R. Rivabene et al., N-ACETYL-CYSTEINE ENHANCES CELL-ADHESION PROPERTIES OF EPITHELIAL ANDLYMPHOID-CELLS, Cell biology international, 19(8), 1995, pp. 681-686
In this paper, we show that the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) is
capable of enhancing the adhesion properties of the epithelial cell l
ine A431 and of the lymphocytic cells with cytotoxic activitv from hum
an 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 w
as found in the distribution of those molecules of the cytoskeleton wh
ich are generally involved in cell substrate and cell-to-cell contact
region formation, e.g., the actin microfilaments. NAC could thus behav
e as a drug influencing certain cytoskeleton-dependent cell processes
in a non-histotype dependent manner.