Development of a Western Blot Assay for Detection of Antibodies against Coronavirus Causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

To identify a major antigenic determinant for use in the development of a rapid serological diagnostic test for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus infection and to study the immune response during SARS coronavirus infection in humans, we cloned the full length and six truncated fragments of the nucleocapsid gene, expressed them, and purified them as glutathione S-transferase-tagged recombinant proteins. The reactivities of the recombinant proteins to a panel of antibodies containing 33 SARS coronavirus-positive sera and 66 negative sera and to antibodies against other animal coronaviruses were screened. A truncated 195-amino-acid fragment from the C terminus of the nucleocapsid protein (N195) was identified that had a strong ability to detect antibodies against SARS coronavirus. No cross-reaction was found between the N195 protein and antibodies against chicken, pig, and canine coronaviruses. The N195 protein was used to develop a Western blot assay to detect antibodies against SARS coronavirus in 274 clinically blinded samples. The specificity and sensitivity of this test were 98.3 and 90.9%, respectively. The correlation between our Western blotting assay and an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) was also analyzed. The results of our Western blot assay and IFA for the detection of SARS coronavirus-positive sera were the same. Thus, the N195 protein was identified as a suitable protein to be used as an antigen in Western blot and other possible assays for the detection of SARS coronavirus infection.     

小鼠趋化因子COL19Ig融合蛋白表达载体的构建、表达及鉴定

通过特异引物扩增出去掉终止密码的mCCL19编码序列，经酶切、亚克隆、拼接构建了真核表达载体pcDNA3．1-CCL19Ig，酶切和测序鉴定插入序列；将重组质粒转染CHO细胞进行体外表达，通过RT—PCR、Western blot鉴定目的基因的表达，利用趋化小室法测趋化活性。结果测序证实重组表达载体含mCCL19编码序列和人IgGI Fc段序列，其序列分别与GenBank中公布序列比对一致，IgG1-Fc段读码框未发生改变；Western blot结果证实转染了pcDNA3．1-mCEL19Ig的CHO细胞培养上清中有相对分子质量为38000的融合蛋白mCCL19Ig表达；体外趋化实验表明融合蛋白mCCL19Ig对小鼠脾细胞有趋化活性，且呈剂量依耐关系。     

Surveying the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in school-children in Khon Kaen, Northeastern Thailand using the ISAAC questionnaire: phase III

This is the second survey of schoolchildren in Khon Kaen, Northeastern Thailand, using the Thai version of the ISAAC questionnaire to examine the trend in the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema, and to compare the results with the ISAAC Phase I data. We analyzed 5,075 questionnaires comprising 2,119 six- to seven- and 2,956 thirteen- to fourteen-year-old children (48 and 42 percent male, respectively). The cumulative vs. 12-month prevalence according to the written questionnaires were: 14.3 vs. 9.8% for wheezing, 42.6 vs. 33.3% for rhinitis and 13.5 vs. 11.2% for eczema, respectively. The cumulative vs. 12-month prevalence for the wheezing module, based on the video questionnaire, was 9.2 vs. 6.3%, respectively. Most Phase III prevalence was significantly lower than the first survey except for the steady, 12-month prevalence of wheeze. Our study confirms the high prevalence of allergic diseases among school-children in Northeastern Thailand; albeit, prevalence has not increased in recent years. The Thai version of the English-language ISAAC questionnaire needs to be validated before further use in epidemiological research.     

Rapid identification and susceptibility testing using the VITEK(R) 2 system using culture fluids from positive BacT/ALERT(R) blood cultures

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In order to reduce the turnaround time for laboratory diagnosis of bacteremia, the efficacy of identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing using samples taken directly from positive BacT/ALERT(R) standard aerobic and standard anaerobic blood culture bottles was evaluated. METHODS: 160 positive blood culture bottles were examined and incubated at 35 degrees C in 5% carbon dioxide for 4-24 h, and an aliquot of the culture fluid was Gram stained. Samples containing Gram-negative bacilli were inoculated on VITEK(R) 2 ID-GNB (identification-Gram-negative bacilli) and AST (antimicrobial susceptibility testing)-GN04 cards, and those containing Gram-positive cocci were inoculated on ID-GPC (identification-Gram-positive cocci) and AST-P526 cards. The same samples were also examined by the standard method, involving subculture from positive BacT/ALERT standard blood culture bottles. RESULTS: Eighty seven of 97 Gram-negative bacilli (89.7%) and 21 of 63 Gram-positive cocci (33.3%) were correctly identified to the species level. For antimicrobial susceptibility testing, the direct method had an overall error rate of 5.4% for Gram-negative bacilli, with 0.9% very major, 0.9% major, and 3.6% minor discrepancies compared to the standard method. The overall error rate in antimicrobial susceptibility testing for the 13 Staphylococcus spp. was 10.3%, with 6.0% very major, 2.6% major, and 1.7% minor discrepancies. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that VITEK 2 cards inoculated with samples taken directly from positive Bact/ALERT blood culture bottles would provide acceptable identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results for Gram-negative bacilli, but not for Gram-positive cocci. Compared to the standard method, the direct method would reduce turnaround time by at least 24 h.     

Multiple B- and T-cell epitopes on a major allergen of Kentucky Bluegrass pollen.

The B- and T-cell epitopes of a recombinant grass allergen, rKBG60, were delineated using a set of overlapping synthetic peptides. Direct binding by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) utilizing serum pools led to the identification of 13 murine immunoglobulin-, and nine to 13 human IgG- and five to seven human IgE-reactive overlapping peptides. Of the peptides which bound to human IgE antibodies, all but three peptides bound to human and/or murine IgG antibodies. Furthermore, eight out of 12 synthetic peptides induced antigen-specific antibodies in mice, suggesting that these peptides contained epitopes that recognized and/or induced T cells. These results, in conjunction with cross-recognition of different peptides at the C-terminus of rKBG60 by antibodies to neighbouring or non-overlapping peptides suggest that the C-terminus of this antigen represents a dominant antigenic and allergenic site. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation studies using these synthetic peptides for 13 grass allergic individuals indicated that seven potential human T-cell epitopes exist on this allergen. Taken together, the results demonstrate that multiple B- and T-cell epitopes exist on this major group of grass allergens, the majority of which are localized at the C-terminus of this antigen.     

Production of monoclonal antibody to a phenolic glycolipid of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its use in detection of the antigen in clinical isolates.

A monoclonal antibody (MAbIII604) specific to phenolic glycolipid Tb (PGL-Tb), a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antigen, was produced and used in the detection of the antigen. MAbIII604 reacted with the PGL-Tb antigen but not with other phenolic glycolipids from Mycobacterium leprae, M. bovis, and M. kansasii, thus indicating the specificity of the monoclonal antibody to PGL-Tb. A dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with MAbIII604 was employed to detect the PGL-Tb antigen in lipids purified from M. tuberculosis clinical isolates. Of 50 isolates, 32 (64.0%) showed clear evidence of the PGL-Tb antigen by the dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, but there were marked variations in the intensities and sizes of spots. This suggests differences in PGL-Tb antigen production among M. tuberculosis strains even when they are grown in the same culture media and conditions. This was most evident from the fact that in only eight (16.0%) of the isolates examined was the PGL-Tb antigen detectable by thin-layer chromatography, which is much less sensitive for the detection of glycolipid antigens. This study shows that monoclonal antibodies specific to PGL-Tb are useful in detecting the antigen in lipid extracts and that there is a marked variation in the PGL-Tb production among M. tuberculosis clinical isolates.     

Intratracheal administration of liposomal clodronate accelerates alveolar macrophage reconstitution following fetal liver transplantation

To facilitate study of alveolar macrophages in vivo, we developed a method to rapidly and efficiently replace resident alveolar macrophages with macrophages of a different (donor) genotype. Chimeric mice were generated by lethal irradiation followed by fetal liver transplantation (FLT) using green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic reporter mice as donors. Kinetics of peripheral blood monocyte (PBM) and alveolar macrophage reconstitution was determined 4 and 10 weeks post-FLT by quantifying the percentage of GFP+ cells. To enhance the recruitment of donor monocytes into the lung after FLT, mice were treated with intratracheal administration of liposomal clodronate to deplete host alveolar macrophages at 6 weeks post-FLT. PBM reconstitution occurred by 4 weeks after FLT (85.7+/-1.6% of CD11b+/Gr-1+ monocytes were GFP+), and minimal alveolar macrophage repopulation was observed (9.5% GFP+). By 10 weeks following FLT, 48% of alveolar macrophages were GFP+ by immunostaining of macrophages on lung tissue sections, and 55.1 +/- 1.6% of lung lavage macrophages were GFP+ by fluorescein-activated cell sorter analysis. Clodronate treatment resulted in a significant increase in GFP+ alveolar macrophages 10 weeks after FLT. By immunostaining, 90% of macrophages were GFP+ on lung tissue sections and 87.5 +/- 1.1% GFP+ in lung lavage (compared with GFP-transgenic controls). The ability of newly recruited alveolar macrophages to clear Pseudomonas aeruginosa and activate nuclear factor-kappaB in response to Eschericia coli lipopolysaccharide demonstrated normal macrophage function. Optimizing this methodology provides an important tool for the study of specific genes and their contribution to alveolar macrophage function in vivo.     

神经系统疾病少年儿童患者的脆性X综合征检查与临床诊治研究

目的研究神经疾病少年儿童患者脆性X综合征（fragjle X syndrome,FraX）的细胞遗传学检测和临床诊治特征。方法应用低叶酸培养基，对患神经疾病的18岁以下146例儿童行X染色体脆性部位的检测，对检出的Frax患儿给以叶酸为主辅以营养神经和神经康复的治疗。结果146例就诊患儿检出FraX13例，检出率为8．90％。以补充叶酸为主的综合治疗取得一定疗效，治疗效果与患儿年龄和原发神经疾病有关。结论FraX值得临床重视，早检出、早治疗收效较好。