Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.7.48 (transcriptase)
 9,479 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Peptides of melanosomal proteins have recently been shown to be recognized in an HLA-restricted mode by specific cytolytic T lymphocytes in melanoma patients. Dendritic antigen-presenting cells (DC) are considered to be the most effective stimulators of T cell responses, and the use of these cells has therefore been proposed to generate therapeutic responses to tumor antigens in cancer patients. We, therefore, generated DC from peripheral blood of normal donors in the presence of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4. Flow cytometric analysis of the cells during a 2-week culture revealed a loss of CD14 and CD34 expression, a concomittent increase of CD1a, CD11a,b and c, CD44, CD45, CD54, HLA-class I and II, and intermediate levels of CD26, CD80 and CD86. Cultured DC stimulated proliferation of allogeneic T cells and induced a marked, up to 20-fold, stimulation of T cell proliferation after pulsing with tetanus toxoid. To achieve independence of already-identified antigenic peptides presented in HLA class I-restricted fashion, which limits the general applicability of such peptides for vaccination of melanoma patients, we tested whether DC are transfectable with eukaryotic expression plasmids. DC transfected with two reporter genes (CAT, beta-galactosidase) using a liposome-based transfection technique, exhibited only low levels of enzymatically active proteins, but were able to degrade rapidly intracellular proteins and to process peptides efficiently. Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase as well as tyrosinase mRNA were detectable after transfection by reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme activities became measurable. Furthermore, DC transfected with the tyrosinase gene were able to induce specific T cell activation in vitro, indicating appropriate peptide processing and presentation in DC after transfection. These data suggest new approaches to future tumor vaccination strategies.
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PMID:Dendritic cells generated from peripheral blood transfected with human tyrosinase induce specific T cell activation. 748 49

A selectivity of B7.1 (CD80) for promoting Th1 responses and B7.2 (CD86) for promoting Th2 responses in the murine system has recently been suggested. The present study explores this hypothesis, using human PBMCs and antigen-specific Th1 and Th2 clones. Proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from ragweed-allergic, tetanus toxoid-immunized individuals were downregulated by treatment with anti-CD86 in ragweed- and tetanus toxoid-driven cultures (% Inhibition = 55 +/- 4 and 61 +/- 12, respectively; P < 0.03 relative to untreated cultures). Gene expression in PBMCs for interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, and interferon gamma (IFNgamma), assessed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, was also downregulated by treatment with anti-CD86 in both the ragweed- and tetanus toxoid-driven systems. Neither independent efficacy nor synergy with anti-CD86 was apparent with anti-CD80 treatment; two different anti-CD80 blocking antibodies yielded identical results. Conversely, antigen-specific Th1 and Th2 clones were insensitive to treatment with either anti-CD80, anti-CD86, or a combination of the two. Unaffected parameters included proliferative response (P < 0.14 and 0.33, respectively, for Th1 and Th2), proinflammatory cytokine gene expression, and cytokine protein secretion into culture supernatants (P < 0.44 and 0.16, respectively, for IL-4 and IFNgamma). We conclude that CD86 is the primary B7 signaling homologue in human PBMC responses, and that second signal pathways through the B7 homologues have no effect on phenotypically differentiated T helper cells in humans.
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PMID:Differential regulation of human, antigen-specific Th1 and Th2 responses by the B-7 homologues, CD80 and CD86. 927 12

Understanding the extent to which changes in muscle form and function underlie ontogenetic changes in locomotory behaviors and performance is important in understanding the evolution of musculoskeletal systems and also the ecology of different life stages. We explored ontogenetic changes in the structure, myosin heavy chain (MHC) expression and contractile properties of the circular muscles that provide power for jet locomotion in the long-finned squid Doryteuthis pealeii. The circular muscle fibers of newly hatched paralarvae had different sizes, shapes, thick filament lengths, thin:thick filament ratio, myofilament organization and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) distribution than those of adults. Viewed in cross section, most circular muscle cells were roughly triangular or ovoid in shape with a core of mitochondria; however, numerous muscle cells with crescent or other unusual cross-sectional shapes and muscle cells with unequal distributions of mitochondria were present in the paralarvae. The frequency of these muscle cells relative to 'normal' circular muscle cells ranged from 1:6 to 1:10 among the 19 paralarvae we surveyed. The thick filaments of the two types of circular fibers, superficial mitochondria-rich (SMR) and central mitochondria-poor (CMP), differed slightly in length among paralarvae with thick filament lengths of 0.83+/-0.15 microm and 0.71+/-0.1 microm for the SMR and CMP fibers, respectively (P 0.05; ANOVA). During ontogeny the thick filament lengths of both the CMP and SMR fibers increased significantly to 1.78+/-0.27 microm and 3.12+/-0.56 microm, respectively, in adults (P<0.0001 for both comparisons; ANOVA with Tukey's highly significant difference post hoc tests). When sectioned parallel to their long axes, the SMR and CMP fibers of both paralarvae and adults exhibited the myofilament arrangements typical of obliquely striated muscle cells but the angle of obliquity of the dense bodies was 22.8+/-2.4 deg. and 4.6+/-0.87 deg. for paralarvae and adults, respectively. There were also differences in the distribution of the anastomosing network of SR. In paralarvae, the outer and central zones of SR were well developed but the intramyoplasmic zone was greatly reduced in some cells or was scattered non-uniformly across the myoplasm. Whereas in adults the intramyoplasmic SR region was composed primarily of flattened tubules, it was composed primarily of rounded vesicles or tubules when present in the paralarvae. The ontogenetic differences in circular muscle structure were correlated with significant differences in their contractile properties. In brief tetanus at 20 degrees C, the mean unloaded shortening velocity of the paralarval circular muscle preparations was 9.1 L(0) s(-1) (where L(0) was the preparation length that generated the peak isometric stress), nearly twice that measured in other studies for the CMP fibers of adults. The mean peak isometric stress was 119+/-15 mN mm(-2) physiological cross section, nearly half that measured for the CMP fibers of adults. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis of paralarval and adult mantle samples revealed very similar expression patterns of the two known isoforms of squid MHC. The ontogenetic differences in the structure and physiology of the circular muscles may result in more rapid mantle movements during locomotion. This prediction is consistent with jet pulse durations observed in other studies, with shorter jet pulses providing hydrodynamic advantages for paralarvae.
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PMID:The ontogeny of muscle structure and locomotory function in the long-finned squid Doryteuthis pealeii. 2022 44