A fused silica micro-electrospray tip with an electrically floating metal wire insert to achieve more stable electrospray ionization.

A new electrospray tip with a wire insert was tested and compared with the conventional bare fused silica capillary tip. The new tip combined the approach of conventional fused silica spray tips with those containing metal wires. Here, we used a floating wire so that the tips could be prepared and replaced more easily.

Enhanced expression of high-affinity iron transporters via H-ferritin production in yeast.

Our heterologous expression system of the human ferritin H-chain gene (hfH) allowed us to characterize the cellular effects of ferritin in yeasts. The recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae (YGH2) evidenced impaired growth as compared to the control, which was correlated with ferritin expression and with the formation of core minerals. Growth was recovered via the administration of iron supplements.

Induction of autoimmunity by immunization with hapten-modified hen egg lysozyme in hen egg lysozyme-transgenic mice.

To understand the mechanism of autoimmunity induction, hen egg lysozyme (HEL)-transgenic (Tg) C57BL/6 (B6) mice were immunized with HEL or phosphorylcholine-conjugated HEL (PC-HEL). Repeated immunization of HEL-Tg mice with native HEL failed to induce the antibody response against HEL. However, immunization with PC-HEL generated a significant anti-HEL antibody response.

Recovery from iron deficiency in rats by the intake of recombinant yeast producing human H-ferritin.

Objective: This study examined whether iron accumulated in ferritin-producing recombinant microbes is bioavailable to rats with iron deficiency.

Methods: Rats induced with iron deficiency were treated with iron preparations of ferrous ammonium sulfate, horse spleen ferritin, control yeast, and ferritin-producing recombinant yeast for 14 d. The bioavailability of iron was examined by measuring hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit value, and tissue iron stores.

Suppression of distant pulmonary metastasis of MDA-MB 435 human breast carcinoma established in mammary fat pads of nude mice by retroviral-mediated TIMP-2 gene transfer.

Background: Previous studies have shown that TIMP-2 overexpression is a useful therapeutic tool for inhibiting tumor growth and invasion in animals. However, it has not been reported whether genetic manipulation for TIMP-2 overexpression can induce an inhibitory effect on spontaneous metastasis from the primary tumor site to other organs such as lungs or lymph nodes in an animal model.

Methods: The present studies describe the effects of retrovirus-mediated TIMP-2 gene transfer into human breast cancer cell lines on the in vitro invasion of the tumor cells or the in vivo growth in nude mouse.