• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2009

Early and accurate detection of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis can improve both the treatment outcome and public health control of tuberculosis. A number of molecular-based techniques have been developed including ones using probe molecules that target drug resistance-related mutations. Although these techniques are highly specific and sensitive, mixed signals can be obtained when the drug resistant isolates are mixed with drug susceptible isolates. In order to overcome this problem, we developed a new drug susceptibility test (DST) for one of the most effective anti-tuberculosis drug, isoniazid. This technique employed a microplate hybridization assay that quantified signals from each probe molecule, and was evaluated using clinical isolates. The evaluation analysis clearly showed that the microplate hybridization assay was an accurate and rapid method that overcame the limitations of DST based on conventional molecular techniques.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.651-661
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• 2019

Targeting the pathogen viability using drugs is associated with development of drug resistance due to selective pressure. Hence, there is an increased interest in developing agents that target bacterial virulence. In this study, the inhibitory effect of ciclopirox, an antifungal agent with iron chelation potential, on the microbial virulence factors was evaluated in 26 clinical MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates collected from Alexandria Main University Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Egypt. Treatment with 9 ㎍/ml ciclopirox inhibited the hemolytic activity in 70% isolates, reduced pyocyanin production, decreased protease secretion in 46% isolates, lowered twitching and swarming motility, and decreased biofilm formation by 1.5- to 4.5-fold. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that treatment with ciclopirox downregulated the expression levels of alkaline protease (aprA) and pyocyanin (phzA1). Ciclopirox is used to treat hematological malignancies and the systemic administration of ciclopirox is reported to have adequate oral absorption with a satisfactory drug safety profile. It is important to calculate the appropriate clinical dose and therapeutic index to reposition ciclopirox from a topical antifungal agent to a promising virulence-modifying agent agent against P. aeruginosa, a problematic Gram-negative pathogen.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.2317-2325
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• 2014

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a member of the ATP-Binding Cassette transporter superfamily and mediates transmembrane efflux of many drugs. Since it is involved in multi-drug resistance activity in various cancer cells, the development of P-gp inhibitor is one of the major concerns in anticancer therapy. Human P-gp protein has at least two "functional" drug binding sites that are called "H" site and "R" site, hence it has multi-binding-specificities. Though the amino acid residues that constitute in drug binding pockets have been proposed by previous experimental evidences, the shapes and the binding poses are not revealed clearly yet. In this study, human P-gp structure was built by homology modeling with available crystal structure of mouse P-gp as a template and docking simulations were performed with inhibitors such as verapamil, hoechst33342, and rhodamine123 to construct the interaction between human P-gp and its inhibitors. The docking simulations were performed 500 times for each inhibitor, and then the interaction frequency of the amino acids at the binding poses was analyzed. With the analysis results, we proposed highly contributing residues that constitute binding pockets of the human P-gp for the inhibitors. Using the highly contributing residues, we proposed the locations and the shapes of verapamil binding site and "R" site, and suggested the possible position of "H" site.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2016

Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is prevalent in hospital environments and is an important opportunistic pathogen of nosocomial infection. It is known that this pathogen cause herd infection in hospitals, and the mortality rate is remarkably higher for patients infected with this pathogen and already have other underlying diseases. Herein, we investigated the antibiotic resistance rate and the type of resistance genes in 85 isolates of multi-drug resistant A. baumannii from the samples commissioned to laboratory medicine in two university hospitals-in hospital A and hospital B-located in Cheonan and Chungcheong provinces, respectively, in Korea. As a result, $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ and $bla_{OXA-51-like}$ were detected in 82 stains (96.5%). These 82 strains of $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ producing A. baumannii were confirmed with the ISAba1 gene found at the top of the $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ genes by PCR, inducing the resistance against carbapenemase. The armA, AME gene that induces the resistance against aminoglycoside was detected in 34 strains out of 38 strains from Hospital A (89.5%), and in 40 strains out of 47 strains from Hospital B (85.1%), while AMEs were found in 33 strains out of 38 strains from Hospital A (70.2%) and in 44 strains out of 47 strains in Hospital B (93.6%). Therefore, it was found that most multi-drug resistant A. baumannii from the Cheonan area expressed both acethyltransferase and adenyltransferase. This study investigated the multi-drug resistant A. baumannii isolated from Cheonan and Chungcheong provinces in Korea, and it is thought that the results of the study can be utilized as the basic information to cure multi-drug resistant A. baumannii infections and to prevent the spread of drug resistance.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.118-127
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• 2016

A growing number of studies have demonstrated that ABCB1 gene polymorphisms are associated with the variability of responses to imatinib. However, the effects of ABCB1 polymorphisms on imatinib response in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to clarify the associations between ABCB1 polymorphisms and imatinib response in CML. A systematic literature review was performed. The databases of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for all published studies from inception to December 2015. The following terms were used with functions of 'AND' and 'OR': 'chronic myeloid leukemia', 'CML', 'ABCB1', 'MDR1', 'polymorphism', 'SNP', and 'imatinib'. Using the Review Manager 5, odds ratios (ORs) were pooled to estimate the effect of ABCB1 polymorphisms on imatinib response in CML. The pooled analysis showed that ABCB1 2677 G allele was significantly associated with poor response to imatinib in African and Asian patients (GG vs TT, OR: 0.32, p<0.0001; GG+GT vs TT, OR: 0.44, p=0.0005). In subgroup analyses, African patients carrying ABCB1 1236 C allele exhibited higher risk for worse response, whereas Asian patients with 1236 C allele showed better response (CC+CT vs TT, OR: 0.41, p=0.008 for African; OR: 1.65, p=0.03 for Asian). There was no association between C3435T polymorphisms and imatinib response in African, Asian, and Caucasian CML patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4995-5000
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• 2014

Background: Cancer constitutes a key pressure on public health regardless of the economy state in different countries. As a kind of highly malignant epithelial tumor, lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma can occur in any part of the body, such as salivary gland, submandibular gland, trachea, lung, breast, skin and lacrimal gland. Chemotherapy is one of the key treatment techniques, but drug resistance, especially MDR, seriously blunts its effects. As an element of the 60S large ribosomal subunit, the ribosomal protein L39-L gene appears to be documented specifically in the human testis and many human cancer samples of different origins. Materials and Methods: Total RNA of cultured drug-resistant and susceptible lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma cells was seperated, and real time quantitative RT-PCR were used to reveal transcription differences between amycin resistant and susceptible strains of lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma cells. Viability assays were used to present the amycin resistance difference in a RPL39-L transfected lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma cell line as compared to control vector and null-transfected lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma cell lines. Results: The ribosomal protein L39-L transcription level was 6.5-fold higher in the drug-resistant human lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma cell line than in the susceptible cell line by quantitative RT-PCR analysis. The ribosomal protein L39-L transfected cells revealed enhanced drug resistance compared to plasmid vector-transfected or null-transfected cells as determined by methyl tritiated thymidine (3H-TdR) incorporation. Conclusions: The ribosomal protein L39-L gene could possibly have influence on the drug resistance mechanism of lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma cells.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2020

Clostridial bacteria are zoonotic agents, which cause severe necrotizing enteritis, pseudo-membrane colitis, enterotoxemia to both humans and animals. The objective of this study was to monitor the antibiotic resistance of Clostridium isolates on clinical specimens from wild animals in Seoul zoo for 5 years. Clostridium isolates were verified by using Vitek2 compact machine. Antibiotic susceptibility was assessed by antibiotic disc diffusion test, which was followed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test method. The frequency of Antimicrobial resistance of Clostridium isolate was the greatest in gentamicin (87%), then in order of amikacin (80%). There were 55.6% of Clostridium isolates showed multiple drug resistance (MDR). These results showed that a lot of Clostridial bacteria from wild animals in Seoul zoo were acquired antibiotic resistance. Because of the wild animal's aggressive manner, it has been hard to collect clinical samples from wild animals in a zoo to exam antibiotic susceptibility. For these reasons, empirical use of antibiotics has been performed in frequently. It may cause to increase the emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria. In addition, the antibiotic resistance bacteria from zoo animals can be spread to other wild animals which inhabit around the zoo. Therefore, regular monitoring of antibiotic resistance Clostridial bacteria is important to protect animals and humans from Clostridial diseases.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2012

This study measured the mechanical and damping properties of EPDM compounds including fillers. Semi-reinforcing furnace black (SRF), high abrasion furnace black (HAF) and acetylene black were used as fillers. Dicumyl peroxide (DCP) were used as curing agents. The measurements were conducted using a moving die rheometer (MDR), durometer, universal testing machine (UTM), compression set and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The tensile strength and elongation at break increased with increasing SRF contents in EPDM compounds. However, they decreased with increasing the amount of acetylene black. In the inspecting temperature range, EPDM compound filled acetylene black had stable storage modulus. Furthermore, the tan ${\delta}$ of the EPDM compounds obtained was enhanced by compounding with acetylene black.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.432-440
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• 2023

Irrational and injudicious use of antibiotics, easy availability of them as over-the-counter drugs in economically developing countries, and unavailability of regulatory policies governing antimicrobial use in agriculture, animals, and humans, has led to the development of multi-drug resistance (MDR) bacteria. The use of medicinal plants can be considered as an alternative, with a consequent impact on microbial resistance. We tested extracts of Piper longum fruits as new natural products as agents for reversing the resistance to antibiotics. Six crude extracts of P. longum fruits were utilized against a clinical isolate of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.The antibiotic susceptibility testing disc method was used in the antibiotic resistance reversal analysis. Apart from cefoxitin and erythromycin, all other antibiotics used (lincosamides [clindamycin], quinolones [levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin], and aminoglycosides [amikacin and gentamicin]) were enhanced by P. longum extracts. The extracts that showed the greatest synergy with the antibiotics were EAPL (ethyl acetate [extract of] P. longum), n-BPL (n-butanol [extract of] P. longum), and MPL (methanolic [extract of] P. longum The results of this study suggest that P. longum extracts have the ability to increase the effectiveness of different classes of antibiotics and reverse their resistance. However, future studies are needed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind the synergy between antibiotic and phytocompound(s) and identify the active biomolecules of P. longum responsible for the synergy in S. aureus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1276-1286
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• 2024

The environment has been identified as an origin, reservoir, and transmission route of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Among diverse environments, freshwater environments have been recognized as pivotal in the transmission of ARGs between opportunistic pathogens and autochthonous bacteria such as Aeromonas spp. In this study, five environmental strains of Aeromonas spp. exhibiting multidrug resistance (MDR) were selected for whole-genome sequencing to ascertain their taxonomic assignment at the species-level and to delineate their ARG repertoires. Analyses of their genomes revealed the presence of one protein almost identical to AhQnr (A. hydrophila Qnr protein) and four novel proteins similar to AhQnr. To scrutinize the classification and taxonomic distribution of these proteins, all Aeromonas genomes deposited in the NCBI RefSeq genome database (1,222 genomes) were investigated. This revealed that these Aeromonas Qnr (AQnr) proteins are conserved intrinsic resistance determinants of the genus, exhibiting species-specific diversity. Additionally, structure prediction and analysis of contribution to quinolone resistance by AQnr proteins of the isolates, confirmed their functionality as quinolone resistance determinants. Given the origin of mobile qnr genes from aquatic bacteria and the crucial role of Aeromonas spp. in ARG dissemination in aquatic environments, a thorough understanding and strict surveillance of AQnr families prior to the clinical emergence are imperative. In this study, using comparative genome analyses and functional characterization of AQnr proteins in the genus Aeromonas, novel Aeromonas ARGs requiring surveillance has suggested.