Biologically active fibroblast growth factor 1 tagged with various epitopes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family members are involved in the regulation of a variety of biological phenomena. Because most of their activity is exerted via a signaling complex composed of FGF, heparin/heparan sulfate and FGF receptor tyrosine kinase, it is important to study the dynamic behavior of all the molecules in the complex without disturbing their interaction or activity.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We used <it>E. coli </it>to express biologically active human FGF1 tagged at its C-terminus with myc-(His)₆, V5-(His)₆or 3xFLAG-(His)₆. We found that the tagged FGF1s had affinities for heparin that were similar to that of the native form. The tagged FGF1s also exhibited mitogenic activity similar to that of the native form. Apparently, the tags do not interfere with the formation of the three-member complex involving FGF1, FGF receptor and heparan sulfate/heparin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Tagged FGF1s should be useful for investigating the dynamic behavior of FGF1 in the context of its three-member signaling complex and other molecular complexes.</p

思春期の喫煙と母親の喫煙の関係

Objective: To determine the effect of family smoking habits on adolescent smoking experience for information for anti-smoking strategies. Subjects and Methods: We analyzed data from 4776 junior high school students and 5047 high school students responding to the “Survey on Prevention of Life-Style Related Diseases of Children” conducted in Nara Prefecture of Japan in 2004. The chi-square test determined the odds ratios (ORs) for smoking experience rates of the two groups of students according to the smoking habits of their fathers, mothers, older brothers, and older sisters. Logistic regression analysis was also performed for smoking experience according to school year, sex, and family smoking habit. Results: The OR for smoking in junior high school students with a father as the only smoking family member against all other cases was 0.60, and the OR with a mother as the only smoking family member was 2.50. The OR with a smoking father against cases with no smoking family members was 1.23, and the OR with a smoking mother against cases with no smoking family members was 3.50. The OR for smoking in high school students with a father as the only smoking family member against all other cases was 0.76, and the OR with a mother as the only smoking family member was 2.66. The OR with a smoking father against cases with no smoking family members was 1.59, and the OR with a smoking mother against cases with no smoking family member was 3.26. All these ORs showed significance. Conclusion: Maternal smoking was associated with a particularly high risk of smoking experience in junior high and high school students. Prevention of maternal smoking should be given high priority to reduce smoking rates in adolescents.博士（医学）・甲第624号・平成26年12月3日© 2014 Morikawa Hideko et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

HCV Virus and Lymphoid Neoplasms

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the viruses known to cause hepatic cancer. HCV is also believed to be involved in malignant lymphoma. In this paper, we investigated characteristics of malignant lymphoma cases that were anti-HCV antibody (HCV-Ab) positive. We were able to perform pathological examinations on 13 out of 14 HCV-positive cases. Of these, lymphoid tissues of 10 stained positive for HCV-Ab. There was no significant correlation between the degree of HCV staining and the rate of recurrence or resistance to treatment. However, there did appear to be a consistent decrease in the amount of HCV-RNA between pre- and posttreatment among HCV-Ab-positive cases; that is, treatment-resistant cases that exhibited resistance from the first treatment and recurrent cases more frequently had a higher HCV level at treatment termination compared to the pretreatment level. This suggests that the HCV virus either accelerates oncogenesis by direct interaction with B cells or indirectly affects lymphoma prognosis

Evolutionary acquisition of promoter-associated non-coding RNA (pancRNA) repertoires diversifies species-dependent gene activation mechanisms in mammals

Diversity of conserved pancRNA expression profile of the five tissues in the five species. Hierarchical clustering and symmetrical heat map of Spearman correlation coefficients of conserved pancRNA (A) and their corresponding mRNA (B) expression profiles. Samples are colored according to the tissues and the species. (PDF 301 kb

Rituximab Administration and Reactivation of HBV

Rituximab is a drug used for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and its range of use has expanded to the treatment of collagen diseases such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and rheumatoid arthritis. One serious complication of rituximab use is the reactivation of dormant hepatitis B virus, and prevention of this phenomenon has become an urgent issue. This paper provides a general outline of the problem through an analysis of patient cases that we and other groups have experienced to date

Surface Distribution of Pemphigus Antibody-Binding Substance(s) on Isolated Guinea Pig Epidermal Cells. An Immunoferritin Electron Microscopic Study

The surface distribution of pemphigus antibody-binding substance(s) on trypsinized, isolated guinea pig epidermal cells was studied by means of immunoferritin electron microscopy. Both fresh and 4% paraformaldehyde-fixed cells were incubated with pemphigus serum at 4°C for 15min and then labeled with ferritin-conjugated goat antihuman IgG at 4°C or 37°C for 15 min, respectively. In these cells clusters of ferritin particles were distributed randomly on the surface of nondesmosomal membranes and hemidesmosome. Fresh basal and lower spinous cells showed clusters of 10 to 20 ferritin particles at 4°C while they displayed various sizes of clusters of 10 to more than 50 particles, some of which were interpreted as patches, at 37°C. Fresh upper spinous and granular cells showed clusters of 10 to 20 particles at both 4°C and 37°C. Fixed cells displayed clusters of no more than 20 ferritin particles irrespective of the layers from which they derived and of labeling conditions. Occurrence of patches implied that aggregation of binding substance(s) was induced by pemphigus antibodies. It was suggested that pemphigus antibody-binding substance(s) were movable in the membranes of basal and lower spinous cells while they were less mobile or immobile in upper spinous and granular cells

What Affects the Visualization of Prostate Cancer Using MRI in Patients Treated with RARP?

Aim：To assess the index lesions（the largest and clinically significant ones）in cases of surgically confirmed prostate cancer（PCa）using a multi-parametric MRI at 3 tesla and to evaluate the relationships between the clinical-pathological features of index PCas and cancer visualization. Materials and Methods：This retrospective study included 67 patients who had undergone roboticassisted radical prostatectomy. Two radiologists reviewed the MRIs（axial and coronal T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging（DWI）with apparent diffusion coefficient mapping and dynamic contrast enhancement MRI（DCEI））. The patients were divided into 4 groups as follows：detected on all 3 sequences（A）, on 2 of 3 sequences（B）, on 1 of 3 sequences（C）, and on none of them（D）. In all groups, all PCa characteristics were assessed, including the PSA level, Grade Group（GG）based on the Gleason score（GS）, the D’Amico criteria, and the maximum tumour length（TL）of the biopsy specimen. Results：Of the 67 patients, 16 were high-risk according to the D’Amico criteria, and 15 of these 16 high-risk patients（94％）belonged to either Group A or Group B. In addition, the mean TL and GG were longer and higher, respectively, in Group A than in the other groups（p＜0.05）. Furthermore, in Group B, 3 of the 4 high-risk patients（75％）were detected using DWI and DCEI. The lesions detected using DWI and DCEI had higher GSs and were in a higher GG. Conclusion：PCas of pathologically higher grades and clinically higher risk were more readily detectableusing multiple parameters