A novel enzyme-linked ligand-sorbent assay (ELLSA) to screening pulmonary tuberculosis: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Background: Little knowledge of antigen existence in the pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patient serum impeded its development in antigen detection technology, despite its considerable potential.

Methods: Human ligand proteins and their adsorbent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) proteins in the serum of PTB patients were identified using human protein chip (HuProt™) and LC-MS/MS, successively.

Efflux pump Rv1258c activates novel functions of the oxidative stress and via the VII secretion system ESX-3-mediated iron metabolic pathway in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Oxidative stress and iron metabolism are essential for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) survival in host cells. The efflux pump Rv1258c belongs to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) and can actively pump drugs to promote certain drug resistance in M.

Macrophage-targeted nanoparticles mediate synergistic photodynamic therapy and immunotherapy of tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by (Mtb) that poses a serious global public health threat. Due to the high incidence of adverse reactions associated with conventional treatment regimens, there is an urgent need for better alternative therapies. CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODNs) are synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide sequences.

Recent advances in functionalized upconversion nanoparticles for light-activated tumor therapy.

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are a class of optical nanocrystals doped with lanthanide ions that offer great promise for applications in controllable tumor therapy. In recent years, UCNPs have become an important tool for studying the treatment of various malignant and nonmalignant cutaneous diseases. UCNPs convert near-infrared (NIR) radiation into shorter-wavelength visible and ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which is much better than conventional UV activated tumor therapy as strong UV-light can be damaging to healthy surrounding tissue.

Rv1258c acts as a drug efflux pump and growth controlling factor in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The possible role of efflux pump as a survival mechanism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) is gaining an increasing attention. Previously, Rv1258c (Tap) and its certain mutations confer the clinically relevant drug resistance.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms and activities of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase isoforms, IDO1 and IDO2, in tuberculosis patients.

Purpose: To explore the role and effects of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the two functionally related indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) isoforms on IDO activity in the Chinese Han ethnic population.

Methods: A total of 151 consecutive patients of Chinese Han ethnicity (99 men and 52 women; average age 51.92 ± 18.

Application of the CRISPRi system to repress sepF expression in Mycobacterium smegmatis.

Despite technical advances in introducing genomic deletions and modulating gene expression, direct inactivation of essential genes in mycobacteria remains difficult. In this study, we described clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat interference (CRISPRi) technology to repress the expression of sepF (MSMEG_4219) based on nuclease-deficient CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) and small guide RNA (sgRNA) specific to the target sequence in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Using this CRISPRi approach, we achieved the repression of sepF by up to 98% in M.

A Two-Way Proteome Microarray Strategy to Identify Novel -Human Interactors.

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a serious threat to human health which is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis (). The main reason for failure to eliminate TB is lack of clearly understanding the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis. Determining human -interacting proteins enables us to characterize the mechanism and identify potential molecular targets for TB diagnosis and treatment.

ROS leads to MnSOD upregulation through ERK2 translocation and p53 activation in selenite-induced apoptosis of NB4 cells.

Following our previous finding that sodium selenite induces apoptosis in human leukemia NB4 cells, we now show that the expression of the critical antioxidant enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) is remarkably elevated during this process. We further reveal that reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially superoxide radicals, play a crucial role in selenite-induced MnSOD upregulation, with extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) and p53 closely implicated. Specifically, ERK2 translocates into the nucleus driven by ROS, where it directly phosphorylates p53, leading to dissociation of p53 from its inhibitory protein mouse double minute 2 (MDM2).

Sodium selenite induces apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia-derived NB4 cells through mitochondria-dependent pathway.

Our previous study has shown that sodium selenite can cause apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia-derived NB4 cells in a caspase-dependent manner involving Deltapsim disruption and cleavage of Bcl-2, but more detailed mechanism(s) remain unclear. Here we showed that mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathway played a vital role in apoptosis induced by sodium selenite based on the following findings: 1) cytochrome c release, activation of caspase 9, mitochondrial targeting, and oligermerization of Bax; 2) caspase 9, but not caspase 8, inhibitor could attenuate apoptosis; 3) downregulation of Bax and Bad by siRNA could delay sodium selenite-induced apoptosis. Further investigation showed that ROS was an essential inducer of deltapsim disruption and apoptosis by sodium selenite.

Requirement for ERK activity in sodium selenite-induced apoptosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia-derived NB4 cells.

Our previous study has shown that sodium selenite can cause apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia-derived NB4 cells in a caspase-dependent manner, but the detailed mechanism is unknown. Here we demonstrate a requirement for extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) in mediating sodium selenite -induced apoptosis in NB4 cell. Though no apparent elevation of ERK activity was observed during the apoptosis in NB4 cells caused by 20 microM sodium selenite treatment, PD98059 and U0126, specific chemical inhibitors of the MEK/ERK signaling pathway, were shown to strongly prevent the apoptosis process, while ERK activator TPA enhanced the process.

Comparative proteomic analysis of apoptosis induced by sodium selenite in human acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element possessing anticarcinogenic properties. Sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) induced apoptosis in human acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cell line NB4 with dose and time dependency. In this study, proteomic techniques were used to study the apoptosis of NB4 cells induced by sodium selenite.

Characteristics of trapping copper ions with scrolled ferritin reactor in the flowing seawater.

Native liver ferritin of Dasyatis akajei (DALF), apoDALF, and reconstituted DALF were employed to construct a ferritin reactor, respectively. An apparatus consisting of a mixer, a ferritin reactor, and a magnetic stirrer was constructed to study capacity and feasibility of trapping Cu2+ in the flowing seawater. The experimental results showed that the numbers of trapping Cu2+ with DALF reactor were higher than these with the reactors of apoDALF and reconstituted DALF, respectively, giving the maximal numbers of 98 +/- 5 Cu2+ per molecular DALF in 120 h.

Purification, electrophoretic behavior, and kinetics of iron release of liver ferritin of Dasyatis akajei.

From the liver of fish Dasyatis akajei, ferritin has been isolated by thermal denaturation and ammonium sulfate fractionation and then further purified by anion exchange chromatography and gel exclusion chromatography. The molecular weight of the liver ferritin of D. akajei (DALF) was measured to be 400 kDa by PAGE.