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Biomedical subjects

A Walz

Publications and source records attributed to A Walz.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Histamine and sulfidoleukotriene release from human basophils: different effects of antigen, anti-IgE, C5a, f-Met-Leu-Phe and the novel neutrophil-activating peptide NAF.

Human blood leukocytes were challenged by IgE-dependent stimuli (antigens or anti-IgE antibodies) and the chemotactic agonists C5a, N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) or NAF, a novel neutrophil-activating peptide produced by stimulated human monocytes. IgE-dependent stimuli induced abundant release of histamine and sulfidoleukotrienes (LTC, LTD and LTE). The effects of the chemotactic peptides differed considerably: C5a induced high percentages of histamine release already at concentrations as low as 10(-9) M, but no leukotriene formation: NAF was completely inactive up to 10(-6)M, and fMLP induced moderate release of both products at relatively high concentration only (1-2.5 x 10(-6) M). All three chemotactic peptides, however, induced a concentration-dependent release of elastase from cytochalasin-B-treated human neutrophils. The EC50 was approximately 0.3, 2 and 5 x 10(-9) M for C5a, NAF and fMLP, respectively. NAF showed activity over a wider concentration range and its dose-response curve was less steep than that of the two other agonists. Our results suggest that NAF, that may be generated at the sites of hypersensitivity reactions, is likely to induced the immigration of neutrophils, but not the direct activation of basophils and mast cells. In this respect, NAF differs from less selective chemotactic peptides like the complement product C5a or the N-formyl-methionyl peptides.

Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic↗
PubMed1988

A novel neutrophil-activating factor produced by human mononuclear phagocytes.

The biological properties of a neutrophil-activating factor (NAF), which was recently identified as a novel peptide of approximately 6,000 mol wt, are described. NAF is produced de novo by human blood monocytes upon stimulation with LPS, PHA, and Con A. It induces two main responses in human neutrophils, i.e., exocytosis (release from specific granules in normal, and from specific and azurophil granules in cytochalasin B-treated cells) and the respiratory burst (formation of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide). The action of NAF appears to be mediated by a surface receptor as shown by the following observations. (a) NAF induces a rapid and transient rise in cytosolic free Ca2+; (b) interaction with NAF results in desensitization, since the cells do not respond to a second NAF challenge; and (c) the respiratory burst elicited by NAF is similar in onset, and time course to that induced by C5a or FMLP. The NAF receptor can be distinguished from the receptors of C5a, FMLP, platelet-activating factor, and leukotriene B4 by the lack of cross-desensitization. Unlike C5a, the other host-derived neutrophil-activating peptide, NAF is not inactivated by serum and thus presumably accumulates in inflamed tissue.

Complement C5↗
PubMed1988

Alteration of monocyte function following major injury.

The macrophage exerts its stimulatory and regulatory functions within the specific immune response via the interleukin 1 (IL-1) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), respectively. In a screening study of macrophage-related variables following injury, a total of 58 patients (mean age, 32 years; mean injury Severity Score, 38), macrophagic phenotyping with the monoclonal antibody Leu M3 and serial measuring of the antagonistic monokines IL-1 and PGE2 and of the macrophage-activating lymphokine interferon gamma were carried out on posttrauma days 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, and 21. The posttraumatic course was characterized by significant monocytosis, showing a peak value of 32% of Leu M3-positive cells compared with 15% of these cells in normal control subjects. During the posttrauma course, the macrophagic PGE2 output was significantly elevated up to eightfold on days 5 and 7 compared with that of control subjects (0.441 +/- 0.14 ng/mL vs 0.052 +/- 0.01 ng/mL). Conversely, macrophagic IL-1 synthesis was significantly suppressed until day 10. Levels of interferon gamma were suppressed to a significant degree during the two-day observation period, with a trend to slow recovery at the end of week 3. These data suggest that a negative regulatory macrophagic function may be the event initiating posttraumatic immunosuppression. To restore impaired macrophagic T-helper cell interaction, cyclo-oxygenase inhibition and substitution of interferon gamma may be useful to potentiate facilitatory macrophagic function and to block inhibitory macrophagic activity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Effects of tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-1 alpha and beta on human neutrophil migration, respiratory burst and degranulation.

Recombinant human tumour necrosis factor alpha (rHuTNF alpha) was shown to inhibit human neutrophil migration in the presence or absence of a chemotactic gradient generated with the tripeptide, N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMLP), at doses of 20-100 U/10(6) cells. In contrast, neither recombinant human interleukin-1 alpha (rHuIL-1 alpha), rHuIL-1 beta, human leucocyte-derived IL-1 alpha (1HuIL-1 alpha) nor 1HuIL-1 beta contained neutrophil migration inhibition properties. However, both the interleukins (1HuIL-1 alpha, 1HuIL-1 beta and rHuIL-1 alpha) and rHuTNF alpha stimulated a neutrophil respiratory burst and significantly elevated the neutrophil respiratory response to fMLP (measured as chemiluminescence and H2O2 production). The stimulatory effects were observed at doses of between 5 and 100 U/5 x 10(5) cells. A characteristic feature of the effects of the cytokines was the range of variation observed in neutrophil responses from different individuals. However, a concentration-related effect was observed with each experiment, delineating suboptimal, optimal and supra-optimal cytokine concentrations. Neutrophils treated with rHuTNF alpha and rHuIL-1 alpha and washed free of exogenous cytokine retained the capacity to show an enhanced response to fMLP. Pretreatment of cells with cytochalasin B enhanced their response to fMLP, and this response was further increased if the cells had also been pretreated with the cytokines. The response to phorbol myristate acetate was also enhanced by rHuTNF alpha and rHuIL-1 alpha. The effects of these cytokines on neutrophils could be abolished by boiling the preparation but not by treating it with polymixin B, suggesting that bacterial lipopolysaccharide was not responsible for the activity of these preparations. The rHuIL-1 alpha increased the release of lysozyme, beta-glucuronidase and myeloperoxidase initiated by cytochalasin B/fMLP, while rHuTNF alpha only increased lysozyme release.

Biological Products↗
PubMed1988

Mechanism of neutrophil activation by NAF, a novel monocyte-derived peptide agonist.

The rise in cytosolic free Ca2+, shape change, superoxide formation, and granule exocytosis induced in human neutrophils by N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) and by a newly discovered activating peptide, neutrophil-activating factor, termed NAF, were compared. NAF was effective in the concentration range of 0.1-10 nM and was 10- to 100-fold more potent than fMLP. In qualitative terms, the single responses to either stimulus were remarkably similar: they showed virtually identical onset and initial kinetics, and were all inhibited by pretreatment of the neutrophils with Bordetella pertussis toxin. In addition, the respiratory burst elicited by either stimulus was inhibited by 17-hydroxywortmannin and staurosporine. Two conclusions are drawn from these results: 1) neutrophil activation by NAF (as by fMLP) is dependent on a GTP-binding protein and on protein kinase C; 2) a similar, or even identical, mechanism of signal transduction must be assumed on stimulation of human neutrophils with NAF, fMLP, and other chemotactic agonists. Human monocytes, lymphocytes, and platelets did not show cytosolic free Ca2+ changes when exposed to NAF, which suggests that NAF is selective for the neutrophils.

Aminoquinolines↗
PubMed1987

Purification and amino acid sequencing of NAF, a novel neutrophil-activating factor produced by monocytes.

Human blood mononuclear cells were cultured for 24 h in the presence of LPS (100 ng per 5 x 10(6) cells), and a monocyte-derived neutrophil-activating factor (NAF) was purified to apparent homogeneity from the conditioned media. The purification consisted of ammonium sulphate precipitation, gel filtration, chromatography on phosphocellulose followed by hydroxylapatite, and reversed-phase HPLC on C4 and CN-propyl columns. Amino acid sequence analysis (32 of 50 presumed residues) shows that NAF is a novel peptide with little homology to known ones. Crude and pure NAF stimulated human neutrophils to release granule enzymes and to produce superoxide and H2O2.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Identity between human interferon-gamma and "macrophage-activating factor" produced by human T lymphocytes.

Human peripheral blood monocytes purified by counterflow elutriation were activated in vitro by human natural or recombinant interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) as shown by enhanced killing of Listeria monocytogenes and increased production of H2O2 in response to phorbol myristate acetate. Half-maximal stimulation for macrophage activation (MAF) was observed with 10-20 antiviral U/ml of purified recombinant IFN-gamma. These MAF activities were found to correlate with the antiviral activity dependent on IFN-gamma under several experimental conditions. Both activities were recovered together from supernatants of concanavalin A-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in the media of a large number of T cell clones of different specificities. The parallelism between the two activities was also observed upon fractionation of culture media from producing cells and upon treatment of such preparations with low pH and high temperature. Finally, three antibodies with different specificities were found to abrogate the MAF and antiviral activities from lymphocyte culture supernatant. These results indicate that MAF released by stimulated lymphocytes is identical to IFN-gamma.

Antiviral Agents↗
PubMed1982

DNA sequences flanking an E. coli insertion element IS2 in a cloned yeast TRP5 gene.

The insertion of an Escherichia coli IS2 element upstream from a cloned yeast TRP5 gene results in an increased level of active tryptophan synthase in trpAB E. coli host cells. This insertion occurs about 60 bp upstream from the first AUG of the TRP5 gene and is associated with a duplication of the sequence TTACA at the target site. The nucleotide sequence corresponding to the first 173 amino acids of the yeast TRP5 gene has also been determined. The N-terminal region of the yeast tryptophan synthase includes areas of strong homology with the alpha-subunit of the corresponding E. coli enzyme. Sequences from the 5' untranslated region upstream from the TRP5 gene are compared to homologous areas of other yeast genes.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1980

An unusual RNA polymerase binding site in the immunity region of phage lambda.

RNA polymerase binds very tightly at a site called Brex in the lambda immunity region, to the left of the rex gene and about 600 nucleotides to the right of PL. The complex formed is resistant to 1 M NaCl in the absence of nucleotide triphosphate. While in vitro little or no transcription is observed from Brex, in vivo, when inserted in a plasmid vector which allows detection of its activity, it acts as an efficient promoter. We have mapped the site protected by RNA polymerase against DNase and determined its sequence which is abnormal compared that of an average promoter.

Bacteriophage lambda↗
PubMed1978

Control of expression of a cloned yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) gene (trp5) by a bacterial insertion element (IS2).

A hybrid ColE1 plasmid [pYe(trp5)1], containing a yeast DNA segment that complements auxotrophic point mutations and deletions in the Escherichia coli tryptophan synthetase gene (trpAB), has been isolated. Expression of the yeast tryptophan synthetase activity from the cloned yeast gene (trp5) is relatively inefficient in E. coli, as measured by growth rates of trpAB/pYe(trp5)1 strains on minimal media lacking tryptophan and by enzyme assays. Faster growing variants occur spontaneously at a frequency of one in 10(4)--10(5) cells plated and produce higher levels of the yeast enzyme. Plasmid DNA [pYe(trp5)2] from one of these variants was shown to contain a DNA insertion (1.3 kilobase pairs) in the cloned yeast DNA segment in relatively close proximity to the trp5 gene. This DNA insert was identified as a bacterial IS2 element, which carries a promoter for RNA transcription when inserted in the proper orientation. The spontaneous integration of a bacterial DNA insertion element into cloned eukaryotic DNA can result in more efficient expression of the foreign gene.

Bacteriocin Plasmids↗
PubMed1976

Lambda repressor regulates the switch between PR and Prm promoters.

The DNA region containing the Or operator, Pr and Prm promoters and their transcription initiations is sequenced. By binding to Or, repressor turns off Pr, turns on Prm and at higher concentrations turns off Prm, regulating its own synthesis. Prm mRNA is unique in beginning immediately with the initiation of translation, without a preceding leader sequence.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1975

Sequence of the PR promoter of phage lambda.

The RNA polymerase binding site from the lambda PR promoter was isolated and sequenced. This DNA fragment contains the transcription initiation site and shares 25 nucleotides with OR. The sequence preceding the initiation site suggests that the promoter recognition site is not identical with the tight binding and initiation site.

Base Sequence↗