• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.153-155
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• 2007

Ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1) is an ubiquitous and highly conserved protein which plays a major role in iron homeostasis. The expression of FTH1 was specifically enhanced under various condition of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stresses drugs such as Brefeldin A (BFA), DTT (Dithiothreitol), calcium ionophore A23187 and tunicamycin. We firstly report here that ER-stress induces up-regulated expression of FTH1 in FRTL-5 culture thyrocytes.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2012

Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate the characteristics of rat mesenchymal stem cells (RMSCs) transduced with human ferritin gene and investigate $in$ $vitro$ MRI detectability of ferritin-transduced RMSCs. Materials and Methods: The RMSCs expressing both myc-tagged human ferritin heavy chain subunit (myc-FTH) and green fluorescence protein (GFP) were transduced with lentiviurs. Transduced cells were sorted by GFP expression using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Myc-FTH and GFP expression in transduced cells were detected by immunofluorescence staining. The cell proliferative ability and viability were assessed by MTT assay. The RMSC surface markers (CD29+/CD45-) were analyzed by flow cytometry. The intracellular iron amount was measured spectrophotometically and the presence of ferritin-iron accumulation was detected by Prussian blue staining. $In$ $vitro$ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of cell phantoms was done on 9.4 T MR scanner to evaluate the feasibility of imaging the ferritin-transduced RMSCs. Results: The myc-FTH and GFP genes were stably transduced into RMSCs. No significant differences were observed in terms of biologic properties in transduced RMSCs compared with non-transduced RMSCs. Ferritin-transduced RMSCs exhibited increased iron accumulation ability and showed significantly lower $T_2$ relaxation time than non-transduced RMSCs. Conclusion: Ferritin gene as MR reporter gene could be used for non-invasive tracking and visualization of therapeutic mesenchymal stem cells by MRI.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.741-748
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• 2004

The hepatitis C virus is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinomas. Among the 10 polyproteins produced by the virus, no function has been clearly assigned to the non-structural 5A (NS5A) protein. This study was designed to identify the hepatocellular proteins that interact with NS5A of the HCV. Yeast two-hybrid experiments were performed with a human liver cDNA prey-library, using five different NS5A derivatives as baits, the full-length NS5A (NS5A-F, amino acid (aa) 1~447) and its four different derivatives, denoted as NS5A-A (aa 1~150), -B (aa 1~300), -C (aa 300~447) and D (aa 150~447). NS5A-F, NS5A-B and NS5A-C gave two, two and 10 candidate clones, respectively, including an AHNAK-related protein, the secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4), the N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1), the cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (CRABP-1), ferritin heavy chain (FTH1), translokin, tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (TACSTD2), phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI4K) and $centaurin{\delta}$ 2 ($CENT{\delta}2$). However, NS5A-A produced no candidates and NS5A-D was not suitable as bait due to transcriptional activity. Based on an in vitro binding assay, CRABP-1, PI4K, $CENT{\delta}2$ and two unknown fusion proteins with maltose binding protein (MBP), were confirmed to interact with the glutathione S-transferase (GST)/NS5A fusion protein. Furthermore, the interactions of CRABP-1, PI4K and $CENT{\delta}2$ were not related to the PXXP motif (class II), as judged by a domain analysis. While their biological relevance is under investigation, the results contribute to a better understanding of the possible role of NS5A in hepatocellular signaling pathways.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

Differentially Expressed Gene (DEG) was obtained from Differential Display Reverse Transcription (DDRT)-PCR using Annealing Control Primer (ACP) to search and clone genes related to developmental stages of Sebastes inermis. By using 120 ACPs, the nucleotide sequences obtained from 16 DEGs showing higher expression in 6-month-old skeletal muscle than 18-month-old ones and from 22 DEGs displaying stronger expression in 18-month-old than 6-month-old were analyzed and BLAST was conducted. The results identified that DEGs shared 69~95% homology with genes of parvalbumin (PVALB), nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDK) B, tropomyosin (TPM), troponin I (TnI), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), muscle-type creatine kinase (CKM2), small EDRK-rich factor 2 (SERF2), adenosine monophosphate deaminase (AMPD), Trimeric intracellular cation channel type A (TRICA), Rho GTPase-activating protein 15 (ARHGAP15), S-formylglutathione hydrolase (Esterase D; ESD), heat shock protein 70 (hsp70), type 1 collagen alpha 2 (COL1A2), glutathione S-transferase, Mid1-interacting protein 1 (Mid1lip1), myosin light chain 1 (MYL1), sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 1B (SERCA1B), and ferritin heavy subunit (FTH1). Expression pattern by developmental stage of DEG14 and PVALB exhibiting strong expression in 6-month-old skeletal muscle was investigated using real time PCR. Expression was reduced as Sebastes inermis grew. Expression of PVALB gene was extremely low after 6 months of age. Expression of CKM2 showed higher expression in 18-month-old skeletal muscle than in 6-month-old muscles, and increased continuously until 4 years old, after which CKM2 expression became gradually reduced. By analysis of tissue-specific expression patterns of DEG, DEG14 was expressed mainly in skeletal muscle, liver, kidney and spleen tissues, whereas PVALB expression was expressed in skeletal muscle and kidney, but not in liver and spleen tissues. CKM2 was expressed in skeletal muscle, kidney, and spleen tissues, but not in liver tissues. PVALB gene was composed of 110 amino acids, which constituted 659 bp nucleotides. The results reported here demonstrate that the expression patterns of parvalbumin and CKM2 could be used as molecular markers for selecting fishes exhibiting fast growth.