Assays were performed according to the manufacturer's instructions for the relevant kit.
However, so far, no MC lines expressing a functional IgER as well as relevant Kit mutations are available (32, 33).
First, clinical tumour characteristics have successfully been used to identify a subgroup of melanoma patients with a high prevalence of therapeutically relevant KIT mutations.
SOD activities and MDA content were assessed with relevant detection kits (Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute, China), using xanthine oxidase method and thiobarbituric acid method respectively [ 28].
In addition, some mice were tested for renal function as evidenced by serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels, using relevant detection kits (Arbor Assays KB02-H1 and K024-H1; Tebu-Bio).
Serum glucose, lipids (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides) and liver enzyme activities of aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined using the relevant Spinreact kits (Spinreact, Spain).
The levels of C5a, sICAM-1, IL-16, M-CSF, TIMP-1, leptin, and TREM-1 in sera were estimated by using the relevant ELISA kits according to the manufacturers' instructions.
In this study, we focused on the isolation of an abundant and clinically relevant c-Kit positive/Sca1-negative (c-Kit+/Sca-1) vascular progenitor population from ESCs and their differentiation to both ECs and SMCs.
Diagnosis of GIST was based on currently applied diagnostic criteria [ 16, 22] using histological characteristics (e.g. highly cellular spindle/epithelioid/mixed cell tumors), immunohistochemical status (positivity for KIT or PDGFRα) and mutational analysis of relevant c-kit and PDGFRα exons.
Lot-to-lot variation of analytical ELISA-based kits, relevant to the determination of cutoff values, was examined and adjusted when necessary by internal and external reference Abs.
