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)

A recent report has identified a new autoantigen called D1 that appears to be associated with Graves' ophthalmopathy and is expressed in the thyroid and eye muscle. To better characterize the tissue specificity and disease relevance of this antigen, we evaluated the expression of D1 RNA in various human tissues using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay. These studies indicate a wide tissue distribution of the messenger RNA for this antigen, including the thyroid, eye muscle, parathyroid, spleen, skeletal muscle, and uterus. There were variations in the relative amounts of specific message for D1 in the different tissues, with the uterus, thyroid, and eye muscle having the greatest amount of product per microgram of total RNA. A maltose binding protein-D1 fusion protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and used to assess serologic reactivity to D1 by Western blot. Autoantibodies to this antigen were noted in 19 of 24 (78%) of Hashimoto's disease patients, 26 of 41 (63%) of Graves' disease patients, and in 9 of 17 (53%) of normal controls. Sixty percent of Graves' disease patients with clinical ophthalmopathy had antibodies to D1, as did 63% of Graves' patients without signs or symptoms of clinical ophthalmopathy. There was no correlation between reactivity to D1 and either clinical measures of hyperthyroidism or antibody titers to thyroid peroxidase or thyroglobulin. The presence of autoantibodies to this antigen in patients with Hashimoto's disease, in Graves' disease patients without ophthalmopathy and in normal controls indicate that serologic recognition of this antigen is not restricted to patients with ophthalmopathy. In addition, the expression of messenger RNA for this antigen in multiple types of cells questions the tissue specificity of this autoantigen.
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PMID:Tissue specificity and serologic reactivity of an autoantigen associated with autoimmune thyroid disease. 834 48

Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) has a major effect on the two compartments of the retro-orbital (RO) space, leading to enlargement of the extraocular muscles and other RO tissues. T lymphocyte infiltration of RO tissue is a characteristic feature of TAO and there is current interest in whether these T cells are specifically and selectively reactive to RO tissue itself. We recently established 18 T cell lines (TCL) from RO adipose/connective tissue of six patients with severe TAO by using IL-2, anti-CD3 antibodies and irradiated autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to maintain the growth of T cells reactive to autologous RO tissue protein fractions. Here we report on the phenotype characteristics and cytokine gene expression profiles of these orbital TCL and on their immunoreactivity to the organ-specific thyroid antigens thyrotropin receptor (TSH-R), thyroidal peroxidase (TPO) and thyroglobulin (TG). Flow cytometry revealed that 10 TCL were predominantly of CD4+ phenotype, three being mostly CD8+ and five neither CD4+ nor CD8+. Analysis with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of cytokine gene expression revealed both Th1- and Th2-like products in all TCL: IL-2 product (in 17 TCL), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) (n = 10), tumour necrosis factor-beta (TNF-beta) (n = 15), IL-4 (n = 12), IL-5 (n = 17), IL-6 (n = 13), TNF-alpha (n = 12) and IL-10 (n = 4). Reactivity to thyroid antigens was observed only in two TCL, the other 16 being uniformly unreactive. Although 10 out of 18 RO tissue-reactive TCL were predominantly CD4+ there were no significant relationships between TCL phenotype, cytokine gene profile, magnitude of reactivity to RO tissue protein or the (rare) occurrence of thyroid reactivity. The findings of both Th1- and Th2-like cytokine gene expression in all RO tissue-reactive TCL support the concept that TAO is a tissue-specific autoimmune disease, distinct immunologically from the thyroid, and involving both T cell and B cell autoimmune mechanisms in disease pathogenesis.
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PMID:Analysis of orbital T cells in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. 964 11

There is a controversy regarding whether there are thyrotropin (TSH) receptors in orbital fat and eye muscle tissues that may play a role in the pathogenesis of Graves' ophthalmopathy. To elucidate whether there are TSH receptors in orbital fat and eye muscle tissues in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy, we applied the method of in situ hybridization in orbital fat and eye muscle tissues obtained during the operation for patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy, to directly detect TSH receptor mRNA. To identify whether the cells with positive TSH receptor mRNA are fibroblasts, we also did vimentin immunoreactivity study. To further prove the transcript does have a full length of TSH receptor, the samples of total RNA preparations, extracted from orbital fat and eye muscle tissues, were used as a template for reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using three primer sets to generate cDNA fragments and cloned for sequencing. The results showed that the expression of TSH receptor mRNA was demonstrated in adipocytes and fibroblasts of orbital fat, and perimysial fibroblasts within eye muscle tissues by in situ hybridization and vimentin immunoreactivity study. Also, by using the RT-PCR, cloning and sequencing, we further proved that the transcript does have a full length of TSH receptor. The present study suggested that there are TSH receptors expressed in orbital fat and eye muscle tissues.
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PMID:Demonstration of thyrotropin receptor mRNA in orbital fat and eye muscle tissues from patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy by in situ hybridization. 1034 63