• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.771-777
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• 2021

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) were inserted into the human genome millions of years ago but they are currently inactive and non-infectious due to recombinations, deletions, and mutations after insertion into the host genome. Nonetheless, recent studies have shown that HERV-derived elements are actually involved in physiological phenomena and certain diseases including cancers. Among the various physiological phenomena related to HERV-derived elements, it is necessary to focus on inflammatory response. HERV-derived elements have been reported to be directly involved in various inflammatory diseases, including autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Sjogren's syndrome. As a mechanism for regulating inflammation through HERV-derived elements, the possibility that HERV-derived elements may cause nonspecific innate immune processes and that HERV-derived RNA or proteins may cause selective signaling mechanisms through specific receptors can be considered. However, the mechanism through which HERV-derived elements regulate inflammatory response, such as how silent HERV elements are activated in inflammatory response and what factors and signaling mechanisms are involved in HERV-derived elements, have not been identified to date, making it difficult to study the onset of HERV-related inflammatory disease. In this review, we introduce HERV-related autoimmune diseases and propose the mechanisms of HERV-derived elements at the molecular level of HERV in inflammatory response.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.248-254
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• 2022

Background: Occupational hazards in crop farms vary diversely based on different field operations as soil management, harvesting processes, pesticide, or fertilizer application. We aimed at evaluating the immunological status of crop farmers, as limited systematic investigations on immune alteration involved with crop farming have been reported yet. Methods: Immunological parameters including plasma immunoglobulin level, major peripheral immune cells distribution, and level of cytokine production from activated T cell were conducted. Nineteen grape orchard, 48 onion open-field, and 21 rose greenhouse farmers were participated. Results: Significantly low proportion of natural killer (NK) cell, a core cell for innate immunity, was revealed in the grape farmers (19.8±3.3%) in comparison to the onion farmers (26.4±3.1%) and the rose farmers (26.9±2.5%), whereas cytotoxic T lymphocyte proportion was lower in the grape and the onion farmers than the rose farmers. The proportion of NKT cell, an immune cell implicated with allergic response, was significantly higher in the grape (2.3±0.3%) and the onion (1.6±0.8%) farmers compared with the rose farmers (1.0±0.4%). A significantly decreased interferon-gamma:interleukin-13 ratio was observed from ex vivo stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of grape farmers compared with the other two groups. The grape farmers revealed the lowest levels of plasma IgG1 and IgG4, and their plasma IgE level was not significantly different from that of the onion or the rose farmers. Conclusion: Our finding suggests the high vulnerability of workplace-mediated allergic immunity in grape orchard farmers followed by open-field onion farmers and then the rose greenhouse farmers.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2022

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) play an important role in innate immunity against pathogenic infections. AMPs exterminate pathogenic bacteria by disrupting cell membranes or inhibiting intracellular molecules. NK-2, first identified in pigs and derived from NK-lysin, has antimicrobial effects against bacteria and parasites. In this study, chimeric peptides (cpNK) of chicken and pig NK-2 and cpNK-derived peptides (cpNK-a1 and cpNK-a2) were synthesized, and their antimicrobial effects against various pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were investigated. The structure of chimeric peptides from chicken and pig NK-2, cpNK, include α-helix like NK-2 and peptide net charge was +9 like porcine NK-2. The cpNK peptide showed powerful bactericidal effects against most bacterial species, including MRSA, especially against gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, cpNK-derived short peptides, cpNK-a1 and a2 also showed bactericidal activity, but the effects were weaker than those of cpNK. Therefore, we conclude that cpNK- and cpNK-derived short peptides have the potential to be used as antibiotic alternatives.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2022

Mucosal immunity is a well-designed defense system that builds precise and dynamic relationships against pathogens, and the gastrointestinal tract is the most important organ with this system, acting as a guardian at the forefront of its activity. Salmonella spp. cause food poisoning, entering the body orally and mainly invading the Peyer's patches of the small intestine. Although Salmonella strains share similar mechanisms for inducing innate immunity, different serotypes may have different effects on the intestinal mucosa due to host specificities and pathogenicity. In this study, we evaluated the effects of Salmonella enteritidis infections in mouse intestine and observed significantly reduced dose-dependent survival rates in a challenge test. Flow cytometry data showed no significant differences in intestinal immune cell populations, although histology indicated increased mucin production and decreased goblet cell counts in the Salmonella-treated groups. Furthermore, Claudin expression was significantly decreased in the samples with Salmonella. To investigate the relationship between S. enteritidis infection and inflammatory response, dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) was administered after infection and the results indicate lower survival rate after DSS treatment. In conclusion, we were able to identify the optimal concentration of S. enteritidis to modulate the intestinal mucosal immunity of mice and inflammatory response.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.96-104
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• 2022

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is an inflammatory bone disorder presenting with sterile osteomyelitis, most often presenting in childhood. Although the etiology is understood incompletely, its association with other auto-inflammatory diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); psoriasis; Wegener's disease; arthritis; and synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome suggests that dysregulated innate immunity may play an important role in the pathogenesis. We report a case of a 13-year-old boy with CRMO associated with Crohn's disease (CD) successfully treated with infliximab after failure of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment. He initially was diagnosed with CRMO based on symmetric and aseptic bone lesions with no fever, lack of response to antibiotic treatment, vertebral involvement, and normal blood cell counts. Despite five months of NSAID treatment, his musculoskeletal symptoms were aggravated, and he developed gastrointestinal symptoms. Finally, he was diagnosed with CRMO associated with CD. Due to the severity of symptoms, infliximab was initiated and produced symptom improvement. This case supports infliximab as another choice for treatment of bowel symptoms in addition to the bone and joint symptoms of CRMO when other first-line treatments are ineffective.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2022

This study will evaluate the effect of fermented Morinda citrifolia L. extracts and its marker compounds to provide baseline data for utilizing Morinda citrifolia L. as functional health products. Morinda citrifolia L. and six marker compounds were processed on RAW 246.7 macrophage to test for XTT Cytotoxicity, measure Nitric Oxide and Cyokine formation, and analyze the expression of immune marker genes. Furthermore, LPS and fermented red ginseng extract, a common functional ingredient, are used as positive controls. Our results showed that fermented Morinda citrifolia L and six bioactive compounds did not have any cytotoxic effect in all treatment concentrations and groups. Among six bioactive compounds, SCP and ASE confirmed the formation of NO. In addition, the ASE treatment group showed increased formation of IL-6 and IL-1β and the expression of iNOS and TNF-α. Also, fermented Morinda citrifolia L extract activated the macrophage by enhancing the production of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1β, and the expression of COX2 compared to Morinda citrifolia L. extracts. The result of the study showed that Fermented Morinda citrifolia L. (Noni) and marker compound enhance the innate immunity activity and suggested that the bioactive compound could be applied as a marker compound. Thus, Fermented Morinda citrifolia L. (Noni) could be used as functional food material to develop immunity-enhancing products, and highly functional marker compounds can be utilized as the effective components.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2022

Macrophages are a major cellular component of innate immunity and are mainly known to have phagocytic activity. In the tumor microenvironment (TME), they can be differentiated into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). As the most abundant immune cells in the TME, TAMs promote tumor progression by enhancing angiogenesis, suppressing T cells and increasing immunosuppressive cytokine production. N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) is a tumor suppressor gene, whose expression is down-regulated in various cancers. However, the effect of NDRG2 on the differentiation of macrophages into TAMs in breast cancer remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the effect of NDRG2 expression in breast cancer cells on the differentiation of macrophages into TAMs. Compared to tumor cell-conditioned medium (TCCM) from 4T1-mock cells, TCCM from NDRG2-over-expressing 4T1 mouse breast cancer cells did not significantly change the morphology of RAW 264.7 cells. However, TCCM from 4T1-NDRG2 cells reduced the mRNA levels of TAM-related genes, including MR1, IL-10, ARG1 and iNOS, in RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, TCCM from 4T1-NDRG2 cells reduced the expression of TAM-related surface markers, such as CD206, in peritoneal macrophages (PEM). The mRNA expression of TAM-related genes, including IL-10, YM1, FIZZ1, MR1, ARG1 and iNOS, was also downregulated by TCCM from 4T1-NDRG2 cells. Remarkably, TCCM from 4T1-NDRG2 cells reduced the expression of PD-L1 and Fra-1 as well as the production of GM-CSF, IL-10 and ROS, leading to the attenuation of T cell-inhibitory activity of PEM. These data showed that compared with TCCM from 4T1-mock cells, TCCM from 4T1-NDRG2 cells suppressed the TAM differentiation and activation. Collectively, these results suggest that NDRG2 expression in breast cancer may reduce the differentiation of macrophages into TAMs in the TME.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.276-283
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• 2022

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin helps to retain calcium and phosphorus but also has shown to affect immune regulation and homeostasis. In humans, vitamin D3 and vitamin D2 and their metabolite has intensively studied in both innate and adaptive immune system that they are important to regulate overwhelmed inflammation. The vitamin D receptor is a nuclear hormone receptor which regulate various downstream target gene expressions as a transcription factor related to metabolism, immune regulation, etc. Vitamin D deficiency is a high-risk factor for inflammatory diseases like autoimmune disease and allergy. In addition, reduced vitamin D seem to correlate with susceptibility to the virus infection such as HIV and COVID-19. In this review, we will summarize up-to-date vitamin D's role in various immune cells, immune regulatory functions during autoimmune, allergic, and infectious diseases. We will also discuss about vitamin D supplement effects in human trial studies for COVID-19.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.956-961
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• 2022

Plant Chloroplast have several advantages as an expression platform of biopharmaceuticals over conventional expression platforms such as mammalian cells, yeast and bacteria. First, plants do not serve as a host for mammalian infectious virus and have endotoxin like bacteria which can cause anaphylactic shock. In addition, high copy number of chloroplast genome allows for chloroplast transformants to reach the high level of expression of heterologous genes. Moreover, the integration of transgenes into specific region of chloroplast genomes makes chloroplast transformants unaffected by positional effect which can be frequently observed from nuclear transformants, resulting in loss of transgene expressions. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a kind of innate immunity which is found from bacteria to humans. Unlike conventional antibiotics, very less dosage of AMPs can have catastrophic effect on bacterial survival. Further, the repeated use of AMPs does not trigger the development of bacterial resistance. Moricin, one of the AMPs, was isolated from Bombyx mori, a silkworm moth. The C-terminal of moricin consists largely of basic amino acids, and the N-terminal has an α-helix structure. Moricin was chosen and expressed in a SUMO/SUMOase without leaving any unwanted amino acids which could potentially affect the anti-bacterial activity of the moricin. The transformation vector used in this study has already been created in this lab for the expression in both prokaryotic systems such as E. coli and chloroplast. The expressed moricin was purified using Ni columns and SUMOase, and the antibacterial activity of the purified moricin was confirmed using an agar diffusion assay.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.498-505
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the optimal dose of novel iron amino acid complexes (Fe-Lys-Glu) by measuring laying performance, egg quality, egg iron (Fe) concentrations, and blood biochemical parameters in laying hens. Methods: A total of 1,260 18-week-old healthy Beijing White laying hens were randomly divided into 7 groups with 12 replicates of 15 birds each. After a 2-wk acclimation to the basal diet, hens were fed diets supplemented with 0 (negative control, the analyzed innate iron content was 75.06 mg/kg), 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu or 45 mg Fe/kg from FeSO₄ (positive control) for 24 wk. Results: Results showed that compared with the negative and positive control groups, dietary supplementation with 30 to 75 mg Fe/kg from Fe-Lys-Glu significantly (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) increased the laying rate (LR) and average daily egg weight (ADEW); hens administered 45 to 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu showed a remarkable (linear, p<0.05) decrease in feed conversion ratio. There were no significant differences among all groups in egg quality. The iron concentrations in egg yolk and serum were elevated by increasing Fe-Lys-Glu levels, and the highest iron content was found in 75 mg Fe/kg group. In addition, hens fed 45 mg Fe/kg from Fe-Lys-Glu had (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) higher yolk Fe contents than that with the same dosage of FeSO₄ supplementation. The red blood cell (RBC) count and hemoglobin content (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) increased obviously in the groups fed with 30 to 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu in comparison with the control group. Fe-Lys-Glu supplementation also (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) enhanced the activity of copper/zinc-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) in serum, as a result, the serum malonaldehyde content (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) decreased in hens received 60 to 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu. Conclusion: Supplementation Fe-Lys-Glu in laying hens could substitute for FeSO₄ and the optimal additive levels of Fe-Lys-Glu are 45 mg Fe/kg in layers diets based on the quadratic regression analysis of LR, ADEW, RBC, and Cu/Zn-SOD.