Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) I405V polymorphism and cardiovascular disease in eastern European Caucasians - a cross-sectional study.

Background: The cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) polymorphism I405V has been suggested to be involved in longevity and susceptibility to cardiovascular diseases. An enhanced reverse cholesterol transport due to enhanced HDL levels has been hypothesized to be the underlying mechanism. However, clinical trials with HDL-enhancing drugs failed to show beneficial effects.

TLR-6 SNP P249S is associated with healthy aging in nonsmoking Eastern European Caucasians - A cohort study.

Background: To investigate mechanisms that determine healthy aging is of major interest in the modern world marked by longer life expectancies. In addition to lifestyle and environmental factors genetic factors also play an important role in aging phenotypes. The aged immune system is characterized by a chronic micro-inflammation, known as inflamm-aging, that is suspected to trigger the onset of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 (DMT2).

A common copy number variation polymorphism in the CNTNAP2 gene: sexual dimorphism in association with healthy aging and disease.

Background: New therapeutic targets are needed to fight aging-related diseases and increase life span. A new female-specific association with diseases and limited survival past 80 years was recently reported for a copy number variation (CNV) in the CNTNAP4 gene from the neurexin superfamily.

Objective: We asked whether there are CNVs that are associated with aging phenotypes within other genes from the neurexin superfamily and whether this association is sex specific.

A common copy number variation (CNV) polymorphism in the CNTNAP4 gene: association with aging in females.

Background: Aging is a biological process strongly determined by genetics. However, only a few single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been reported to be consistently associated with aging. While investigating whether copy number variations (CNVs) could fill this gap, we focused on CNVs that have not been studied in previous SNP-based searches via tagging SNPs.

Bov-tA short interspersed nucleotide element sequences in circulating nucleic acids from sera of cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and sera of cattle exposed to BSE.

Circulating nucleic acids (CNA) are known to be enriched in repetitive DNA sequences in humans. Here, bovine sera CNA were analyzed to determine if cell stress-related short interspersed nucleotide elements (SINEs) could be detected in sera from cattle associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Nucleic acids were extracted, amplified, cloned, and sequenced from the sera of protease-resistant prion protein (PrP(res))-positive cattle (n = 2) and sera from BSE-cohort cows (n = 6); 150 out of 163 clones revealed the presence of, on average, an 80-bp sequence from the 3' region of Bov-tA SINE.

Antinuclear autoantibodies as potential antineoplastic agents.

The immune system confines neoplasia at various stages of tumor development. Whereas the role of cellular immunity has been investigated widely and utilized in the clinic, the importance of humoral immunity in this process has begun to emerge only in recent years. Circulating antinuclear autoantibodies (ANAs) typically found in autoimmune conditions, have also been detected in cancer patients and in healthy elderly individuals.

Negatively charged polymers protect antinuclear antibody against inactivation by acylating agents.

For many practical applications, monoclonal antibodies must be chemically modified without any significant loss in their immunoreactivity. In some situations, however, the amino acid residue crucial for antibody activity may be highly reactive toward the modifying agent, which results in antibody inactivation. The method to prevent inactivation of a modification-sensitive antinuclear monoclonal antibody by acylating agents was developed.

Nucleosome-releasing treatment makes surviving tumor cells better targets for nucleosome-specific anticancer antibodies.

Monoclonal antibody (MoAb) 2C5, a nucleosome-specific antinuclear autoantibody (ANA) from the repertoire of aged mice, was recently reported to recognize the surface of various tumor cells but not normal cells. Surface-bound nucleosomes (NSs) were previously proven to be MoAb 2C5's target on the outer membrane of tumor cells. Furthermore, MoAb 2C5 was found to have a strong antitumor effect during the early stages of tumor development.

A novel class of antitumor antibodies: nucleosome-restricted antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) from healthy aged nonautoimmune mice.

Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANAs) of healthy aged mice were recently found to specifically interact with the surface of various tumor vs. normal cells. We characterize the specificity of three monoclonal ANAs from healthy aged Balb/c mice by indirect immunofluorescent staining of fixed Hep-2 cells, ELISA assays, and Western blotting analysis.

Resident CD4+ alpha beta T cells of the murine female genital tract: a phenotypically distinct T cell lineage that rapidly proliferates in response to systemic T cell activation stimuli.

A population of CD4+ cells has been identified in the murine female genital tract (FGT). Phenotypic studies of FGT CD4+ cells demonstrate that they express CD3 and that the majority of these cells are alpha beta TCR+Thy-1+. Most of the Thy-1+CD4+alpha beta TCR+ cells resemble memory T cells based on their expression of CD44, L-selectin and CD45RB antigens.