• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.178-183
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• 2015

Purpose: Elderly people are thought to be more susceptible to periodontal disease due to reduced immune function associated with aging. However, little information is available on the nature of immune responses against putative periodontal pathogens in geriatric patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum IgG antibody responses to six periodontal pathogens in geriatric subjects. Methods: The study population consisted of 85 geriatric patients and was divided into three groups: 29 mild (MCP), 27 moderate (MoCP), and 29 severe (SCP) chronic periodontitis patients. Serum levels of IgG antibody to Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Prevotella intermedia were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared among the groups. Results: All three groups showed levels of serum IgG in response to P. gingivalis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and P. intermedia that were three to four times higher than levels of IgG to T. forsythia, T. denticola, and F. nucleatum. There were no significant differences among all three groups in IgG response to P. gingivalis (P=0.065), T. forsythia (P=0.057), T. denticola (P=0.1), and P. intermedia (P=0.167), although the IgG levels tended to be higher in patients with SCP than in those with MCP or MoCP (with the exception of those for P. intermedia). In contrast, there were significant differences among the groups in IgG levels in response to F. nucleatum (P=0.001) and A. actinomycetemcomitans (P=0.003). IgG levels to A. actinomycetemcomitans were higher in patients with MCP than in those with MoCP or SCP. Conclusions: When IgG levels were compared among three periodontal disease groups, only IgG levels to F. nucleatum significantly increased with the severity of disease. On the contrary, IgG levels to A. actinomycetemcomitans decreased significantly in patients with SCP compared to those with MCP. There were no significant differences in the IgG levels for P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, T. denticola, and P. intermedia among geriatric patients with chronic periodontitis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.661-666
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• 2005

The effects of pre-partum feeding management in terms of birth weight, growth, metabolic profile and immunity of calves were studied using 24 crossbred (Bos taurus${\times}$Bos indicus) cows, divided into three equal groups. The dietary treatments included feeding of either 3.0 kg concentrate/head/d throughout the 60 d pre-partum (T$_1$), or 3.0 kg concentrate during 60-22 d pre-partum and thereafter at an increased allowance at 0.25 kg/d during the next 21 d till it reached 1% of live weight (T$_2$). The third group of cows was fed similar to T$_2$, except that the concentrate feeding during 60-22 d pre-partum was reduced to 2.0 kg (T$_3$). All the groups had access to ad libitum green fodder throughout. The results revealed that the mean daily dry matter (DM) intake by the cows was similar (p>0.05) among the three groups during the 60 days of the pre-partum but T2 animals tended to gain more live weight (41.25 kg) than T$_1$ (38.12 kg) and T$_3$ (36.25 kg). The body condition score of the cows did not change appreciably over the experimental period. The mean birth weight of the calves was 24.00${\pm}$1.10, 24.63${\pm}$1.17 and 23.25${\pm}$1.19 kg for the three groups, respectively, with the corresponding average daily gain of 154.2, 155.0 and 169.7 g during the subsequent 60 days; both these parameters did not vary significantly ascribable to prepartum feeding regimens of their dams. The total immunoglobulin (Ig) concentration in the colostrum was 6.31${\pm}$0.34, 5.80${\pm}$0.21 and 6.13${\pm}$0.30 g/dl for the three groups, respectively, showing no influence of dietary treatments. The mean serum Ig levels (T$_1$ 2.10${\pm}$0.09, T$_2$ 2.05${\pm}$0.09 and T$_3$ 2.10${\pm}$0.12 g/dl) of calves at 5 d of age were similar among the dietary groups as was the case with various serum biochemical constituents. It is concluded that the variations in pre-partum dietary management elicited no significant influence on the calf performance including the immune status.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.505-513
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• 2018

Objective: This experiment investigated the effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) alone or mixed with ochratoxin A (OTA) and/or zearalenone (ZEA) on the metabolism, immune function, and antioxidant status of dairy goats. Methods: Fifty lactating Laoshan dairy goats were randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups (n = 10) for 14 days. Goats were fed no additive (control) or administered with $50{\mu}g\;AFB1/kg$ dry matter (DM) (AFB1), $50{\mu}g\;AFB1/kg$ $DM+100{\mu}g\;OTA/kg$ DM (AFB1+OTA), $50{\mu}g\;AFB1/kg$ $DM+500{\mu}g\;ZEA/kg$ DM (AFB1+ZEA), or $50{\mu}g\;AFB1/kg$ $DM+100{\mu}g\;OTA/kg$ $DM+500{\mu}g\;ZEA/kg$ DM (AFB1+OTA+ZEA). Results: Dry matter intake and milk production were lower in goats fed AFB1+OTA+ZEA than in controls. Supplementation with AFB1, OTA, and ZEA significantly decreased red blood cell count, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean platelet volume, and significantly increased white blood cell count, when compared with the control group. Compared with control, the combination of AFB1, OTA, and ZEA significantly increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities, total bilirubin (TBIL), interleukin-6, and malondialdehyde (MDA), but significantly reduced immunoglobulin A concentration, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxides (GSH-Px), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in serum. Administration of AFB1 combined with OTA led to higher ALP, ALT, TBIL, and MDA, as well as lower milk production, SOD and GSH-Px activities, and T-AOC, than administration of AFB1 combined with ZEA. Conclusion: The mixture of AFB1, OTA, and ZEA exerted the greatest adverse effects on dairy goats, meanwhile the deleterious damage of the other mycotoxin combinations were in varying degrees. The findings of this study could provide guidance for the prevention and treatment of the consequences of contamination of animal feeds with combinations of mycotoxin.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.677-685
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• 2006

Proteins that are unfolded or misfolded in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) must be targeted for refolding or degradation to maintain the homeostasis of the ER. Derlin-1 was reportedly implicated in the retro-translocation of misfolded proteins from the ER to the cytosol for degradation. In this report, we showed that Derlin-1 was down-regulated in the endothelial cells derived from human hepatic cavernous hemangioma (CHEC) compared with other tested cells. Electron microscopy analysis showed that ER was aberrantly enlarged in CHEC cells, but not in other tested cells. When overexpressed, Derlin-1 induced the dilated ER to return normal size. This ER dynamic was associated with the activation of unfolded protein response (UPR). In CHEC cells where Derlin-1 was down-regulated, increased expression of the immunoglobulin heavy chain-binding protein (Bip) and UPR-specific splicing of X-box DNA-binding protein 1 (XBP1) mRNA were detected, as compared with that in other tested cells, indicating that UPR was activated. After Derlin-1 overexpression, the extent of UPR activation diminished, as evidenced by decreased expression of Bip, reduced amount of the spliced form of XBP1 ($XBP1_S$), and elevated expression of the unspliced form of XBP1 ($XBP1_U$). Taken together, these findings provide another example of a single protein being able to affect ER dynamic in mammalian cells, and an insight into the possible molecular mechanism(s).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2004

Tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ (TNF-$\alpha$) and lymphotoxin-$\alpha$ (LT-$\alpha$, TNF-$\beta$) can initiate and perpetuate human diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). TNFs can be blocked by the use of soluble TNF receptors. However, since monomeric soluble receptors generally exhibit low affinity or function as agonists, the use of monomeric soluble receptors has been limited in the case of cytokines such as TNF-$\alpha$, TNF-$\alpha$, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-4, IL-6, and IL-13, which have adapted to a multi component receptor system. For these reasons, very high-affinity inhibitors were created for the purpose of a TNFs antagonist to bind the TNFR and trigger cellular signal by using the multistep polymerase chain reaction method. First, recombinant simple TNFR-Ig fusion proteins were constructed from the cDNA sequences encoding the extracellular domain of the human p55 TNFR (CD120a) and the human p75 TNFR (CD120b), which were linked to hinge and constant regions of human $IgG_1$ heavy chain, respectively using complementary primers (CP) encoding the complementary sequences. Then, concatameric TNFR-Ig fusion proteins were constructed using recombinant PCR and a complementary primer base of recombinant simple TNFR-Ig fusion proteins. For high level expression of recombinant fusion proteins, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were used with a retroviral expression system. The transfected cells produced the simple concatameric TNFR-Ig fusion proteins capable of binding TNF and inactivating it. These soluble versions of simple concantameric TNFR-Ig fusion proteins gave rise to multiple forms such as simple dimers and concatameric homodimers. Simple TNFR-1g fusion proteins were shown to have much more reduced TNF inhibitory activity than concatameric TNFR-Ig fusion proteins. Concatameric TNFR-Ig fusion proteins showed higher affinity than simple TNFR-Ig fusion proteins in a receptor inhibitor binding assay (RIBA). Additionally, concatameric TNFR-Ig fusion proteins were shown to have a progressive effect as a TNF inhibitor compared to the simple TNFR-Ig fusion proteins and conventional TNFR-Fc in cytotoxicity assays, and showed the same results for collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in mice in vivo.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

The rotavirus-induced diarrhea of human and animal neonates is a major public health concern worldwide. Until recently, no effective therapy is available to specifically inactivate the rotavirion particles within the gut. Passive immunotherapy by oral administration of chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) has emerged of late as a fresh alternative strategy to control infectious diseases of the alimentary tract and has been applied in the treatment of diarrhea due to rotavirus infection. The purpose of this concise review is to evaluate evidence on the properties and performance of anti-rotavirus immunoglobulin Y (IgY) for prevention and treatment of rotavirus diarrhea in human and animal neonates. A survey of relevant anti-rotavirus IgY basic studies and clinical trials among neonatal animals (since 1994-2015) and humans (since 1982-2015) have been reviewed and briefly summarized. Our analysis of a number of rotavirus investigations involving animal and human clinical trials revealed that anti-rotavirus IgY significantly reduced the severity of clinical manifestation of diarrhea among IgY-treated subjects relative to a corresponding control or placebo group. The accumulated information as a whole depicts oral IgY to be a safe and efficacious option for treatment of rotavirus diarrhea in neonates. There is however a clear need for more randomized, placebo controlled and double-blind trials with bigger sample size to further solidify and confirm claims of efficacy and safety in controlling diarrhea caused by rotavirus infection especially among human infants with health issues such as low birth weights or compromised immunity in whom it is most needed.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.266-273
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• 2014

Purpose: We previously reported that human serum significantly reduces the invasion of various oral bacterial species into gingival epithelial cells in vitro. The aims of the present study were to characterize the serum component(s) responsible for the inhibition of bacterial invasion of epithelial cells and to examine their effect on periodontitis induced in mice. Methods: Immortalized human gingival epithelial (HOK-16B) cells were infected with various 5- (and 6-) carboxy-fluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester-labeled oral bacteria, including Fusobacterium nucleatum, Provetella intermedia, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponiema denticola, in the absence or presence of three major serum components (human serum albumin [HSA], pooled human IgG [phIgG] and ${\alpha}1$-antitrypsin). Bacterial adhesion and invasion were determined by flow cytometry. The levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activation of small GTPases were examined. Experimental periodontitis was induced by oral inoculation of P. gingivalis and T. denticola in Balb/c mice. Results: HSA and phIgG, but not ${\alpha}1$-antitrypsin, efficiently inhibited the invasion of various oral bacterial species into HOK-16B cells. HSA but not phIgG decreased the adhesion of F. nucleatum onto host cells and the levels of intracellular ROS in HOK-16B cells. N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, decreased both the levels of intracellular ROS and invasion of F. nucleatum into HOK-16B cells, confirming the role of ROS in bacterial invasion. Infection with F. nucleatum activated Rac1, a regulator of actin cytoskeleton dynamics. Not only HSA and NAC but also phIgG decreased the F. nucleatum-induced activation of Rac1. Furthermore, both HSA plus phIgG and NAC significantly reduced the alveolar bone loss in the experimental periodontitis induced by P. gingivalis and T. denticola in mice. Conclusions: NAC and the serum components HSA and phIgG, which inhibit bacterial invasion of oral epithelial cells in vitro, can successfully prevent experimental periodontitis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.134-143
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• 2017

Background: The prevalence of allergic inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis (AD), asthma, and allergic rhinitis worldwide has increased and complete recovery is difficult. Korean Red Ginseng, which is the heat-processed root of Panax ginseng Meyer, is widely and frequently used as a traditional medicine in East Asia. In this study, we investigated whether Korean Red Ginseng water extract (RGE) regulates the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines via the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs)/nuclear factor kappa B ($NF-{\kappa}B$) pathway in allergic inflammation. Methods: Compound 48/80-induced anaphylactic shock and 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNFB)-induced AD-like skin lesion mice models were used to investigate the antiallergic effects of RGE. Human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) and human mast cells (HMC-1) were also used to clarify the effects of RGE on the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Results: Anaphylactic shock and DNFB-induced AD-like skin lesions were attenuated by RGE administration through reduction of serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) and interleukin (IL)-6 levels in mouse models. RGE also reduced the production of proinflammatory cytokines including $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6, and IL-8, and expression of chemokines such as IL-8, thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), and macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC) in HaCaT cells. Additionally, RGE decreased the release of tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$), $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6, and IL-8 as well as expressions of chemokines including macro-phage inflammatory protein $(MIP)-1{\alpha}$, $MIP-1{\beta}$, regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, and IL-8 in HMC-1 cells. Furthermore, our data demonstrated that these inhibitory effects occurred through blockage of the MAPK and $NF-{\kappa}B$ pathway. Conclusion: RGE may be a useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of allergic inflammatory diseases such as AD-like dermatitis.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.266-273
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• 2011

Although turmeric has numerous pharmacological effects, the poor water-solubility of curcuminoids, active components of turmeric, restricts their systemic availability in orally administered formulations and limits their therapeutic potential. In this study we attempted turmeric fermentation using several probiotic bacteria to improve its solubility, and also investigated the effects of turmeric and fermented turmeric on anti-inflammatory activity. Fermented turmeric, by L. johnsonii IDCC 9203, more strongly inhibited LPS-induced expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines than non-fermented turmeric and fermented turmeric by other probiotic strains. We used an NC/Nga mouse model for mite antigen-induced atopic dermatitis to examine the efficacy of the fermented turmeric. Fermented turmeric-fed mice exhibited a significantly reduced serum IgE level and mitigated acute inflammation. When the fermented turmeric was pre-treated by oral administration, it had more preventive activity against acute anaphylactic reaction than the non-fermented group. In addition, we observed that fermentation of turmeric leads to increased water-solubility of curcumin and a change in the active components ratios for bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycrucumin and curcumin. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that fermented turmeric by L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 could be used as a functional food ingredient for improving treatments for atopic dermatitis.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.23-35
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• 2005

Objective : The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on ST36 to modulate immune reaction in BALB/c mice immunized intraperitoneally with 2,4-dinitrophenylated keyhole limpet protein(DNP-KLH). Methods : Experimental mice were divided into four groups : 1) Normal group was not performed by any operation. 2) IM(Immunized) group was immunized intraperitoneally with DNP-KLH and aluminum hydroxide without electro-acupunture stimulation. 3) IM-EA(immunized-elctro- acupuncture) group was performed by successive electro-acupuncture on the ST36 acupoint after immunization. 4) IM-NA(immunized-naloxone) group was performed by immunization and electro-acupuncture with same method, but naloxone was injected intraperitoneally 30 minutes before eletro-acupuncture to inhibit the opiate receptor in spleen. Serum total immunoglobulin I(IgE) and antigen-specific IgE was measured in each group. The expression of interferon-${\gamma}$ and interleukin-4 mRNA in spleen was researched by real-time RT-PCR Results : Serum total-IgE and antigen-specific IgE were significantly decreased only in IM-EA group. The expression of interleukin-4 in spleen cell was significantly reduced not only in IM-EA group, but also in IM-EA group. Conclusions : Above results indicate that the mechanism of immunomodulatory effect of electro-acupuncture is related to opioid system especially in B-cell immune reaction. Further research on the T-cell immunity is necessary to explain the mechanism of immunomodulatory effect of electro-acupuncture.