Publications by authors named "Byung-Kwan Lim"

Cells interact with each other for proper function and homeostasis. Often, co-expression of ligand-receptor pairs from the single-cell RNAseq (scRNAseq) has been used to identify interacting cell types. Recently, RNA sequencing of physically interacting multi-cells has been used to identify interacting cell types without relying on co-expression of ligand-receptor pairs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the effects of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines on mice with chronic inflammatory conditions, especially their cardiac toxicity and immune response based on the administration route.
  • Results showed that intravenous (IV) mRNA vaccination can worsen heart conditions like pericarditis and myocarditis, leading to increased inflammation and damage, particularly in mice with existing chronic inflammation.
  • The findings emphasize the importance of more research to understand how mRNA vaccines interact with chronic inflammatory conditions, particularly focusing on the impact of different injection methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers created liver-specific CAR knockout (KO) mice to explore CAR's role in the liver; although body weight didn't change, KO mice on a high-fat diet experienced more liver damage, inflammation, and lipid build-up compared to wild-type mice.
  • * The study identified a novel relationship between CAR and a protein called APOBEC3C, suggesting that CAR regulates lipid accumulation by affecting APOBEC3C levels
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is a positive single-strand RNA genome virus which belongs to the enterovirus genus in the picornavirus family, like poliovirus. It is one of the most prevalent pathogens that cause myocarditis and pancreatitis in humans. However, a suitable therapeutic medication and vaccination have yet to be discovered.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study examines how mRNA vaccines affect individuals with chronic inflammatory diseases (like myocarditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease) using a mouse model with chronic inflammation.
  • Results showed that mRNA vaccines increased cardiac damage and mild heart inflammation, along with significant muscle damage, although the vaccination site and overall immune responses were less impacted.
  • The findings highlight the need to consider the safety and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines for people with chronic inflammatory conditions, as they may experience different toxicities and immune responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) is very well known as an epithelial tight junction and cardiac intercalated disc protein; it mediates attachment and infection via the coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) and type 5 adenovirus. Macrophages play important roles in early immunity during viral infections. However, the role of CAR in macrophages is not well studied in relation to CVB3 infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Enteroviruses (EVs) have been associated with several human diseases. Due to their continuous emergence and divergence, EV species have generated more than 100 types and recombinant strains, increasing the public health threat caused by them. Hence, an efficient and universal cloning system for reverse genetics (RG) of highly divergent viruses is needed to understand the molecular mechanisms of viral pathology and evolution.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Protein kinase B2 (AKT2) is involved in various cardiomyocyte signaling processes, including those important for survival and metabolism. Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is one of the most common pathogens that cause myocarditis in humans. The role of AKT2 in CVB3 infection is not yet well understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is a common enterovirus that causes systemic inflammatory diseases, such as myocarditis, meningitis, and encephalitis. CVB3 has been demonstrated to subvert host cellular responses autophagy to support viral replication in neural stem cells. Mitophagy, a specialized form of autophagy, contributes to mitochondrial quality control degrading damaged mitochondria.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

is a pathogen of various plants which transfers its own DNA (T-DNA) to the host plants. It is used for producing genetically modified plants with this ability. To control T-DNA transfer to the right place, toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems of were used to control the target site of transfer without any unintentional targeting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) is present in epithelial and vascular endothelial cell junctions. We have previously shown a hemorrhagic phenotype in germ-line CAR knock-out mouse embryos; we have also found that CAR interacts with ZO-1 and β-catenin. However, the role of CAR in vascular endothelial junction permeability has not been proven.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Impaired macroautophagy/autophagy has been implicated in experimental and human nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, the mechanism underlying autophagy dysregulation in NASH is largely unknown. Here, we investigated the role and mechanism of TXNIP/VDUP1 (thioredoxin interacting protein), a key mediator of cellular stress responses, in the pathogenesis of NASH.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is known to be an important cause of myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy. Enterovirus-2C (E2C) is a viral RNA helicase. It inhibits host protein synthesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endothelial mechanotransduction by fluid shear stress (FSS) modulates endothelial function and vascular pathophysiology through mechanosensors on the cell membrane. The coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) is not only a viral receptor but also a component of tight junctions and plays an important role in tissue homeostasis. Here, we demonstrate the expression, regulatory mechanism, and role of CAR in vascular endothelial cells (ECs) under FSS conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71) in infants and children under six years of age. HFMD is characterized by fever, mouth ulcers, and vesicular rashes on the palms and feet. EV71 also causes severe neurological manifestations, such as brainstem encephalitis and aseptic meningitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

An angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) mitigates cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). Here, we investigated the effect of fimasartan, a new ARB, on cardiac remodeling after MI. Sprague⁻Dawley rats were assigned into 3 groups: surgery only (sham group, = 7), MI without (MI-only group, = 13), and MI with fimasartan treatment (MI + Fima group, = 16).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Backgrounds: Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is a member of the family , and along with polio-viruses, belongs to the genus. The CVB3 genome is composed single-stranded RNA encoding polyproteins, which are cleaved to individual functional proteins by 2A and 3C proteases proteins which have been targeted for drug development. Here, we showed that protease activity required to activate a toxic protein may be used to prevent viral infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the myocardium that causes cardiogenic shock and death. However, endomyocardial biopsy that is, the gold standard for a diagnosis is limited. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1/redox effector factor-1 (APE1/Ref-1) is a multifunctional protein, which is involved in DNA-based excision repair pathway, and in redox signaling, its changes are observed in various cardiovascular diseases including hypertension and coronary artery disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coxsackievirus Type B3 (CVB3) is an enterovirus that belongs to the and causes various diseases such as myocarditis and hand-foot-mouth disease. However, an effective antiviral drug is still not developed. In this study, we looked for potential inhibitors of CVB3 replication by examining the survival of CVB3-infected HeLa cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is the main cause of acute myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy. Plant extracts are considered as useful materials to develop new antiviral drugs. We had previously selected candidate plant extracts, which showed anti-inflammatory effects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Astaxanthin (AST) is known to exhibit antioxidative and antitumor properties, therefore, the present study investigated its other potential medical applications. AST was observed to exhibit anti‑allergic and anti‑inflammatory effects in a dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB)‑induced contact dermatitis (CD) mouse model and RBL‑2H3 cell lines. The topical application of AST effectively inhibited the enlargement of ear thickness and increase in weight, which occurred following repeated application of DNFB.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) have organ-protective effects in heart failure and may be also effective in doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy (DOX-CMP); however, the efficacy of ARBs on the prevention of DOX-CMP have not been investigated. We performed a preclinical experiment to evaluate the preventive effect of a novel ARB, fimasartan, in DOX-CMP. All animals underwent echocardiography and were randomly assigned into three groups: treated daily with vehicle (DOX-only group, n=22), 5 mg/kg of fimasartan (Low-fima group, n=22), and 10 mg/kg of fimasartan (High-fima group, n=19).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is a common cause of myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy. CVB3 3C protease (3CP) cleaves the viral polyprotein during replication. We tested whether a water soluble 3CP inhibitor (3CPI) had antiviral effects in a chronic myocarditis model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF