• Kosin Medical Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.347-357
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• 2018

Objectives: Few studies of pediatric Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated infectious mononucleosis (IM) have been conducted in Korea. We evaluated the clinical features of children with IM to define differences according to age. Methods: We conducted retrospective chart reviews of 68 children aged 0 to 15 years who were diagnosed by EBV-associated IM with EBV-Viral Capsid Antigen(VCA) IgM at laboratory test and were admitted between 2010 and 2014. The children were classified into four age groups: aged 0-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-15 years. Results: The age distribution of patients was as follows: 19 (27.9%) 0-3, 25 (36.8%) 4-6, 13 (19.1%) 7-9, and 11 (16.2%) 10-15. Fever was the most common presentation regardless of age. It was more common in the 0-3 group than the 4-6 group (P = 0.018). Pharyngitis was more common in the 7-9 group than the 0-3 group (P = 0.048), and myalgia was more common in the 10-15 group than the 0-3 group (P = 0.007). Pharyngitis was accompanied by lymphadenopathy, protracted fever, and rash. In the 0-3 age group, the prevalence of rash was higher while the percentage of atypical lymphocytes was lower, but there was no statistical support for this tendency. There were no differences in the frequency of hepatosplenomegaly or laboratory findings between age groups. Conclusions: IM is not uncommon in young children and its clinical presentation varies with age. Therefore, IM should be suspected in young febrile children with pharyngitis and rash despite low percentages of atypical lymphocytes.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.68-77
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• 2005

Background: Costimulation is a critical process in Ag-specific immune responses. Both B7.1 and CD28 molecules have been reported to stimulate T cell responses during antigen presentation. Therefore, we tested whether Ag-specific immune responses as well as protective immunity are influenced by coinjecting with B7.1 and CD28 cDNAs in a mouse HSV-2 challenge model system. Methods: ELISA was used to detect levels of antibodies, cytokines and chemokines while thymidine incorporation assay was used to evaluate T cell proliferation levels. Results: Ag-specific antibody responses were enhanced by CD28 coinjection but not by B7.1 coinjection. Furthermore, CD28 coinjection increased IgG1 production to a significant level, as compared to pgD+pcDNA3, suggesting that CD28 drives Th2 type responses. In contrast, B7.1 coinjection showed the opposite, suggesting a Th1 bias. B7.1 coinjection also enhanced Ag-specific Th cell proliferative responses as well as production of Th1 type cytokines and chemokines significantly higher than pgD+pcDNA3. However, CD28 coinjection decreased Ag-specific Th cell proliferative responses as well as production of Th1 types of cytokines and chemokine significantly lower than pgD+pcDNA3. Only MCP-1 production was enhanced by CD28. B7.1 coimmunized animals exhibited an enhanced survival rate as well as decreased herpetic lesion formation, as compared to pgD+pcDNA3. In contrast, CD28 vaccinated animals exhibited decreased survival from lethal challenge. Conclusion: This study shows that B7.1 enhances protective Th1 type cellular immunity against HSV-2 challenge while CD28 drives a more detrimental Th2 type immunity against HSV-2 challenge, supporting an opposite role of B7.1 and CD28 in Ag-specific immune responses to a Th1 vs Th2 type.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.753-763
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• 2018

Cysteine cathepsins are lysosomal enzymes that belong to the papain family and can induce the degradation of damaged proteins through the endo-lysosomal pathway. It is highly upregulated in many cancers by regulating gene amplification and transcriptional, translational, and post-transcriptional modifications. Cathepsin S is part of the cysteine cathepsin family. Many studies have demonstrated that cathepsin S not only plays a specific role in MHC class II antigen presentation but also plays a crucial role in cancers. Cathepsin S is more stable at a neutral pH compared to other cysteine cathepsins, which supports the importance of cathepsin S in disease microenvironments. Therefore, the dysregulation of cathepsin S has participated in a variety of pathological processes, including cancer, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, a decrease or depletion in the expression of cathepsin S has been implicated in the processes of tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Taken together, cathepsin S has been suggested as an attractive therapeutic target for cancer therapy. In this review, the known involvement of cathepsin S in diseases, particularly with respect to recent work indicating its role in cancer therapy, is examined. An overview of current literature on the inhibitors of cathepsin S as a therapeutic target for cancer is also provided.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.911-920
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• 2006

[ $CD8^+$ ] T Iymphocytes with the cytotoxic activity and capability to release various cytokines are the major players in immune responses against viral infection and cancer. To identify the proteins specific to resting or activated human CD8$^+$ T cells, human CD8$^+$ T cells were activated with anti-CD3+anti-CD28 mAb in the presence of IL-2. The solubilized proteins from resting and activated human CD8$^+$ T cells were separated by high-resolution two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and their proteomes were analyzed. Proteomic analysis of resting and activated T cells resulted in identification of 35 proteins with the altered expression. Mass spectrometry coupled with Profound and SWISS-PROT database analysis revealed that these identified proteins are to be functionally associated with cell proliferation, metabolic pathways, antigen presentation, and intracellular signal transduction pathways. We also identified six unknown proteins predicted from genomic DNA sequences specific to resting or activated CD8$^+$ T cells. Protein network studies and functional characterization of these novel proteins may provide new insight into the signaling transduction pathway of CD8$^+$ T cell activation.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.96-102
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• 2003

Background: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene-transduced tumor cell vaccines induce very potent systemic anti-tumor immunity in preclinical and clinical models. Our previous phase I clinical trial in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has demonstrated both immune cell infiltration at vaccine sites and T cell-mediated delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response to whole tumor cell vaccines. Methods: To investigate the immune responses to autologous genetically- modified tumor cell vaccines, tumor-specific $CD8^+$ T cell lines were generated from peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of a RCC patient 1.24 by repeated in vitro stimulation with either B7.1-transduced autologous RCC tumor cells or B7.1-transduced autologous tumor cells treated with interferon gamma ($IFN{\gamma}$), and cloned by limiting dilution. Results: Among several RCC-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), a $CD4^+/CD8^+$ double positive T cell clone (17/A2) appeared to recognize $IFN{\gamma}$-treated autologous RCC restricted by HLA-B39. The 17/A2 also recognized other HLA-B39 positive RCC tumor cells after $IFN{\gamma}$ treatment. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that autologous RCC vaccination successfully generates the tumor-specific CTL 17/A2, and suggest that the presentation and recognition of the tumor antigen by the 17/A2 might be upregulated by $IFN{\gamma}$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6399-6402
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• 2013

Hematological malignancies (HM) are a group of neoplasms derived from the cells of the bone marrow and lymphatic system. Genetic factors leading to susceptibility to HM have been investigated for years but little is known yet. Low molecular weight polypeptide (LMP) 2 and LMP7 genes are important subunits of the immunoproteasome and play significant role in antigen presentation. The polymorphisms of LMP genes have been reported to be risk factors for various types of diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of LMP2 and LMP7 polymorphisms with the occurrence of particular types of HM. A total of 132 patients with HM and 130 control subjects were investigated. No significant difference was obtained in the distribution of genotype and allele frequencies of LMP7 gene in HM patients and the control group. On the other hand, the prevalence of LMP2-AA genotype was found to be higher in acute myeolid leukemia (AML) patients while it was significantly lower in multiple myeloma (MM) cases than in the control subjects. Our results suggested that LMP7 could not be a risk factor for susceptibility to HM, whereas LMP2 polymorphisms could play a role in the development of AML and MM.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.897-902
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• 2004

PSMC5 subunit, which belongs to the 26S proteasomal subunit family, plays an important role in the antigen presentation mediated by MHC class I molecular. Full-length cDNA of porcine PSMC5 was isolated using the in silico cloning and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Amino acid was deduced and the primary structure was analyzed. Results revealed that the porcine PSMC5 gene shares the high degree of sequence similarity with its mammalian counterparts at both the nucleotide level and the amino acid level. The RT-PCR was performed to detect the porcine PSMC5 expression pattern in seven tissues and the result showed that high express level was observed in spleen, lung, marrow and liver while the low express level was in muscle. The full-length genomic DNA sequence of porcine PSMC5 gene was amplified by PCR and the genomic structure revealed that this gene was comprised by 12 exons and 11 introns. Best alignment of the cDNA and genomic exon DNA sequence presents 4 mismatches and this information potentially bears further study in gene polymorphisms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2008

This study was undertaken to investigate the distribution of major histocompatibility complex class II positive (MHC II+) (HLA-DP-like) cells in the cow uterus (cervix, corpus and cornu uteri) and to compare these cells between the estrus and diestrus phases of the estrous cycle. Twenty-nine multiparous cows were used. Tissue samples from the middle of the cervix, the corpus and the right cornu were taken immediately after slaughter at the estrus or diestrus phase. Streptavidin-biotin peroxidase complex staining was used to detect MHC II+ cells. The number of MHC II+ cells per unit area of tissue was counted using image analysis software under a light microscope. Numerous MHC II+ cells were found in the endometrium (cervix, corpus and cornu uteri) in both estrus and diestrus. MHC II+ cells were found in the surface epithelium of the cervix uteri in diestrus, but in the corpus uteri in both estrus and diestrus and in the cornu uteri in estrus. MHC II+ cells were also found freely in the lumen of the glands and between the gland epithelia of the corpus and cornu uteri in both estrus and diestrus. There were also MHC II+ cells in the connective tissue of the myometrium and perimetrium (outside the endometrium) and around the blood vessels. Endothelial cells were frequently positive for MHC II staining. More MHC II+ cells were found in the endometrium than outside the endometrium in both estrus and diestrus (p<0.001). However, there was no difference in the numbers of positive cells between estrus and diestrus either in the endometrium or outside it. These results are the first evidence for HLA-DP-like MHC II+ cells in the bovine uterus. They indicate that antigen presentation by HLA-DP-like MHC II+ cells of the uterus is not influenced by hormonal status.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3109-3116
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• 2013

The majority of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have a poor prognosis with current therapies, and new approaches are urgently needed. We have developed a novel therapeutic cancer vaccine platform based on tumor cell derived autophagosomes (DRibbles) for cancer immunotherapy. We here evaluated the effectiveness of DRibbles-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) immunization to induce anti-tumor immunity in BALB/c mouse HCC and humanized HCC mouse models generated by transplantation of human HCC cells (HepG2) into BALB/c-nu mice. DRibbles were enriched from H22 or BNL cells, BALB/c-derived HCC cell lines, by inducing autophagy and blocking protein degradation. DRibbles-pulsed DC immunization induced a specific T cell response against HCC and resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth compared to mice treated with DCs alone. Antitumor efficacy of the DCs-DRibbles vaccine was also demonstrated in a humanized HCC mouse model. The results indicated that HCC/DRibbles-pulsed DCs immunotherapy might be useful for suppressing the growth of residual tumors after primary therapy of human HCC.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2000

US3 gene is a member of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) immediate early gene. Although the precise functions of the US3 gene in HCMV replication and pathogenesis are not known, it has been reported to play a role in inhibiting major histocompatibility class I antigen presentation. For further knowledge of US3 gene expression, rabbit polyclonal antiserum of the US3 gene product was used for indirect immunofluorescence assay. In permissive human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells, US3 gene expression was detectable as crescent or half-moon shape in the perinuclear region at immediate early times after virus infection. HFF cells infected with mutant HCMV lacking US3 open reading frames were negative for US3 immunofluorescence assay. Double immunofluorescence assay using monoclonal antibody to gamma adaptin (specific for the Golgi complex) and rabbit anti-US3 antiserum revealed that US3 gene product could be localized to the Golgi complex. At later time after HCMV infection, US3 gene products were detected as globular aggregates in the cytosol. These aggregates were positive for gamma adaptin and stained with preimmune serum, suggesting a nonspecific reaction to the Golgi complex. Northern blot analysis revealed that transcription of US3 was observed only during immediate early times after virus infection (until 6 h postinfection). Therefore US3 gene expression appears to be confined to immediate early time and its gene products are localized to the Golgi complex as crescent shaped forms in the perinuclear cytoplasm.