Search results for "techniques"
showing 10 items of 4426 documents
Species-specific mechanisms for cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) regulation by drugs and bile acids.
2005
The gene encoding cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) is tightly regulated in order to control intrahepatic cholesterol and bile acid levels. Ligands of the xenobiotic-sensing pregnane X receptor inhibit CYP7A1 expression. To retrace the evolution of the molecular mechanisms underlying CYP7A1 inhibition, we used a chicken hepatoma cell system that retains the ability to be induced by phenobarbital and other drugs. Whereas bile acids regulate CYP7A1 via small heterodimer partner and liver receptor homolog-1, mRNA expression of these nuclear receptors is unchanged by xenobiotics. Instead, drugs repress chicken hepatic nuclear factor 4alpha (HNF4alpha) transcript levels concomitant with a …
Role of interleukin-6 and soluble IL-6 receptor in region-specific induction of astrocytic differentiation and neurotrophin expression.
1999
Increasing evidence supports an essential role for interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the development, differentiation, as well as de- and re-generation of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). Both IL-6 and its specific receptor (IL-6R) are expressed on neurons and glial cells including astrocytes. In this study, we have analyzed the responses of primary rat astrocytes of various brain regions to IL-6 with respect to morphological changes and neurotrophin expression. Since IL-6 alone failed to initiate effects on astrocytes, we have examined whether the soluble IL-6R (sIL-6R) can modulate the responsiveness of to IL-6 in these cells. For this purpose, we used a highly active fusion protein of …
Cross-Reactivity of Antibodies Immunoadsorbed to Laminin with Recombinant Human La (SS-B) Protein
1998
Anti-La (SS-B) antibodies cross-reacting with mouse B1 laminin were reported in sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. However, the common epitope had not been characterized. Immunoblotting conditions were established, allowing detection and elution of anti-La (SS-B)/laminin cross-reacting antibodies. Antibodies adsorbed to mouse B1 laminin represented a subclass of anti-La antibodies. They strongly reacted with human full length recombinant La protein. However, they failed to react with either an N-terminal La peptide consisting of amino acids 1-192 or a C-terminal La peptide starting at methionine 223, while they still reacted with recombinant La peptides consisting of the am…
Reduced virus specific T helper cell induction by autologous dendritic cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B-restoration by exogenous interleuki…
2002
SUMMARYInsufficient stimulatory capacities of autologous dendritic cells (DC) may contribute in part to impaired T cell stimulation and therefore viral persistence in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. In order to characterize the antigen presenting functions of DC from chronic HBV carriers and controls antigen specific T cell responses were analysed. CD34+ peripheral blood progenitor cells were differentiated to immature DC in the presence of GM-CSF, IL-6/IL-6R fusion protein and stem cell factor. Proliferative CD4+ T cell responses and specific cytokine release were analysed in co-cultures of DC pulsed with HBV surface and core antigens or tetanus toxoid and autologo…
The polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB) is involved in the post-transcriptional regulation of human inducible nitric oxide synthase expression.
2006
Human inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression is regulated by transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. We have recently shown that the multifunctional RNA-binding proteins KH-type splicing regulatory protein and tristetraprolin are critically involved in the post-transcriptional regulation of human iNOS expression. Several reports have shown that KH-type splicing regulatory protein colocalizes with the polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB), and both RNA-binding proteins seem to interact with the same mRNAs. Therefore we analyzed the involvement of PTB in human iNOS expression. In human DLD-1 cells, cytokine incubation necessary to induce iNOS expression did not ch…
Development of a biosensor for copper detection in aqueous solutions using an Anemonia sulcata recombinant GFP.
2014
Fluorescent proteins from marine organisms represent potential candidates for biosensor development. In this paper, we described the isolation of a native green fluorescent protein from Anemonia sulcata and the cloning and purification of its equivalent as a recombinant protein in Escherichia coli. Furthermore, the spectroscopic behaviours of the native and recombinant GFPs were investigated as a function of Cu2+, Cd2+, Pb 2+ and Ni2+ concentration. Our results suggest the high selectivity of both proteins at copper than the other metals and, for the recombinant protein, a great sensitivity at a very low concentration (0.1-1 μM). Moreover, starting from these data, using the combination of …
Genetic variants linked to myopic macular degeneration in persons with high myopia: CREAM Consortium.
2019
Purpose: To evaluate the roles of known myopia-associated genetic variants for development of myopic macular degeneration (MMD) in individuals with high myopia (HM), using case-control studies from the Consortium of Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM). Methods: A candidate gene approach tested 50 myopia-associated loci for association with HM and MMD, using meta-analyses of case-control studies comprising subjects of European and Asian ancestry aged 30 to 80 years from 10 studies. Fifty loci with the strongest associations with myopia were chosen from a previous published GWAS study. Highly myopic (spherical equivalent [SE] ≤ -5.0 diopters [D]) cases with MMD (N = 348), and two sets of cont…
Demographic and clinical data in acquired hemophilia A
2012
Summary. Background: Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is a rare autoimmune disease caused by autoantibodies against coagulation factor VIII and characterized by spontaneous hemorrhage in patients with no previous family or personal history of bleeding. Although data on several AHA cohorts have been collected, limited information is available on the optimal management of AHA. Objectives: The European Acquired Hemophilia Registry (EACH2) was established to generate a prospective, large-scale, pan-European database on demographics, diagnosis, underlying disorders, bleeding characteristics, treatment and outcome of AHA patients. Results: Five hundred and one (266 male, 235 female) patients from …
A new Multi-Layers Method to Analyze Gene Expression
2007
In the paper a new Multi-Layers approach (called Multi-Layers Model MLM) for the analysis of stochastic signals and its application to the analysis of gene expression data is presented. It consists in the generation of sub-samples from the input signal by applying a threshold technique based on cut-set optimal conditions. The MLM has been applied on synthetic and real microarray data for the identification of particular regions across DNA called nucleosomes and linkers. Nucleosomes are the fundamental repeating subunits of all eukaryotic chromatin, and their positioning provides useful information regarding the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotic cells. Results have shown a good rec…
Dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity among Christians and the religiously unaffiliated: A cross-cultural analysis based on the Inte…
2019
We present a study of the dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity for 26 countries with a Christian heritage, based on the 1998 and 2008 rounds of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Religion survey, using both exploratory and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that three factors, common to Christian and religiously unaffiliated respondents, could be extracted from our initially selected items and suggested the testing of four different three-factor models using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. For the model with the best fit and measurement invariance properties, we labeled the three resulting…