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Biomedical subjects

K Jung

Publications and source records attributed to K Jung.

466 records · Page 26Linked to original sources

Further evidence for tubular dysfunction in insulin dependent diabetes.

There is evidence that increased excretion of urinary enzymes and low-molecular mass proteins indicate impaired tubular function. The excretion of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), lysozyme, and ribonuclease in Type I diabetic patients with (n = 19) and without (n = 17) persistent proteinuria (urinary protein excretion greater than 0.5 g/day) was investigated and compared with this excretion in 30 weight- and gender-matched nondiabetic subjects without renal disease. Urinary NAG excretion was significantly higher in diabetic patients with and without persistent proteinuria (1.16 +/- 0.09 and 3.19 +/- 1.2 Umol/L creatinine, respectively) compared to controls (0.37 +/- 0.03 Umol/L creatinine p less than 0.01). In addition, the urinary excretion of lysozyme and ribonuclease was significantly increased in diabetic patients. Urinary NAG was found to correlate positively with albuminuria and proteinuria (r = 0.95 and 0.93, respectively), as well as with ribonuclease and lysozyme (r = 0.93 and 0.60; p less than 0.01) in patients with persistent proteinuria. Furthermore, NAG excretion was significantly related to the duration of diabetes (r = 0.36; p less than 0.05). No relationship existed between urinary NAG and serum creatinine, beta-2-microglobulin, and degree of metabolic control (HbA7). The lysozyme excretion, but not NAG excretion, was significantly related to hypertension in patients with clinical proteinuria. In conclusion, our results suggest a relationship between the development of tubular dysfunction and the impairment of glomerular function in diabetic nephropathy. An increased excretion of NAG and low-molecular mass proteins may indicate early nephropathy

Acetylglucosaminidase↗

Birth abnormalities in pregnant sows infected intranasally with porcine circovirus 2.

Six pregnant sows were inoculated intranasally at 3 weeks before the expected farrowing date with porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2). The PCV2-inoculated sows showed abortion and premature farrowing, whereas two uninfected negative control sows remained clinically healthy and farrowed normally. PCV2 antigen and DNA were detected by immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization, respectively, in lymph node, spleen, thymus, lung, tonsil and liver from both stillborn and liveborn piglets. Simultaneous detection of viral protein and DNA provided molecular evidence of PCV2 infection and replication. The experiment suggested that PCV2 is capable of crossing the placenta, replicating primarily in lymphoid tissues, and inducing reproductive failure.

Abortion, Veterinary↗

Pathogenesis of swine influenza virus subtype H1N2 infection in pigs.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate pathogenesis and viral distribution in pigs infected with swine influenza virus subtype H1N2, over a period of 10 days, by morphometric analysis and in-situ hybridization. Fifteen colostrum-deprived pigs aged 3 weeks were inoculated intranasally with virus. Pneumonia was severe at 1 day post-inoculation (dpi), moderate at 3 and 5 dpi, and mild at 7 and 10 dpi. The pulmonary lesion score was correlated with the score of cells positive by in-situ hybridization for swine influenza virus (r(s)= 0.9114, P< 0.05). The distribution of swine influenza virus varied according to the duration of infection. At 1 and 3 dpi, hybridization signals were detected mainly in the bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells, but they were detected mainly in the pneumocytes and macrophages (alveolar and interstitial) at 7 and 10 dpi. The results confirmed that swine influenza virus subtype H1N2, isolated in Korea, is a virulent pathogen causing severe pneumonia.

Animals↗

Synthetic peptide-derived antibody-based immunohistochemistry for the detection of porcine circovirus 2 in pigs with postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome.

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) was detected consistently in formalin-fixed paraffin wax-embedded lymph node and spleen from experimentally and naturally infected pigs by synthetic peptide-derived polyclonal antibody-based immunohistochemistry. Synthetic peptides were generated from open reading frame 2 of PCV2 by solid-phase peptide synthesis, purified by high performance liquid chromatography, and injected into rabbits to produce polyclonal antibody. Positive cells had large nuclei with abundant cytoplasm, and resembled macrophages. In serial sections, a similar distribution of PCV2 antigen and DNA was confirmed in virus-infected cells by immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization, respectively. The immunohistochemical method described was successfully applied to formalin-fixed, paraffin wax-embedded tissues and should prove helpful in diagnosing postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome.

Animals↗

Metabolic rates of 4-hydroxynonenal in tubular and mesangial cells of the kidney.

The degradation of the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) in primary cultures of kidney tubular and mesangial cells was determined. Using various initial concentrations of the aldehyde a decline of cellular viability was found. Mesangial cells were more susceptible to the toxic effects of HNE. In consumption studies of HNE the decline of the exogenously added aldehyde was comparable in both cell types after addition of 10 and 1 micromol HNE/l. After addition of 100 micromol/l aldehyde a drastically lower HNE degrading capacity was found in mesangial cells as compared to tubular cells. The loss in the HNE degrading capacity was accompanied by an increased formation of HNE-protein aggregates as demonstrated by immunoblots. Therefore, we concluded that the low ability of mesangial cells to degrade HNE may be a factor of the toxicity of free radicals on the kidney.

Aldehydes↗

Tumor M2 pyruvate kinase in plasma of patients with urological tumors.

The M2 isoenzyme of pyruvate kinase (M2-PK) is specifically expressed in tumor cells (TU M2-PK) and may therefore provide a tumor marker for malignancies. We have investigated the plasma concentrations of TU M2-PK in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (BCA), prostate cancer (PCA) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). TU M2-PK was quantified with a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Using this ELISA kit, plasma samples of 57 healthy individuals were compared to 63 patients with RCC, 36 patients with BCA, 58 patients with PCA and 28 patients with BPH. Patients with carcinomas were subdivided into those patients with nonmetastatic and those with metastatic disease. Only patients with RCC (nonmetastatic and metastatic) showed significantly increased concentrations of TU M2-PK compared to normal individuals. In metastatic RCC, TU M2-PK levels were highest and were also significantly enhanced compared to nonmetastatic RCC. The sensitivity for nonmetastatic RCC was 27.5% and for metastatic RCC 66.7% at the 95% reference value of the control group. In BCA, PCA and BPH, no significant differences could be detected. Our results indicate that TU M2-PK concentrations in plasma may be a potential biomarker of advanced RCC.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗

Soluble CD44 variants in the serum of patients with urological malignancies.

In patients with malignant diseases, characteristic alterations in the expression of CD44 protein and their variants were found. For the present study, the serum concentrations of the standard isoform CD44 std and the two variant isoforms CD44 v5 amd CD44 v6 were measured by ELISA in patients with prostate cancer (n = 49), benign prostatic hyperplasia (n = 30), renal cell carcinoma (n = 31) and bladder cancer (n = 29). The data were compared with the results of 30 healthy men and 30 healthy women. The sCD44 v5 concentrations in patients with prostate cancer (p < 0.01), benign prostatic hyperplasia (p < 0.01) and men with renal cell cancer (p < 0.01) were significantly lower than those measured in the male control group. The sCD44 v5 concentrations observed in male patients with bladder cancer were lower than in the male control group (p < 0.05). Only in one group the concentration of sCD44 std differed significantly from the others. The sCD44 std concentration in male patients with renal cell cancer was significantly lower than in the male control group (p < 0.01). Other significant differences were not found. In contrast to results observed in other carcinomas, the determination of soluble CD44 proteins in serum cannot be recommended as a marker for urological malignancies.

Adult↗

Osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) in the serum of healthy adults.

AIMS: Osteoprotegerin and the receptor activator of the nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) are decisive factors for maintaining the balance between bone formation and bone resorption. As new, sensitive ELISAs have been developed recently, reference serum ranges should be established to use these analytes for possible diagnostic purposes. METHODS: Measurements were performed in serum samples of 142 healthy adults (82 women, 60 men) between 20 and 70 years of age (mean age: 46 years) using ELISA kits from Immundiagnostik, Bensheim, Germany. RESULTS: Serum concentrations of osteoprotegerin were age and gender independent and showed a Gaussian distribution, while RANKL concentrations were also age independent but differed between males and females, with a non-Gaussian distribution. For osteoprotegerin a gender-independent upper 97.5 percentile limit of 3.6 pmol/L was calculated while the corresponding limits for RANKL and the ratio of RANKL to osteoprotegerin amounted to 3.29 pmol/L and 2.78 in women and 1.66 pmol/L and 2.18 in men, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Both osteoprotegerin and RANKL were quantifiable in serum of healthy adults, which means that these compounds can be used as potential diagnostic tools.

Adult↗

Ratio of alpha 1-antichymotrypsin--prostate specific antigen to total prostate specific antigen in prostate cancer diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the analytical performance and diagnostic utility of prostate specific antigen (PSA) bound to alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) in serum to improve the differentiation between benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa). METHODS: A total of 351 white men 21 to 88 years old were analysed. Serum concentration of tPSA, free PSA (fPSA) and ACT-PSA were measured in 163 untreated PCa patients (median age 66 years), 94 patients with histologically or clinically confirmed BPH (median age 65 years) and 94 men without prostate disease considered as controls (median age 54 years). The Elecsys system 2010 (Roche Diagnostics, Germany) was used for the determinations of tPSA and fPSA. The ACT-PSA assay is a new developed prototype on the ES system (Roche Diagnostics, Germany). RESULTS: The ACT-PSA assay showed reliable data of analytical performance in comparison to established assays for tPSA and fPSA. The median concentrations of tPSA (PCa: 9.22 micrograms/L, BPH: 2.28 micrograms/L, controls: 0.99 microgram/L) and ACT-PSA (7.99 micrograms/L vs. 1.63 micrograms/L vs. 0.58 microgram/L) were significantly different, respectively. The median ratios of fPSA/tPSA (PCa: 12.3%, BPH: 25.4%), ACT-PSA/tPSA (90.5% vs. 66.6%) and fPSA/ACT-PSA (14.0% vs. 38.6%) were significantly different between PCa and BPH patients. Significant differences of ratios between BPH and controls were not observed. Receiver operating characteristics analysis (tPSA up to 20 micrograms/L) for discrimination between PCa and BPH showed that the ratios fPSA/tPSA (area under the curve: 0.861) and fPSA/ACT-PSA (0.847) were significantly different from tPSA (0.663), but ACT-PSA (0.733) alone and also the ratio of ACT-PSA/tPSA (0.780) were not significantly different from tPSA (0.663). CONCLUSION: The ratio fPSA/tPSA showed the best discrimination between BPH and PCa. The single or additional determination of ACT-PSA to tPSA does not improve the differentiation between the two groups of patients.

Adult↗

Identification and molecular characterization of five novel kallikrein gene 13 (KLK13; KLK-L4) splice variants: differential expression in the human testis and testicular cancer.

The kallikrein gene family is comprised of genes that have either established or potential applications in prostate and breast cancer diagnostics. New members of the human kallikrein gene family have been recently identified. By using the positional candidate gene approach, we were able to clone a novel human serine protease gene that maps to chromosome 19q13.3-q13.4, the location of the kallikrein gene family. We named this gene KLK-L4 (now also known as KLK13). Here, we describe the identification of five new KLK-L4 splice variants which are not expressed in any other tissue except the human testis. We have further established that these splice variants can be detected in normal testis but not in the adjacent matched testicular tumors. In addition, differential expression of the KLK-L4 gene was found in various histological types of testicular cancer. Our results suggest that the KLK-L4 gene is expressed in normal and cancerous testicular tissue; however, its five variants are all expressed in normal tissue but not in testicular tumors. The physiological relevance of these variants and the implications of their differential expression between cancerous and normal tissues are currently unknown.

Alternative Splicing↗

[Therapeutic factors in psychoanalytic-interactional and depth psychology founded group therapy: an empirical study].

Depth psychology based and psychoanalytic-interactional group therapy were compared with respect to their therapeutic factors. The comparison was performed in patient groups by using a questionnaire asking for the occurrence and helpfulness of specific behaviour of the therapist and of experiences in the group. About 200 questionnaires for each method were analyzed. It could be shown that (1) discrimination between the methods was more marked concerning therapist's behaviour than experiences with the other group members, (2) that the obtained unspecific factors correspond to results in the literature on group and individual therapy and (3) that those items about the therapists behaviour claimed to be specific for each method did not discriminate these methods in the expected direction.

Female↗

Antigens of Timothy and other grass pollen extracts identified by monoclonal antibodies.

Using a series of monoclonal antibodies raised against pollen extract of timothy grass pollen (Phleum pratense) we identified individual (species-specific) and cross-reactive epitopes shared by different grass and tree pollens in EIA experiments. These epitopes are heterogenously distributed as detected by means of immunoblotting. Crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis experiments revealed binding of monoclonal antibodies to major allergens of timothy grass pollen extract.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗