• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4807-4814
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• 2012

Purpose: The chemoresistance of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to cytotoxic drugs, especially intrinsic or acquired multidrug resistance (MDR), still remains a major challenge in the management of HCC. In the present study, possible mechanisms involved in MDR of HCC were identified using a 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-resistant human HCC cell line. Methods: BEL-7402/5-FU cells were established through continuous culturing parental BEL-7402 cells, imitating the pattern of chemotherapy clinically. Growth curves and chemosensitivity to cytotoxic drugs were determined by MTT assay. Doubling times, colony formation and adherence rates were calculated after cell counting. Morphological alteration, karyotype morphology, and untrastructure were assessed under optical and electron microscopes. The distribution in the cell cycle and drug efflux pump activity were measured by flow cytometry. Furthermore, expression of potential genes involved in MDR of BEL-7402/5-FU cells were detected by immunocytochemistry. Results: Compared to its parental cells, BEL-7402/5-FU cells had a prolonged doubling time, a lower mitotic index, colony efficiency and adhesive ability, and a decreased drug efflux pump activity. The resistant cells tended to grow in clusters and apparent changes of ultrastructures occurred. BEL-7402/5-FU cells presented with an increased proportion in S and G2/M phases with a concomitant decrease in G0/G1 phase. The MDR phenotype of BEL-7402/5-FU might be partly attributed to increased drug efflux pump activity via multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1), overexpression of thymidylate synthase (TS), resistance to apoptosis by augmentation of the Bcl-xl/Bax ratio, and intracellular adhesion medicated by E-cadherin (E-cad). P-glycoprotein (P-gp) might play a limited role in the MDR of BEL-7402/5-FU. Conclusion: Increased activity or expression of MRP1, Bcl-xl, TS, and E-cad appear to be involved in the MDR mechanism of BEL-7402/5-FU.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.180-186
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• 2015

Escherichia coli AcrAB-TolC is a multidrug efflux pump that expels a wide range of toxic substrates. The dynamic nature of the binding or low affinity between the components has impeded elucidation of how the three components assemble in the functional state. Here, we created fusion proteins composed of AcrB, a transmembrane linker, and two copies of AcrA. The fusion protein exhibited acridine pumping activity, suggesting that the protein reflects the functional structure in vivo. To discern the assembling mode with TolC, the AcrBA fusion protein was incubated with TolC or a chimeric protein containing the TolC aperture tip region. Three-dimensional structures of the complex proteins were determined through transmission electron microscopy. The overall structure exemplifies the adaptor bridging model, wherein the funnel-like AcrA hexamer forms an intermeshing cogwheel interaction with the ${\alpha}$-barrel tip region of TolC, and a direct interaction between AcrB and TolC is not allowed. These observations provide a structural blueprint for understanding multidrug resistance in pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1605-1612
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• 2016

Quinolone-resistant Salmonella strains were isolated from patient samples, and several quinolone-sensitive strains were used to analyze mutations in the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) of gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE and to screen for plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance. Among the 21 strains that showed resistance to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin (MIC 0.125-2.0 μg/ml), 17 strains had a mutation in QRDR codon 87 of gyrA, and 3 strains had a single mutation (Ser83 → Phe). Another cause of resistance, efflux pump regulation, was studied by examining the expression of acrB, ramA, marA, and soxS. Five strains, including Sal-KH1 and Sal-KH2, showed no increase in relative expression in an analysis using the qRT-PCR method (p < 0.05). In order to determine the genes involved in the resistance, the Sal-9 isolate that showed decreased susceptibility and did not contain a mutation in the gyrA QRDR was used to make the STM (MIC 8 μg/ml) and STH (MIC 16 μg/ml) ciprofloxacin-resistant mutants. The gyrA QRDR Asp87 → Gly mutation was identified in both the STM and STH mutants by mutation analysis. qRT-PCR analysis of the efflux transporter acrB of the AcrAB-TolC efflux system showed increased expression levels in both the STM (1.79-fold) and STH (2.0-fold) mutants. In addition, the expression of the transcriptional regulator marA was increased in both the STM (6.35-fold) and STH (21.73-fold) mutants. Moreover, the expression of soxS was increased in the STM (3.41-fold) and STH (10.05-fold) mutants (p < 0.05). Therefore, these results indicate that AcrAB-TolC efflux pump activity and the target site mutation in gyrA are involved in quinolone resistance.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 1987

To get a better insight into the exxistence and the role of a Na-Ca exchange mechanism in smooth muscle, the effect of Na substitution with sucrose on tension development, cellular Ca uptake and $^{45}Ca$ efflux was investigated using isolated cat ileal longitudinal muscle strips. Experimental results were summarized as follows;1) Exposure of the cat ileal longitudinal muscle to Na-free solution induced a contraction, and the magnitude of the contraction increased after incubation of the muscle strips with ouabain ($2{\times10^{-}5}$M) for 1hr. 2) Cellular Ca uptake in Na-free solution increased with an increase in Na content of the Na-loading media, and a linear relationship existed between tissue Na content and cellular Ca uptake for 10 min 3) After tissues were equilibrated in PSS containing $^{45}Ca$ for 2hr, cellular Ca uptake decreased with rising the external Na concentration. 4)Removal of medium Na or inhibition of the Na-K pump decreased the rate of $^{45}Ca$ efflux. These results strongly suggested that Na substitution increases cellular Ca uptake and decreases the rate of $^{45}Ca$ efflux via a Na-Ca exchange mechanism.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of genes that encode multi-drug efflux pumps and virulence factors in Enterococcus faecalis isolated from retail meat and antibiotic resistance patterns of these strains. Of the 277 retail meat samples, 93 Enterococcus faecalis were isolated. The strains exhibited resistance to ampicillin (35.5%), chloramphenicol (6.4%), ciprofloxacin (4.3%), erythromycin (18.3%), levofloxacin (0%), quinupristin-dalfopristin (76.3%), tetracycline (45.2%), teicoplanin (0%) and vancomycin (0%). The strains were positive for MFS type eme(A) (100%), ABC type efr(A) (100%), ABC type efr(B) (98.9%) and ABC type lsa (91.4%) efflux pump gene. The strains were positive for gelE (68.8%), ace (90.3%), asa1 (47.3%), efaA (91.4%) and esp (12.9%) virulence gene. This research will help to assess the hazards associated with the occurrence of drug resistance among enterococci from retail meat. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor enterococcus spp. isolated from retail meat continuously.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.153-161
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• 2004

Antibiotic resistance is often associated with the production of inner membrane proteins (for example, AcrAB/TolC efflux pump) that are capable to extrude antibiotics, detergents, dyes and organic solvents. In order to evaluate the unknown MarB function of Escherichia coli, especially focused on the function of OmpF porin, several mutants were construted by T4GT7 transduction. MarA plays a major roles in mar (multiple antibiotic resistance) phenotype with AcrAB/TolC efflux pump in E. coli K-12. Futhermore, MarA decreases OmpF porin expression via micF antisense RNA. Expression of acrAB is increased in strains containing mutation in marR, and in those carrying multicopy plasmid expressing marA. MarB protein of E. coli K-12 showed its activity at OmpF porin & TolC protein as target molecule. Some paper reported MarB positively regulates OmpF function. MarA shows mar phenotype, and MarB along with MarA show decreased MIC through OmpF function. By this experiment, MarB could decrease MIC through the OmpF porin & TolC protein as target.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2043-2050
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• 2016

Exploring novel antibiotics is necessary for multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. Because the probiotics in soybean food have antimicrobial activities, we investigated their effects on multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Nineteen multidrug-resistant A. baumannii strains were clinically isolated as an experimental group and 11 multidrug-sensitive strains as controls. The growth rates of all bacteria were determined by using the analysis for xCELLigence Real-Time Cell. The combination of antibiotics showed synergistic effects on the strains in the control group but no effect on the strains in the experimental group. Efflux pump gene adeS was absent in all the strains from the control group, whereas it exists in all the strains from the experimental group. Furthermore, all the strains lost multidrug resistance when an adeS inhibitor was used. One strain of probiotics isolated from soybean food showed high antimicrobial activity for multidrug-resistant A. baumannii. The isolated strain belongs to Bacillus subtilis according to 16S RNA analysis. Furthermore, E. coli showed multidrug resistance when it was transformed with the adeS gene from A. baumannii whereas the resistant bacteria could be inhibited completely by isolated Bacillus subtilis. Thus, probiotics from soybean food provide potential antibiotics against multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of quinolone resistant E. coli from retail meat and to characterize the resistant determinants. Determination of minimum inhibitory concentration, the sequence analysis of gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR), the presences of plasmid mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) and the expression of efflux pump genes were investigated. Of the total 277 retail meat samples, 67 coli form bacteria were isolated. 15 of 67 isolates showed nalidixic acid resistance and 7 of 15 nalidixic acid resistant isolates were also resistant to ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin and levofloxacin. 11 of 15 nalidixic acid resistant strains were isolated from chicken, 2 of 15 were isolated from beef and 2 of 15 were isolated from pork samples. 11 of 15 nalidixic acid resistant strains have single mutation at codon 87 (D87N or D87G) in gyrA, 2 of 11 gyrA mutants have double mutations at codon 86 and 87 (L86A and L87I) in parC with mutations at codon 434+445+465 or 429 in gyrB. 2 of 15 resistant isolates harbored qnrS, a PMQR determinant. Over expression of the acrB gene, efflux pump gene (3.93~16.53 fold), was observed in 10 of 15 resistant isolates.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.148-156
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• 2020

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci 6605 has two multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pump transporters, MexAB-OprM and MexEF-OprN. To understand the role of these MDR efflux pumps in virulence, we generated deletion mutants, ΔmexB, ΔmexF, and ΔmexBΔmexF, and investigated their sensitivity to plant-derived antimicrobial compounds, antibiotics, and virulence. Growth inhibition assays with KB soft agar plate showed that growth of the wild-type (WT) was inhibited by 5 μl of 1 M catechol and 1 M coumarin but not by other plant-derived potential antimicrobial compounds tested including phytoalexins. The sensitivity to these compounds tended to increase in ΔmexB and ΔmexBΔmexF mutants. The ΔmexBΔmexF mutant was also sensitive to 2 M acetovanillone. The mexAB-oprM was constitutively expressed, and activated in the ΔmexF and ΔmexBΔmexF mutant strains. The swarming and swimming motilities were impaired in ΔmexF and ΔmexBΔmexF mutants. The flood inoculation test indicated that bacterial populations in all mutant strains were significantly lower than that of WT, although all mutants and WT caused similar disease symptoms. These results indicate that MexAB-OprM extrudes plant-derived catechol, acetovanillone, or coumarin, and contributes to bacterial virulence. Furthermore, MexAB-OprM and MexEF-OprN complemented each other's functions to some extent.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of quinolone resistant E. coli from raw bulk milk and to characterize the resistance determinants. In this study, the gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR) were sequenced from quinolone resistant E. coli isolates. Also, the presence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) and the expression of efflux pump genes based on quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were investigated. Of the 487 coliform bacteria, 9 strains showed nalidixic acid resistance, and 6 of the 9 nalidixic acid resistant isolates were also ciprofloxacin resistant. These 9 strains had a single mutation at codon 83 (S83L) in gyrA, 2 of them had double mutations at codon 83 and 87 (S83L and D87N) in gyrA and 3 of the 9 isolates had single mutations at codon 80 (S80I) in parC. None of the 9 isolates harbored PMQR determinants. Compared with wild-type E. coli ATCC 25922, an over-expression of the acrB gene (2.15-5.74 fold), encoding the pump component of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump was observed in 4 of 6 ciprofloxacin resistant isolates. This study identified the quinolone resistance mechanism of E. coli isolated from raw milk samples in Gyeonggi-do.