• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2013

IL-12 is a secretory heterodimeric cytokine composed of p35 and p40 subunits. IL-12 p35 and p40 subunits are sometimes produced as monomers or homodimers. IL-12 is also produced as a membrane-bound form in some cases. In this study, we hypothesized that the membrane-bound form of IL-12 subunits may function as a costimulatory signal for selective activation of TAA-specific CTL through direct priming without involving antigen presenting cells and helper T cells. MethA fibrosarcoma cells were transfected with expression vectors of membrane-bound form of IL-12p35 (mbIL-12p35) or IL-12p40 subunit (mbIL-12p40) and were selected under G418-containing medium. The tumor cell clones were analyzed for the expression of mbIL-12p35 or p40 subunit and for their stimulatory effects on macrophages. The responsible T-cell subpopulation for antitumor activity of mbIL-12p35 expressing tumor clone was also analyzed in T cell subset-depleted mice. Expression of transfected membranebound form of IL-12 subunits was stable during more than 3 months of in vitro culture, and the chimeric molecules were not released into culture supernatants. Neither the mbIL-12p35-expressing tumor clones nor mbIL-12p40-expressing tumor clones activated macrophages to secrete TNF-${\alpha}$. Growth of mbIL-12p35-expressing tumor clones was more accelerated in the $CD8^+$ T cell-depleted mice than in $CD4^+$ T cell-depleted or normal mice. These results suggest that $CD8^+$ T cells could be responsible for the rejection of mbIL-12p35-expressing tumor clone, which may bypass activation of antigen presenting cells and $CD4^+$ helper T cells.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 1977

The multiple 7S globulins composed of two fractions (A and B) in the electrophoresis with Davis' method were isolated at different stages of the soybean seed development. Electrophoresis of their subunits liberated in PAWU solvent [phenol-acetic acid-water (2 : 1 : 1) solution plus 5M urea] yielded 4 major bands. Observation of both the electrophoretic bands of the multiple 7S fractions(7S-A and 7S-B) and those of their subunits was suggestive of a similarity of the subunit pattern between two 7S fractions. The two fractions in multiple 7S globulins were isolated with DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column$(2.0{\sim}100cm)$ chromatography. They were separated into 2 fractions in a linear gradient concentration of 0.28 to 0.40M NaCl with phosphate buffer (pH 7.8) containing 10mM ${\beta}-mercaptoethanol$(ME). The isolated protein was dissociated into subunits with two different solvent systems; in PAWU solvent and in Tris-HCl buffer(pH 8.0) containing 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 40mM ME. The dissociated subunits were subjected to electrophoresis in PAWU-treated 7.5% acrylamide gel and in 1% SDS-treated 5.6% acrylamide gel. In PAWU gel electrophoresis, total 7S globulin was separated into 5 major bands, two of which were occupied in common by two 7S fractions(7S-A and 7S-B). In SDS gel electrophoresis, total 7S globulin was separated into 7 major bands, three of which were overlapped with the subunit of the two 7S fractions. The above results alluded us to the presence of a common and/or similar subunit between the multiple 7S globulins.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.134-139
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• 1990

A strain of Nuruk yeast No. IS (NY-15) which produced high activity of ${\beta}-galactosidase$ was isolated from Nuruk, and the crude enzyme was prepared by whey permeate culture of the microorganism. The crude enzyme was purified 40-fold with a 7.7% yield by acetone and ammonium sulfate fractionational precipitation, and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, DEAE-Sephadex A-50 and Agarose-PAPT. Purified ${\beta}-galactosidase$ from Nuruk yeast showed two types of subunit patterns; a slow moving band and a fast moving deeply stained band, both anode·migrating at pH 7.5. The molecular weight of the former was estimated to be about 130,000 and that of the latter was 96,000 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The optimum pH of the enzyme activity was 7.5 and maximum activity appeared at $40^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 1990

In order to study the effect of GA3 on the phosphorylation of ribosomal proteins during germination in Zea mays, ribosomal proteins were labelled with 32P, extracted, electrophoresed and autoradiographed. There are five phosphorylated ribosomal proteins. One of these is in 40S subunit and has molecular weight of 33,000 daltons. Others are in 60S subunit and have molecular weights of 37,000, 16,000, 15,200 and 13,500, respectively. Phosphorylation of ribosomal proteins was increased maximum 47.7% in shoots of Zea mays treated with GA3.

• ALGAE
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2018

Red algal mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) can provide useful information on species identification. mtDNAs of Pyropia / Porphyra (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) have shown diverse variation in their size and gene structure. In particular, the introns and intronic open reading frames found in the ribosomal RNA large subunit gene (rnl) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1) significantly vary the mitochondrial genome size in Pyropia / Porphyra species. In this study, we examined the exon / intron structure of rnl and cox1 genes of Pyropia yezoensis at the intraspecific level. The combined data of rnl and cox1 genes exhibited 12 genotypes for 40 P. yezoensis strains, based on the existence of introns. These genotypes were more effective to identify P. yezoensis strains in comparison to the traditional DNA barcode cox1 marker (5 haplotypes). Therefore, the variation in gene structure of rnl and cox1 can be a novel molecular marker to discriminate the strains of Pyropia species.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2008

Acid-labile subunit(ALS) is a 85-kDa glycosylated plasma protein which forms a 150-kDa ternary complex with 7.5-kDa insulin-like growth factor(IGF) and 40~45-kDa IGF-binding protein-3. In a previous study, the present authors prepared a porcine ALS(pALS) expression construct by inserting a pALS coding sequence into a plasmid vector following synthesis of the sequence by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). The expression construct, however, was subsequently found to have a mis-sense mutation at two bases of the pALS coding sequence which is presumed to have occurred through a PCR error. In the present study, the correct coding sequence was synthesized by the site-directed mutagenesis and inserted into the pET-28a(+) plasmid expression vector containing the His-tag sequence flanking the last codon of the insert DNA. After induction of the expression construct in E. coli BL21(DE3) cells, the resulting presumptive recombinant peptide was purified by the Ni-affinity chromatography. Upon SDS- PAGE, the affinity-purified peptide was resolved as a single band at a 66-kDa position which is consistent with the expected molecular mass of the presumptive recombinant pALS. Collectively, results indicate that a recombinant pALS peptide was successfully expressed and purified in the present study.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 1989

Polysomal polyadenylated mRNAs which were purified from pea leaves were fractionated by sucrose grandient sedimentation. Fractions corresponding to the peak at 11.5S were found to contain mostly mRNA encoding the precursor polypeptide to the small subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcS) by in vitro translation in wheat germ extract. Double-stranded cDNA which was synthesized from the 11.5S mRNA was cloned into Hind III site of plasmid pBR 325. A cDNA clone, H24, was identified to code for rbcS. In vitro translation product of the hybridization-selected mRNA was molecular weight 20,000, presumably the precursor of rbcS. The nucleotide sequences of the H24 showed almost complete homology with the sequences encoding the transit peptide of the rbcS-3A gene which was reported by Fluhr et al.(1986).

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2015

Prevotella intermedia-specific quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) primers were previously designed based on the nucleotide sequences of RNA polymerase ${\beta}$-subunit gene (rpoB). However, the several clinical strains isolated from Korean populations are not detectable by the qPCR primers. The purpose of this study was to develop new P. intermedia-specific qPCR primers based on the rpoB. The specificity of the primers was determined by conventional PCR with 12 strains of P. intermedia and 52 strains (52 species) of non-P. intermedia bacteria. The sensitivity of primers was determined by qPCR with serial dilutions of the purified genomic DNAs (40 ng to 4 fg) of P. intermedia ATCC $25611^T$. The data indicated that only P. intermedia strains were detected by the P intermedia-specific qPCR primers (RTPiF2/RTPiR2); in addition, as little as 40 fg of P. intermedia genomic DNA could be detected. These results suggest that these qPCR primers are useful in detecting P. intermedia from the bacterial infectious lesions including dental plaque and oral tissue lesions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6911-6917
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• 2014

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is a complex and heterogeneous tumor with poor prognosis due to frequent intrahepatic spread and extrahepatic metastasis. The molecular mechanisms underlying HCC pathogenesis still remain obscure. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the abundance and the DNA binding activity of nuclear factor kappa B/p65 subunit in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with HCC and to assess its prognostic significance and association with hypoxia inducible factor one alpha (HIF-$1{\alpha}$) in blood. Subjects and methods: This study was carried out on 40 patients classified equally into liver cirrhosis (group I) and HCC (group II), in addition to 20 healthy volunteers (group III). All groups were subjected to measurement of NF-${\kappa}B$/P65 subunit expression levels by real time-PCR, and DNA binding activity was evaluated by transcription factor binding immunoassay. Serum HIF-$1{\alpha}$ levels were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Significant increase of both the expression level and DNA binding activity of NF-${\kappa}B$/P65 subunit together with serum HIF-1 alpha levels was noted in HCC patients compared to liver cirrhosis and control subjects, with significant positive correlation with parameters for bad prognosis of HCC. In conclusion, NF-${\kappa}B$ signaling is activated in HCC and associated with disease prognosis and with high circulating levels of HIF-1 alpha.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.288-296
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• 2005

Cytokines interleukin (IL) 12 and 23 play critical roles in linking innate and adaptive immune responses. They are members of heterodimeric cytokines, sharing a subunit p40. Although IL12/23 p40 is mainly induced in macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) after stimulation with microbial Toll-like receptor ligands, methods to monitor the cells that produce IL12/23 p40 in vivo are limited. Recently, the mouse model to track p40-expressing cells with fluorescent reporter, yellow fluorescent protein, has been developed. Macrophages and DCs from these mice faithfully reported p40 induction using the fluorescent marker. Here we took advantage of these reporter mice to screen bio-compounds for p40-inducing activity. After screening hundreds of compounds, we found several extracts inducing IL12/23 p40 gene expression. Treatment of DCs with these extracts induced the expression of MHC class II and co-stimulatory molecules, which implies that these might be useful as adjuvants. Next, the in vivo target immune cells of candidate compounds were examined. The reporter system can be useful to identify cells producing IL12 or IL23 in vivo as well as in vitro. Thus, our cytokine reporter system proved to be a valuable reagent for screening for immunostimulatory molecules and identification of target cells in vivo.