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Biomedical subjects

Hui Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Hui Zhang.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

[Studies on the determination of protein with spectroscopic probe of o-chlorophenylfluorone-molybdenum (VI) complex in microemulsion medium].

The interaction and absorption spectral behavior of o-chlorophenylfluorone (o-CPF)-Mo(VI) and protein are studied in OP microemulsion medium. Under the optimum condition, the molar absorptivity of o-CPF-Mo(VI)-BSA system at 532 nm is 6.12 x 10(6) L x mol(-1) x cm(-1), and Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0-14 microg x mL(-1) of BSA. Moreover, the binding number between the complex and BSA determined by molar ratio and slope ratio methods is 91. The mechanism of interaction of BSA and o-CPF-Mo (VI) is also discussed. OP microemulsion media introduced into the protein determination increased markedly the sensitivity of the system. The result of experiment indicates that the method possesses a high sensitivity as well as a high selectivity. It can be used to determine protein in human urine with satisfactory results.

Emulsions↗

[Cloning, expression and purification of interferon-kappa, a novel human interferon, and its antiviral activity].

OBJECTIVE: To prepare human interferon-k (hIFN-kappa) and study its biological activities. METHODS: Whole length of hIFN-kappa's cDNA was cloned, and its sequence was chemically synthesized according to the optimized codons of E.coli, then was expressed in E.coli DH5alpha. After purified, the rhIFN-kappa protein was tested for its various kinds of biological activities. RESULTS: The purity of rhIFN-kappa was above 90%. In WHIS-VSV system, the antiviral activity of rhIFN-kappa was 2.0 x 10(6) IU/mg. Compared with rhIFN-alpha-2b, the biological activities of rhIFN-kappa were all feeble, including antiviral activity, promoting NK cell activity and anti-proliferation activity. CONCLUSION: Antiviral activities of rhIFN-kappa on cell lines of different species are different, different viruses show different sensitivity to rhIFN-kappa.

Animals↗

[Biological activities of recombinant human interferon Epsilon].

OBJECTIVE: To construct a novel recombinant rhIFN-epsilon155ser, and study its biological activities. METHODS: The whole sequence of rhIFN-epsilon was artificially synthesized and some codons were altered according to the preferred codon using of E.coli. The sequence was cloned into plasmid vector pBV220 to express in E.coli DH5alpha. After purification and re-folding of rhIFN-epsilon155ser inclusion body, the final product was tested for its biological activities, including anti-viral, anti-proliferative and NK cell enhancing activities. At the same time, by using DNA microarray biochips, the gene expression patterns in the rhIFN-epsilon155ser and rhIFN-alpha2b treated cells were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: The re-built rhIFN-epsilon155ser sequence was expressed in E.coli as a form of inclusion body. After purified and re-folded, the rhIFN-epsilon155ser protein reached a purity of above 95%. The rhIFN-epsilon155ser protein had a specific anti-viral activity of about 6 x 10(5) IU/mg in WISH/VSV system. Its anti-proliferative activity and NK cell enhancing activities in vitro seemed to be lower than that of rhIFN-alpha2b. Data obtained from microarray biochips indicated that there were 283 pieces increasing 2 folds and 1489 pieces decreasing 2 folds among totally 22,278 pieces of human genes were found in the rhIFN-epsilon155ser treated cells; more changes in gene expression pattern were detected in the rhIFN-alpha treated cells. CONCLUSION: A novel recombinant rhIFN-epsilon155ser was constructed, which belonged to type 1 interferon. The biological activities of rhIFN-epsilon155ser were compared with rhIFN-alpha2b. The changes of gene expression pattern in the interferon treated cells were detected, analyzed and discussed.

Antiviral Agents↗

[Expression, purification and antiviral activities of a new recombinant human interferon-lambda2].

OBJECTIVE: To express recombinant human interferon lambda2 in E.coli and to study its antiviral activities. METHODS: According to preferred codons used in E.coli, the highly-expressed human interferon lambda2 gene was designed, synthesized and cloned into expression vector pBV220 and transfected into E.coli DH5alpha. The expressed product was purified by using CM FF and size exclusion chromatography. Its antiviral activities were tested on different cells. RESULTS: The expressed product was calculated about 15% of the total E.coli protein. The purified protein reached about 90% purity. Its specific antiviral activity was about 1.5 x 10(6) IU/mg on WISH/VSV test system. It was shown that the antiviral activity of the product on primates-origin cells seemed to be much higher than that on other non-primates-origin cells, indicating that interferon lambda2 possessed more stringent species specificity as compared with interferon-alpha2b. New interferon lambda2 showed similar anti-HBV activity as interferon-alpha2b. CONCLUSION: Recombinant human interferon lambda2 could be expressed on E.coli. The purified product showed more stringent species specificity and similar anti-HBV activity as compared with interferon-alpha2b.

Animals↗

[Construction and immunogenicity of recombinant pseudorabies virus expressing the modified GP5m protein of porcine reproduction and respiratory syndrome virus].

Pseudorabies virus (PRV), an alpha-herpesvirus, has been used as a vector for live-viral animal vaccines. The recombinant PRV TK- / gE- / GP5+, which expressing GP5 of PRRSV, is developed based on the PRV genetic-depleting vaccine-virus strain, TK- / gE- /LacZ+. However, this strain stimulated poorly the vaccinated animals to produce neutralizing antibodies against PRRSV. In order to develop a booster specific immunized response of the PRV recombinant, the ORF5 gene of PRRSV TK- / gE- / LacZ+ was substituted by a modified ORF5 gene, ORF5m. The resultant recombinant PRV, TK- /gE- / GP5m+, was verified by PCR, Southern blotting and Western blotting. TK- / gE- / GP5m+ and TK- / gE- / GP5+ expressed GP5 proteins were inoculated into balb/c mice to evaluate their immunogenicity. The results demonstrated that the amount of neutralization antibodies and cell-immunity responses induced by TK- / gE- /GP5m+ against PRRSV were higher than that of TK- / gE- / GP5+. This study indicated that the new recombinant PRV expressing the modified GP5m protein is a candidate for the development of bivalent genetic engineering vaccines against PRRSV and PRV.

Animals↗

[Chemical constituents from leaves of Phyllostachys pubescens I].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents from leaves of Phyllostachys pubescens. METHOD: Column chromatography on sephadex LH-20 as well as preparative HPLC and spectral analysis were used to isolate and elucidate the constituents. RESULT: Six compounds were isolated from leaves of Phyllostachys pubescens, and identified as vanillin (I), syringic aldehyde (II), p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (III), vanillic acid (IV), syringic acid (V), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid, ethyl ester (VI). CONCLUSION: All above the compounds were isolated from the plant for the first time.

Benzaldehydes↗

[Safety and efficacy of attenuated Salmonella typhimurium harbouring DNA vaccine against Newcastle disease virus].

A pair of primers were designed and synthesized according to the previously published sequence of fusion protein (F) gene of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and used to amplify F gene by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from the genomic RNA of a NDV strain JS5 isolated from goose. The PCR product was identified by sequencing. Then recombinant eukaryotic expression vector pVAX1-F was constructed through inserting F gene into MCS of pVAX1. The recombinant plasmid pVAX1-F was transfected in COS-7 cells, and identified for the transient expression of F gene by indirect immunofluorescent assay. Finally, the recombinant plasmid was transformed into attenuated Salmonella typhimurium SL7207, and the recombinant was screened and designated as SL7207 (pVAX1-F). It was verified that SL7207 (pVAX1-F) as the oral NDV DNA vaccine was safe for chickens after oral immunization at dosage of 10(10) CFU or below. 1-day-old commercial ISA brown chickens were immunized orally with SL7207 (pVAX1-F) at two different dosages (10(9) CFU and 10(8) CFU) on day 1, 14 and 28. On day 7 after the last immunization, no significant difference was observed in the body weight between these two groups (p > 0.05), and also no significant difference between those two groups and negative control group (p > 0.05). Since there were maternal antibodies, high ELISA titers of serum antibodies against NDV were detected in the chickens of all groups on day 14. However, the levels of serum antibodies were decreased in the chickens of all groups on day 28, but the anti-NDV antibody response detected in the sera of chickens immunized with SL7207 (pVAX1-F) at the dosage of 10(9) CFU were increased and significantly higher than the response induced by immunization with SL7207 (pVAX1) on day 35 (p < 0.05). Intestinal mucosal immune response was observed in chickens immunized with SL7207 (pVAX1-F) at the dosage of 10(9) CFU or 10(8) CFU. The high ELISA titers of antibodies against NDV in small intestinal mucosal samples from immunized chickens were on day 28 and 35. After challenged intranasally with virulent NDV strain F48E8, the chickens immunized with SL7207 (pVAX1-F) at the dosage of 10(9) CFU could be protected with the protective rate of 77.27%, significantly higher than those with SL7207 (pVAX1) (p < 0.05). In summary, the DNA vaccine delivered by attenuated Salmonella typhimurium was safe and has good immunogenicity for chickens. A novel mucosal DNA vaccine was developed and could be useful for controlling the infection and epidemic of ND in the poultry.

Animals↗

The variable C-terminus of cysteine string proteins modulates exocytosis and protein-protein interactions.

Cysteine string proteins (Csps) are vesicle proteins involved in neurotransmission and hormone exocytosis. They are composed of distinct domains: a variable N-terminus, a J-domain followed by a linker region, a cysteine-rich string, and a C-terminus which diverges among isoforms. Their precise function and interactions are not fully understood. Using insulin exocytosis as a model, we show that the linker region and the C-terminus, but not the variable N-terminus, regulate overall secretion. Moreover, endogenous Csp1 binds in a calcium-dependent manner to monomeric VAMP2, and this interaction requires the C-terminus of Csp. The interaction is isoform specific as recombinant Csp1 binds VAMP1 and VAMP7, but not VAMP3. Cross-linking in permeabilized clonal beta-cells revealed homodimerization of Csp which is stimulated by Ca(2+) and again modulated by the variant C-terminus. Our data suggest that both interactions of Csp occur during exocytosis and may explain the effect of the variant C-terminus of this chaperon protein on peptide hormone secretion.

Calcium↗

A DEAD box protein facilitates HIV-1 replication as a cellular co-factor of Rev.

HIV-1 Rev escorts unspliced viral mRNAs out of the nucleus of infected cells, which allows formation of infectious HIV-1 virions. We have identified a putative DEAD box (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp) RNA helicase, DDX1, as a cellular co-factor of Rev, through yeast and mammalian two-hybrid systems using the N-terminal motif of Rev as "bait". DDX1 is not a functional homolog of HIV-1 Rev, but down-regulation of DDX1 resulted in an alternative splicing pattern of Rev-responsive element (RRE)-containing mRNA, and attenuation of Gag p24 antigen production from HLfb rev- cells rescued by exogenous Rev. Co-transfection of a DDX1 expression vector with HIV-1 significantly increased viral production. DDX1 binding to Rev, as well as to the RRE, strongly suggest that DDX1 affects Rev function through the Rev-RRE axis. Moreover, down-regulation of DDX1 altered the steady state subcellular distribution of Rev, from nuclear/nucleolar to cytoplasmic dominance. These findings indicate that DDX1 is a critical cellular co-factor for Rev function, which maintains the proper subcellular distribution of this lentiviral regulatory protein. Therefore, alterations in DDX1-Rev interactions could induce HIV-1 persistence and targeting DDX1 may lead to rationally designed and novel anti-HIV-1 strategies and therapeutics.

Animals↗

High throughput quantitative analysis of serum proteins using glycopeptide capture and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry.

It is expected that the composition of the serum proteome can provide valuable information about the state of the human body in health and disease and that this information can be extracted via quantitative proteomic measurements. Suitable proteomic techniques need to be sensitive, reproducible, and robust to detect potential biomarkers below the level of highly expressed proteins, generate data sets that are comparable between experiments and laboratories, and have high throughput to support statistical studies. Here we report a method for high throughput quantitative analysis of serum proteins. It consists of the selective isolation of peptides that are N-linked glycosylated in the intact protein, the analysis of these now deglycosylated peptides by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and the comparative analysis of the resulting patterns. By focusing selectively on a few formerly N-linked glycopeptides per serum protein, the complexity of the analyte sample is significantly reduced and the sensitivity and throughput of serum proteome analysis are increased compared with the analysis of total tryptic peptides from unfractionated samples. We provide data that document the performance of the method and show that sera from untreated normal mice and genetically identical mice with carcinogen-induced skin cancer can be unambiguously discriminated using unsupervised clustering of the resulting peptide patterns. We further identify, by tandem mass spectrometry, some of the peptides that were consistently elevated in cancer mice compared with their control littermates.

Animals↗

Immunoaffinity profiling of tyrosine phosphorylation in cancer cells.

Tyrosine kinases play a prominent role in human cancer, yet the oncogenic signaling pathways driving cell proliferation and survival have been difficult to identify, in part because of the complexity of the pathways and in part because of low cellular levels of tyrosine phosphorylation. In general, global phosphoproteomic approaches reveal small numbers of peptides containing phosphotyrosine. We have developed a strategy that emphasizes the phosphotyrosine component of the phosphoproteome and identifies large numbers of tyrosine phosphorylation sites. Peptides containing phosphotyrosine are isolated directly from protease-digested cellular protein extracts with a phosphotyrosine-specific antibody and are identified by tandem mass spectrometry. Applying this approach to several cell systems, including cancer cell lines, shows it can be used to identify activated protein kinases and their phosphorylated substrates without prior knowledge of the signaling networks that are activated, a first step in profiling normal and oncogenic signaling networks.

Animals↗

Integration with the human genome of peptide sequences obtained by high-throughput mass spectrometry.

A crucial aim upon the completion of the human genome is the verification and functional annotation of all predicted genes and their protein products. Here we describe the mapping of peptides derived from accurate interpretations of protein tandem mass spectrometry (MS) data to eukaryotic genomes and the generation of an expandable resource for integration of data from many diverse proteomics experiments. Furthermore, we demonstrate that peptide identifications obtained from high-throughput proteomics can be integrated on a large scale with the human genome. This resource could serve as an expandable repository for MS-derived proteome information.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

alpha-keto-beta-methyl-n-valeric acid diminishes reactive oxygen species and alters endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) stores.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress occur in neurodegenerative diseases. Other results show that bombesin-releasable calcium stores (BRCS) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are exaggerated in fibroblasts from patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared with controls and in fibroblasts from a young control treated with H(2)O(2). We hypothesize that alterations in oxidative stress underlie the exaggeration in BRCS in AD, and that appropriate antioxidants may be useful in treating this abnormality. Two indicators of different oxidant species were used to determine the effects of select oxidants on cellular oxidation status: carboxydichlorofluorescein (c-DCF) to detect reactive oxygen species (ROS), and 4-amino-5-methylamino-2',7'-difluorofluorescein (DAF) to detect nitric oxide (NO(.-)). Various conditions that induce ROS, including H(2)O(2), oxygen/glucose deprivation, and 3-morpholinosyndnonimine (SIN-1), were used to test the ability of alpha-keto-ss-methyl-n-valeric acid (KMV) to scavenge ROS. KMV diminished c-DCF-detectable ROS that were induced by H(2)O(2), oxygen/glucose deprivation, or SIN-1 in PC12 cells, primary neuronal cultures, or fibroblasts. Furthermore, KMV reduced the H(2)O(2)-induced increase in BRCS and diminished the elevation in BRCS in cells from AD patients to control levels. On the other hand, DAF-detectable NO(.-) induced by SIN-1 was not scavenged by KMV and did not exaggerate BRCS. The results indicate that KMV is an effective antioxidant of c-DCF-detectable ROS. The effects of KMV are not cell type specific, but are ROS specific. The same H(2)O(2)-induced ROS that reacts with KMV may also underlie the changes in BRCS related to AD. Thus, KMV ameliorates the effects of ROS on calcium homeostasis related to oxidative stress and to AD.

Alzheimer Disease↗

Transabdominal ultrasonography in preoperative staging of gastric cancer.

AIM: To investigate the value of transabdominal ultrasonography (US) in the preoperative staging of gastric cancer. METHODS: A total of 198 patients with gastric cancer underwent preoperatively transabdominal US, depth of tumor infiltration was assessed in 125 patients, and lymph node metastasis was assessed in 106 patients. RESULTS: The staging accuracy of transabdominal US was 55.6%, 75.0%, 87.3% and 71.1% in T1, T2, T3 and T4 carcinomas, respectively. The overall accuracy was 77.6%. The detection rate for pancreatic invasion and liver invasion was 77.4%, 71.4%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy of transabdominal US in assessment of lymph node metastasis were 77.6%, 64.1%, 72.6%, respectively. Various shapes such as round, ovoid, spindle were encountered in benign and malignant lymph nodes. Majority of both benign and malignant lymph nodes were hyperechoic and had a distinct border. Benign lymph nodes were smaller than malignant lymph nodes in length and width (P = 0.000, 0.005). Irregular shape, fusional shape, infiltrative signs, inhomogenous echo were seen mainly in malignant lymph nodes (P = 0.045, 0.006, 0.027, 0.006). CONCLUSION: Transabdominal US is useful for preoperative staging in gastric cancer, although it is difficult to differentiate benign from malignant lymph nodes.

Abdomen↗

Defoaming effect of calcium soap.

The effect of calcium oleate on foam stability was studied for aqueous solutions of two commonly used surfactants (anionic and nonionic) under alkaline conditions in the absence of oil. For the anionic surfactant, defoaming by calcium oleate appears to involve two mechanisms. One is that oleate and calcium ions are presumably incorporated into the surfactant monolayers with a resulting decrease in the maximum of the disjoining pressure curve and therefore produces less stable thin films. The other is bridging of the films by calcium oleate particles. The latter mechanism was especially important in freshly made solutions where precipitation in the aqueous phase was still occurring when the foam was generated. Foams generated after aging (hours) when precipitation was nearly complete were more stable even though solution turbidities were greater. Foams of the nonionic surfactant were less stable than those of the anionic surfactant but were also destabilized by sufficient amounts of calcium oleate and exhibited a similar aging effect. A simplified model was developed for estimating the sodium oleate concentration at which precipitation commences in solutions of the anionic surfactant containing dissolved calcium. It includes enhancement of calcium content in the electrical double layers of the surfactant micelles. Predictions of the model were in agreement with experiment.

Aging↗

A dual role for the N-terminal region of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Hsp16.3 in self-oligomerization and binding denaturing substrate proteins.

The N-terminal regions, which are highly variable in small heat-shock proteins, were found to be structurally disordered in all the 24 subunits of Methanococcus jannaschii Hsp16.5 oligomer and half of the 12 subunits of wheat Hsp16.9 oligomer. The structural and functional roles of the corresponding region (potentially disordered) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Hsp16.3, existing as nonamers, were investigated in this work. The data demonstrate that the mutant Hsp16.3 protein with 35 N-terminal residues removed (DeltaN35) existed as trimers/dimers rather than as nonamers, failing to bind the hydrophobic probe (1,1'-bi(4-anilino)naphthalene-5,5'-disulfonic acid) and exhibiting no chaperone-like activity. Nevertheless, another mutant protein with the C-terminal extension (of nine residues) removed, although existing predominantly as dimers, exhibited efficient chaperone-like activity even at room temperatures, indicating that pre-existence as nonamers is not a prerequisite for its chaperone-like activity. Meanwhile, the mutant protein with both the N- and C-terminal ends removed fully exists as a dimer lacking any chaperone-like activity. Furthermore, the N-terminal region alone, either as a synthesized peptide or in fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase, was capable of interacting with denaturing proteins. These observations strongly suggest that the N-terminal region of Hsp16.3 is not only involved in self-oligomerization but also contains the critical site for substrate binding. Such a dual role for the N-terminal region would provide an effective mechanism for the small heat-shock protein to modulate its chaperone-like activity through oligomeric dissociation/reassociation. In addition, this study demonstrated that the wild-type protein was able to form heterononamers with DeltaN35 via subunit exchange at a subunit ratio of 2:1. This implies that the 35 N-terminal residues in three of the nine subunits in the wild-type nonamer are not needed for the assembly of nonamers from trimers and are thus probably structurally disordered.

Amino Acid Sequence↗