• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2014

Occupational long-term exposure to inorganic dusts may cause a variety of lung diseases such as pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Diagnosis of pneumoconiosis and COPD, however, is currently dependent on radiological findings and pulmonary test, which are both late diagnostic tools. Therefore, there is a need to identify novel biomarkers in pneumoconiosis and COPD. Hence, in this current study we investigated the serum concentrations of YKL-40, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) as biomarkers for pneumoconiosis and COPD in 161 retired male workers exposed to inorganic dusts. The serum concentration of YKL-40 was significantly increased with age, pneumoconiosis, and airflow limitation. The serum concentration of IL-6 was significantly higher in airflow limitation. These results suggest that serum concentration of YKL-40 is associated with age, pneumoconiosis, and airflow limitation. Also, serum concentration of IL-6 is associated with airflow limitation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.436-440
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• 1987

Pullulanase gene (pul) of Klebsiella pneumoniae NFB-320 which was cloned previously in Escherichia coli with plasmid pBR322. The gene was analyzed with various restriction enzymes. The cloned gene was contained within n 10 kb BamHI DNA fragment. We constructed the restriction map of the hybrid plasmid pYKL451. The optimum temperatures for pullulanases produced in E. coli (pYKL451) and K. pneumoniae NFB-320 were almost the same, 50-55 $^{\circ}C$. The optimum pHs for the reaction of the enzymes produced by E. coli (pYKL451) and K. pneumoniae NFB-320 was 6.0. Both enzyme preparations were stable under the range of pH 5.0 to 10.0 when those were kept at 40 $^{\circ}C$ for 90 min and were stable until 40 $^{\circ}C$ when allowed to stand for 1hr at various temperatures.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2018

Abdominal obesity is considered as one of the most risky factors governing the development of metabolic diseases. Here we identify that human chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1, also called YKL-40 in human) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs883125, is associated with abdominal obesity in Korean women. Korean women subjects with the rs883125 G/G or C/G genotype present higher waist-hip ratio than subjects with C/C genotype suggesting that human subjects who G nucleotide substitution at the rs883125 tended to more accumulate intra-abdominal fat at the abdominal cavity. In addition, Chi3l1 gene expression is increased in adipose tissue from obese mice and pro-inflammatory cytokine enhances Chi3l1 expression in adipocytes, indicating that Chi3l1 is greatly related with obesity and obesity-induced pro-inflammatory responses. Taken together, the minor allele of rs883125 is associated with a higher prevalence of abdominal obesity in Korean women. These findings suggest that genotype of rs883125 can be a biomarker of incident abdominal obesity and abdominal obesity-related metabolic diseases.