The Auxiliary NADH Dehydrogenase Plays a Crucial Role in Redox Homeostasis of Nicotinamide Cofactors in the Absence of the Periplasmic Oxidation System in Gluconobacter oxydans NBRC3293.

has the unique property of a glucose oxidation system in the periplasmic space, where glucose is oxidized incompletely to ketogluconic acids in a nicotinamide cofactor-independent manner. Elimination of the gene for membrane-bound glucose dehydrogenase, the first enzyme for the periplasmic glucose oxidation system, induces a metabolic change whereby glucose is oxidized in the cytoplasm to acetic acid. strain NBRC3293 possesses two molecular species of type II NADH dehydrogenase (NDH), the primary and auxiliary NDHs that oxidize NAD(P)H by reducing ubiquinone in the cell membrane.

The Current Status of Sakigake Designation in Japan, PRIME in the European Union, and Breakthrough Therapy Designation in the United States.

Following the Breakthrough Therapy Designation system in 2012 in the United States, the Sakigake Designation was introduced in 2015 in Japan, and PRIME (PRIority MEdicines) was started in 2016 in the European Union. Each system aims at giving patients better access to innovative drugs and regenerative medicine products by providing product developers with generous regulatory and scientific support from an early development stage. So far, the designation systems have operated independently in each region, and no products with the same indication have been designated commonly under the 3 designation systems.

Vaccination with antigen-transfected, NKT cell ligand-loaded, human cells elicits robust in situ immune responses by dendritic cells.

Both innate and adaptive immunity are crucial for cancer immunosurveillance, but precise therapeutic equations to restore immunosurveillance in patients with cancer patients have yet to be developed. In murine models, α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer)-loaded, tumor antigen-expressing syngeneic or allogeneic cells can act as cellular adjuvants, linking the innate and adaptive immune systems. In the current study, we established human artificial adjuvant vector cells (aAVC) consisting of human HEK293 embryonic kidney cells stably transfected with the natural killer T (NKT) immune cell receptor CD1d, loaded with the CD1d ligand α-GalCer and then transfected with antigen-encoding mRNA.

[Structural homology between streptolysin O (SLO) produced by streptococcus pyogenes and SLO-like protein produced by non-pathogenic streptococci and cross-reactivity of antibody against SLO-like protein to SLO].

Nine clones of non-pathogenic streptococci were isolated from the pharynges of seven healthy subjects, and grown on sheep blood agar plates with a hemolysis or gamma hemolysis, then cultured in LB broth for 16 hrs. Purified streptolysin O (SLO) purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (Sigma-SLO), SLO antigen as a latex agglutination reagent from A company (A-SLO) and supernatants from four culture media were electrophoresed on 12% SDS-polyacrylamide gel and transferred to PVDF membranes.

Mutations in autolytic loop-2 and at Asp554 of human prothrombin that enhance protein C activation by meizothrombin.

Thrombin acts on many protein substrates during the hemostatic process. Its specificity for these substrates is modulated through interactions at regions remote from the active site of the thrombin molecule, designated exosites. Exosite interactions can be with the substrate, cofactors such as thrombomodulin, or fragments from prothrombin.

A new gene structure of the disintegrin family: a subunit of dimeric disintegrin has a short coding region.

Disintegrin is a potent platelet aggregation inhibitor isolated from various snake venoms. The cDNA of the snake venom disintegrin family precursor is well-known to encode pre-peptide, metalloprotease, spacer, and disintegrin domains. Recently, new types of disintegrins, dimeric disintegrins, have been isolated, and their amino acid sequences were determined to be approximately 65 amino acid residues in each subunit.

A secreted form of human ADAM9 has an alpha-secretase activity for APP.

ADAM9 (MDC9, meltrin gamma) is a member of the ADAM family of metalloproteases, which play important roles in cell-cell fusion, intracellular signaling, and other cellular functions. Here we cloned a novel form of human ADAM9, designated hADAM9s (s for short), which lacks the carboxyl-terminus. Human ADAM9s was found to be secreted from transfected COS cells.

Cloning and characterization of novel snake venom proteins that block smooth muscle contraction.

In this study, we isolated a 25-kDa novel snake venom protein, designated ablomin, from the venom of the Japanese Mamushi snake (Agkistrodon blomhoffi). The amino-acid sequence of this protein was determined by peptide sequencing and cDNA cloning. The deduced sequence showed high similarity to helothermine from the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum horridum), which blocks voltage-gated calcium and potassium channels, and ryanodine receptors.