• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 2013

Mycobacterium isolates were retrospectively identified, antibiotics susceptibility test results and basic clinical data were analyzed for the 715, excepted 308 in 1,023 specimens, from a mycobacterial laboratory at a tertiary care hospital from September 2002 to December 2008. Their male to female ratio was 1.12 to 1 (379 male, 336 female). The median age of study population was 47 years (range from 10 to 93 years). Distribution of Mycobacterium species was 90.1% of total were isolates Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and 9.9% of the total non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium isolated, and Among nontuberculosis Mycobacterium isolates, 60.6% were Mycobacterium avium complex, 14.1% were isolates Mycobacterium abscessus, and 12.7% were isolates Mycobacterium intracellulare. Among 526 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates, 81.7% isolates were susceptible to first line antibiotics, 18.3% were resistant to one or more antibiotics. Non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium isolates, all were resistant to two or more antibiotics. Multi-antibiotic resistant tuberculosis rate was show 10.2% of total specimens. Isolated Mycobacterium species, 19.2% were multi-antibiotic resistant tuberculosis, and the rate of nontuberculosis Mycobacterium resistant to isoniazid and rifampin was very highly 84.5%. Thus among acid fast bacilli culture positive cases, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium were must exactly identification and antibiotic sensitivity test. It was considered to help to select of the antibiotic in preventive medicine.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has infected more than two billion individuals worldwide, of whom 5%-10% have clinically active disease and 90%-95% remain in the latent stage with a reservoir of viable bacteria in the macrophages for extended periods of time. The tubercle bacilli at this stage are usually called dormant, non-viable, and/or non-culturable microorganisms. The patients with latent bacilli will not have clinical pictures and are not infectious. The infections in about 2%-23% of the patients with latent status become reactivated for various reasons such as cancer, human immunodeficiency virus infection, diabetes, and/or aging. Many studies have examined the mechanisms involved in the latent state of Mycobacterium and showed that latency modified the expression of many genes. Therefore, several mechanisms will change in this bacterium. Hence, this study aimed to briefly examine the genes involved in the latent state as well as the changes that are caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The study also evaluated the relationship between the functions of these genes.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2000

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is capable of growing and survival within macrophage. The purpose of this study was to identify the genes regulated by infection of mycobacteria in human monocytic THP-1 cells. We used the differential display reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (DD RT-PCR) and nothern blot analysis to confirm the differentially expressed genes from THP-1 cells infected with live Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and live Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Among many up or down-regulated clones, 27 clones were sequenced and compared with known genes on GenBank. Thirteen of over-expressed clones from THP-1 cells infected with live Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv were identical to human prothymosin alpha, eight were novel clones and six clones showed homology with Human ferritin H chain, Esherichia coli bgl, Mouse RNA-dependent EIF-2 alpha kinase, E. coli htrL, Hyaluronan receptor and T cell receptor. Our result suggests that Mycobacterium tuberculosis might regulate prothymosin alpha gene transcription in monocytic THP-1 cell.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.67 no.6
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• pp.499-505
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• 2009

Background: Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units (MIRUs) that are located mainly in intergenic regions dispersed throughout the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome. The selected MIRU loci, which were composed of a 12-locus set, demonstrated a high power for discrimination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates collected from Kangwon province of Korea. To evaluate its ability to discriminate the M. tuberculosis strains, 45 clinical isolates were genotyped using the methods IS6110 RFLP and MIRU. Methods: All the samples were collected during the period from January 2007 to December 2007 from TB patients, who were residents and registered to a public health center of Kangwon Province in Korea. A total of 45 DNAs were extracted from clinical isolated mycobacterial strains and genotyped using IS6110 RFLP, the MIRU method. Results: We compared the 12-MIRU with IS6110 RFLP in the 45 samples, the 12-locus version offered less discriminatory power (Hunter-Gaston discriminatory index [HGDI]: 0.959 vs 0.998; 57.78% of clustered cases vs 8.89%). Conclusion: This 12-locus MIRU can be useful when additional combinations of other loci for genotyping M. tuberculosis in Korea where the Beijing family strains are dominant.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.127-130
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• 2006

The incidence of the tuberculosis infection has decreased worldwide, but it is still easy to find the patients in some areas or some races. And it is very difficult to diagnose and treat the patients who are infected by the atypical tuberculosis. Facial skin infection by atypical tuberculosis has not been reported. We report the case of a 62-year-old woman who developed facial skin and soft tissue necrosis caused by Mycobacterium abscessus after receiving liquid silicone injections and face lift operation. We cultured the pathogenic organism and treated the wound with radical curettage, debridement, skin graft and tuberculosis medication.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.517-525
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• 1992

Background: Since its development by Saiki et al, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been very useful in various fields of molecular biology. PCR can be used for the detection of a very small amount of microbial agent, and is especially useful in those patients who are difficult to diagnose microbiologically or serologically. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a very slowly growing organism and AFB staining frequently shows false negative results, and therefore PCR would be a very rapid, easy, and sensitive diagnostic method for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Method: To compare PCR with conventional methods in diagnosing Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum, we used sputa of patients who visited or were admitted to Seoul National University Hospital. The amplification targets were 383 base pair DNA, a part of 2520 base pair DNA encoding 65 kD Mycobacterium tuberculosis specific protein (the primers are TB-1, -2), and 123 base pair DNA, a part of IS6110 fragment, which multiple copies are known to exsist PCR one genome (the primers are Sal I-1, -2). We also requested AFB staing and culture to the lab of Seoul National University Hospital with the same sample and compared the results. Results: 1) Using TB-1, -2 primers, PCR was positive in 73.1% (19/26) of culture positive sputa, in 12.5% (1/8) of culture negative. but clinically diagnosed tuberculous sputa, and was negative in all sputa of patients who were clinically diagnosed as non-tuberculous etiology. 2) Using Sal I-I, -2 primers, PCR was positive in 94.1% (32/34) of culture positive sputa, in 23.1% (6/26) of culture negative, but clinically diagnosed tuberculous sputa, and was negative in 87.5% (14/16) of sputa from patients who were clinically diagnosed as non-tuberculous etiology. Conclusion: PCR could be a very rapid, sensitive and specific method for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputa, and further studies should be followed for the development of easier method.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.624-631
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• 2005

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, continues to be one of the main diseases to mankind. It is urgent to discover novel drug targets for appropriate antimicrobial agents against this human pathogen. The shikimate pathway is onsidered as an attractive target for the discovery of novel antibiotics for its essentiality in bacteria and absence in mammalian cells. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis aroE-encoded shikimate dehydrogenase was cloned, expressed and purified. Sequence alignment analysis shows that shikimate dehydrogenase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis exhibit the pattern of G-X-(N/S)-V-(T/S)-X-PX-K, which is highly conserved within the shikimate dehydrogenase family. The recombinant shikimate dehydrogenase spectrum determined by CD spectroscopy showed that the percentages for $\alpha$-helix, $\beta$-sheet, $\beta$-turn, and random coil were 29.2%, 9.3%, 32.7%, and 28.8%, respectively. The enzymatic characterization demonstrates that it appears to be fully active at pH from 9.0 to 12, and temperature $63^{\circ}C$. The apparent Michaelis constant for shikimic acid and $NADP^+$ were calculated to be about $29.5\;{\mu}M$ and $63\;{\mu}M$. The recombinant shikimate dehydrogenase catalyzes the substrate in the presence of $NADP^+$ with an enzyme turnover number of $399\;s^{-1}$. Zymological studies suggest that the cloned shikimate dehydrogenase from M. tuberculosis has a pretty activity, and the work should help in the discovery of enzyme inhibitors and further of possible antimicrobial agents against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.422-426
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• 2008

Background: Mycobacterium abscessus is the most pathogenic and drug-resistant rapid-growing mycobacterium. Clarithromycin or azithromycin are the only regular oral antimycobacterial agents that have an effect on M. abscessus. We tried to detect the clarithromycin-resistant strains from the clinical isolates of M. abscessus. Methods: We tried to isolate the clarithromycin-resistant strains from 220 clinical isolates of M. abscessus by performing using reverse hybridization assay (RHA) and the broth microdilution test (BMT). Results: Seven resistant strains (3.2%) from all the tested clinical isolates were detected by BMT. Three of these resistant strains were also detected by RHA and it was confirmed that they had point mutants. Conclusion: These results showed that clarithromycin resistance in M. abscessus clinical isolates is related to a point mutation and other unknown mechanisms.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.268-271
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• 2007

In Korea, the Mycobacterium tuberculosis K-strain is the most prevalent clinical isolates and belongs to the Beijing family. In this study, we conducted comparative porteomics of expressed proteins of clinical isolates of the K-strain with H37Rv, H37Ra as well as the vaccine strain of Mycobacterium bovis BCG following phagocytosis by the human monocytic cell line U-937. Proteins were analyzed by 2-D PAGE and MALDI-TOF-MS. Two proteins, Mb1363 (probable glycogen phosphorylase GlgP) and MT2656 (Haloalkane dehalogenase LinB) were most abundant after phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis K-strain. This approach provides a method to determine specific proteins that may have critical roles in tuberculosis pathogenesis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.209-218
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• 1992

Despite the availability of drugs effective in producing a bacteriological cure, tuberculosis presents continuing problems in its control, especially in the developing world. An effective immunotherapy to be used with chemotherapy is urgently required. Intradermal injection of a suspenison of killed Mycobacterium vaccae switches off the tissue-necrotizing component of the Koch phenomenon, and promotes cell-mediated responses to the common, putative protective, mycobacterial antigens. These properties led to the empolyment of the suspension in immunotherapy as an adjunct to chemotherapy in the treatment of both tuberculosis and leprosy. The evidence leading to these conclusions is reviewed.