Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Apoptosis has a critical role in normal physiology while its dysregulation has causal links with certain pathologies. A biochemical hallmark of apoptosis, internucleosomal genomic DNA fragmentation, is detectable by ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction (LM-PCR). Here we converted LM-PCR into a new apoptosis quantifier by dividing trace quantities of 600 bp apoptotic amplicons into those of a single copy house-keeping gene, generating the LM-PCR 'value'. Dynamic range was approximately 17-fold correlating with a approximately 200-fold difference in degree of apoptotic fragmentation. Inter- and intra-gel reliability were both excellent, supporting LM-PCR's utility with large sample sets. Validation experiments comprising cell exposure to staurosporine over time revealed LM-PCR is as sensitive as caspase-3/ELISA and more sensitive than terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling/flourescence-activated cell sorting (TUNEL/FACS) for distinguishing low degrees of apoptosis (the spectrum most relevant in vivo). The LM-PCR profile mirrored that of caspase-3/ELISA but not TUNEL/FACS. We then applied this molecular tool to clinical investigation. Increased apoptosis is implicated in lipoatrophy (subcutaneous fat wasting), a serious, persistent toxicity of some nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) used in anti-HIV highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We demonstrated in 105 peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples that elevated LM-PCR values are seen during therapy with stavudine (d4T), a particularly toxic NRTI (P< 0.0001 versus no HAART, unpaired t-test). Elevated values were also independently associated with clinical evidence of lipoatrophy (P= 0.007, multiple logistic regression modelling) but not with patient age, CD4 T-cell count nor HIV viral load (P> 0.8 for each). Together these data demonstrate that LM-PCR is a robust and reliable quantifier of apoptosis with potential for basic science and clinical investigation.
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PMID:Measuring and monitoring apoptosis and drug toxicity in HIV patients by ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction. 1912 Jun 91

Recently a novel avian bornavirus has been described that has been suggested to be the possible etiological agent for proventricular dilatation disease or macaw wasting disease. This article describes two macaws that shed avian bornaviral RNA sequences and demonstrated anti-avian bornavirus antibodies as revealed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and Western blot, yet are free of outward clinical signs of the disease.
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PMID:Presence of avian bornavirus RNA and anti-avian bornavirus antibodies in apparently healthy macaws. 2009 58

Previous studies have linked levels of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) with poor health and disease in pigs. To determine the levels of expression of PERVs and their potential association with disease expression, real-time reverse transcriptase (RT) PCR assays were used to assess PERV-ABC, PERV-C and PERV-A/C levels in three commercial swine operations in the United States. Pigs (n = 204) aged 3-25 weeks were screened, and all 369 serum samples collected were found to be positive for PERV-ABC RNA as expected. PERV-C and PERV-A/C RNA were detected in 24.1% (89/369) and 18.7% (69/369) of the samples, respectively. When divided into age groups, PERV-A/C RNA was identified in 20.0% (43/215) of the nursery pig samples (3-9 weeks of age) compared to 16.9% (26/154) finisher pig samples (12-25 weeks of age). On two of the farms, serum was collected from healthy pigs (n = 60) and from pen-mates with various clinical conditions including diarrhoea, wasting and respiratory disease (n = 60). Overall, 25% (15/60) of the samples from clinically affected pigs were found to be positive for PERV-A/C RNA, whereas in clinically healthy pigs, only 8.3% (5/60) of the samples were found to be PERV-A/C positive (P = 0.026). It was possible to identify PERV-A/C in the same pigs on more than one consecutive bleeding, indicating variable length of PERV-A/C viremia. The results indicate that there is an increased incidence of PERV-A/C viremia in diseased pigs and that PERV-A/C can be detected over time in selected pigs within commercial pig production systems in the United States.
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PMID:Detection of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) viremia in diseased versus healthy US pigs by qualitative and quantitative real-time RT-PCR. 2139 84

Vitamin D deficiency in HIV infection has attracted much interest. The best known clinical outcomes of vitamin D deficiency are rickets (children) and osteomalacia (adults). Several non-skeletal disorders have also been linked to suboptimal vitamin D levels in the general population. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency varies widely (6-100%) across diverse patient populations, with no evidence that it is higher in HIV-positive versus noninfected adults. Vitamin D deficiency may blunt immune restoration and exacerbate HIV complications (e.g. opportunistic infections, poor perinatal outcomes, wasting, HIV disease progression, AIDS events, and death). The nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor efavirenz was associated with a relatively high risk of vitamin D deficiency; nevirapine, etravirine, and rilpivirine were noted to have less or no impact on vitamin D versus efavirenz in the limited data available. Protease inhibitors have either no or a low association with vitamin D deficiency. Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (with the possible exception of zidovudine) also did not appear to be associated with vitamin D deficiency. Management of vitamin D deficiency in HIV-positive adults has not been rigorously evaluated; some guidelines recommend more vitamin D supplementation for HIV-positive adults on antiretrovirals versus the general population (e.g. 2-3 times higher vitamin D daily intake for the age group; loading dose up to 10,000 IU/day for 8-10 weeks and a maintenance dose of 800-2,000 IU/day). In conclusion, although vitamin D deficiency in HIV-positive adults can be prevalent, current evidence for its causes and impact is relatively weak. More data, particularly from large, controlled, long-term trials, regarding the benefits of correcting vitamin D levels in HIV-positive adults are needed.
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PMID:Vitamin D deficiency in HIV: a shadow on long-term management? 2475 52

Tumour-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome of humans. Some mesenchymal tumours (often resembling haemangiopericytomas) express molecules that normally regulate phosphorus metabolism; most frequently, fibroblast growth factor 23. Patients develop renal phosphate wasting and inappropriately low serum concentrations of 1, 25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 , leading to osteomalacia. Surgical removal of the tumour is curative. The authors examined expression of canine fibroblast growth factor 23 in 49 soft tissue sarcomas, and control tissues from normal adult dogs. RNA extracted from bone or formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues was analysed by end point and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Fibroblast growth factor 23 expression was detected in bone, lung, kidney, lymph node and thymus. Fifteen of 49 sarcomas (31%) expressed fibroblast growth factor 23, three of these had high relative expression and some features resembling phosphatonin-expressing mesenchymal tumours of humans. Further work is required to determine whether TIO may occur in dogs.
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PMID:Expression of fibroblast growth factor 23 by canine soft tissue sarcomas. 2492 16

Recently, homozygous mutations in the desmoglein-1 (DSG1) gene and heterozygous mutation in the desmoplakin (DSP) gene have been demonstrated to be associated with severe dermatitis, multiple allergies and metabolic wasting (SAM) syndrome (Mendelian Inheritance in Man no. 615508). We aim to identify the molecular basis for a Chinese pedigree of SAM syndrome. A Chinese pedigree of SAM syndrome was subjected to mutation detection in the DSG1 gene. Sequence analysis of the DSG1 gene and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis for gene expression of DSG1 using cDNA derived from the epidermis of patients and controls were both performed. Skin biopsies were also taken from patients for pathological study and transmission electron microscopy observation. Novel homozygous splicing mutation c.1892-1delG in the exon-intron border of the DSG1 gene has been demonstrated to be associated with SAM syndrome. We report a new family of SAM syndrome of Asian decent and expand the spectrum of mutations in the DSG1 gene.
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PMID:Report of Chinese family with severe dermatitis, multiple allergies and metabolic wasting syndrome caused by novel homozygous desmoglein-1 gene mutation. 2715 12


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