Hyperplastic epithelial foci in honeycomb lesions in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Seventy-two cases of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) were examined from 2856 consecutive autopsy cases at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center in Tokyo from 1973-1996. Primary lung cancer had arisen in 31 of 72 cases of IPF (43%), significantly higher than the incidence in cases without IPF (8.1%) and in the cases with non-IPF chronic lung diseases (11.9%). Hyperplastic epithelial foci in the honeycomb lesions of IPF cases were significantly more prominent in the lower than in the upper lobe, in cases with or without lung cancer, and they were more prominent in the lower lobe of IPF with than in those without cancer. The length of hyperplastic epithelial foci in the lower lobe of IPF cases was longer than that in interstitial pneumonia-associated with collagen vascular diseases. There was a higher PCNA labeling index of hyperplastic epithelial foci in IPF cases than in cases of interstitial pneumonia-associated with collagen vascular diseases. The PCNA labeling index was almost the same between smokers and nonsmokers with IPF. Overexpression of p53 was observed in hyperplastic epithelial foci in honeycomb lesion of IPF. DNA ploidy analysis of hyperplastic epithelial foci in the paraffin sections of 12 IPF cases revealed aneuploidy patterns in eight cases. These results strongly suggest that accelerated cell proliferation occurs in the honeycomb lesion of IPF, and that regenerative epithelia becomes susceptible to carcinogenic agents in addition to the smoking effect.     

CD69-null mice protected from arthritis induced with anti-type II collagen antibodies

CD69, known as an early activation marker antigen on T and B cells, is also expressed on platelets and activated neutrophils, suggesting certain roles in inflammatory diseases. In order to address the role of CD69 in the pathogenesis of arthritis, we established CD69-null mice. CD69-null mice displayed a markedly attenuated arthritic inflammatory response when injected with anti-type II collagen antibodies. Cell transfer experiments with neutrophils, but not T cells or spleen cells, from wild-type mice into CD69-null mice restored the induction of arthritis. These results indicate a critical role for CD69 in neutrophil function in arthritis induction during the effector phase. Thus, CD69 would be a possible therapeutic target for arthritis in human patients.     

Inferring alternative splicing patterns in mouse from a full-length cDNA library and microarray data

Although many studies on alternative splicing of specific genes have been reported in the literature, the general mechanism that regulates alternative splicing has not been clearly understood. In this study, we systematically aligned each pair of the 21,076 cDNA sequences of Mus musculus, searched for putative alternative splicing patterns, and constructed a list of potential alternative splicing sites. Two cDNAs are suspected to be alternatively spliced and originating from a common gene if they share most of their region with a high degree of sequence homology, but parts of the sequences are very distinctive or deleted in either cDNA. The list contains the following information: (1) tissue, (2) developmental stage, (3) sequences around splice sites, (4) the length of each gapped region, and (5) other comments. The list is available at http://www.bioinfo.sfc.keio.ac.jp/intron. Our results have predicted a number of unreported alternatively spliced genes, some of which are expressed only in a specific tissue or at a specific developmental stage.     

Identification and characterization of the human FMN1 gene in silico

Mouse Formin (Fmn1) protein plays a key role in limb morphogenesis. Fmn1 is one of the actin regulators with scaffold function, interacting with Profilin, SRC, EMS1, FNBP1, FNBP2, FNBP3, FNBP4, WBP4 and alpha-catenin. Fmn1, Fmn2, FHOD1, FHOD3, GRID2IP and FHDC1 are non-FDD-type Formin homology proteins, while FMNL1, FMNL2, FMNL3, DIAPH1, DIAPH2, DIAPH3, DAAM1 and DAAM2 are FDD-type Formin homology proteins. Here, we identified the human FMN1 gene by using bioinformatics. The complete coding sequence of human FMN1 cDNA was determined by assembling AC055874.8 genome sequence (nucleotide position 178207-180073), AI040235 EST (complementary sequence for nucleotide position 331-156) and FLJ45135 cDNA (nucleotide position 319-3310). FMN1 isoform 1 (exons 1-18) and FMN isoform 2 (exons 1b and 3-18) were transcribed due to alternative splicing of the alternative promoter type. The FMN1 gene at human chromosome 15q13.3 was located between CKTSF1B1 (Gremlin) and RYR3 genes. The Xenopus fmn1 gene was identified within the Xenopus genome sequence CH216-24N20 (AC147835.1). The FMH1 domain (codon 1-120 of FMN1) and FMH2 domain (codon 683-835 of FMN1) were identified as novel regions conserved among human FMN1, mouse Fmn1, and Xenopus fmn1. The FMH2 domain was almost identical to the alpha-catenin binding domain of mouse Fmn1. Human FMN1 (1419 aa), showing 77.1% total amino-acid identity with mouse Fmn1, was found consisting of FMH1, FMH2, FH1 and FH2 domains. This is the first report on the identification and characterization of the human FMN1 gene as well as the FMH1 and FMH2 domains.     

Abnormal accumulation in lipopolysaccharide in biliary epithelial cells of rats with self-filling blind loop

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is known to be frequently associated with inflammatory bowel diseases. In a rat with self-filling blind loop (SFBL), a proposed animal model for PSC, hepatobiliary inflammation has previously been demonstrated. In this study, we assessed the involvement of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial endotoxin, in the pathogenesis of hepatobiliary inflammation of the SFBL model. The hepatic localization of LPS was examined by immunohistochemistry using an anti-lipid A antibody. The portal blood concentration of LPS was measured by an endotoxin-specific chromogenic Limulus test (Endospecy test). LPS was localized in the biliary epithelial cells (BECs) of rats with SFBL, and the portal blood concentration of LPS was significantly higher than that of sham-operated rats. Development of hepatobiliary inflammation, peribiliary fibrosis, and injury to the intestinal mucosa were histologically confirmed. Constriction in the biliary trees was radiologically demonstrated. These findings suggested that abnormal accumulation of LPS, which may be derived from portal blood, in BECs was involved in the pathogenesis of hepatobiliary inflammation with intestinal injury.     

Rapid detection of Epstein-Barr virus DNA by loop-mediated isothermal amplification method.

BACKGROUND: The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method is a novel technique for the amplification of specific DNA sequences. OBJECTIVES: To establish the LAMP method for amplifying Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA and to examine its reliability for the detection of EBV DNA in clinical specimens. STUDY DESIGN: Sera from 108 patients, who were initially suspected of primary EBV infection, were tested by the EBV LAMP method, and the results were compared with those of the real-time PCR assay. Serological examination was regarded as the standard diagnostic method. RESULTS: To diagnose primary EBV infection, the sensitivity of LAMP was 86.4% and the specificity was 100%. The sensitivity of the real-time PCR assay was 84.1% and the specificity was 98.4%. Longitudinal analysis showed that the detection rate of EBV DNA in serum by the LAMP method decreased with time in accordance with the decrease of the EBV load. EBV DNA could not be detected in serum 40 days after onset of symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the sensitivity and specificity of the LAMP method are comparable to those of real-time PCR and that detecting EBV DNA in serum by this method is potentially useful for diagnosing primary EBV infection.     

Expression of BAFF-R (BR3) in normal and neoplastic lymphoid tissues characterized with a newly developed monoclonal antibody

BAFF-receptor (BAFF-R) is required for the successful maturation and survival of B-cells. We developed an anti-human BAFF-R monoclonal antibody (mAb), 8A7. The reactivity of 8A7 in normal and neoplastic tissue was examined by performing immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded sections. 8A7 reacted with lymphocytes in the mantle and marginal zones, but not with lymphocytes in the interfollicular area. Lymphocytes in the germinal centers were found to be negative or occasionally weakly positive for 8A7. BAFF-R expression was found only in B-cell lymphoma (44/80, positive cases/examined cases): B-lymphoblastic lymphoma 0/3, B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma 4/4, mantle cell lymphoma 9/11, follicular lymphoma 10/14, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) 11/25, marginal zone B-cell lymphoma 8/10, lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma 2/2, plasma cell myeloma 0/2, and Burkitt lymphoma 0/9, but not in T/NK cell lymphomas (0/19) or Hodgkin lymphoma (0/10). BAFF-R was expressed in most low-grade B-cell neoplasms and a small number of DLBCL, suggesting that BAFF-R may play an important role in the proliferation of neoplastic lymphoid cells. Thus, the mAb is very useful for further understanding of both healthy B-cell biology and its pathogenic neoplasms.     

Quantitative magnetic detection of finger movements in patients with Parkinson's disease

To develop a new measurement tool for quantitatively detecting the finger movement of a patient with Parkinson's disease (PD), we designed a magnetic sensing system consisting of a magnetic induction coil, a sensing coil, and a circuit unit. The sensing coil detects the inducted magnetic field that varies with the distance between the two coils, and the detected signals are demodulated in the circuit unit in order to obtain the variation voltage from the oscillation frequency. To obtain a coefficient for converting voltage to distance, we measured the output voltages for seven fixed finger positions of 12 normal volunteers. The voltage differences corresponding to the finger movement in 20 PD patients, six age-matched controls, and 12 normal volunteers were then recorded for 30s. To investigate the velocity and acceleration of the finger movement, we calculated their waveforms from the measured displacement waveform. We also detected the main frequency of the tapping rhythm by using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The averaged amplitude of each waveform decreased with the disorder in the Hoehn-Yahr (HY) stage, while the averaged tapping frequency of PD patients did not have any correlation with this stage. It can be concluded that this magnetic sensing system can assess finger movement quantitatively.