Does prolidase indicate worsening of hepatitis B infection?

Background: Hepatitis B infection is a health problem that affects more than 400 million people all over the world. We aimed to evaluate the usability of prolidase enzyme that plays an important role in collagen synthesis. Prolidase levels increase in hepatic damage, which can be used as diagnostic parameters in the progressions to chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection by evaluating it in different clinical forms of hepatitis B infection.

Distinct mechanisms for induction and tolerance regulate the immediate early genes encoding interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor α.

Interleukin-1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor α play related, but distinct, roles in immunity and disease. Our study revealed major mechanistic distinctions in the Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling-dependent induction for the rapidly expressed genes (IL1B and TNF) coding for these two cytokines. Prior to induction, TNF exhibited pre-bound TATA Binding Protein (TBP) and paused RNA Polymerase II (Pol II), hallmarks of poised immediate-early (IE) genes.

Sweating the small stuff: microRNAs and genetic changes define pancreatic cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 18- to 22-nucleotide-long, single-stranded, noncoding RNAs that regulate important biological processes including differentiation, proliferation, and response to cellular stressors such as hypoxia, nutrient depletion, and traversion of the cell cycle by controlling protein expression within the cell. Many investigators have profiled cancer tissue and serum miRNAs to identify potential therapeutic targets, understand the pathways involved in tumorigenesis, and identify diagnostic tumor signatures. In the setting of pancreatic cancer, obtaining pancreatic tissue is invasive and impractical for early diagnosis.

The activity of paraoxonase and arylesterase in patients with osteomyelitis.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate oxidative stress and to determine the activity of paraoxonase and arylesterase in patients with osteomyelitis compared to healthy controls.

Method: In total, 30 patients diagnosed with osteomyelitis and 30 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Paraoxonase and arylesterase activities were measured spectrophotometrically.

Damage associated molecular pattern molecule-induced microRNAs (DAMPmiRs) in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Endogenous damage associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) released from necrotic, damaged or stressed cells are associated with an inflammatory response. Whether the microRNA (miR) expression signature of this response is different from that of a pathogen associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-stimulated inflammatory response is unknown. We report here that miR-34c and miR-214 are significantly expressed in fresh human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) exposed to DAMP-containing freeze-thaw lysates, or to conditioned media from serum-starved and glucose-deprived cells (p<6×10(-4) and p<3.

Sheddase activity of tumor necrosis factor-alpha converting enzyme is increased and prognostically valuable in head and neck cancer.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha converting enzyme (TACE) is a sheddase overexpressed in cancers that generates cancer cell growth and survival factors, and is implicated in carcinogenesis and tumor growth. This indicates that TACE could be a potentially important cancer biomarker. Unexpectedly, TACE expression in cancer tissues does not correlate with cancer stage or invasiveness.

Inhibition of IL-1beta transcription by peptides derived from the hCMV IE2 transactivator.

The immediate early (IE) proteins of human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) have diverse roles in directing viral and host cell transcription. Among these is the ability of IE2 to induce transcription of the IL1B gene that codes for IL-1beta in monocytes. This function is partially explained by interaction between IE2 and the host cell transcription factor Spi-1/PU.

Phosphorylation of IRF8 in a pre-associated complex with Spi-1/PU.1 and non-phosphorylated Stat1 is critical for LPS induction of the IL1B gene.

Rapid induction of transcription is known to be mediated by factors which bind DNA following post-translational modification. We report here that non-tyrosine phosphorylated (NTP)-Stat1 is involved in a cooperative interaction with Spi-1/PU.1 and IRF8 to form a pre-associated, poised complex for IL1B gene induction.

Characterization of a cascade of protein interactions initiated at the IL-1 receptor.

Prior studies have identified molecules involved in IL-1 signaling that transmit the extracellular stimulus to downstream kinase molecules causing altered transcriptional activity. Many of these investigations have relied heavily on ligand induced protein-protein interactions detected by immuno-coprecipitation to map the cascade of events from receptor binding to activation of downstream signaling intermediates. Direct protein interactions have not been commonly reported.