The antiviral effects of acteoside and the underlying IFN-γ-inducing action.

There are many herbal teas that are found in nature that may be effective at treating the symptoms and also shortening the duration of viral infections. When combating viral infections, T lymphocytes are an indispensable part of human acquired immunity. However, studies on the use of natural products in stimulating lymphocyte-mediated interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production are very limited.

Anti-influenza virus effects of crude phenylethanoid glycosides isolated from ligustrum purpurascens via inducing endogenous interferon-γ.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Ligustrum purpurascens Y.C. Yang (Oleaceae) is traditionally recorded as "Ku Ding Cha", a kind of functional tea in southern China for about two thousand years, which has been reported with sore throat alleviating and pathogenic heat expelling effects.

[Studies on thermal denaturation of peanut allergen Ara h1 and its interaction with reducing sugars].

The thermal denaturation of peanut allergen Ara h1, its interaction with reducing sugars and the corresponding changes in allergenicity were investigated by circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence and ELISA method comprehensively. The experimental results indicate that the secondary structure of Ara h1 changes significantly along with decreasing alpha-helical structure and its allergenicity with the temperature higher than 85 degrees C, and that both xylose and fructose can stabilize Ara h1 protein structure through interacting with Ara h1 protein and decrease its allergenicity obviously. This study should be helpful to the further understanding of sensitization mechanism of food allergy and be useful for the guidance on reasonable manufacturing of peanut foods.

In vitro refolding process of bovine allergen β-lactoglobulin by Multispectroscopic method.

Objective: To characterize the relationship between the refolding process of recombinant bovine β-lactoglobulin and its immunoreactivity for clinical purposes. To establish a spectral method which examine the extent of recombinant allergen renaturation.

Methods: The refolding process of recombinant bovine β-lactoglobulin was investigated by using circular dichroism, fluorescence and synchronous fluorescence spectra.

[Spectroscopic studies on the relationship between heat treatment process and immunogenicity of beta-lactoglobulin in milk].

The thermal denaturation of beta-lactoglobulin of milk was investigated by using DSC, circular dichroism spectra, and fluorescence spectra systematically. And its corresponding immunogenicity was tested with ELISA experiments. In addition, bioinformatics methods were also used to explain the spectral characteristics and its corresponding immunogenic change, analyze the conformational changes of the protein during thermal denaturation, and discuss the relationship between conformational change of beta-lactoglobulin caused by heat and immunogenic change.

New BZLF1 sequence variations in EBV-associated undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma in southern China.

The viral lytic gene BZLF1 triggers replication of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is commonly found in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Here, RT-PCR revealed five new BZLF1 variants in 8 of 12 NPC and 4 of 12 non-NPC nasopharyngeal biopsies from an NPC-endemic area in southern China. The deduced peptide sequence of the dominant BZLF1 variant differed by 11 amino acids from that of the prototypical strain B95.