• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.236-240
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• 2013

A total of 170 litters (575 samples) of aborted and stillbirth fetuses submitted to the Gyeongsangbuk-Do Veterinary Service Laboratory (GVSL) between January 2006 and December 2010 from pig farms in Gyeongbuk province were studied to identify porcine abortion- and stillbirth-associated viruses such as Porcine parvovirus (PPV), Encephalomyocarditis Virus (EMCV), Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV), and Aujeszky's Disease Virus (ADV). Virus was not detected by PCR in 36 litters, but viral antibody was detected by HI and ELISA in 93 litters. The majority of etiological viruses were PPV (67 litters, 39.4%), EMCV (50 litters, 29.4%), PRRSV (15 litters, 8.8%), and JEV (11 litters, 6.5%); ADV was not detected by either PCR or ELISA. Single infection occurred in 52 litters (30.6%), co-infection occurred in 41 litters (24.1%), and unknown cases with no detection of any of the five viruses occurred in 77 litters (45.3%).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.858-864
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• 2000

The purpose of the present study was to examine the efficacy and mechanism of the fraction IV cold ethanol fractionation and pasteurization ($60^{\circ}C$ heat treatment for 10h) steps, involved in the manufacture of albumin from human plasma, in the removal and/or inactivation of blood-born viruses. A variety of experimental model viruses for human pathogenic viruses, including the Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), Bovine herpes virus (BHV), Murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), and Porcine parvovirus (PPV), were selected for this study. Samples from the relevant stages of the production process were spiked with the viruses, and the amount of virus in each fraction was then quantified using a 50% tissue culture infectious dose ($TCID_{50}$). The mechanism of reduction for the enveloped viruses (BHV and BVDV) during fraction IV fractionation was inactivation rather than partitioning, however, it was partitioning in the case of the non-enveloped viruses (EMCV and PPV). The log reduction factors achieved during fraction IV fractionation were ${\geq}6.9$ BHV, $\geq5.2$ for BBDV, 4.9 for EMC, and 4.0 for PPV. Pasteurization was found to be a robust and effective step in inactivating the enveloped viruses as well as EMCV. The log reduction factors achieved during pasteurization were $\geq7.0$ for BHV, $\geq6.1$ for BVDV, $\geq6.3$ for EMCV, and 1.7 for PPV. These results indicate that the production process for albumin has sufficient virus-reducing capacity to achieve a high margin for virus safety.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.176-181
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• 2001

Using a retrovirus, foreign genes can be introduced into mammalian cells. The purpose of this study is to produce a retrovirus that can make the infected cells express two genes; the human multidrug resistance gene (MDR1) and the HLA-B7 gene, which is one of the major human histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes. For the expression of these genes, the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) was used, which was derived from the encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus. In order to produce retroviruses, a retroviral vector was transfected into a packaging cell line and the transfected cells were treated with vincristine, which is an anti-cancer drug and a substrate for the MDRI gene product. This study revealed that two genes were incorporated into chromosomes of selected cells and expressed in the same cells. The production of the retrovirus was confirmed by the reverse transcription (RT)-PCR of the viral RNA. The retrovirus that was produced infected mouse fibroblast cells as well as the human U937. This study showed that packaging cells produced the retroviruses, which can infect the target cells. Once the conditions for the high infectivity of retrovirus into human cells are optimized, thus virus will be used to infect hematopoietic stem cells to co-express MDRl and HLA-B7 genes, and develop the lymphocytes that can be used for the immnogene therapy.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2010

We developed a novel dicistronic system for the expression of target cDNA sequences in the milk of transgenic animals using goat beta-casein/hGH fusion construct, pGbc5.5hGH (Lee, 2006) and internal ribosome entry site (IRES) sequences of encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV). Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (hG-CSF) cDNA was linked to 3' untranslated region of hGH gene in the pGbc5.5hGH via EMCV IRES sequences. Transgenic mice were generated by microinjection and transgene expression was examined in the milk and mammary gland of transgenic mice at 10 days of lactation. Northern blot analysis showed that hGH gene and hG-CSF cDNA were transcribed as a single dicistronic mRNA. The hG-CSF and hGH proteins were independently translated from the dicistronic mRNA and secreted into the milk of transgenic mice. The highest concentration of hG-CSF and hGH in the milk of transgenic mice were $237{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $8,990{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, respectively. In contrast, another hG-CSF expression cassette, in which hG-CSF genomic sequences were inserted into a commercial milk-specific expression vector (pBC1), generated a lower level ($91{\mu}g/m{\ell}$) of hG-CSF expression in the milk of transgenic mice. These results demonstrated that the novel pGbc5.5hGH-based dicistronic construct could be useful for an efficient cDNA expression in the milk of transgenic animals.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.140-147
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• 2004

Urokinase is an enzyme with fibrinolytic activity (plasminogen activator) isolated from fresh urine of healthy men. Viral safety is an important prerequisite for clinical preparation of the protein from urine. In order to increase the viral safety of a high purity urokinase in regard to non-enveloped viruses, a virus removal process using a novel polyvinylidene fluoride membrane filter (Viresolve NFP) has been optimized. Urokinase was able to pass through the filter with recoveries of 95% in the production scale process. No substantial changes were observed in physical and biochemical characteristics of the filtered urokinase in comparison with those of the enzyme before filtration. A 47-mm disk membrane filter was used to simulate the process performance of the production scale cartridges and tested if it could remove several experimental model viruses for human pathogenic viruses, including porcine parvovirus (PPV), human hepatitis A virus (HAV), murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), and bovine herpes virus (BHV). Non-enveloped viruses (PPV, HAV, and EMCV) as well as enveloped viruses (BVDV and BHV) were completely removed during filtration. The log reduction factors achieved were $\geq$4.86 for PPV, $\geq$4.60 for HAV, $\geq$6.87 for EMCV, $\geq$4.60 for BVDV, and $\geq$5.44 for BHV. These results indicate that the virus filtration process successfully improved the viral safety of the final products.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 1999

Fragmentation vectors are used to analyze function and genomic structure of a gene of interest by creating deletion derivatives of large fragments of genomic DNA cloned as yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs). Herein, we developed a new hicistronic fragmentation vector that contains internal ribosomal entry sile (IRES) of encephalomyocarditis vin~s (EMCV) and $\beta$-galactosidase as a reporter gene. This vector system provides a novcl loo1 to analyze expression patterns of a gene of interest due to simultaneous expression of a target gene as well as $\beta$-galactosidase driven from a single message. In addition, the bicistronic fragmentation vector contains four rare-cutting restriction enzyme sites in the polycloning sites which can be used to conveniently insert any kinds of genes and therefore facilitates targeting DNA scgments into YAC by means of homologous recombination. This approach establishes a paradigm for manipulation of mammalian DNA segments and characterization of expression and regulatory regions of mammalian gene cloned as YAC.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2006

With particular regards to the hepatitis A virus (HAV), a terminal dry-heat treatment ($100^{\circ}C$ for 30 min) process, following lyophilization, was developed to improve the virus safety of a solvent/detergent-treated antihemophilic factor IX concentrate. The loss of factor IX activity during dry-heat treatment was of about 3%, as estimated by a clotting assay. No substantial changes were observed in the physical and biochemical characteristics of the dry-heat-treated factor IX compared with those of the factor IX before dry-heat treatment. The dry-heat-treated factor IX was stable for up to 24 months at $4^{\circ}C$, The dry-heat treatment after lyophilization was an effective process for inactivating viruses. The HAV and murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) were completely inactivated to below detectable levels within 10 min of the dry-heat treatment. Porcine parvovirus (PPV) and bovine herpes virus (BHV) were potentially sensitive to the treatment. The log reduction factors achieved during lyophilization and dry-heat treatment were ${\ge}5.60$ for HAV, ${\ge}6.08$ for EMCV, 2.64 for PPV, and 3.59 for BHV. These results indicate that dry-heat treatment improves the virus safety of factor IX concentrates, without destroying the activity. Moreover, the treatment represents an effective measure for the inactivation of non-lipid enveloped viruses, in particular HAV, which is resistant to solvent/detergent treatment.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2011

Artificial insemination (AI) of swine is a very useful reproductive tool and that offers convenience in the Korean swine industry. Since many viruses have been reported to be excreted through boar semen, we investigated the presence of antibodies and antigens against viruses causing reproductive failure in semen of boar in 349 semen samples collected from six Korean AI centers. Viral antigens were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or reverse transcription-PCR predominantly. The results was as follows. The major reproductive failure causing factor was porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), followed by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) ($X^2$=166.64, P<0.001). PCV2 and PRRSV, Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) was detected in 73 samples (20.9%), 44 samples (12.6%), 4 samples (1.1%), 3 samples (0.9%), respectively and porcine parvovirus in one sample (0.3%) Classical swine fever virus (CSFV), bovine viral diarrhea virus and Aujeszky's disease virus (ADV) were not detected. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was carried out in 111 serum samples from three AI centers. In most pigs, antibodies response was showed prominently in CSFV (105 sera, 94.6%) ($X^2$=82.580, P<0.001), followed by, in PRRSV (100 sera, 90.1%), PCV2 (92 sera, 90.1%), and PPV (8 sera, 82.9%). ADV antibody was not detected. Thus, the experimental results will be used for the base data, with respect to the state of viral stillbirth in general pig farms, as well as AI centers and breeding farms in Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1317-1325
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• 2008

Viral safety is an important prerequisite for clinical preparations of plasma-derived pharmaceuticals. One potential way to increase the safety of therapeutic biological products is the use of a virus-retentive filter. In order to increase the viral safety of human antihemophilic factor IX, particularly in regard to non-enveloped viruses, a virus removal process using a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane filter (Viresolve NFP) has been optimized. The most critical factor affecting the filtration efficiency was operating pH and the optimum pH was 6 or 7. Flow rate increased with increasing operating pressure and temperature. Recovery yield in the optimized production-scale process was 96%. No substantial changes were observed in the physical and biochemical characteristics of the filtered factor IX in comparison with those before filtration. A 47-mm disk membrane filter was used to simulate the process performance of the production-scale cartridges and to test if it could remove several experimental model viruses for human pathogenic viruses, including human hepatitis A virus (HAV), porcine parvovirus (PPV), murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and bovine herpes virus (BHV). Non-enveloped viruses (HAV, PPV, and EMCV) as well as enveloped viruses (HIV, BVDV, and BHV) were completely removed during filtration. The log reduction factors achieved were $\geq$6.12 for HAV, $\geq$4.28 for PPV, $\geq$5.33 for EMCV, $\geq$5.51 for HIV, $\geq$5.17 for BVDV, and $\geq$5.75 for BHV. These results indicate that the virus filtration process successfully improved the viral safety of factor IX.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.997-1003
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• 2008

Viral safety is a prerequisite for manufacturing clinical antihemophilic factor VIII concentrates from human plasma. With particular regard to the hepatitis A virus (HAV), a terminal dry-heat treatment ($100^{\circ}C$ for 30 min) process, following lyophilization, was developed to improve the virus safety of a solvent/detergent-treated antihemophilic factor VIII concentrate. The loss of factor VIII activity during dry-heat treatment was of about 5%. No substantial changes were observed in the physical and biochemical characteristics of the dry-heat-treated factor VIII compared with those of the factor VIII before dry-heat treatment. The dry-heat-treated factor VIII was stable for up to 24 months at $4^{\circ}C$. The dry-heat treatment after lyophilization was an effective process for inactivating viruses. The HAV, murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were completely inactivated to below detectable levels within 10 min of the dry-heat treatment. Bovine herpes virus (BHV) and bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) were potentially sensitive to the treatment. However porcine parvovirus (PPV) was slightly resistant to the treatment. The log reduction factors achieved during lyophilization and dry-heat treatment were ${\geq}5.55$ for HAV, ${\geq}5.87$ for EMCV, ${\geq}5.15$ for HIV, 6.13 for BHV, 4.46 for BVDV, and 1.90 for PPV. These results indicate that dry-heat treatment improves the virus safety of factor VIII concentrates, without destroying the activity. Moreover, the treatment represents an effective measure for the inactivation of non-lipid-enveloped viruses, in particular HAV, which is resistant to solvent/detergent treatment.