Reporting of Quantitative Protein Electrophoresis in Australia and New Zealand: a Call for Standardisation

Background

The lack of guidelines on reporting standards for protein electrophoresis may have led to significant differences in reports from different laboratories.

Objective

To determine the extent of variation in reporting of protein electrophoresis results in Australia and New Zealand.

Method

Questionnaires were distributed to laboratories throughout Australia and New Zealand asking about protein electrophoresis practices and reporting.

Results

Extensive variation was found in the following reporting practices: (a) units for urine Bence Jones protein (BJP); (b) reporting absence of a paraprotein rather than a normal pattern; (c) numerical reporting of all protein fractions or only the paraprotein; (d) warning of possible inaccuracy in the serum immunoglobulin result of the paraprotein type; (e) co-migration of a paraprotein with a normal serum protein; (f) use of a confirmatory test when a known paraprotein is no longer detectable.

Conclusions

A working party should be established to make recommendations on the reporting of protein electrophoresis. Implementation of such recommendations should reduce both report variation between laboratories and the risk of misinterpretation of reports.     

Effects of an exotic invasive macrophyte (tropical signalgrass) on native plant community composition,species richness and functional diversity

1. The issue of freshwater species being threatened by invasion has become central in conservation biology because inland waters exhibit the highest species richness per unit area, but apparently have the highest extinctions rates on the planet. 2. In this article, we evaluated the effects of an exotic, invasive aquatic grass (Urochloa subquadripara– tropical signalgrass) on the diversity and assemblage composition of native macrophytes in four Neotropical water bodies (two reservoirs and two lakes). Species cover was assessed in quadrats, and plant biomass was measured in further quadrats, located in sites where tropical signalgrass dominated (D quadrats) and sites where it was not dominant or entirely absent (ND quadrats). The effects of tropical signalgrass on macrophyte species richness, Shannon diversity and number of macrophyte life forms (a surrogate of functional richness) were assessed through regressions, and composition was assessed with a DCA. The effects of tropical signalgrass biomass on the likelihood of occurrence of specific macrophyte life forms were assessed through logistic regression. 3. Tropical signalgrass had a negative effect on macrophyte richness and Shannon and functional diversity, and also influenced assemblage composition. Emergent, rooted with floating stems and rooted submersed species were negatively affected by tropical signalgrass, while the occurrence of free‐floating species was positively affected. 4. Our results suggest that competition with emergent species and reduction of underwater radiation, which reduces the number of submersed species, counteract facilitation of free‐floating species, contributing to a decrease in plant diversity. In addition, homogenisation of plant assemblages shows that tropical signalgrass reduces the beta diversity in the macrophyte community. 5. Although our results were obtained at fine spatial scales, they are cause for concern because macrophytes are an important part of freshwater diversity.     

长爪沙鼠线粒体DNA控制区全序列测定及分析

目的对长爪沙鼠线粒体DNA控制区全序列进行测定,并对其进行鉴定及进化分析。方法根据长爪沙鼠已知基因序列设计引物,采用PCR产物测序法,对所得的片段进行测序鉴定。结合已公布啮齿类动物D-loop区序列,分析其碱基组成、遗传距离、并基于最小进化法和UPGMA法构建系统进化树。结果获得长爪沙鼠D-loop区序列,其与家鼠、小家鼠和仓鼠平均同源性为58%;碱基组成分析显示,长爪沙鼠与啮齿类动物有相似的碱基组成和碱基偏离,其A-skew和G-skew分别为0.0047和-0.28。进化分析结果显示,长爪沙鼠与家鼠（0.35）、黑家鼠（0.38）和仓鼠（0.39）具有较近的遗传距离,其分化顺序为跳鼠、蔗鼠、长爪沙鼠、仓鼠、家鼠和小家鼠。结论本研究获得长爪沙鼠D-loop区全序列,确定了长爪沙鼠与仓鼠、家鼠、小家鼠及其它啮齿动物的进化关系,为长爪沙鼠进化研究、线粒体的结构和功能研究奠定基础。     

Cell cycle related proteins in hyperplasia of usual type in breast specimens of patients with and without breast cancer

Background  

Hyperplasia of usual type (HUT) is a common proliferative lesion associated with a slight elevated risk for subsequent development of breast cancer. Cell cycle-related proteins would be helpful to determine the putative role of these markers in the process of mammary carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of cell cycle related proteins in HUT of breast specimens of patients with and without breast cancer, and compare this expression with areas of invasive carcinomas.     

Impacts of avidity and specificity on the antiviral efficiency of HIV-1-specific CTL

Although CD8(+) CTLs are presumed to be an important mediator of protective immunity in HIV-1 infection, the factors that determine CTL antiviral efficiency are poorly understood. Two factors that have been proposed to influence CTL antiviral function are antigenic avidity and epitope specificity. In this study we evaluate these by examining the activity of HIV-1-specific CTL against acutely infected cells. The ability of CTL to kill infected cells is variable and depends more on epitope specificity than functional avidity within the range for the tested clones (50% of maximal killing, 50 pg/ml to 100 ng/ml); killing efficiency is similar for different clones recognizing the same epitope, despite their variation in avidity. When CTL clones are tested for their ability to suppress viral replication, similar results are observed. Inhibition is more dependent on epitope specificity than functional avidity among the tested clones (50% of maximal killing, 20 pg/ml to 20 ng/ml). Thus, CTL specificity can be an overriding factor in the ability of CTL to interact with HIV-1-infected cells, indicating that factors determining the process of epitope presentation on infected cells have a key influence on CTL efficiency. These results suggest that CTL specificity may have a pivotal role in the immunopathogenesis of infection, and that simple quantitative measures of CTL may be insufficient indicators of the CTL response to HIV-1.     

Analysis of the TCR beta variable gene repertoire in chimpanzees: identification of functional homologs to human pseudogenes

Chimpanzees are used for a variety of disease models such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, where Ag-specific T cells are thought to be critical for resolution of infection. The variable segments of the TCR alphabeta genes are polymorphic and contain putative binding sites for MHC class I and II molecules. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of genes that comprise the TCR beta variable gene (TCRBV) repertoire of the common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes. We identified 42 P. troglodytes TCRBV sequences representative of 25 known human TCRBV families. BV5, BV6, and BV7 are multigene TCRBV families in humans and homologs of most family members were found in the chimpanzee TCRBV repertoire. Some of the chimpanzee TCRBV sequences were identical with their human counterparts at the amino acid level. Notably four successfully rearranged TCRBV sequences in the chimpanzees corresponded to human pseudogenes. One of these TCR sequences was used by a cell line directed against a viral CTL epitope in an HCV-infected animal indicating the functionality of this V region in the context of immune defense against pathogens. These data indicate that some TCRBV genes maintained in the chimpanzee have been lost in humans within a brief evolutionary time frame despite remarkable conservation of the chimpanzee and human TCRBV repertoires. Our results predict that the diversity of TCR clonotypes responding to pathogens like HCV will be very similar in both species and will facilitate a molecular dissection of the immune response in chimpanzee models of human diseases.