Betaine homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) as a specific and sensitive blood marker for acute liver injury.

We developed a high-performance ELISA assay and measured serum BHMT levels in healthy individuals and patients with acute liver injury (ALI). The detection range of this ELISA assay was from 1.56 to 100 ng/ml.

Generation of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against Enterovirus 71 using synthetic peptides.

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) has led to recent outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in China, resulting in high mortality. In this study, several monoclonal antibodies were generated by immunizing mice with two synthetic peptides, SP55 and SP70, containing amino acids 163-177 and 208-222 of VP1. The specificities of the anti-EV71 peptide monoclonal antibodies were confirmed by Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry against EV71 virus.

Targeted disruption of Smad4 in mouse epidermis results in failure of hair follicle cycling and formation of skin tumors.

Smad4 is the common mediator of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily signaling, which functions in diverse developmental processes in mammals. To study the role of Smad4 in skin development, a keratinocyte-specific null mutant of Smad4 (Smad4(co/co);K5-Cre) was generated in mice using the Cre-loxP system. The Smad4-mutant mice exhibited progressive alopecia as a result of the mutant hair follicles failing to undergo programmed regression.

[SMAD3 inhibits the expression of MMP-2 in mouse embryonic fibroblasts].

SMAD3 is one of the receptor-activated SMADs which are important in TGF-beta signal transduction. Smad3-null mice show accelerated cutaneous wound healing compared with wild-type mice. In this work, we investigated the functions and the mechanism of Smad3-mediated TGF-beta signal on matrix metaloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in mouse fibroblast.

Mutation analysis of the Smad3 gene in human osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease worldwide. Recent studies have shown that targeted disruption of Smad3 in mouse results in OA. To reveal the possible association between the Smad3 gene mutation and human OA, we employed polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism and sequencing to screen mutations in all nine exons of the Smad3 gene in 32 patients with knee OA and 50 patients with only bone fracture.

[Establishment of keratinocyte-specific Cre recombinase transgenic mice].

A keratinocyte-specific Cre transgenic construct (pK5-Cre) containing the keratin 5 promoter, Cre recombinase gene and polyA of human growth hormone gene was generated. The 4.2 kb DNA fragment of K5-Cre-hGH was introduced into 720 fertilized zygotes by microinjection.