Comparative studies of apoptosis in Xenopus laevis and mouse thymoma cell lines.

With the use of in vitro methods and cell lines, functional aspects of apoptosis in the Xenopus laevis B3/B7 and mouse EL4 thymoma cell lines are revealed. Moreover, by using information gleaned from digital imaging and immunocytochemistry, changes in locations of key proteins implicated in apoptotic anti-cancer responses, e.g. p53 and Mdm2, are shown. Suggestions are offered as to what these results might mean with respect to the evolutionary conservation of the function and structure of these two molecules and to cancer resistance in amphibians. Finally, studies are described on resveratrol as an anti-cancer therapeutic reagent in the two thymoma cell lines and in normal X. laevis thymocytes.