Expression of biologically active atrial natriuretic factor following intrahepatic injection of a replication-defective adenoviral vector in dogs.

Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) is a potent natriuretic, diuretic, and vasoactive hormone produced and released by atrial cardiomyocytes. We investigated whether adenovirus-mediated ANF gene delivery to dogs leads to a sustained increase in circulating ANF levels resulting in long-lasting biological effects. An adenoviral vector containing the canine ANF cDNA under the control of the Rous sarcoma virus 3' long terminal repeat (AdRSV-ANF) was injected via the intrahepatic route to nonvaccinated 2-month-old dogs.

Efficacy of replication-defective adenovirus-vectored vaccines: protection following intramuscular injection is linked to promoter efficiency in muscle representative cells.

To investigate the respective role of transduced cells in the induction of immune response following intramuscular inoculation of adenovirus-based vaccines, we generated several replication-defective adenoviruses expressing the glycoprotein D gene of pseudorabies virus under the control of four different promoters: major late promoter of adenovirus type 2, human cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter/enhancer (CMV), Rous sarcoma virus-long terminal repeat promoter, and human desmin gene 5' regulatory region (DES). All the adenovirus constructs were able to fully protect mice, in the contrary of direct DNA inoculation of plasmids harboring the same transcription units. The far most effective adenovirus constructs, on the criterion of protective doses and specific antibody response induction, were those in which the foreign gene was driven by the DES or CMV promoter.

Glutathione S-transferase activity as an early marker for malignant tumors of corpus uteri.

Glutathione (GSH) concentrations and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were determined in 30 paired malignant human corpus uteri tumor samples and in samples of adjacent normal tissues. For GSH concentrations no difference was found between normal (126.0 +/- 52.