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T M Cox

Publications and source records attributed to T M Cox.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Anti-IL-4 treatment of Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice inhibits development of T cells and non-B, non-T cells expressing Th2 cytokines while decreasing egg-induced hepatic fibrosis.

Increasing evidence suggests that schistosome egg granulomas are primarily Th2 cellular reactions. Mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni were treated with a neutralizing mAb against IL-4 to evaluate the role of this cytokine in the generation of parasite egg-induced cell-mediated responses and hepatic pathology. Animals treated with anti-IL-4 before egg deposition showed decreased IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 production in response to in vitro antigenic stimulations and decreased IL-5 and IL-13 mRNA levels in the liver. As observed previously, non-B, non-T cells were a major source of IL-4 in infected mice treated with control mAb, and the diminished IL-4 response in anti-IL-4-treated animals was shown to be caused at least in part by a reduction in the number of these cells, as well as by decreased secretion of IL-4 per cell. In contrast, production of the Th1 cytokines IL-2 and IFN-gamma was elevated in anti-IL-4-treated infected mice in vitro, and the corresponding mRNAs in the liver were increased. Anti-IL-4 treatment did not consistently reduce the size of hepatic granulomas around S. mansoni eggs, but markedly inhibited granuloma formation in the lungs of the same animals after i.v. egg injection. Nevertheless, anti-IL-4-treated infected mice showed consistent and marked reductions in hepatic collagen deposition. These findings indicate that IL-4 plays a major role in the development of the Th2 response in S. mansoni-infected mice and contributes to the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Recessive inheritance of erythropoietic protoporphyria with liver failure.

Erythropoietic protoporphyria is characterised by skin photosensitivity and deficiency of ferrochelatase; fatal liver disease occurs rarely. Transmission is considered to be dominant with incomplete penetrance. We investigated a family in which two siblings with erythropoietic protoporphyria developed hepatic failure that required transplantation. Their healthy parents had partial enzyme deficiency and were each heterozygous for a distinct mutation in a ferrochelatase gene. Both offspring were compound heterozygotes with ferrochelatase deficiency. Recessive transmission of protoporphyria predisposes to severe liver disease in this family. Patients with the recessive form of this disease may be at special risk of hepatic failure.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Purple acid phosphatase of the human macrophage and osteoclast. Characterization, molecular properties, and crystallization of the recombinant di-iron-oxo protein secreted by baculovirus-infected insect cells.

The purple phosphatases catalyze hydrolysis of phosphate esters (optimum pH approximately 5) and are resistant to inhibition by dextro-rotatory tartrate; their distinctive color is due to Fe(III)-phenolate charge-transfer transitions at their active site. Expression of human purple phosphatase, designated type 5 acid phosphatase, is restricted to osteoclasts and other activated cells of monohistiocytic lineage, but its biological rôle in relation to bone resorption and phagocytosis is unknown. To characterize this enzyme further, we have engineered the human type 5 acid phosphatase into a baculovirus vector expression system that enabled milligram quantities of purple protein to be purified from medium containing Sf9 host cells. The phosphatase cDNA was transcribed as a single RNA species of 1.5 kilobases as in human tissues. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity reacting with uteroferrin antisera appeared in the culture medium, from which up to 8 mg/liter was purified by two-step cation-exchange chromatography at pH 8.0. Two isoforms of approximately 36 kDa were identified by SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis and were converted to a single species of apparent molecular size 34 kDa upon treatment with N-glycosidase F, indicating secreted glycoforms of a single polypeptide. Mass spectroscopy showed that the mean molecular mass of the active, secreted glycoprotein was 35849 Da. The recombinant enzyme (specific activity, 190 mumol p-nitrophenol/min/mg at 37 degrees C) contained 2 iron atoms/molecule and formed purple, monoclinic crystals. Exposure to the ferric chelator, 1,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxypyrid-4-one, rapidly inactivated the enzyme, which was not inhibited by alpha, alpha'-bipyridyl, a ferrous chelator. That ferric iron is essential for enzymatic catalysis, was further indicated by the synergistic effects of the reductant, dithiothreitol, and bipyridyl on phosphatase activity. The recombinant purple phosphatase catalyzed the peroxidation of 5-aminophthalhydrazide (luminol), as evidenced by the induction of chemiluminescence; this reaction was inhibited by alpha, alpha'-bipyridyl at concentrations that did not inhibit phosphatase activity. The divalent iron moiety of human type 5 phosphatase may therefore participate in the generation of free radical species by fluid-phase reactions involving Fenton chemistry that are dissociated from its phosphatase function.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1994

Molecular analysis of functional and nonfunctional genes for human ferrochelatase: isolation and characterization of a FECH pseudogene and its sublocalization on chromosome 3.

A pseudogene related to the functional gene (FECH) for the heme biosynthetic enzyme ferrochelatase (ferroheme-protolyase; EC 4.99.1.1.) was isolated from a human genomic library using a ferrochelatase cDNA hybridization probe. The pseudogene shows > 80% overall nucleotide sequence identity to the functional gene (including the 3' untranslated region and polyadenylation signals) but contains no intronic sequences in the region corresponding to the open reading frame of expressed ferrochelatase. Furthermore, the pseudogene sequence contains small deletions and insertions creating frameshifts and numerous termination codons, indicating that it does not encode a functional polypeptide. Northern blot analysis using pseudogene-specific probes failed to demonstrate transcripts in samples of human erythroid cell RNA in which ferrochelatase mRNA was readily detected. Southern blot experiments using restriction endonuclease-digested human genomic DNA probed either with ferrochelatase-specific cDNA fragments or pseudogene-specific genomic sequences confirmed the presence of distinct loci for the expressed and nonfunctional genes, respectively. Localization of the human ferrochelatase pseudogene to 3p22-p23 was determined by fluorescent metaphase chromosomal hybridization in situ using three genomic clones in lambda EMBL3 spanning a contiguous region of approximately 30 kb. This newly identified locus, distinct from the expressed FECH gene, on 18q22, is characteristic of a processed human pseudogene. The existence of the ferrochelatase pseudogene has practical implications for the molecular analysis of mutations responsible for erythropoietic protoporphyria in man.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Aldolase B and fructose intolerance.

Hereditary fructose intolerance is an autosomal recessive disorder that illustrates vividly the interplay between heredity and environment in the genesis of human nutritional disease. Genetically determined defects of an isozyme of fructose bisphosphate aldolase (aldolase B, which is specialized for the metabolic assimilation of dietary sugars) predispose to this widely distributed condition. Ingestion of fructose, sorbitol, or sucrose induces abdominal pain, vomiting, and metabolic disturbances--including low concentrations of blood glucose--that may prove fatal. The response to dietary exclusion is rapid and, when so treated, the disease is compatible with a normal life span. A noteworthy feature of the condition in individuals who survive the stormy period of weaning is the development of powerful aversions to fruit, nuts, and sweet-tasting foods and drinks. The incidence of dental caries is consequently much reduced.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Molecular characterization of a ferrochelatase gene defect causing anomalous RNA splicing in erythropoietic protoporphyria.

Erythropoietic protoporphyria is an inherited disorder caused by deficient activity of the enzyme ferrochelatase. We have examined the ferrochelatase gene in an 11-year-old female with protoporphyria and have found that she is heterozygous for a mutation at a conserved residue in the exon 3 donor splice site consensus sequence (T(+2)-->G). This is inherited from her father, who also has deficient ferrochelatase activity. As a consequence of the mutation, ferrochelatase transcripts are aberrantly spliced and give rise to mRNA molecules in which sequences corresponding to exon 3 are absent. This leads to the expression of a ferrochelatase protein lacking a central region of 40 amino acids.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Null alleles of the aldolase B gene in patients with hereditary fructose intolerance.

We report three new mutations in the gene for aldolase B that are associated with hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI). Two nonsense mutations create opal termination codons: R3op (C-->T, Arg3-->ter, exon 2) was found in homozygous form in four affected members of a large consanguineous Turkish pedigree and R59op (C-->T, Arg59-->ter, exon 3) was found on one allele in a woman of Austrian origin known to harbour one copy of the east European mutation, N334K (Asn334-->Lys). The third mutation occurred in a French HFI patient known to be heterozygous for the widespread mutation, A174D (Ala174-->Asp): a single mutation, G-->A, in the consensus acceptor site 3' of intron 6 was found on the remaining allele. These mutations are predicted to abrogate synthesis of functional protein and thus represent null alleles of aldolase B. The mutant alleles can be readily detected in the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) or (for R59op and 3' intron 6) by digestion of amplified genomic fragments with DdeI or A1wNI, respectively, to facilitate direct diagnosis of HFI by molecular analysis of aldolase B genes.

Alleles↗
PubMed1993

Hereditary ovalocytosis with compensated haemolysis.

The clinical and laboratory phenotype of compensated haemolysis in a patient with hereditary ovalocytosis is reported. Clinical presentation was intermittent jaundice and abdominal pain due to pigment gall stones. Haematological analysis revealed an absolute reticulocytosis with an otherwise normal full blood count and biochemical evidence of haemolysis. Variable results were observed with blood grouping reagents. The patient's red cells were stomatocytic ovalocytic, rigid, resistant to malarial parasite invasion, defective in anion transport, and had the characteristic two linked mutations in the red cell band 3 gene.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Schistosoma japonicum-infected mice show reduced hepatic fibrosis and eosinophilia and selective inhibition of interleukin-5 secretion by CD4+ cells after treatment with anti-interleukin-2 antibodies.

Schistosoma japonicum-infected mice were injected with antibodies to interleukin-2 (IL-2) and/or IL-2 receptor to clarify the role of IL-2 on the granulomatous reaction around schistosome eggs in the liver. Granulomas were of normal or slightly increased size in animals subjected to IL-2 blockade, but hepatic fibrosis was markedly decreased in treated animals 10 weeks after infection. Anti-IL-2 treatment significantly decreased the in vitro secretion of IL-5 by antigen-stimulated spleen cells, and peripheral eosinophilia and tissue eosinophilia were diminished. Secretion of IL-2, IL-4, and gamma interferon was unaffected. Our results indicate that IL-2 is not an essential determinant of granuloma size in S. japonicum-infected mice but that, as in Schistosoma mansoni infection, the development of hepatic fibrosis is critically dependent on IL-2 levels and granuloma size and hepatic fibrosis are differentially regulated.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Biology and pathology of Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum infections in several strains of nude mice.

Schistosoma mansoni and S. japonicum infections in nude mice (nu/nu) were compared with infections in nu/+ heterozygotes or intact mice. Seven to 12 weeks after exposure to S. mansoni, the responses of Swiss NCR, C3H, BALB/c and C57B1/6 nude mice did not differ substantially. Nude mice of all these strains showed minute granulomas around eggs in the liver and minimal hepatic fibrosis. Microvesicular and necrotizing changes in hepatocytes were similar in all mouse strains, and S. mansoni infections were frequently lethal to nude, but not to intact mice between the seventh and ninth weeks of infection. Nude mice that survived the ninth week of infection generally lived until the 12th week. The number of eggs per mature worm pair in the tissues of S. mansoni-infected nude mice was similar to the number in intact mice, but nude mice passed fewer eggs in the feces. Nude mice that received serum from infected intact mice excreted eggs in the stool in numbers equivalent to intact mice, but continued to form minute granulomas around S. mansoni eggs. Reconstitution with fetal thymus or with splenocytes from normal or S. mansoni-infected mice partially or completely restored hepatic granuloma size, granuloma eosinophils, hepatic fibrosis, and excretion of eggs in the feces. In contrast to S. mansoni infection, S. japonicum infections in nude mice did not cause necrosis of hepatocytes or excessive mortality, and S. japonicum eggs were passed in the feces in numbers equivalent to those passed by infected intact mice.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Regression of hepatic lesions after treatment of Schistosoma mansoni or Schistosoma japonicum infection in mice: a comparative study.

Experimental infections with Schistosoma mansoni and S. japonicum differ in several aspects and post-treatment resorption of fibrosis might be one of them. To investigate this point, mice infected with each of these schistosome species were treated with praziquantel and the evolution of hepatic lesions was sequentially followed for five months. Parasitologic data showing destruction of worms and eggs and biochemical findings of progressively decreased collagen concentration after cure indicated that the lesions caused by S. mansoni and S. japonicum involuted in a similar fashion following chemotherapy. The time sequence of the histologic changes indicative of decreasing inflammation and progressive matrix degradation and resorption was also similar in both cases.

Animals↗