' neorganicheskoi pirofosfatazy selezenki myshei pri immunnom otvete i pod vliianiem bisfosfonatov.

The inorganic pyrophosphatase activity was determined in different tissues of mice. The immunization of mice by sheep erythrocytes increased the inorganic pyrophosphatase activity of the spleen. The in vivo administration of bisphosphonates (40 mg per 1 g of mass), which are structural analogs of inorganic pyrophosphate (methylene bisphosphonic acid--MBPA, hydroxyethylidene bisphosphonic acid--HEBPA and aminomethylene bisphosphonic acid--AMBPA), inhibited the inorganic pyrophosphatase activity only by MBPA in the thymus and spleen but not in liver. The addition of MBPA, HEBPA as well as of phosphonoacetic acid, imidobisphosphate, bis(phosphonomethyl)-phosphonic acid, MBPA and phosphoric acid monoanhydride to cytosol from the mouse spleen led to the competitive (relative to the [Mg (PPi)2-] complex) inhibition of the inorganic pyrophosphatase activity. AMBPA didn't possess the analogous effect.

[Methylenebisphosphonic acid alters the pattern of pericellular glycosaminoglycans and binding properties of CD44 in human endothelial cells].

The effect of methylenebisphosphonic acid (MBPA) on glycosaminoglycan metabolism, adhesive and proliferative properties of human endothelial cells has been investigated. It was demonstrated that MBPA (100 microM) inhibited the synthesis of all studied groups of glycosaminoglycans, but promoted the accumulation of heparan sulphate in endothelial pericellular matrix. Simultaneously, the redistribution of hyaluronic acid from pericellular matrix to the conditioned medium was observed. The decreased adhesion of endothelial cells to immobilized hyaluronic acid was not mediated by the alterations of CD44 expression. It was also demonstrated that MBPA affected the proliferative properties of endothelial cells. The alterations of glycosaminoglycan metabolism are considered to be involved in antiangiogenic effects of MBPA.

[Effect of methylene diphosphonic acid on certain processes in animal tissues]. / Vliianie metilendifosfanovoi kisloty na nekotorye protsessy v zhivotnykh tkaniakh.

It was shown that methylene diphosphonic acid, a structural analogue of pyrophosphate, exhibiting immunodepressant properties, in a dose of 40 micrograms/g body weight inhibits by 20% the activity of inorganic pyrophosphatase in the spleen of BALB mice and does not affect this enzyme in the liver or thymus. In noninbred albino mice inhibition of the activity of the enzyme was recorded only as a result of administering the preparation in a dose of 80 micrograms/g. Histological data on the kidneys, liver, lungs, spleen, lymphatic nodes and thymus indicate that the preparation does not exert a significant toxic action on the body.