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Biomedical subjects

J Asakawa

Publications and source records attributed to J Asakawa.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Variations among Japanese of the factor IX gene (F9) detected by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis.

In the course of feasibility studies to examine the efficiencies and practicalities of various techniques for screening for genetic variations, the human coagulation factor IX (F9) genes of 63 Japanese families were examined by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). Four target sequences with lengths of 983-2,891 bp from the F9 genes of 126 unrelated individuals from Hiroshima and their 100 children were amplified by PCR, digested with restriction enzymes to approximately 500-bp fragments, and examined by DGGE--a total of 6,724 bp being examined per individual. GC-rich sequences (GC-clamps) of 40 bp were attached to both ends of the target sequences, as far as was feasible. Eleven types of new nucleotide substitutions were detected in the population, none of which produced RFLPs or caused hemophilia B. By examining two target sequences in a single lane, approximately 8,000 bp in a diploid individual could be examined. This approach is very effective for the detection of variations in DNA and is applicable to large-scale population studies.

Base Sequence↗

Accurate and rapid detection of heterozygous carriers of a deletion by combined polymerase chain reaction and high-performance liquid chromatography.

We have developed a technique to detect accurately heterozygous carriers of a deletion. Specific target sequences were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the products subsequently were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Examples from four loci demonstrated that 24-27 cycles of amplification for a single-copy DNA, based on 50 ng of genomic DNA, results in excellent quantitation that readily permits the detection of heterozygous carriers of a deletion. We have demonstrated that triplex PCR (three targets in a single PCR) entails no loss of precision. We also have demonstrated that this method can accurately differentiate the heterozygous carriers of a deletion from normal individuals in four family studies, three for Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients and one for a hemophilia B patient.

Base Sequence↗

Paraproteins and primary lymphoma in SJL mice. II. Primary lymphomas do not produce paraprotein.

The incidences of Ig paraprotein (PP) and reticulum cell sarcomas (lymphomas) were studied in a group of 75 SJL mice, 9-11 months of age. PP and lymphoma were observed in 52% of the mice. PP alone was observed in an additional 27% and lymphoma alone in an additional 11% of mice. In attempts to establish a causal relationship between lymphomas and PP, three approaches were used: (a) Serum PP levels were followed during lymphoma growth in primary lymphoma bearing mice and found to decrease rather than to increase. (b) Recipients of primary transplants were examined for appearance of PP-related idiotypes (Id) in their sera and for lymphoma growth. The Id appeared early (Day 10-11) and then disappeared, while lymphoma growth usually was detectable by greater than or equal to 1 month. (c) One of the primary lymphomas was propagated as a tissue culture line and found not to produce any PP or intact Ig. It is concluded that the PP of SJL mice are not produced by their lymphomas. Other possible relationships are discussed, including the role of the PP as a symptom of a prelymphomatous stage that develops in a very high percentage of SJL mice.

Animals↗

Expression and function of CD2 during murine thymocyte ontogeny.

CD2, originally recognized as the sheep erythrocyte receptor of human T cells, has been implicated in early T cell development in the thymus. In this report, we examined the expression and functional role of CD2 during murine thymocyte ontogeny by using monoclonal antibodies to murine CD2. Surface expression of CD2 was first detected in Thy-1+ fetal thymocytes at day 14 of gestation and it progressively increased during CD4-CD8- phenotype. Surface IL 2 receptor (CD25) expression was readily detected in surface CD2- cells at day 13 of gestation and the majority of CD2+ cells appeared to be generated from CD25+ cells thereafter. In adult CD4-CD8- thymocytes, the expression of CD2 and CD25 was mutually exclusive. These results indicate that surface CD2 expression is not a prerequisite for CD25 induction during murine thymocyte ontogeny. This was further confirmed by fetal thymus organ culture in which anti-murine CD2 mAb was included. The antibody treatment led to a suppressed CD2 expression on thymocytes; however, there was no effect on the appearance of CD25. Moreover, no influence on the development of mature CD3+ thymocytes was observed after fetal thymus organ culture in the presence of anti-murine CD2 mAb, and a substantial number of CD3+CD2- cells was demonstrated in fetal and adult CD4-CD8- thymocytes. These findings argue against the functional relevance of CD2 expression during early T cell development as proposed in humans.

Age Factors↗

CD2 expression in murine B cell lineage.

CD2 expression in murine B cell lineage was examined by flow cytometric and immunoprecipitation studies with anti-murine CD2 mAb and by Northern blot analysis. Cell surface expression of CD2 was demonstrated on all peripheral B cells and cell lines of B lineage. The murine CD2 transcript of 1.3 kb was detected in these B cells. An identical glycoprotein of 55-67 KD was precipitated from the lysates of surface radioiodinated thymocytes, splenic T and B cells, T and B lymphomas, RL male 1 and BCL-1, with anti-murine CD2 mAb. The majority of bone marrow B cells and a half of pre-B cells were found to be positive for CD2 expression. These results indicate that murine CD2 is expressed on B cell lineage at certain differentiation stages.

Animals↗

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of platelet polypeptides with immobilized pH gradients in capillary tubes.

Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) with immobilized pH gradient (IPG) gels in capillary tubes was used in the first-dimensional isoelectric focusing (IEF) for the separation of human platelet polypeptides. Two types of IPG tube gels, pH ranges 4-8 and 7-10, containing 8 M urea, 1% Nonidet P-40 and 0.1% pH 3.5-10 Ampholine carrier ampholytes (CA) were prepared by a simple method not requiring special equipment. The addition of CA to both gel and sample solutions was essential in the tube gel IPG system. Proteins were visualized by a modification of Wray's silver-staining technique. The degree of resolution and the number of spots observed on an IPG 2-DE gel with pH 4-8 were comparable with those obtained with O'Farrell's high-resolution 2-DE. Approximately 200 basic polypeptides, which are difficult to separate by conventional CA-based IEF 2-DE or the non-equilibrium pH gradient system, were well resolved by 2-DE with a pH 7-10 IPG tube gel in the first-dimension. The gel patterns with either pH gradient 4-8 or 7-10 were highly reproducible among gels prepared and run simultaneously. These results demonstrated the potential and usefulness of the 2-DE system with IPG gels in capillary tubes.

Blood Platelets↗

Heterozygosity and ethnic variation in Japanese platelet proteins.

Sixty-two polypeptides visualized on silver-stained two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) preparations of platelets from 85 Japanese subjects, in total 5,252 spots, have been scored for genetic variation. Inherited variants of 11 of the polypeptides were recognized; the index of heterozygosity was 2.4% +/- 0.2%. Thus far, 10 genetic polymorphisms identified by 2-D PAGE of plasma, erythrocytes, or platelets have been identified in both Japanese and Caucasian subjects. A comparison of allele frequencies reveals four significant ethnic differences. We also observed four polypeptides exhibiting a low frequency polymorphism in one group but not in the other, as well as three polymorphisms in Caucasians for which no counterpart polypeptide has thus far been recognized in the Japanese group and, vice versa, 11 such polymorphisms in Japanese. Although a similar comparison of 7 enzyme polymorphisms studied with one-dimensional electrophoresis (1-D E) in the same populations revealed a relatively higher number of significant ethnic differences, evidence is presented that this is due primarily to the greater number of 1-D E observations entering into the calculation. It is argued that this similarity in the frequency of ethnic differences among the polypeptides studied by 2-D PAGE and by 1-D E is further evidence that the proteins revealed by 2-D PAGE do not differ greatly in their response to the interplay of mutation, selection, and drift from those revealed by 1-D E studies of plasma proteins and erythrocyte enzymes.

Alleles↗

Malignant tumor cell lines produce interleukin-1-like factor.

Sixty-four malignant cell lines were examined for interleukin-1 (IL-1) activities in their conditioned medium using thymocyte and fibroblast proliferation assays. Sixteen cell lines showed high IL-1 activity. Comparison of these activities with human IL-1 showed similarity between some biological properties. However there was no correlation between cell origin and IL-1 activity. These results suggest the possibility that most malignant cells may produce an IL-1-like factor.

Epidermal Growth Factor↗

Protein variants in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: tales of two cities.

The results of 1,465,423 allele product determinations based on blood samples from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, involving 30 different proteins representing 32 different gene products, are analyzed in a variety of ways, with the following conclusions: (1) Sibships and their parents are included in the sample. Our analysis reveals that statistical procedures designed to reduce the sample to equivalent independent genomes do not in population comparisons compensate for the familial cluster effect of rare variants. Accordingly, the data set was reduced to one representative of each sibship (937,427 allele products). (2) Both chi 2-type contrasts and a genetic distance measure (delta) reveal that rare variants (P less than .01) are collectively as effective as polymorphisms in establishing genetic differences between the two cities. (3) We suggest that rare variants that individually exhibit significant intercity differences are probably the legacy of tribal private polymorphisms that occurred during prehistoric times. (4) Despite the great differences in the known histories of the two cities, both the overall frequency of rare variants and the number of different rare variants are essentially identical in the two cities. (5) The well-known differences in locus variability are confirmed, now after adjustment for sample size differences for the various locus products; in this large series we failed to detect variants at only three of 29 loci for which sample size exceeded 23,000. (6) The number of alleles identified per locus correlates positively with subunit molecular weight. (7) Loci supporting genetic polymorphisms are characterized by more rare variants than are loci at which polymorphisms were not encountered. (8) Loci whose products do not appear to be essential for health support more variants than do loci the absence of whose product is detrimental to health. (9) There is a striking excess of rare variants over the expectation under the neutral mutation/drift/equilibrium theory. We suggest that this finding is primarily due to the relatively recent (in genetic time) agglomeration of previously separated tribal populations; efforts to test for agreement with the expectations of this theory by using data from modern cosmopolitan populations are exercises in futility. (10) All of these findings should characterize DNA variants in exons as more data become available, since the finding are the protein expression of such variants.

Alleles↗

Search for mutations altering protein charge and/or function in children of atomic bomb survivors: final report.

A sample of (1) children whose parents had been proximally exposed (i.e., less than 2,000 m from the hypocenter) at the time of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and (2) a suitable comparison group have been examined for the occurrence of mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility or activity of a series of 30 proteins. The examination of the equivalent of 667,404 locus products in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded three mutations altering electrophoretic mobility; the corresponding figure for the comparison group was three mutations in 466,881 tests. The examination of a subset of 60,529 locus products for loss of enzyme activity in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded one mutation; no mutations were encountered in 61,741 determinations on the children of the comparison group. When these two series are compared, the mutation rate observed in the children of proximally exposed persons is thus 0.60 x 10(-5)/locus/generation, with 95% confidence intervals between 0.2 and 1.5 x 10(-5), and that in the comparison children is 0.64 x 10(-5)/locus/generation, with 95% intervals between 0.1 and 1.9 x 10(-5). The average conjoint gonad doses for the proximally exposed parents are estimated to be 0.437 Gy of gamma radiation and 0.002 Gy of neutron radiation. If a relative biological effectiveness of 20 is assigned to the neutron radiation, the combined total gonad dose for the parents becomes 0.477 Sv. (Organ absorbed doses are expressed in gray [1 Gy = 100 rad]; where dose is a mixture of gamma and neutron radiation, it is necessary because of the differing relative biological effectiveness of gamma and neutron radiation to express the combined gamma-neutron gonad exposures in sieverts [1 Sv = 100 rem]).

Enzymes↗

Characterization of three electrophoretic variants of human erythrocyte triosephosphate isomerase found in Japanese.

Three new electrophoretic variants of human erythrocyte triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) have been partially purified and compared with the normal isozyme with respect to stability, kinetics, and immunological properties. TPI 2HR1, an anodally migrating variant, was less stable than normal in guanidine denaturation and thermodenaturation tests, although it exhibited normal kinetic properties. The level of enzyme activity in erythrocytes from the proband with the phenotype TPI 1-2HR1 was about 60% of the normal mean. The variant allozyme TPI 2NG1, an anodally migrating allozyme associated with normal activity, was very thermolabile at 55 and 57 degrees C. It was also much more labile than normal in stability tests in buffers at pH 5 and pH 10, although it exhibited normal kinetic and immunological properties. TPI 4NG1, a cathodally migrating variant associated with normal activity and normal kinetic as well as immunological properties, was more stable than normal in pH 5 buffer. Family studies demonstrated that the unique characteristics of these variants are genetically transmitted. In two-dimensional electrophoresis of purified isozymes the variant subunits were separated from the normal in the pI axis. However, there is no difference between the variants and the normal in the molecular weight axis, suggesting that the variants result from single amino acid substitutions.

Carbohydrate Epimerases↗

The rate with which spontaneous mutation alters the electrophoretic mobility of polypeptides.

Studies of a Japanese population, involving a total of 539,170 locus tests distributed over 36 polypeptides, yielded three presumptive spontaneous mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility of the polypeptide. This corresponds to a mutation rate of 0.6 X 10(-5) per locus per generation. The a priori probability that undetected discrepancies between legal and biological parentage might in our test system result in an apparent electrophoretic mutation in this population is calculated to be only 0.3 X 10(-7) per locus per generation. Since electrophoresis only detects about half of the amino acid substitutions due to mutations of nucleotides, the corrected rate for mutations causing amino acid substitutions in polypeptides is 1.2 X 10(-5) per locus per generation. With allowance for synonymous mutations and those resulting in stop codons, the total mutation rate for nucleotide changes in the exons encoding a polypeptide becomes approximately equal to 1.8 X 10(-5) per locus per generation. When the present observations are combined with all of the other available data concerning mutation resulting in electrophoretic variants, the electrophoretic rate drops to 0.3 X 10(-5) per locus per generation, the total locus rate drops to roughly 1.0 X 10(-5), and the nucleotide rate drops to 1 X 10(-8). Even with this lower estimate, given approximately equal to 2 X 10(9) nucleotides in the haploid genome and an average of 10(3) exon nucleotides per polypeptide encoded, the implication, if these exon rates can be generalized, is of approximately equal to 20 nucleotide mutations per gamete per generation. This estimate of the frequency of "point" mutations does not include small duplications, rearrangements, or deletions resulting from unequal crossing-over, transcription errors, etc.

Child↗

Inherited electrophoretic variants detected in a Japanese population with two-dimensional gels of erythrocyte lysates.

Genetic variation has been studied in erythrocyte lysates from 100 Japanese children and their parents by means of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fifty-five polypeptides selected without respect to variability were considered suitable for scoring. Genetic variation was encountered in 14 of these polypeptides. Family data show that the segregation of 13 variants is consistent with an autosomal codominant mode of inheritance; the remaining variant exhibits a sex-linked mode of inheritance. Of 8 presumably identical polypeptides found variable in Japanese and/or Caucasians, differences in the occurrence or allele frequencies of polymorphisms were recognized for four. Contrary to the experience of some investigators, the amount of variation and the ethnic differences we are encountering indicate that two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is a sensitive tool for the study of genetic events.

Alleles↗

Two-dimensional gel studies of genetic variation in the plasma proteins of Amerindians and Japanese.

Genetic variation has been studied in plasma samples from 107 Amerindian children and their parents, and 110 Japanese children and their parents by means of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Twenty-three polypeptides were scored; the identity of nine of these is at present still unknown. Genetic variation was encountered in 11 of these polypeptides. We have previously reported that the index of heterozygosity was 6.2 +/- 0.7% for 20 "randomly selected", silver stained polypeptides scored for genetic variation in Caucasoids (Rosenblum et al. 1983b). For technical reasons only 11 of these 20 polypeptides could be routinely scored in preparations from the Amerindian samples. For these 11 polypeptides, the indices of heterozygosity in the three populations were: Amerindians, 4.5 +/- 0.6%; Japanese, 5.7 +/- 0.7%; Caucasoids, 8.0 +/- 1.1%. Even with these relatively small numbers some striking ethnic differences as regards individual polypeptides are apparent.

Adult↗

Origin of human triosephosphate isomerase isozymes: further evidence for the single structural locus hypothesis with Japanese variants.

Four electrophoretic variants of human erythrocyte triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) have been studied to investigate the origin of the multiple forms of human TPI, in particular the constitutive TPI-B isozyme and the cell division-associated TPI-A isozyme. The variant phenotype expressed by the constitutive TPI-B isozyme in both erythrocytes and peripheral lymphocytes was also expressed by the cell division-associated isozymes in mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes and hair root cells. These results strongly support the hypothesis of Decker and Mohrenweiser (1981) that TPI-B and TPI-A originated from the same structural gene. We also found that the isozyme e is different from TPI-A with respect to both its electrophoretic mobility and heat stability. This finding is in contrast to the recent conclusion of Yuan et al. (1981) that both the isozyme e and TPI-A are deamidation products of TPI-B.

Carbohydrate Epimerases↗