title: N-acetyl-cysteine enhances cell adhesion properties of epithelial and lymphoid cells.
abstract: In this paper, we show that the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) is capable of enhancing the adhesion properties of the epithelial cell line A431 and of the lymphocytic cells with cytotoxic activity from human peripheral blood: the natural killer (NK) cells. This effect leads to an increased efficiency of A431 cells to form a monolayer and of NK cells to kill their targets. In both cases a specific effect of NAC was found in the distribution of those molecules of the cytoskeleton which are generally involved in cell substrate and cell-to-cell contact region formation, e.g., the actin microfilaments. NAC could thus behave as a drug influencing certain cytoskeleton-dependent cell processes in a non-histotype dependent manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrastructure, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rivabene
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Viora
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matarrese
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rainaldi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Ambrosio
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Malorni
mesh_terms: D000111:Acetylcysteine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects*; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000187:drug effects; D004848:Epithelium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D005978:Glutathione; D000111:Acetylcysteine