Autoantibody to DNA binding protein B as a novel serologic marker in systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis is a systemic disease that is characterized by tissue fibrosis, small-vessel vasculopathy, and an autoimmune response associated with autoantibodies. We performed serological analysis of cDNA expression library (SEREX) to identify autoantibodies associated with systemic sclerosis. We identified 4 clones that react with sera of patients with SSc but not with those of healthy donors. These clones are phosphoglycerate mutase, centromere autoantigen C, U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein, and DNA binding protein B (dbpB). We chose to study autoantibody to DNA binding protein B. Immunoreactivity against recombinant dbpB was detected in 40.5% (15/37) of patients with SSc, 14.6% (6/41) of patents with systemic lupus erythematosus, 6.7% (1/15) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 0% (0/12) of patients with Sjogren syndrome, and 5.9% (1/17) of patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis. The frequency of anti-dbpB was significantly higher in the SSc patients (15/37, 40.5%) compared to the healthy controls (3/41, 7.3%, p=0.0005 by chi(2) test). Eleven patients (11/20, 55%) with the diffuse cutaneous type of SSc had anti-dbpB and 4 patients (4/17, 23.5%) with the limited cutaneous type had anti-dbpB. The presence of anti-dbpB was significantly associated with the diffuse cutaneous type (p=0.00003 by chi(2) test). This is the first report to suggest that autoantibody to dbpB can be used as a serologic marker of systemic sclerosis.     

牛免疫缺陷病毒长末端重复序列(BIV一LTR)在大肠杆菌中的启动子功能

牛免疫缺陷病毒（ＢＩＶ）的长末端重复序列（ＬＴＲ）含有病毒的启动子,调控病毒在真核细胞中的表达。我们将ＢＩＶＬＴＲ与萤火虫荧光素酶基因连接构建成重组质粒ｐＢＩＶ一Ｌｕｃ,该质粒能在Ｅｃｏｌｉ中有效地表达出荧光素酶的活性,从而证明ＢＩＶＬＴＲ在大肠杆菌中也具有启动子功能。Ｍｕｎｇｂｅａｎ核酸酶作图分析发现,ＢＩＶＬＴＲ在Ｅｃｏｌｉ中的转录起始位点位于Ｕ_３区,而不是在真核细胞中的Ｕ＿３一Ｒ交界处。同时我们也证实了ＢＩＶＬＴＲ在Ｅ,ｃｏｌｉ中仍可被ＢＩＶｔａｔ蛋白特异性地反式激活,为研究ｔａｔ蛋白的作用机制提供了一条新的途径。     

牛免疫缺陷病毒长末端重复序列（BIV—LTR）在大肠杆菌中的启动子功能

牛免疫缺陷病毒的长末端重复序列含有病毒的启动子,调控病毒在真核细胞中的表达。我们将ＢＩＶ ＬＴＲ与萤火虫荧光素酶基因连接构建成重组质粒ｐＢＩＶ＝Ｌｕｃ,该质粒能在Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉ中有效地表达出荧光素酶的活性,从而证明了ＢＩＶ ＬＴＲ在大肠杆菌中也具有启动子功能。     

牛疱疹病毒I型前早期基因BICPO的表达对牛免疫缺陷病毒LTR的反式激活…

由含有ＢＨＶ－１（Ｂｏｖｉｎｅ Ｈｅｒｐｅｓ Ｖｉｒｕｓ－１）前早期基因的基因组片段亚克隆ＩＣＰＯ（ＢＨＶ－１Ｉｎｆｅｃｔｅｄ Ｃｅｌｌ Ｐｒｏｔｅｉｎ Ｏ）的ＤＮＡ序列至表达载体ｐＳＶＤ３,构建质粒ｐＳＶ２．９。将该质粒与ＰＢＬＴＲ－Ｌｕｃ共转染小牛肺细胞,检测转染细胞裂解物的荧光素酶活性,ＢＩＣＰＯ的表达产物可以显著地激活ＢＩＶ ＬＴＲ启动子控制下的荧光素酶基因的表达。根据ＰＳＶ２．９与含有Ｂ     

牛疱疹病毒Ⅰ型前早期基因BICPO的表达对牛免疫缺陷病毒LTR的反式激活作用

由含有ＢＨＢＶ－１（ＢｏｖｉｎｅＨｅｒｐｅｓＶｉｒｕｓ－１）前早期基因的基因组片段亚克隆ＢＩＣＰＯ（ＢＨＶ－１ＩｎｆｅｃｔｅｄＣｅｌｌＰｒｏｔｅｉｎＯ）的ＤＮＡ序列至表达载体ｐＳＶＫ３,构建质粒ｐＳＶ２．９。将该质粒与ｐＢＬＴＲ－Ｌｕｃ共转染小牛肺细胞,检测转染细胞裂解物的荧光素酶活性,ＢＩＣＰＯ的表达产物可以显著地激活ＢＩＶＬＴＲ启动子控制下的荧光素酶基因的表达。根据ｐＳＶ２．９与含有ＢＩＶＬＴＲ不同区段缺失的质粒ｐＤ－３１９－Ｌｕｃ、ｐＤ－１１５－Ｌｕｃ、ｐＤ－５２－Ｌｕｃ共转染小牛肺细胞的实验结果,推测ＢＩＶＬＴＲ－３１９位上游区的ＤＮＡ序列影响ＢＩＣＰＯ基因产物对ＢＩＶＬＴＲ表达的激活作用。     

Umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells protect amyloid-β42 neurotoxicity via paracrine

AIM:To understand the neuroprotective mechanism of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells(hUCB-MSCs) against amyloid-β42(Aβ42) exposed rat primary neurons.METHODS:To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of hUCB-MSCs,the cells were co-cultured with Aβ42-exposed rat primary neuronal cells in a Transwell apparatus.To assess the involvement of soluble fac-tors released from hUCB-MSCs in neuroprotection,an antibody-based array using co-cultured media was conducted.The neuroprotective roles of the identified hUCB-MSC proteins was assessed by treating recombi-nant proteins or specific small interfering RNAs(siRNAs) for each candidate protein in a co-culture system.RESULTS:The hUCB-MSCs secreted elevated levels ofdecorin and progranulin when co-cultured with rat pri-mary neuronal cells exposed to Aβ42.Treatment with recombinant decorin and progranulin protected from Aβ42-neurotoxicity in vitro.In addition,siRNA-mediat-ed knock-down of decorin and progranulin production in hUCB-MSCs reduced the anti-apoptotic effects of hUCB-MSC in the co-culture system.CONCLUSION:Decorin and progranulin may be involved in anti-apoptotic activity of hUCB-MSCs exposed to Aβ42.     

宿主限制LINE-1转座活性的机制

转座子约占了人类基因组的45%,对基因组的结构与功能造成了重大的影响. 一部分转座子现在仍然具有活性,它们的转座能引发疾病. LINE-1（long interspersed element-1）是现今在人类基因组中发现的唯一具有活性并能自主转座的转座子,并能介导非自主转座的元件进行转座. 近年来LINE-1的研究有新的突破,本文简述了LINE-1的结构、转座机制及对基因组的影响,重点总结和分析宿主对LINE-1的限制机制. 由于LINE-1的生活周期与逆转录病毒有相似之处,也希望能够为宿主抗病毒的研究提供线索.     

Recombinant human (rh) stem cell factor and rhIL-4 stimulate differentiation and proliferation of CD3+ cells from umbilical cord blood and CD3+ cells enhance FcepsilonR1 expression on fetal liver-derived mast cells in the presence of rhIL-4

We previously reported that rhIL-4 induced apoptosis and rhIL-6 mediated protection of human mast cells derived from cord blood mononuclear cells. Based on the result, we attempted to obtain the phenotypes and differentiation of CD3+ cells from cord blood by investigating their cell surface markers in the presence of rhSCF plus rhIL-4. The effect of co-cultured CD3+ cells on fetal liver mast cells (FLMCs) was also determined. Phenotypes from cord blood-derived cells were analyzed by flow cytometry and cell numbers were determined. Fetal liver mast cells were cultured with cord blood-derived cells (mainly CD3+) in the presence of rhSCF and/or rhIL-4 and were analyzed to determine cell number and expression of Kit+ and FcepsilonR1. The percentage of CD3+ cells from cord blood-derived cells on day 0 was about 41 +/- 13.5%, following monocytes and granulocytes. CD3+ cells increased in number (1.5-fold) and purity (90%), whereas other cell types did not survive. More than 60% of CD3+ cells from cord blood at day 0 were CD4(-)CD8-. These double-negative cells dramatically decreased by 1 week of culture, while CD4+CD8+ cells increased in number and purity through 3 weeks of culture, and then decreased as greater numbers of single-positive T cells emerged. We also found that FcepsilonR expression on FLMC increased in the presence of rhIL-4, but was not affected by the T cells that developed from cord blood mononuclear cells. The results indicate that IL-4, a Th2 type cytokine, together with rhSCF, can induce T cell proliferations, differentiation, and maturation from cord blood progenitor cells.     

Cloning and heterologous expression of a novel insecticidal gene (tccC1) from Xenorhabdus nematophilus strain

We have identified and cloned a novel toxin gene (tccC1/xptB1) from Xenorhabdus nematophilus strain isolated from Korea-specific entomophagous nematode Steinernema glaseri MK. The DNA sequence of cloned toxin gene (3048 bp) has an open reading frame encoding 1016 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 111058 Da. The toxin sequence shares 50-96% identical amino acid residues with the previously reported tccC1 cloned from X. nematophilus, Photorhabdus luminescens W14 P. luminescens TTO1, and Yersinia pestis CO92. The toxin gene was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant toxin protein caused a rapid cessation in mortality of Galleria mellonella larvae (80% death of larvae within 2 days). Conclusively, the heterologous expression of the novel gene tccC1 cloned into E. coli plasmid vector produced recombinant toxin with high insecticidal activity.