The influence of the expanding HIV genetic diversity on molecular diagnosis in the Philippines.

Since the discovery in the Philippines of the first AIDS case in 1984, several subtypes of HIV-1 have been discovered. From the persons diagnosed in the early 1980s only subtype B was found and thereafter other subtypes, C, D, E, and F were also identified although HIV was not particularly prevalent at that time. In this paper, we determine whether the rapid expansion of genetic diversity will influence molecular diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Hormonal regulation of tumor suppressor proteins in breast cancer cells.

This laboratory is studying hormonal regulation of tumor suppressor proteins, p53 and retinoblastoma (pRB). Estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive human breast cancer cell lines, T47D and MCF-7, were utilized for determining influence of hormonal and antihormonal agents on the level of expression of p53, state of phosphorylation of pRB, and rate of cell proliferation. The expression of p53 in T47D cells grown for 4-5 days in culture medium containing charcoal-treated (stripped) fetal bovine serum declined gradually to 10% of the level seen in control (whole serum, non charcoal-treated) groups.

Differential regulation of retinoblastoma protein by hormonal and antihormonal agents in T47D breast cancer cells.

Phosphorylation of the tumor suppressor protein, retinoblastoma (pRb), regulates the progression of the cell cycle. Previous work from this laboratory had shown that estradiol (E(2)) regulates tumor suppressor proteins, p53 and retinoblastoma in breast cancer cells. In the present study, we have examined the phosphorylation of pRB in T47D breast cancer cells following treatments with R5020 and antiprogestins.

Low-substrate regulated microaerophilic behavior as a stress response of aquatic and soil bacteria.

Low-substrate regulated microaerophilic behavior (LSRMB) was observed in 10-54% of the bacteria isolated from several fresh-water lakes or ponds, subsurface soils, activated sludge, and Antarctic dry valley soils. Five Pseudomonas and two Bacillus type species showed LSRMB. A subsurface Pseudomonas jessenii strain was used as a model to show the metabolic interaction between substrate and oxygen concentrations, cell band movement, and the appearance of unique stress lipids and proteins.

Serum-starvation-induced changes in protein synthesis and morphology of Borrelia burgdorferi.

It has been demonstrated previously that motile Borrelia burgdorferi cells transform into non-motile cyst-forms when incubated for several weeks in BSKII (a complex medium) lacking rabbit serum. B. burgdorferi cells cannot synthesize fatty acids de novo and serum is thought to provide a source of fatty acids and lipids.

Agonist and antagonist-induced qualitative and quantitative alterations of progesterone receptor from breast cancer cells.

T47D cells, cultured in medium containing serum stripped of endogenous steroids, proliferate in response to treatment with the progesterone receptor (PR) agonist, R5020 or the PR agonist/antagonist, RU486, whereas the full PR antagonist, ZK98299 has no proliferative effects. Under estrogenized conditions, all of the PR ligands tested inhibit cell growth [23]. In order to determine whether the levels or phosphorylation state of PR are reflected in the growth patterns of T47D cells, we monitored the effects of these PR ligands on the immunoblotted PR band intensities, the relative intensities of PR-A and PR-B, and their phosphorylation states that are reflected in their altered mobility during SDS-PAGE.

Identification of a gene for a rubrerythrin/nigerythrin-like protein in Spirillum volutans by using amino acid sequence data from mass spectrometry and NH2-terminal sequencing.

A hydrogen peroxide-resistant mutant of the catalase-negative microaerophile, Spirillum volutans, constitutively expresses a 21.5 kDa protein that is undetectable and non-inducible in the wild-type cells. Part of the gene that encodes the protein was cloned using amino acid sequence data obtained by both mass spectrometry and NH2-terminal sequencing.

Regulation of tumor suppressor proteins, p53 and retinoblastoma, by estrogen and antiestrogens in breast cancer cells.

We have utilized the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive human breast carcinoma cell line, T47D, to determine the role of ER in regulating cell proliferation, the level of expression of p53 and the state of phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein (pRB) by 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and antiestrogens. T47D cells cultured for 7 days proliferated rapidly expressing maximal levels of p53 in medium containing 5% fetal bovine (whole) serum. Exogenously added E2 had no effect on either of the above parameters.

Hormonal regulation of the p53 tumor suppressor protein in T47D human breast carcinoma cell line.

Under normal culturing conditions, the T47D human breast cancer cell line expresses progesterone receptor constitutively and is responsive to estrogen. Because the tumor suppressor protein p53 plays a central role in determining genetic stability and cell proliferation, we have examined the effects of 17 beta-estradiol, the synthetic progestin R5020, and the antiprogestin RU486 on the levels of this protein in T47D cells. Western blot analysis of cellular extracts, performed with a monoclonal antibody capable of quantitatively supershifting a specific p53-p53 response element complex in a gel mobility shift assay, detected a single immunoreactive band representing p53.

Chloroquine and quinine: a randomized, double-blind comparison of efficacy and side effects in the treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in the Philippines.

Chloroquine (25 mg/kg over 3 d) was compared to quinine (10 mg/kg 3 times daily for 5 d) in 20 adult Filipino males with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a double-blind, randomized trial. Asexual parasitaemia was cleared in all patients, with no statistically significant difference (P = 0.13) in the rate of clearance between the chloroquine-treated patients (76.

Amodiaquine less effective than chloroquine in the treatment of falciparum malaria in the Philippines.

Amodiaquine was compared to chloroquine in two groups of Filipino patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Every patient received 25 mg/kg of base orally given over three days. In a hospital study, all eight patients receiving chloroquine cleared their parasitemia by day 6, but six of eight patients receiving amodiaquine failed to clear parasitemia and in four patients there was no response at all (RIII resistance); this difference was significant (P less than 0.