Alzheimer's disease risk associated with changes in Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1-specific epitope targeting antibody levels.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder influenced by age, sex, genetic factors, immune alterations, and infections. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that changes in antibody response are linked to AD pathology.

Methods: To elucidate the mechanisms underlying AD development, we investigated antibodies that target autoimmune epitopes using high-resolution epitope microarrays.

Transcriptional regulation of Notch1 by nuclear factor-κB during T cell activation.

Notch1 plays important roles in T cell development and is highly expressed in activated CD4 T cells. However, the underlying mechanism of Notch1 transcription in T cells has not been fully characterized. Therefore, we aimed to determine how Notch1 expression is regulated during the activation of CD4 T cells.

Recent insights of T cell receptor-mediated signaling pathways for T cell activation and development.

T cell activation requires extracellular stimulatory signals that are mainly mediated by T cell receptor (TCR) complexes. The TCR recognizes antigens on major histocompatibility complex molecules with the cooperation of CD4 or CD8 coreceptors. After recognition, TCR-induced signaling cascades that propagate signals via various molecules and second messengers are induced.

Ciclopirox inhibits Hepatitis B Virus secretion by blocking capsid assembly.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can cause cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and is therefore a serious public health problem. Infected patients are currently treated with nucleoside/nucleotide analogs and interferon α, but this approach is not curative. Here, we screen 978 FDA-approved compounds for their ability to inhibit HBV replication in HBV-expressing HepG2.

Mouse models for hepatitis B virus research.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major global health problem; indeed, there are 250 million carriers worldwide. The host range of HBV is narrow; therefore, few primates are susceptible to HBV infection. However, ethical constraints, high cost, and large size limit the use of primates as suitable animal models.