• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.696-703
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• 2014

Clostridium difficile causes mucosal damage and diarrhea by releasing two exotoxins: toxin A and toxin B. C. difficile colitis is associated with alterations in bowel flora and the failure to mount an effective antibody response. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether antitoxin sera prevent toxin-A-induced apoptosis, cytoskeletal disaggregation, cell detachment, and tight junction loss in cultured colonic epithelial cells. Serum samples were isolated from mice that survived a C. difficile infection following antibiotic treatment, and the antitoxin effects of these samples were investigated in toxin-A-exposed HT29 colonic epithelial cells and a toxin-A-induced animal model of gut inflammation. Unchallenged mice did not produce IgG against toxin A, whereas serum (antiserum) from C. difficile-challenged mice showed significant IgG responses against toxin A. Treatment with the antiserum markedly inhibited mucosal damage and inflammation in the toxin-A-treated mouse model. In contrast to control mouse serum, the antiserum also markedly inhibited toxin-A-induced DNA fragmentation, dephosphorylation of paxillin and Epo receptor (EpoR), deacetylation of tubulin, and upregulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p53. Taken together, these results reveal that the generated antitoxin serum has biotherapeutic effects in preventing various C. difficile toxin-A-induced cellular toxicities.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.657-664
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• 1993

To reveal the immunogenicity of ${\gamma}-irradiated$ E tenella and its progeny, a series of experiments on the effects of Cobalt-to ${\gamma}-irradiation$ was performed. The SPF chickens inoculated with diffenrt doses of inoculum were challenged with $1{\times}10^5$ oocysts of virulent E tenella. The levels of 100 Gy ${\gamma}-irradiation$ from $^{60}Co$ and of inoculum with $1{\times}10^4$ oocysts were recognized as proper as immunogen by comparison of survival rates, body weight gains, blood in feces and lesion scores in the chickens. In these trials of challenge with virulent E tenella after inoculation with $1{\times}10^4$ oocysts of the ${\gamma}-irradiated$ E tenella and its progeny, the survival rates of the chickens challenged with the virulent E tenella after immunization with the 1st and the 3rd progeny groups of ${\gamma}-irradiated$ E tenella oocysts were higher(l00%) than that(87.0%) of the challenged control group. The signs of blood in feces and the lesion scores were seen markedly lower with the ourput of the smaller number of oocysts, i.e. OPG 103,900 and 25,800 in the groups of the 1st and the 3rd progeny, respectively, than those(OPG 1,658,900) of the challenged control group. The body weight gains of the 1st and the 3rd progeny groups, the 1st week and the 2nd week after challenge, were higher (2.6g and 155.4g, 11.6g and 168.9g respectively) than those(-85.8g and 63.6g, respectively) of the challenged control group, and the feed conversion ratios(FCR 3.28 and 2.96) of the 1st and the 3rd progeny groups were lower than that(FCR 5.60) of the groups challenged control group. The anticoccidial indices(70.5 and 93.9) of the groups challenged with the virulent oocysts of E tenella after immunization with the 1st and the 3rd progeny of the ${\gamma}-irradiated$ E tenella were significantly higher than that (ACI -81.9) of the challenged control group. It was thought that the immunogenicity of ${\gamma}-irradiated$ E tenella would be increase according to increase the number of generation passaged in chicken. That might be because of increasing the pathogenicity of ${\gamma}-irradiated$ E tenella according to increase the number of generation passaged in chicken.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.258-267
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• 2011

Background: Current management strategies attempt to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at an early stage. Transcription profiling is applied in the search for biomarkers for detecting early-stage disease. Even though gene profiling has been reported using several animal models of RA, most studies were performed after the development of active arthritis, and conducted only on the peripheral blood and joint. Therefore, we investigated gene expression during the initial phase of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) before the arthritic features developed in the thymus in addition to the peripheral blood and synovium. Methods: For gene expression analysis using cDNA microarray technology, samples of thymus, blood, and synovium were collected from CIA, rats immunized only with type II collagen (Cll), rats immunized only with adjuvant, and unimmunized rats on days 4 and 9 after the first immunization. Arrays were scanned with an Illumina bead array. Results: Of the 21,910 genes in the array, 1,243 genes were differentially expressed at least 2-fold change in various organs of CIA compared to controls. Among the 1,243 genes, 8 encode T-cell receptors (TCRs), including CD3${\zeta}$, CD3${\delta}$, CD3${\varepsilon}$, CD8${\alpha}$, and CD8${\beta}$ genes, which were down-regulated in CIA. The synovium was the organ in which the genes were differentially expressed between CIA and control group, and no difference were found in the thymus and blood. Further, we determined that the differential expression was affected by adjuvant more than Cll. The differential expression of genes as revealed by real-time RT-PCR, was in agreement with the microarray data. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the genes encoding TCRs including CD3${\zeta}$, CD3${\delta}$, CD3${\varepsilon}$, CD8${\alpha}$, and CD8${\beta}$ genes were down-regulated during the initial phase of CIA in the synovium of CIA. In addition, adjuvant played a greater role in the down-regulation of the CD3 complex compared to CII. Therefore, the down-regulation of TCR gene expression occurred dominantly by adjuvant could be involved in the pathogenesis of the early stage at CIA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.912-918
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• 2003

Mitotic centromere-associated kinesin (MCAK), which is a novel kinesin with a central motor domain, is believed to playa role in mitotic segregation of chromosome during the M phase of the cell cycle. In the present study, it is shown that a rabbit polyclonal antibody has been produced using the N-terminal region (187 aa) of human MCAK expressed in E. coli as the antigen. To express the N-terminal region in E. coli, the MCAK cDNA fragment encoding N-terminal 187 aa was obtained by PCR and was then inserted into the pET 3d expression vector. Molecular mass of the N-terminal region overexpressed in the presence of IPTG was 23.2 kDa on SDS-PAGE, and the protein was insoluble and mainly localized in the inclusion body that could be easily purified from the other cellular proteins. The N-terminal region was purified by electro-elution from the gel after the inclusion body was resolved on the SDS-PAGE. The antiserum obtained after tertiary immunization with the purified protein specifically recognized HsMCAK when subjected to Western blot analysis, and showed a fluctuation of the protein level during the cell cycle of human Jurkat T cells. Synchronization of the cell-cycle progression required for recovery of cells at a specific stage of the cell cycle was performed by either hydroxyurea or nocadazole, and subsequent release from each blocking at 2, 4, and 7 h. Northern and Western analyses revealed that both mRNA and protein of HsMCAK reached a maximum level in the S phase and declined to a basal level in the G1 phase. These results indicate that a polyclonal antibody raised against the N-terminal region (187 aa) of HsMCAK, overexpressed in E. coli, specifically detects HsMCAK (81 kDa), and it can analyze the differential expression of HsMCAK protein during the cell cycle.