• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.248-256
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• 2014

Purpose: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children has become an important public health issue because of its high prevalence and severity. Several noninvasive methods for estimating NAFLD are under investigation. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of serum ferritin as a biomarker of severity of pediatric NAFLD patients. Methods: A total of 64 NAFLD patient were enrolled from Severance Children's Hospital from March 2010 to February 2013. Serum ferritin levels, liver related laboratory tests, liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (2-dimensional [2D] proton density-fat fraction) and NAFLD severity markers were compared between obese group and overweight group. Correlation analyses were performed between serum ferritin and laboratory values including NAFLD severity markers. Results: In obese group, serum ferritin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin, international normalized ratio (INR), MRI 2D proton density-fat fraction, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis- 4 (FIB-4) (an index score calculated from platelet count, ALT, AST and age) were significantly higher than those of overweight group. NAFLD severity markers, APRI and FIB-4, and liver specific important laboratory values, AST, ALT, INR, cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein show significant correlation with serum ferritin in NAFLD patients. Conclusion: Serum ferritin concentrations could be a candidate of useful severity marker in the pediatric NAFLD patients.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.299-307
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• 2008

Soybean seed ferritin is essential for human iron supplementation and iron deficiency anemia prevention because it contains abundant bioavailable iron and is frequently consumed in the human diet. However, it is poorly understood in regards its several properties, such as iron mineralization, subunit assembly, and protein folding. To address these issues, we decided to prepare the soybean seed ferritin complex via a recombinant DNA approach. In this paper, we report a rapid and simple Escherichia coli expression system to produce the soybean seed ferritin complex. In this system, two subunits of soybean seed ferritin, H-2 and H-1, were encoded in a single plasmid, and optimal expression was achieved by additionally coexpressing a team of molecular chaperones, trigger factor and GroEL-GroES. The His-tagged ferritin complex was purified by $Ni^{2+}$ affinity chromatography, and an intact ferritin complex was obtained following His-tagged enterokinase (His-EK) digestion. The purified ferritin complex synthesized in E. coli demonstrated some reported features of its native counterpart from soybean seed, including an apparent molecular weight, multimeric assembly, and iron uptake activity. We believe that the strategy described in this paper may be of general utility in producing other recombinant plant ferritins built up from two types of subunits.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.196-203
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• 2012

Objectives: Even though experimental studies have suggested that iron can be involved in generating oxidative stress, epidemiologic studies on the association of markers of body iron stores with cardiovascular disease or cancer remain controversial. This study was performed to examine the association of serum ferritin and transferrin saturation (%TS) with all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality. Methods: The study subjects were men aged 50 years or older and postmenopausal women of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994. Participants were followed-up for mortality through December 31, 2006. Results: Serum ferritin was not associated with all-cause, cancer, or cardiovascular mortality for either men or postmenopausal women. However, all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality were inversely associated with %TS in men. Compared with men in the lowest quintile, adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality were 0.85, 0.86, 0.76, and 0.74 ($p$ for trend < 0.01), 0.82, 0.73, 0.75, and 0.63 ($p$ for trend < 0.01), and 0.86, 0.81, 0.72, and 0.76 ($p$ for trend < 0.01), respectively. For postmenopausal women, inverse associations were also observed for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, but cancer mortality showed the significantly lower mortality only in the 2nd quintile of %TS compared with that of the 1st quintile. Conclusions: Unlike speculation on the role of iron from experimental studies, %TS was inversely associated with allcause, cancer and cardiovascular mortality in men and postmenopausal women. On the other hand, serum ferritin was not associated with all-cause, cancer, or cardiovascular mortality.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.254-258
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• 2005

We have conducted in vitro reconstitution study of ferritin from its subunits FerH and FerL. For the reconstitution, FerH was produced from an expression vector construct in Escherichia coli and was purified from a heat treated cell extract by using one-step column chromatography. FerL was expressed as inclusion bodies. The denatured form of FerL was obtained by a simple washing step of the inclusion bodies with 3 M urea. The reconstitution experiment was conducted with various molar ratios of urea-denatured FerH and FerL to make the ferritin nanoparticle with a controlled composition of FerH and FerL. SDS-PAGE analysis of the reconstituted ferritins revealed that the reconstitution required the presence of more than 40 molar$\%$ of FerH in the reconstitution mixture. The assembly of the subunits into the ferritin nanoparticle was confmned by the presence of spherical particles with diameter of 10 nm by the atomic force microscopic image. Further analysis of the particles by using a transmission electron microscope revealed that the reconstituted particles exhibited different percentages of population with dense iron core. The reconstituted ferritin nanoparticles made with molar ratios of [FerH]/[FerL]=l00/0 and 60/40 showed that 80 to $90\%$ of the particles were apoferritin, devoid of iron core. On the contrary, all the particles formed with [FerH]/[FerL]=85/ 15 were found to contain the iron core. This suggests that although FerH can uptake iron, a minor portion of FerL, not exceeding $40\%$ at most, is required to deposit iron inside the particle.

• Genes and Genomics
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• 제40권12호
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• pp.1287-1300
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• 2018

Hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$), a small bioactive gas, has been proved functioning in plant growth and development as well as alleviation of abiotic stresses, which including promoting seed germination, accelerating embryonic root growth, regulating flower senescence, inducing stomatal closure, and defending drought, heat, heavy metals and osmotic stresses etc. However, the molecular functioning mechanism of $H_2S$ was still unclear. The primary objective of this research was to analyze the transcriptional differences and functional genes involved in the $H_2S$ responses. In details, 4-week-old plantlets in tissue culture of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivar 'Zuoyouhong' were sprayed with 0.1 mM NaHS for 12 h, and then transcriptome sequencing and qRT-PCR analysis were used to study the transcriptional differences and functional genes involved in the $H_2S$ responses. Our results indicated that 650 genes were differentially expressed after $H_2S$ treatment, in which 224 genes were up-regulated and 426 genes were down-regulated. The GO enrichment analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis results indicated that the up-regulated genes after $H_2S$ treatment focused on carbon metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and the down-regulated genes were mainly in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and plant hormone signal transduction. Analyzing the transcription factor coding genes in details, it was indicated that 10 AP2/EREBPs, 5 NACs, 3 WRKYs, 3 MYBs, and 2 bHLHs etc. transcription factor coding genes were up-regulated, while 4 MYBs, 3 OFPs, 3 bHLHs, 2 AP2/EREBPs, 2 HBs etc. transcription factor coding genes were down-regulated. Taken together, $H_2S$ increased the productions in secondary metabolites and a variety of defensive compounds to improve plant development and abiotic resistance, and extend fruits postharvest shelf life by regulating the expression of AP2/EREBPs, WRKYs, MYBs, CABs, GRIP22, FERRITINs, TPSs, UGTs, and GHs etc.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.263-267
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• 2019

BACKGROUD/OBJECTIVES: Obesity is globally a major public health issue. Evidence suggests that elevated ferritin levels are associated with obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between the serum ferritin level and depression in Korean male adults with respect to classification of the prevailing obesity. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This was a case-control study; subjects were classified into obese group (${\geq}25.0kg/m^2$, 28 subjects) and normal group ($18.5-22.9kg/m^2$, 27 subjects). A survey was conducted to assess the depression levels as per the guidelines suggested by the Center program for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D). Blood was collected from each group for assessing biomarkers, and isolated plasma was evaluated for fasting glucose, insulin, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index, and ferritin levels. Data were analyzed, and groups were compared with respect to Body Mass Index (BMI), depression scale and biomarkers. RESULTS: The average depression score of the obesity group was 16.86, which was higher than the normal group (12.56). Subjects scoring more than 16 points comprised 53.6% of the population in the obese group, which was more than double that in the normal group, as assessed by the CES-D program. Furthermore, the serum ferritin level of the obesity group was 207.12 ng/mL, which was higher than that of the normal group (132.66 ng/mL). Lastly, the BMI appeared to be significantly correlated with both depression (r = 0.320, P = 0.017) and elevated ferritin levels (r = 0.352, P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of existing correlation between ferritin and depression with obesity.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.51-59
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• 2015

목적: 말기암환자의 진료에 있어 여명을 예측하는 것은 매우 중요한 문제이다. 여러 악성 종양에서 혈청 ferritin이 증가되어 있고 높은 수치의 혈청 ferritin은 질병의 진행 및 나쁜 예후와 관련이 있다고 밝혀져 있으므로 본 연구에서는 말기암환자에서 ferritin과 생존기간과의 연관성을 알아보고 혈청 ferritin이 여명 예측 인자로 유용한지 검증하고자 하였다. 방법: 2012년 3월부터 2012년 6월까지 완화병동에 입원한 말기암환자 65명을 대상으로 혈청 ferritin을 포함한 기본적인 혈액검사를 시행하였고, 인구 통계학적 특성 및 임상증상 등을 조사하였다. 혈청 ferritin과 각 변수들간의 관련성을 파악하기 위해 Spearman's correlation analysis, Wilcoxon Rank Sum test 또는Kruskal-Wallis test등을 실시하였고 혈청 ferritin의 예후인자로서의 유용성을 평가하기 위해 다변수 콕스 비례위험 회귀분석(multivariable Cox's proportional hazard regression analysis)을 시행하였다. 결과: 상관 관계 분석 결과 ferritin은 생존기간과 유의한 음의 상관관계를 보였다. 단변량 분석에서 생존기간에 유의한 영향을 미치는 성별, ECOG 기능상태 지수, 크레아티닌, 백혈구 수치와 나이의 효과를 보정한 상태에서 혈청 ferritin은 말기암환자들의 생존기간과 통계적으로 유의한 관계를 나타내었다. 결론: 짧은 생존기간의 말기암환자에서도 혈청 ferritin은 독립적인 예후인자로 증명되었다. 기존의 여명 예측인자들과 더불어, 혈청 ferritin은 말기암환자들의 생존기간 예측에 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이라 생각한다.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제72권2호
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• pp.163-168
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• 2012

Background: Cigarette smoke induced release of iron could alter iron metabolism in the lungs of chronic smokers and contribute to the increase in the total oxidative burden on the lungs of smokers. In previous studies, ferritin levels of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in smokers were elevated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between serum ferritin concentration, smoking and lung function in Korean people. Methods: This study was based on the data acquired in the second year (2008) of the Forth National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that was conducted from 2007 to 2009. The analysis included 2,244 subjects who were older than 20 years and had complete data from both lung function test and serum ferritin concentration. Among participants, 1,076 were male and 1,168 were female. Results: Mean serum ferritin concentrations in males were $120.3{\pm}80.1{\mu}g/L$ and $47.9{\pm}39.8{\mu}g/L$ in females. There were no differences in serum ferritin concentrations between non-smokers and smokers after adjusting for age, body mass index, and amounts of alcohol. Serum ferritin concentrations were associated with smoking amounts by simple linear regression but not associated with smoking amounts after adjustment with age, body mass index, and amounts of alcohol in both males and females. Lung function was not associated with serum ferritin concentrations. Conclusion: Our data suggested that serum ferritin concentrations are not related with smoking and lung function.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.162-168
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• 2002

본 연구에서는 유도성 promoter인 GAL1과 상시성 promoter인 GPD와 ADH1 promoter 하류에 사람 ferritin H-chain 유전자(hfL) 및 사람 ferritin L-chain 유전자(hfL)를 연결하여 재조합 plasmid를 구축하고 이들을 S. cerevisiae 2805에 형질 전환시켜 외래 유전자를 성공적으로 발현시켰다. Ferritin 발현에 미치는 promoter의 영향을 비교한 바, 이 두 단백질 생간에 있어서 GAL1 promoter가 GPD나 ABH1 promoter 보다 더 효율적이었다. GAL1 promoter를 사용한 형질 전환체 (YG-H와 YG-L)에서 H-chain의 발현율은 전체 수용성 단백질 중 4.5%에 해당하였고, L-chain의 발현율은 9.8%에 이르렀다. 각 균주에서 발현된 H 및 L subunit은 비변성 젤은 사용한 전기 영동의 결과 대장균에서 생산된 재조합 단백질과 마찬가지로 자발적으로 holoprotein으로 조합되어졌다. 재조합 H-와 L-ferritin들은 단백질 내공에 철을 축적할 수 있음이 Prussian blue 염색으로 확인되었다. 그리고 효모 세포를 10 mM ferric citrate를 함유한 배지에서 배양했을 때, H-ferritin과 L-ferritin을 생산하는 재조합 효모 균주에 있어서의 펄의 농도는 각각 174.9 $\mu\textrm{g}$ Per gram(dry cell weight)과 148.8 $\mu\textrm{g}$ Per gram(dry cell weight)이었고 야생형 효모 균주에 있어서의 털의 농도는 49.4 $\mu\textrm{g}$ Per gram(dry cell weight)이었다. 이것은 사람 ferritin 유전자를 효모 균주에 발현시킴으로써 효모의 철 함량이 증진되었음을 유추하는 결과이다.

• 한국자기학회지
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.125-129
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• 2012

이 연구에서는 헬리코박터 파이로리 페리틴, 헴, $NaM[Fe(CN)_6]{\cdot}H_2O$ 프러시안 블루(M=Co, Ni) 등의 분자기반 생체물질 나노입자들의 전자 구조를 연구하기 위하여 방사광을 광원으로 사용한 연 x선 광흡수 분광(soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy: XAS)과 연 x선 자기 원편광 이색성(soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism: XMCD) 분광법 실험을 수행하였다. 이 연구로부터 페리틴 나노 입자들을 구성하고 있는 Fe 이온들은 모두 거의 3가 ($Fe^{3+}$)의 원자가 상태에 있으며, 프러시안 블루 나노 입자들 내의 Fe 이온들은 $Fe^{2+}-Fe^{3+}$의 혼합원자가 상태에 있다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 또한 페리틴 내의 $Fe^{3+}$ 이온들은 한 종류의 대칭성을 가진 국소 구조를 가지며, Fe 이온들의 자기모멘트는 모두 한 방향으로 정렬되어 있다는 사실을 발견하였다. 그리고 프러시안 블루 나노 입자들의 Fe 이온의 국소적 결합은 주로 $(CN)^-$ 리건드와의 결합에 의하여 결정된다는 것을 분광학적으로 알 수 있었다.