• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.1461-1462
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• 2011

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 1998

The maintenance of a viable pregnancy has long been viewed as an immunological paradox. The deveolping embryo and trophoblast are immunologically foreign to the maternal immune system due to their maternally inherited genes products and tissue-specific differentiation antigens (Hill & Anderson, 1988). Therefore, speculation has arisen that spontaneous abortion may be caused by impaired maternal immune tolerance to the semiallogenic conceptus (Hill, 1990). Loss of recall antigen has been reported in immunosuppressed transplant recipients and is associated with graft survival (Muluk et al., 1991; Schulik et al., 1994). Progesterone $(10^{-5}M)$ has immunosuppressive capabilities (Szekeres-Bartho et al., 1985). Previous study showed that fertile women, but not women with unexplained recurrent abortion (URA), lose their immune response to recall antigens when pregnant (Bermas & Hill, 1997). Therefore, we hypothesized that immunosuppressive doses of progesterone may affect proliferative response of lymphocytes to trophoblast antigen and alloantigen. Proliferative responses using $^3H$-thymidine ($^3H$-TdR) incorporation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to the irradiated allogeneic periperal blood mononuclear cells as alloantigen, trophoblast extract and Flu as recall antigen, and PHA as mitogen were serially checked in 9 women who had experienced unexplained recurrent miscarriage. Progesterone vaginal suppositories (100mg b.i.d; Utrogestan, Organon) beginning 3 days after ovulation were given to 9 women with unexplained RSA who had prior evidence of Th1 immunity to trophoblast. We checked proliferation responses to conception cycle before and after progesterone supplementation once a week through the first 7 weeks of pregnancy. All patients of alloantigen and PHA had a positive proliferation response that occmed in the baseline phase. But 4 out of 9 patients (44.4%) of trophoblast antigen and Flu antigen had a positive proliferative response. The suppression of proliferation response to each antigen were started after proliferative phase and during pregnancy cycles. Our data demonstrated that since in vivo progesterone treated PBMCs suppressed more T-lymphocyte activation and $^3H$-TdR incorporation compare to PBMCs, which are not influenced by progesterone. This data suggested that it might be influenced by immunosuppressive effect of progesterone. In conclusion, progesterone may play an important immunological role in regulating local immune response in the fetal-placental unit. Furthermore, in the 9 women given progesterone during a conception cycle, Only two (22%) repeat pregnancy losses occured in these 9 women despite loss of antigen responsiveness (one chemical pregnancy loss and one loss at 8 weeks of growth which was karyotyped as a Trisomy 4). These finding suggested that pregnancy loss due to fetal aneuploidy is not associated with immunological phenomena.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.266-275
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• 2005

Purpose : Acute respiratory tract infections are the most common illnesses in children. The great majority of these infections involving lower respiratory tracts infections(LRTIs) are caused by respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus(RSV), parainfluenza virus(PIV), influenza virus (Flu), and adenovirus(ADV), etc. Our purpose was to determine seasonal epidemiology and clinical characteristic features of each viral infection. Methods : Nasopharyngeal aspirate(NPA)s were collected from 4,554 hospitalized children diagnosed as LRTIs on the first day of admission. The study period was from September 1998(Autumn) through May 2003(Spring). Respiratory viruses were detected in 881(19 percent) cases by isolation of the virus or by antigen detection method using indirect immunofluorescent staining. We reviewed the medical records of 837 cases retrospectively. Results : The identified pathogens were RSV in 485 cases(55 percent), PIV in 152 cases(17 percent), FluA in 114 cases(13 percent), ADV in 79 cases(9 percent) and FluB in 51 cases(6 percent). Outbreaks of RSV occurred every year, mostly in the November through December period and of PIV in the April through June period. LRTIs by FluA reached the highest level in January, 2002. FluB infection showed an outbreak in April, 2002. The clinical diagnoses of viral LRTIs were bronchiolitis in 395 cases(47 percent), pneumonia in 305 cases(36 percent), croup in 73 cases(9 percent) and tracheobronchitis in 64 cases(8 percent). Conclusion : Viruses are one of the major etiologic agents of acute LRTIs in chidren. Therefore, we must continue to study their seasonal occurrence and clinical features to focus on management, and also for reasons of prevention.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.269-274
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• 2016

The potency of influenza vaccine is determined based on its hemagglutinin (HA) content. In general, single radial immunodiffusion (SRID) assay has been utilized as the standard method to measure HA content. However, preparation of reagents for SRID such as antigen and antibody takes approximately 2~3 months, which causes delays in the development of influenza vaccine. Therefore, quantification of HA content by other alternative methods is required. In this study, we measured HA contents of H1N1 antigen and H1N1 influenza vaccine by reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) methods. The presence of HA1 and HA2 was investigated by silver staining and Western blot assay. In addition, accuracy and repeatability of HA measurement by RP-HPLC were evaluated. Comparison of HA concentration by SRID and RP-HPLC revealed a precise correlation between the two methods. Our results suggest that RP-HPLC assay can replace SRID in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak for rapid vaccine development.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1382-1389
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• 1997

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome(HPS) is a systemic disease that is caused by a newly discorved and characterized virus of the Hantavirus genus, which is most frequently referred to as the sin nombre virus. The clinical syndrome resembles other hantavirus syndromes worldwide, except that it is characterized by a brief prodromal illness followed by rapidly progressive, noncardiogenic edema, and that it is more deadly than any previously recognized hantavirus infection. The clinical manifestations of HPS are characterized by four clinical phases : prodrome, pulmonary edema and shock, diuresis, and convalescence. Mortality is greatest in the first 24 hours of the pulmonary edema and shock phase of the illness. These phases are strikingly similar to the clinical phases of Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome(HFRS) induced by Hantaan virus, except that HPS has not been associated with renal failure and Disseminated intravascular coagulation(DIC). We here report a case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome developed in a 58 year-old man. He had a flu-like illness followed by the rapid onset of respiratory failure due to noncardiogenic pulmonary edema. HPS was diagnosed by clinical manifestations, identification of high titer antibody to Hantaan virus antigen and histologic finding of transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) specimen. The patient was treated with mechanical ventilation and initial corticosteroid pulse therapy resulting in successful outcome.

• Laboratory Medicine Online
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2011

Background: Laboratory diagnosis of new influenza A (H1N1) is crucial for managing patients and establishing control and prevention measures. We compared the diagnostic accuracies of the real time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) test recommended for the confirmation of the new flu and the viral culture method used conventionally for viral disease with that of the rapid antigen test (RAT). Methods: We performed RAT, R-mix culture, and real-time PCR by using 861 respiratory samples collected from December 2009 to January 2010 and evaluated the abilities of these methods to detect new influenza A. The relationship among the positive rates of RAT, grades of culture, and the cycle threshold (Ct) values of rRT-PCR was also evaluated. Results: Of the 861 patients, 308 (35.8%) were diagnosed with new influenza A. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values of the tests were respectively as follows: 59.7%, 99.5%, 98.4%, and 81.6% for RAT; 93.2%, 100%, 100%, and 96.3% for R-mix culture; and 95.8%, 100%, 100%, and 97.7% for rRT-PCR. Samples with weak positive grade in culture and those with Ct values of 30-37 in rRT-PCR showed positivities as low as 25.3% and 2.3% in RAT, respectively. The hospitalization rate and death rate of the confirmed patients were 3.2% and 0.3%, respectively, and gastrointestinal symptoms were observed in 7.2% of the patients. Conclusions: R-mix culture and rRT-PCR tests showed excellent reliability in the diagnosis of new influenza A and could be very useful, especially for samples with low viral load.