• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.665-671
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• 1993

The rate of 67 neonatal calves's infection of Theileria sergenti was investigated in random samples on the farms located in Kyeongki, Chonbuk and Jeju districts of Korea. The criteria used in verifying infection with T sergenti included the detection of parasites by giemsa's stain and acridine orange stain in the blood smear slides. Further evidence of current or previous exposure to T sergenti was based on the demonstration of T sergenti-specific antibody and antigen by the western immunoblot and the indirect immunofluorescence antibody test in the peripheral blood of the calves. The prevalence rates were 35%, 50% and 100% in Kyeongki, Chonbuk and Jeju provinces respectively and the overall prevalence in all the farms was 43.2% by means of acridine orange stain. The parasites that were observed in the peripheral blood of calves was shown surely by the western immunoblot to the characteristic 34KD antigen among the proteins of T sergenti (Korean Isolate). And the antibody of the neonatal calves reacted at the very highest titer(1 : >2,520). These data highlight the significance of T sergenti in the neonatal calf disease in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.4.1-4.6
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• 2021

Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is caused by Babesia caballi and Theileria equi infection. We investigated antigen and antibody of EP in horses in the Republic of Korea during 2016-2017. Antigen and antibody of T. equi was detected 0.06% (1/1,650). Phylogenetic analysis of 18S rRNA revealed that the T. equi was highly homologous with the strains from China, Mongolia, and Spain. Two Theileria spp. were also detected and highly homologous with T. buffeli, T. luwenshuni, and T. orientalis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5383-5387
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• 2014

Purpose: To investigate whether pretreatment serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) levels are associated with pathological responses to preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with rectal cancer. Materials and Methods: In total, 260 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (cT3-4NanyM0) who underwent preoperative CRT and radical surgery were analyzed retrospectively. CRT consisted of 50.4 Gy pelvic radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy. Radical surgery was performed at a median of 7 weeks after CRT completion. Pathological CRT response criteria included downstaging (ypStage 0-I) and ypT0-1. A discrimination threshold of CA 19-9 level was determined using a receiver operating characteristics analysis. Results: The median CA 19-9 level was 8.0 (1.0-648.0) U/mL. Downstaging occurred in 94 (36.2%) patients and ypT0-1 in 50 (19.2%). The calculated optimal threshold CA 19-9 level was 10.2 U/mL for downstaging and 9.0 U/mL for ypT0-1. On multivariate analysis, CA 19-9 (${\leq}9.0U/mL$) was significantly associated with downstaging (odds ratio, 2.089; 95% confidence interval, 1.189-3.669; P=0.010) or ypT0-1 (OR, 2.207; 95%CI, 1.079-4.512; P=0.030), independent of clinical stage or carcinoembryonic antigen. Conclusions: This study firstly showed a significant association of pretreatment serum CA 19-9 levels with pathological CRT responses of rectal cancer. The CA 19-9 level is suggested to be valuable in predicting CRT responses of rectal cancer cases before treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Bioinformatics Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.209-214
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• 2005

Immunoglobulins (IG) , T cell receptors (TR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are major components of the immune system. Their experimentally determined three-dimensional (3D) structures are numerous and their retrieval and comparison is problematic. IMGT, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system$^{\circledR}$(http://imgt.cines.fr), has devised controlled vocabulary and annotation rules for the sequences and 3D structures of the IG TR and MHC. Annotated data from IMGT/3D sructure-DB, the IMGT 3D structure database, are used in this paper to compare 3D structure of the domains and receptor, and to characterize IG/antigen, peptide/MHC and TR/peptide/MHC interfaces. The analysis includes angle measures to assess receptor flexibility, structural superimposition and contact analysis. Up-to-date data and analysis results are available at the IMGT Web site, http://imgt.cines.fr.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.29-32
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• 2008

The aim of this study is to determine the Toxocara seropositive rate among healthy people with eosinophilia. A total of 97 people residing in Seoul who were healthy and whose blood eosinophilia was over 10%, as shown by regular health check-ups in 2004, were subjected to this study. Their sera were tested by immunoblotting and ELISA with the antigen of larval Toxocara canis excretory-secretory (ES) protein. Sixty-five sera were band-positive (67.0%). The seropositve control sera were positive to band sizes of 66 kDa, 56 kDa, 32 kDa, and 13 kDa. In ELISA, 63 sera (65.0%) were positive to T. canis ES protein. There was no significant correlation between the IgG ELISA titer and the level of eosinophilia (r = 0.156, P = 0.156). As there were insufficient data to determine whether there were cross-reactions with other helminthic infections, or whether atopy occurred, further studies are required to verify the cause of the seropositive reactions against T. canis ES antigen. Toxocariasis seropositivity is suggested to be the major cause of eosinophilia, since the Toxocara seroprevalence among Korean rural adults was shown to be approximately 5%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.905-910
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• 2016

Breast cancer is one of the major threats to female health, and its incidence is rapidly increasing in many countries. Currently, breast cancer is treated with surgery, followed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or both. However, a substantial proportion of breast cancer patients might have a risk for local relapse that leads to recurrence of their disease and/or metastatic breast cancer. Therefore searching for new and potential strategies for breast cancer treatment remains necessary. Immunotherapy is an attractive and promising approach that can exploit the ability of the immune system to identify and destroy tumors and thus prevent recurrence and metastatic lesions. The most promising and attractive approach of immunotherapeutic research in cancer is the blockade of immune checkpoints. In this review, we discuss the potential of certain inhibitors of immune checkpoints, such as antibodies targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), programmed death 1 (PD-1) and lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3), in breast cancer therapeutics. Immune checkpoint inhibitors may represent future standards of care for breast cancer as monotherapy or combined with standard therapies.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.157-162
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• 1999

Serum from mouse orally ingested with tissue cyst forming stain (Me49) of Toxoplasma gondii was assayed by Western blot and immunofluorescene assay (IFA) to establish early responses in antigenicity of the parasite in mouse model of foodborne toxoplasmosis. Sera were collected weekly to blot the RH antigen transferred onto nitrocellulose paper after being separated by 12% SDS-PAGE. With the second week serum, 34 kDa protein (p34) was detected uniquely, and all antigens of T.gondii were detected with the sera from 3 or 4 weeks. p34 was not a member of the major surface membrane proteins and confirmed to be localized in the rhoptry by IFA. It was secreted into parasitophorous vacuolar membrane (PVM) during the entry into host cells. 10.3% of sera detected p34, while all the ELISA positive sera detected the band. It has diagnostic usefulness of presumed T.gondii infection. We suggest the name of the p34 protein as ROP9.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.43 no.2 s.134
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• pp.65-67
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• 2005

The intestines and hearts of dogs were examined for Toxocara canis, Toxascaris leonina, and Dirofilaria immitis, after necropsy between June 26 and September 29, 2004 in Chuncheon, Korea. Of the 662 dogs examined, 6 were infected with T. canis $(0.9\%),\;86\;with\;T.\;leonina\;(13.0\%)$. Fifty dogs were infected with D. immitis among 500 dogs examined $(10.0\%)$. Five were co-infected with T. canis and T. leonina, and three were co-infected with T. leonina and D. immitis. The cumulative positive infection rate for three species was $134/662(20.2\%)$. Considering previously reported seropositive rates of T. canis excretory-secretory antigen, i.e., $5\%$ in the adult population in Korea, the possibility of toxocariasis caused by T. leonina should be reevaluated.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.717-723
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• 2018

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, an emerging immunotherapy, has demonstrated promising clinical results in hematological malignancies including B-cell malignancies. However, accessibility to this transformative medicine is highly limited due to the complex process of manufacturing, limited options for target antigens, and insufficient anti-tumor responses against solid tumors. Advances in gene-editing technologies, such as the development of Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs), Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9), have provided novel engineering strategies to address these limitations. Development of next-generation CAR-T cells using gene-editing technologies would enhance the therapeutic potential of CAR-T cell treatment for both hematologic and solid tumors. Here we summarize the unmet medical needs of current CAR-T cell therapies and gene-editing strategies to resolve these challenges as well as safety concerns of gene-edited CAR-T therapies.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.9.1-9.15
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• 2023

Cancer immunotherapies continue to face numerous obstacles in the successful treatment of solid malignancies. While immunotherapy has emerged as an extremely effective treatment option for hematologic malignancies, it is largely ineffective against solid tumors due in part to metabolic challenges present in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Tumor-infiltrating CD8⁺ T cells face fierce competition with cancer cells for limited nutrients. The strong metabolic suppression in the TME often leads to impaired T-cell recruitment to the tumor site and hyporesponsive effector functions via T-cell exhaustion. Growing evidence suggests that mitochondria play a key role in CD8⁺ T-cell activation, migration, effector functions, and persistence in tumors. Therefore, targeting the mitochondrial metabolism of adoptively transferred T cells has the potential to greatly improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies in treating solid malignancies.