• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.77-87
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• 2015

Insects are commonly infected by fungal diseases and are mostly susceptible to them. Increasing levels of insecticide resistance has recently become an issue for control programs; thus, research has focused on mosquito control using entomopathogenic fungi, including fungal pathogens such as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Lagenidium giganteum. Review discusses entomopathogenic fungi related to control programs for mosquito transmitted vector-borne diseases such as dengue, filariasis, malaria, and yellow fever, and how to use entomopathogenic fungi for mosquito control.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.234-240
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• 2014

C-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CCR4) is a chemokine receptor with seven transmembrane helices and it belongs to the GPCR family. It plays an important role in asthma, lung disease, atopic dermatitis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, the mosquito-borne tropical diseases, such as dengue fever and allergic rhinitis. Because of its role in wide spectrum of disease processes, CCR4 is considered to be an important drug target. Three dimensional structure of the protein is essential to determine the functions. In the present study homology modeling of human CCR4 was performed based on crystal structure of CCR5 chemokine receptor. The generated models were validated using various parameters. Among the generated homology models the best one is selected based on validation result. The model can be used for performing further docking studies to identifying the critical interacting residues.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2018

We developed a Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit for detecting IgG/IgM antibodies against Zika virus (ZIKV) using monoclonal antibodies to the envelope (E) and non-structural protein 1 (NS1) of ZIKV. These proteins were produced using baculovirus expression vector with Sf9 cells. Monoclonal antibodies J2G7 to NS1 and J5E1 to E protein were selected and conjugated with colloidal gold to produce the Zika IgG/IgM RDT kit (Zika RDT). Comparisons with ELISA, plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), and PCR were done to investigate the analytical sensitivity of Zika RDT, which resulted in 100% identical results. Sensitivity and specificity of Zika RDT in a field test was determined using positive and negative samples from Brazil and Korea. The diagnostic accuracy of Zika RDT was fairly high; sensitivity and specificity for IgG was 99.0 and 99.3%, respectively, while for IgM it was 96.7 and 98.7%, respectively. Cross reaction with dengue virus was evaluated using anti-Dengue Mixed Titer Performance Panel (PVD201), in which the Zika RDT showed cross-reactions with DENV in 16.7% and 5.6% in IgG and IgM, respectively. Cross reactions were not observed with West Nile, yellow fever, and hepatitis C virus infected sera. Zika RDT kit is very simple to use, rapid to assay, and very sensitive, and highly specific. Therefore, it would serve as a choice of method for point-of-care diagnosis and large scale surveys of ZIKV infection under clinical or field conditions worldwide in endemic areas.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.283-290
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• 2019

A rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kit was developed to detect non-structural protein 1 (NS1) of yellow fever virus (YFV) using monoclonal antibody. NS1 protein was purified from the cultured YFV and used to immunize mice. Monoclonal antibody to NS1 was selected and conjugated with colloidal gold to produce the YFV NS1 RDT kit. The YFV RDTs were evaluated for sensitivity and specificity using positive and negative samples of monkeys from Brazil and negative human blood samples from Korea. Among monoclonal antibodies, clones 3A11 and 3B7 proved most sensitive, and used for YFV RDT kit. Diagnostic accuracy of YFV RDT was fairly high; Sensitivity was 0.0% and specificity was 100% against Dengue viruses type 2 and 3, Zika, Chikungunya and Mayaro viruses. This YFV RDT kit could be employed as a test of choice for point-of-care diagnosis and large scale surveys of YFV infection under clinical or field conditions in endemic areas and on the globe.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1716-1721
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• 2021

Chikungunya fever is an arboviral disease caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV). The disease has similar clinical manifestations with other acute febrile illnesses which complicates differential diagnosis in low-resource settings. We aimed to develop a rapid test for CHIKV detection based on the nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay technology. The system consists of a primer set that recognizes the E1 region of the CHIKV genome and test strips in an enclosed cassette which are used to detect amplicons labeled with FITC/biotin. Amplification of the viral genome was done using open-source PCR, a low-cost open-source thermal cycler. Assay performance was evaluated using a panel of RNA isolated from patients' blood with confirmed CHIKV (n = 8) and dengue virus (n = 20) infection. The open-source PCR-NALFIA platform had a limit of detection of 10 RNA copies/ml. The assay had a sensitivity and specificity of 100% (95% CI: 67.56% - 100%) and 100% (95% CI: 83.89% - 100%), respectively, compared to reference standards of any positive virus culture on C6/36 cell lines and/or qRT-PCR. Further evaluation of its performance using a larger sample size may provide important data to extend its usefulness, especially its utilization in the peripheral healthcare facilities with scarce resources and outbreak situations.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.297-298
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• 2017

플라비바이러스(Flavivirus)는 모기와 같은 곤충을 매개로 하여 인체에 감염된다고 잘 알려져 있다. 그 대표적인 예로 지카 바이러스(Zika virus), 뎅기 바이러스(Dengue virus), 황열 바이러스(Yellow fever virus), 일본 뇌염 바이러스(Japanese encephalitis virus) 등을 들 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 생물정보학을 기반으로 인체 감염 주요 플라비바이러스인 지카 바이러스, 뎅기 바이러스. 황열 바이러스, 일본 뇌염 바이러스의 총 4종류 플라비바이러스에 공통적으로 적용 가능한 펩타이드 백신 후보를 제시하고자 한다. 먼저 UniProt (The Universal Protein Resource)의 유전자 서열정보를 이용하여 4종류의 바이러스가 가진 단백질 중 백신으로써 적합한 단백질을 선정하였다. 선정된 단백질의 아미노산 서열정보를 바탕으로 IEDB (Immune Epitope Database And Analysis Resource)를 활용한 에피토프(epitope) 분석을 통해 에피토프로 작용하는 4 종류 바이러스의 공통적인 서열을 도출하였다.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.217-226
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• 2017

Purpose: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are notorious disease vectors that spread various viruses including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Recent Zika virus outbreaks were carried by Ae. aegypti, raising awareness about the perils of its global distribution. Because Ae. albopictus is spread throughout South Korea and can carry the same viruses as Ae. aegypti, monitoring potential distributions of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti is necessary. Methods: In this study, the potential distributions of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti in South Korea were modeled using CLIMEX software, and changes in response to climate change were predicted. Results: The results indicated that the climatic suitability for Ae. albopictus was consistently high, while occurrence of Ae. aegypti was only predicted for Jeju Island in 2080. Conclusions: The results provide basic information for preventing the invasion of Ae. aegypti, and consequent interactions between Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus, which may cause severe outbreaks of dangerous diseases.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.64-68
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• 2010

The mosquito, Aedes albopictus is important vector of humen phatogen such as dengue fever. And Aedes albopictus has widly distribution in oriental regions. This study was conducted to investigate the biological effects of cooper on the development of the Asian tiger mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus (Skuse). Aedes albopictus was affected with pupation ratios, mortalities, and wing lengths of the 3th and 4th instars by exposure to different concentration $CuCl_2$ (0.0, 2.5, 25.0 and 50.0 ppm) for 24 h and 48 h depending on dose and exposure period. The lowest $LC_{50}$ (median lethal concentration) value of $CuCl_2$ was 18.1 ppm at the 3rd instars for 48 h exposure. The pupation ratio of the larvae exposed at 50.0 ppm for 48 h was 14% which was much lower than those exposed to other treatment groups Changes of adult wing length showed significant decreased by Cu treatment. In conclusion, the most prominent effects of high concentration and longer exposure period were to reduce in the survival and pupation rates of larvae and wing length of Ae. albopictus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1928-1936
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• 2018

Recently, human infections caused by severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), which can lead to fatality, have dramatically increased in East Asia. With the unavailability of vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent and/or treat SFTSV infection, early rapid diagnosis is critical for prevention and control of the disease. Here, we report the development of a simple, rapid and sensitive portable detection method for SFTSV infection applying reverse transcription-loop mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) combined with one-pot colorimetric visualization and electro-free reaction platform. This method utilizes a pocket warmer to facilitate diagnosis in a resource-limited setting. Specific primers were designed to target the highly-conserved region of L gene of SFTSV. The detection limit of the RT-LAMP assay was approximately $10^0$ viral genome copies from three different SFTSV strains. This assay exhibited comparable sensitivity to qRT-PCR and 10-fold more sensitivity than conventional RT-PCR, with a rapid detection time of 30 to 60 minutes. The RT-LAMP assay using SFTSV clinical specimens has demonstrated a similar detection rate to qRT-PCR and a higher detection rate compared to conventional RT-PCR. Moreover, there was no observed cross-reactive amplification of other human infectious viruses including Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), Dengue, Enterovirus, Zika, Influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). This highly sensitive, electro- and equipment-free rapid colorimetric visualization method is feasible for resource-limited SFTSV field diagnosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2935-2940
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• 2016

Breast cancer is the most frequent type of cancer diagnosed among women worldwide and also in Thailand. Estrogen and estrogen receptors exert important roles in its genesis and progression. Several cytokines have been reported to be involved in the microenvironment that promotes distant metastasis via modulation of immune and inflammatory responses to tumor cells. Estrogen receptor genetic polymorphisms and several cytokines have been reported to be associated with breast cancer susceptibility and aggressiveness. To investigate roles of genetic polymorphisms in estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) and interleukin 6 (IL6), breast cancer patients and control subjects were recruited from the Division of Head, Neck and Breast Surgery (Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand). Polymorphisms in ESR1 (rs3798577) and IL6 (rs1800795 and rs1800797) were evaluated by real-time PCR in 391 breast cancer patients and 79 healthy controls. Associations between genetic polymorphisms and clinicopathological data were determined. There was no association between genetic polymorphisms and breast cancer susceptibility. However the ESR1 rs3798577 CT genotype was associated with presence of lymphovascular invasion (OR=2.07, 95%CI 1.20-3.56, p=0.009) when compared to the TT genotype. IL6 rs1800795 CC genotype was associated with presence of extranodal extension (OR= 2.30, 95%CI 1.23-4.31, p=0.009) when compared to the GG genotype. Survival analysis showed that IL6 rs1800797 AG or AA genotypes were associated with lower disease-free survival. These findings indicate that polymorphisms in ESR1 and IL6 contribute to aggressiveness of breast cancer and may be used to identify high risk patients.