Publications by authors named "Kariyazono H"

Identification of genetic alterations through next-generation sequencing (NGS) can guide treatment decision-making by providing information on diagnosis, therapy selection, and prognostic stratification in patients with hematological malignancies. Although the utility of NGS-based genomic profiling assays was investigated in hematological malignancies, no assays sufficiently cover driver mutations, including recently discovered ones, as well as fusions and/or pathogenic germline variants. To address these issues, here we have devised an integrated DNA/RNA profiling assay to detect various types of somatic alterations and germline variants at once.

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Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays important roles in synaptic plasticity and neuronal differentiation. The neurotrophic hypothesis of depression, which suggests that reduced BDNF in the hippocampus underlies depression, has attracted increasing attention. Stress, a major cause of depression, leads to decreased BDNF levels, and administration of BDNF into the hippocampus shows an antidepressant effect.

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Ghrelin is a stomach-derived peptide hormone with an appetite-stimulating effect. Octanoylation on the serine-3 residue of ghrelin by ghrelin O-acyl transferase (GOAT) is essential for its orexigenic effect. Mature octanoylated ghrelin is generated by the C-terminal cleavage of octanoylated proghrelin via prohormone convertases (furin, PC1/3, or PC2).

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Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone produced in the stomach. The major active form is octanoylated ghrelin, which is modified with an n-octanoic acid at the serine-3 residue. Inhibition of octanoylated ghrelin production is useful for the prevention and improvement of obesity.

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Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) is a well-known medicinal herb in the oriental medicine. The current study on bioactive triterpenoid in the root of S. miltiorrhiza led to the isolation of a new highly hydroxylated ursane-type triterpene, urs-12-ene-2α,3β,7β,16α-tetraol (1) and five known ones including 2β-hydroxypomolic acid (2), maslinic acid (3), asiatic acid (4), ursolic acid (5), and oleanolic acid (6).

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Ghrelin is an appetite-stimulating peptide hormone with an octanoyl modification at serine 3 that is essential for its orexigenic effect. Ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT) is the enzyme that catalyzes ghrelin acylation using fatty acyl-coenzyme A as a substrate. We previously developed an assay system based on the AGS-GHRL8 cell line that produces octanoylated ghrelin in the presence of octanoic acid, and demonstrated that some fatty acids suppressed octanoylated ghrelin production.

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Nanodiscs are composed of scaffold protein or peptide such as apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) and phospholipids. Although peptide-based nanodiscs have an advantage to modulate the size of nanodiscs by changing phospholipid/peptide ratios, they are usually less stable than apoA-I-based nanodiscs. In this study, we designed a novel nanodisc scaffold peptide (NSP) that has proline-punctuated bihelical amphipathic structure based on apoA-I mimetic peptides.

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Ghrelin is a growth hormone-releasing peptide that also displays orexigenic activity. Since serine-3 acylation with octanoylate (octanoylation) is essential for the orexigenic activity of ghrelin, suppression of octanoylation could lead to amelioration or prevention of obesity. To enable the exploration of inhibitors of octanoylated ghrelin production, we developed a cell-based assay system using AGS-GHRL8 cells, in which octanoylated ghrelin concentration increases in the presence of octanoic acid.

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Background: Dabigatran (DT) is a direct thrombin inhibitor used to prevent venous and arterial thromboembolism due to atrial fibrillation. DT is the active form of the commercially available prodrug DT etexilate. Although DT has many clinical advantages over warfarin, it increases the incidence of bleeding in patients with renal dysfunction.

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of a supplement enriched in ω-3 fatty acids on immune responses and platelet-leukocyte complex formation in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Patients in the supplement group (n = 7) took a supplement enriched in ω-3 fatty acids (Impact(®)) in addition to a hospital diet for five successive days before surgery; those in the control group (n = 7) took only hospital diet and did not take Impact(®). Blood samples in both groups were collected at same time points.

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KCP-4 is a cisplatin-resistant cell line established from human epidermoid carcinoma KB-3-1 cells. Although our previous study revealed that one of the mechanisms for cisplatin resistance in KCP-4 cells is the activation of NF-κB, its high resistance is considered to be induced by multiple mechanisms. In the present study, we explored other factors involved in the development of cisplatin resistance in KCP-4 cells.

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Ghrelin, a gastric hormone, is a growth hormone-releasing peptide. Its serine-3 acylation with octanoic acid is essential for its orexigenic activity, and therefore, inhibition of the acylation of ghrelin may help in decreasing appetite and preventing obesity. This study aimed to establish a human gastric cell-based assay system to evaluate candidate inhibitors of octanoylated ghrelin production.

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Eriobotrya japonica leaf is a traditional herbal medicine that contains numerous triterpenes, which have various pharmacological properties. In this study, we investigated the anti-proliferative activity of four triterpenes derived from E. japonica, including corosolic acid (CA), ursolic acid (UA), maslinic acid (MA) and oleanolic acid (OA), in human leukemia cell lines.

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cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum II (cisplatin) is one of the most potent antitumor agents for the treatment of various types of cancer. In spite of its therapeutic usefulness, the intrinsic resistance acquired under continuous treatment limits its benefit in cancer therapy. KCP-4, a cisplatin-resistant cell line, was derived from human epidermoid carcinoma KB-3-1 cells.

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Eriobotryae folium (EF), the dried leaves of Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. has been traditionally used to treat various diseases such as chronic bronchitis, cough, inflammation, skin diseases, and diabetes.

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We have designed and evaluated UTX-12 as a novel fluorescent pH probe for tumor hypoxia imaging. UTX-12 consists of a p-nitro benzyl moiety, which is a latent hypoxia-selective leaving group activated by nitro reduction, directly linked to SNARF. Although UTX-12 itself is colorless and non-fluorescent in aqueous solution, nitro reduction triggers the release of SNARF which has well-characterized long wavelength absorption and fluorescence that is sensitive to pH.

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To investigate platelet responsiveness during cold storage of whole blood, we examined platelet aggregation, expression of CD40 ligand (CD40L) on platelets, the plasma levels of soluble form of CD40L (sCD40L) as well as platelet-leukocyte aggregates. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to investigate platelet-leukocyte aggregate formation using antibodies against CD42b and CD45 and platelet activation using antibodies against P-selectin and PAC-1. Blood samples were collected from healthy volunteers, patients with cardiovascular diseases, or both.

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To identify proteins interacting with the intracellular domain of the neural cell adhesion molecule contactin-associated protein 2 (Caspr2), yeast two-hybrid screening was performed. We identified carboxypeptidase E (CPE) as a Caspr2-interacting candidate protein. Glutathione S-transferase pull-down and immunoprecipitation analyses indicated that Caspr2 was associated with CPE in vitro and in vivo.

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This study was conducted to compare the effects of atorvastatin plus aspirin combined therapy on inflammatory responses, endothelial cell function, and blood coagulation system in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to aspirin monotherapy. The patients were randomized into atorvastatin plus aspirin combined therapy group and aspirin monotherapy group. Reduced total cholesterol in the combined therapy group was found in a short term of medication for 14 days.

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Myoblasts respond to growth factor deprivation either by diffentiation into multinucleated myotubes or by undergoing apoptosis. The induction of apoptosis and differentiation in myogenic lineage may use overlapping cellular mechanisms. Here we demonstrate that the expression of the small heat shock protein alphaB-crystallin as well as MyoD and myogenin is induced during myogenic differentiation in C2C12 cells, and these inductions occur at an early stage in the differentiation in vitro.

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We evaluated the effects of edaravone, a hydroxyl radical scavenging agent, on the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in myocardium, and the release of TNF-alpha and P-selectin from myocardium after ischemia-reperfusion injury in isolated Langendorff-perfused rat hearts. Cardiodynamic function at stable points during perfusion and 5, 15, 30, and 60 min after the initiation of reperfusion was evaluated by left ventricular developed pressure, rate of increase in left ventricular pressure and rate of decrease in ventricular pressure, coronary flow, and heart rate. At 60 min after the initiation of reperfusion, myocardial infarct size was estimated microscopically using triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining, and expression of TNF-alpha in myocardium was detected by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

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Objective: Polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation may produce beneficial effects after surgery. We investigated the influence of preoperative administration of a supplement rich in arginine, omega-3 fatty acids, and RNA, Impact (Japan), on inflammatory and immune responses in patients undergoing major surgery for cancer.

Methods: Patients in the supplement group (n = 12) received 1 L/d of Impact (Japan) for 5 d before surgery, and those in the control group (n = 14) received an ordinary diet without Impact (Japan) before surgery.

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We analyzed the genetic polymorphisms of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors [Fms-related tyrosine kinase-1, kinase insert domain receptor (KDR)] in Japanese patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) and normal control subjects to examine whether these genes would contribute to the KD occurrence and/or the development of coronary artery lesion (CAL) in KD. We found that the frequency of G allele of VEGF g.-634 G>C single-nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter region was significantly higher in KD patients with CAL than in those without CAL (p = 0.

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To compare property in anti-platelet effects of aspirin (a cyclooxygenase inhibitor), cilostazol (a phosphodiesterase III inhibitor) and ramatroban (a specific thromboxane A2 receptor antagonist), we measured human platelet-rich plasma (PRP) aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate (ADP), collagen and arachidonic acid, and whole blood (WB) aggregation induced by ADP. The release of P-selectin, transforming growth factor-beta 1, and the formation of thromboxane A2 in response to agonists were also investigated. Inhibitory effects of 100 micromol/l aspirin, 10 micromol/l cilostazol and 1 micromol/l ramatroban on 5 micromol/l ADP-induced PRP aggregation were similar.

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Background: Nitric oxide (NO) is secreted by immune and vascular endothelial cells, and appears to play important roles in the pathophysiology of Kawasaki disease (KD). Thus, genetic variations in NO synthase (NOS) genes may be involved in the development of coronary artery lesions (CAL) in KD.

Methods: The present study investigated the association of endothelial constitutive NOS (ecNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) gene polymorphisms with the development of CAL in KD in a Japanese population.

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