• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.157-171
• /
• 1998

In order to study the effect of direct moxibustion on depressed immune response and thyroid hormone in rats exposed to cold stress, Sprague-Dawley male rats were put in the horizontal refrigerator by $-10^{\circ}C$ for 14 days and thereafter $-18^{\circ}C$ for 11 days(control group). Sample I group was treated by daily direct moxibustion to bilateral Shinsu(BL23) from the 22nd day to the 25th day for 4 days under the same condition with the control group. Sample II group was treated by daily direct moxibustion to bilateral non-acupoints near the root of the tail from the 22nd day to the 25th day for 4 days under the same condition with the control group. And RBC, WBC, CD4+ T cell count, T3, T4 and TSH were measured. The results were as follows; 1. RBC increased with statistical significance in the sample I and sample II groups compared with the control group. 2. WBC increased with statistical significance in the sample I group, but there was not any significance in the sample II group compared with the control group. 3. Lymphocyte increased with statistical significance both in the sample I and sample II groups compared with the control group. 4. CD4+ T cell count increased with statistical significance both in the sample I and sample II groups compared with the control group. 5. T3, T4 and TSH increased respectively with statistical significance in the sample I and sample II groups compared with the control group.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• 제39권6호
• /
• pp.584-591
• /
• 2023

Active plant immune response involving programmed cell death called the hypersensitive response (HR) is elicited by microbial effectors delivered through the type III secretion system (T3SS). The marine bacterium Hahella chejuensis contains two T3SSs that are similar to those of animal pathogens, but it was able to elicit HR-like cell death in the land plant Nicotiana benthamiana. The cell death was comparable with the transcriptional patterns of H. chejuensis T3SS-1 genes, was mediated by SGT1, a general regulator of plant resistance, and was suppressed by AvrPto1, a type III-secreted effector of a plant pathogen that inhibits HR. Thus, type III-secreted effectors of a marine bacterium are capable of inducing the nonhost HR in a land plant it has never encountered before. This suggests that plants may have evolved to cope with a potential threat posed by alien pathogen effectors. Our work documents an exceptional case of nonhost HR and provides an expanded perspective for studying plant nonhost resistance.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국생물공학회 2002년도 생물공학의 동향 (X)
• /
• pp.257-260
• /
• 2002

Dissolved oxygen level of cell culture media has a critical effect on cellular metabolism, which governs specific productivity of recombinant proteins and mammalian cell growth However, in the cores of cell aggregates or cell-immobilized beads, oxygen level frequently goes below a critical level. Mammalian cells have a number of genes induced in the lower level of oxygen, and the genes contain a common cis-acting element (-RCGTG-), hypoxia response element (HRE). By binding of hypoxia inducible factor-l (HIF-I) to the HRE, promoters of hypoxia inducible genes are activated, which is a survival mechanism. In this work, to develop a CHO cell capable of producing recombinant proteins in immobilization and high density cell culture efficiently, mammalian expression vectors containing human tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) gene controlled by HRE were constructed and stably transfected into the CHO cells. In $Ba^{2+}$ -alginate immobilization culture, CHO/pCl/dhfr/2HRE-t-PA cells produced 2 folds higher recombinant t-PA activity than CHO/pCl/dhfrlt-PA cells without $CoCl_2$ treatment. Furthermore, in repeated fed batch culture, productivity of t-PA in immobilized CHO/pCI/dhfr/2HRE-t-PA cells was 121 ng/ml/day, total production of 0.968 mg/day at 11 days culture while CHO/pCIIdhfrlt-PA cells was 22.8 ng/ml/day. All these results indicate that HRE is very useful for the enhancement of protein productivity in mammalian cell cultures.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• 제42권2호
• /
• pp.92-96
• /
• 2007

Objective : The authors have speculated that metastatic brain lesions from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) show diverse radiological patterns and tumor responses after Gamma knife surgery (GKS), and have hypothesized that these can be predicted from tumor radiological characteristics. The goal of the current study was to identify the radiological characteristics of RCC brain metastases and the predictors of initial radiosurgical response after GKS. Methods : A retrospective analysis was performed on 48 lesions in 18 patients with RCC brain metastasis treated by GKS. The radiological characteristics of these lesions in magnetic resonance images (MRI) were classified into 3 categories according to enhancement patterns in T1-weighted images and signal intensity characteristics in T2-weighted images. Responses to GKS were analyzed according to these categories, and in addition, other potential predictive factors were also evaluated. Results : MRI findings in the three categories were diverse, though numbers of the lesion were comparable. At 2-month MRI follow-ups after GKS, response rate was 54% and the local tumor control rate 83%. T2 signal intensity was found to be the principal predictive factor of response to GKS, namely negative predictive factor. Other variables such as age, sex, tumor volume, dose, duration from initial diagnosis to GKS, and previous systemic therapies failed to show significant relationships with treatment response by multivariate analysis. Conclusion : Careful evaluation of the radiological characteristics of brain metastases from RCC is important prior to GKS because MRI heterogeneity has predictive value in terms of determining initial tumor response.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제17권2호
• /
• pp.348-358
• /
• 2007

Metallothionein, a cysteine-rich stress response protein that is naturally induced by a variety of immunologic stressors, has been shown to suppress autoimmune disorders through mechanisms not yet fully defined. In the present study, we examined the underlying mechanisms by which metallothionein might mediate such regulation of autoimmunity. $Na\ddot{i}ve\;CD4^+$ T cells from metallothionein-deficient mice differentiated to produce significantly less IL-10, $TGF-{\gamma}$, and repressor of GATA, but more $IFN-{\gamma}$ and T-bet, when compared with those from wild-type mice. The levels of IL-4 and GATA-3 production were not different between the two groups of mice. Conversely, treatment with exogenous metallothionein during the priming phase drove $na\ddot{i}ve$ wild-type $CD4^+\;T$ cells to differentiate into cells producing more IL-10 and $TGF-{\beta}$, but less $IFN-{\gamma}$ than untreated cells. Metallothionein-primed cells were hyporesponsive to restimulation, and suppressive to T cell proliferation in an IL-10-dependent manner. Lymphocytes from metallothionein-deficient mice displayed significantly elevated levels of AP-1 and JNK activities in response to stimulation compared with those from wild-type controls. Importantly, transgenic mice overexpressing metallothionein exhibited significantly reduced susceptibility to collagen-induced arthritis and enhanced IL-10 level in the serum, relative to their nontransgenic littermates. Taken together, these data suggest that metallothionein is able to promote the generation of IL-10-and $TGF-{\beta}$-producing type 1 regulatory T-like cells by downregulating JNK-dependent AP-1 activity. Thus, metallothionein may play an important role in the regulation of Th1-dependent autoimmune arthritis, and may represent both a potential target for therapeutic manipulation and a critical element in the diagnostic assessment of disease potential.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• 제15권4호
• /
• pp.186-190
• /
• 2015

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in healthy individuals is usually asymptomatic and results in latent infection. CMV reactivation occasionally occurs in healthy individuals according to their immune status over time. T cell responses to CMV are restricted to a limited number of immunodominant epitopes, as compared to responses to other chronic or persistent viruses. This response results in progressive, prolonged expansion of CMV-specific $CD8^+$ T cells, termed 'memory inflation'. The expanded CMV-specific $CD8^+$ T cell population is extraordinarily large and is more prominent in the elderly. CMV-specific $CD8^+$ T cells possess rather similar phenotypic and functional features to those of replicative senescent T cells. In this review, we discuss the general features of CMV-specific inflationary memory T cells and the factors involved in memory inflation.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제61권1호
• /
• pp.2-14
• /
• 2023

Trichomonas vaginalis is a flagellated protozoan that causes trichomoniasis, a common nonviral sexually transmitted infection. T. vaginalis infection is asymptomatic in most infected men but can lead to chronic infection. The inflammatory response to chronic T. vaginalis infection may contribute to prostatic diseases, such as prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH); however, studies on the relationship between T. vaginalis infection and prostate diseases are scarce. In this review, we discuss evidence from our studies on the involvement of T. vaginalis in the pathogenesis of prostate diseases, such as prostatitis and BPH. Studies of prostatitis have demonstrated that the attachment of T. vaginalis trophozoite to prostate epithelial cells (PECs) induces inflammatory cytokine production and inflammatory cell migration, leading to prostatitis. T. vaginalis also causes pathological changes, such as inflammatory cell infiltration, acinar changes, interstitial fibrosis, and mast cell infiltration, in prostate tissues of infected rats. Thus, T. vaginalis is considered an infectious agent that triggers prostatitis. Meanwhile, studies of prostatic hyperplasia revealed that mast cells activated by T. vaginalis-infected prostate cells secreted inflammatory mediators, such as β-hexosaminidase and tryptase, which promoted proliferation of prostate stromal cell (PSC). Moreover, interleukin-6 produced by proliferating PSCs induced the multiplication of BPH-1 epithelial cells as a result of stromal-epithelial interaction, suggesting that the proliferation of T. vaginalis-infected prostate cells can be induced through crosstalk with mast cells. These collective findings suggest that T. vaginalis contributes to the progression of prostatitis and prostatic hyperplasia by creating an inflammatory microenvironment involving PECs and PSCs.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제33권3호
• /
• pp.295-303
• /
• 2023

면역 체계와 대사 체계는 항상성을 유지하는데 중요한 요소이다. 면역 반응과 대사 조절은 연관성이 높아, 정상적인 대사가 교란되면 대사 질환이 발생하며, 면역 반응에도 변화가 발생하였다. 마찬가지로, 비만은 면역 반응과 높은 관련이 있다. 에너지 대사의 불균형으로 발생하는 비만은 인슐린 저항성, 제2형 당뇨병, 지방간 질환, 동맥경화증, 고혈압 등의 대사 질환과 관련이 있다. 알려진 바로는, 비만은 낮은 수준의 염증이 만성화된 상태가 특징이다. 비만 환경에서, 면역세포의 미세 환경은 대식세포, 자연살해세포, T세포 같은 면역세포의 독특한 활성화 표현형에 의해 염증성이 되었다. 또한, 면역 세포는 세포 간의 기전, 사이토카인을 매개하는 기전을 통해 상호작용하여 비만으로 인한 염증 반응을 강화한다. 이러한 현상은 기존의 췌장 리파아제나 알파-아밀라아제 같은 체내 효소의 억제나 지방전구세포의 분화를 억제를 표적으로 하는 일반적인 비만의 약리학적 치료 외에 면역세포 활성화 조절을 표적으로 하는 비만의 약리학적 치료 전략을 시사한다. 본 논문에서는 대식세포, 자연살해세포, T세포의 활성화 표현형과 비만 환경 내이들의 양상에 대해 정리하였다. 또한, 본 논문에서는 현재까지 확인된 면역세포의 활성화 조절을 통한 비만을 완화하는 약리학적 물질에 대해서 정리하였다.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• 제40권3호
• /
• pp.119-129
• /
• 2002

Although there are many reports on the splenic (systemic) T cell response after Toxoptasma gondii infection, little information is available regarding the local T cell responses of peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) and gut intraepithelial Iymphocytes (IEL) following peroral infection with bradyzoites. Mice were infected with 40 cysts of the 76K strain of T. gondii, and then sacrificed at days 0, 1, 4, 7 and 10 postinfection (PI). The cellular composition and T cell responses of PEC and IEL were analyzed. The total number of PEC and IEL per mouse increased after infection, but the ratio of increase was higher in IEL. Lymphocytes were the major component of both PEC and IEL. The relative percentages of PEC macrophages and neutrophils/eosinophils increased signiflcantly at day 1 and 4 PI, whereas those of IEL did not change significantly. The percentage of PEC NK1.1 and ${\gamma\delta}T$ cells peaked at day 4 PI (p < 0.0001), and CD4 and $CD8{\alpha}T$ cells increased continuously after infection. The percentages of IEL $CD8{\alpha}$ and ${\gamma\delta}T$ cells decreased slightly at first, and then increased. CD4 and NK1.1 T cells of IEL did not change significantly after infection. $IFN-{\gamma}-producing$ PEC NK1.1 T cells increased significantly from day 1 PI, but the other T cell subsets produced $IFN-{\gamma}$ abundantly thereafter. The proportion of IEL $IFN-{\gamma}-producing$ $CD8{\alpha}$ and ${\gamma\delta}T$ cells increased significantly after infection, while IEL NK1.1 T cells had similar $IFN-{\gamma}$ production patterns. Taken together, CD4 T cells were the major phenotype and the important $IFN-{\gamma}$ producing T cell subsets in PEC after oral infection with T. gondii whereas $CD8{\alpha}T$ cells had these roles in IEL. These results suggest that PEC and IEL comprise different cell differentials and T cell responses, and according to infection route these factors may contribute to the different cellular immune responses.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• 제11권3호
• /
• pp.169-174
• /
• 2011

Background: NADPH oxidase (NOX) modulates cell proliferation, differentiation and immune response through generation of reactive oxygen species. Particularly, NOX2 is recently reported to be important for regulating Treg cell differentiation of CD4+ T cells. Methods: We employed ovalbumin-induced airway inflammation in wild-type and NOX2-deficient mice and analyzed tissue histopathology and cytokine profiles. Results: We investigated whether NOX2-deficiency affects T cell-mediated airway inflammation. Ovalbumin injection which activates T cell-mediated allergic response increased airway inflammation in wild-type mice, as evidenced by increased immune cell infiltration, allergic cytokine expression, and goblet cell hyperplasia in the lung. Interestingly, NOX2 knockout (KO) mice were more susceptible to allergen-induced lung inflammation compared to wild-type mice. Immune cells including neutrophils, lymphocytes, macrophages, and eosinophils were drastically infiltrated into the lung of NOX2 KO mice and mucus secretion was substantially increased in deficiency of NOX2. Furthermore, inflammatory allergic cytokines and eotaxin were significantly elevated in NOX2 KO mice, in accordance with enhanced generation of inflammatory cytokines interleukin-17 and interferon-${\gamma}$ by CD4+ T cells. Conclusion: These results indicate that NOX2 deficiency favorably produces inflammatory cytokines by T cells and thus increases the susceptibility to severe airway inflammation.