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)

An African lioness from the Zoo of Zurich had to be euthanized because of an inoperable tumor. The serum tested negative for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) p27 antigen by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) but was strongly positive for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibodies by ELISA and Western blot. When her only offspring and mate were tested for FIV, high antibody titers to FIV were also found in their serum. Lymphocytes were prepared from these two lions on different occasions and co-cultivated with specific pathogen free (SPF) cat lymphocytes in the presence of concanavalin A and recombinant human interleukin-2 (IL-2) for 6 weeks. The cell culture supernatants tested negative for Mg(2+)-dependent reverse transcriptase and FIV p24 by a double antibody sandwich ELISA throughout the culture period. Whole blood and buffy coat cells collected from these two lions were transmitted by intraperitoneal injection into two SPF cats. The two cats did not seroconvert for a period of 11 months nor could reverse transcriptase activity and FIV p24 antigen be demonstrated in the supernatant of several lymphocyte cultures. To determine the importance of lentivirus infections in zoo-kept wild felids, 124 serum samples were obtained from African lions, Indian and Siberian tigers, snow leopards, panthers, cheetahs and other wild cats from nine European zoos. In addition, serum samples collected from 12 Asiatic lions originating from Gir forest in the Indian State of Gujarat were included in this study. The sera were tested for antibodies to FIV, FeLV and feline syncytium-forming virus (FeSFV) by ELISA and Western blot using the respective viruses after gradient purification. In addition, some of the sera were also tested for antibodies to equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) and Visna-Maedi virus (VMV). Antibodies to FIV were found in 30/53 (57%) of African lions, one of 18 tigers and one of four panthers. All other sera including those collected from the 12 Asiatic lions were negative for FIV antibodies. Some of the FIV positive lion sera had high antibody titers producing strong bands on Western blot strips even in dilutions of >> 1:1000. The Western blot pattern of the lion sera differed from that of domestic cats in that primarily p24 and to a lesser degree p17 was recognized. Antibodies to FeSFV were found in 14 animals (seven with strong, seven with intermediate, reaction). No correlation was found between FIV and FeSFV infection. Antibodies to FeLV were found in two cheetahs which later turned out to have been vaccinated with Leukocell, a FeLV vaccine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Retrovirus infections in non-domestic felids: serological studies and attempts to isolate a lentivirus. 133 98

Although the key role of human homeobox (HOX) genes in development is well established, their function in adult cells is still under scrutiny. We have analyzed, in normal adult blood cell subpopulations, acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) cells lines, and primary blasts, the RNA expression of all HOX-2 cluster genes (5'-2.5, 2.4, 2.3, 2.2, 2.1, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 3') and nine genes in the HOX-1, -3, and -4 cluster by Northern blotting, RNAse protection, and/or reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The analyzed HOX-1, -3, and -4 genes were never expressed in all tested cell populations. Natural killer (NK) cells activated in interleukin-2 (IL-2)/IL-1 beta-treated cultures exhibit a gradually increasing, abundant expression of three HOX-2 genes (2.2, 2.6, 2.8), while three other genes (2.3, 2.1, 2.7) are expressed at a lower level at late culture times. However, no HOX-2 gene is expressed in quiescent lymphocytes (NK, B and T [T-cell receptor (TCR) alpha/beta, gamma/delta lymphocytes, thymocytes] cells), granulocytes, and monocytes. In B- and T-ALL cell lines, HOX-2 genes are expressed according to different patterns: (1) widespread transcription (seven of nine genes, including 2.3 and 2.6) in the Peer line bearing the TCR gamma/delta; (2) expression of 2.5, 2.2, and 2.6 in the SEZ 627 line, which derives from an HTLV-1+ T-helper leukemia; (3) transcription of 2.3 and 2.6 in both the T-ALL CEM line and four B-ALL lines (interestingly, CALLA- B-ALL lines are constantly 2.3/2.6 RNA+); (4) no HOX-2 gene expression was detected in one T- and two B-ALL lines. Primary blasts from five T- and five pre-B-ALL showed selective expression of one or more HOX-2 genes, namely 2.5, 2.2, 2.6, and 2.7. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis that selected HOX-2 genes play a role in the IL-2/IL-1 beta-induced activation and/or proliferation of normal NK lymphocytes and possibly in the oncogenetic process of some T- and B-ALL.
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PMID:Expression of selected human HOX-2 genes in B/T acute lymphoid leukemia and interleukin-2/interleukin-1 beta-stimulated natural killer lymphocytes. 135 62

Crohn's disease (CD) is characterized by granulomatous inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, but the etiology and pathogenesis of the inflammatory lesions are unknown. The aim of this study was to determine whether T-cell activation and lymphokine production occurs in the mucosal lesions of this disease. Total cellular RNA was isolated from peripheral blood lymphocytes and from colonoscopic mucosal biopsies of normal individuals and patients with CD of the colon or ulcerative colitis (UC). Levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts in samples were determined using a quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method. IL-2 mRNA transcripts were detected in histologically normal intestinal mucosal biopsies obtained from control subjects. In CD, higher levels of IL-2 mRNA transcripts were detected in the mucosa from areas of active inflammation, but in areas that were histologically normal, levels were similar to control subjects. The levels of IL-2 mRNA transcripts in biopsies from active and inactive UC were similar to control subjects. Levels of IL-2 mRNA in peripheral blood lymphocytes were low and not significantly different in all groups of subjects. In conclusion, the normal intestinal mucosa contains IL-2 mRNA transcripts and may be an important source of IL-2. Furthermore, the inflammatory lesions of CD, but not UC, have higher levels of IL-2 mRNA transcripts, suggesting that T-cell activation and lymphokine secretion in the intestine may be important in the pathogenesis of CD. These data provide further evidence that the pathogenesis of CD and UC are different.
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PMID:Increased interleukin-2 messenger RNA in the intestinal mucosal lesions of Crohn's disease but not ulcerative colitis. 156 72

A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay is described that allows the rapid detection and quantitation of mRNA encoding the cytokines interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). Analysis of cytokine production by defined CD4+ T cell clones and the thymoma cell line EL4, demonstrates that the oligonucleotide primers used in this assay are specific for the genes encoding the individual cytokines, generating PCR products of different sizes. This allows the simultaneous and unambiguous detection of all three cytokine mRNAs in the same cDNA sample. The assay is sensitive enough to reproducibly detect cytokine mRNA expressed in as few as ten cells and requires 10,000-fold less cells for the detection of IL-2 production than that required for its detection using a conventional bioassay. Reverse transcribed mRNA is quantitated in the PCR assay by amplifying in the presence of a known amount of competitive genomic DNA (gDNA) template containing a small intron using the same primers. The PCR products obtained form the target cDNA and gDNA templates, which are distinguished by size, are processed by Southern analysis and quantitated by scanning densitometry of autoradiographs. As little as two-fold differences in cytokine mRNA can be reliably detected using this assay. We have demonstrated the successful application of this assay to the quantitation of pg amounts of IL-2 mRNA that is constitutively produced at low levels by fetal thymocytes in vivo during T cell ontogeny. The sensitivity, specificity, reliability and speed of this assay will facilitate the analysis of cytokine production in in vivo-derived or, in vitro propagated cells which are not available in sufficient numbers for analysis using more conventional molecular and biochemical assays.
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PMID:A polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection and quantitation of cytokine gene expression in small numbers of cells. 162 16

The Authors report the isolation in Italy of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) from a cat inoculated with whole blood from a naturally FIV infected cat. The virus was isolated in feline circulating leucocytes cultured in RPMI medium and stimulated with concanavalin-A and recombinant human interleukin-2. The infected cultures showed a characteristic cytopathic effect (ballooning degeneration, giant cell formation, cell death) and a specific fuorescence using FIV-positive cat serum and monoclonal antibodies against FIV. Furthermore, the culture supernatants contained magnesium-dependent reverse transcriptase activity.
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PMID:Isolation in Italy of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). 164 60

Twenty six patients with sarcoidosis of recent onset or with severe progressive disease were studied for evidence of retroviral infection. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were cultured in vitro and stimulated with phytohaemagglutinin and interleukin-2. Induction of syncytia (SI) and production of reverse transcriptase (RT) were sought as indicators of possible retroviral infection. PBMC from two patients showed syncytia formation and in one of these two there was associated production of low levels of reverse transcriptase. The remaining patients showed neither RT nor SI activity. The predominantly negative results of this study indicate that sarcoidosis is unlikely to be of retroviral aetiology; however, cell populations from sites of active disease should be studied before drawing this conclusion.
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PMID:Search for a retroviral cause for sarcoidosis: no evidence from peripheral blood studies. 171 73

T cell immunity may be critical to development of a vaccine for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). T helper epitopes were identified in three predominantly conserved regions in the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase by using reverse transcriptase-immunized mice of five major histocompatibility complex haplotypes. One peptide (residues 38-52) that stimulated H-2k T cells also contained an epitope recognized by cytotoxic T cells from the same mice and from HIV-infected patients. Such concordance between helper and cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes, observed in four cases, may be important in vaccine development. Peptide 36-52 was recognized by interleukin-2-producing peripheral blood T cells from 9 of 17 HIV-seropositive humans studied, of multiple human leukocyte antigen-DR and -DQ types. The broad recognition of this peptide by both helper and cytotoxic T cells substantiates its potential importance in a vaccine.
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PMID:Human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase T helper epitopes identified in mice and humans: correlation with a cytotoxic T cell epitope. 172 Jan 51

A variant of simian immunodeficiency virus from sooty mangabey monkeys (SIVsmm), termed SIVsmmPBj14, was previously identified and shown to induce acute disease and death within 1 to 2 weeks of inoculation of pig-tailed macaques and mangabey monkeys (P. N. Fultz, H. M. McClure, D. C. Anderson, and W. M. Switzer, AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses 5:397-409, 1989). SIVsmmPBj14 differed from its parent virus, SIVsmm9, not only in pathogenicity but also in multiple in vitro properties. As a first approach to understanding the biological and molecular mechanisms responsible for the acute disease and death induced by this variant, virus-host cell interactions of SIVsmmPBj14 and SIVsmm9 were studied. Initial rates of replication of the two viruses were identical in primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from normal pig-tailed macaques and mangabey monkeys, but SIVsmmPBj14 infection always resulted in higher yields of virus than did SIVsmm9 infection, as assessed by levels of reverse transcriptase activity in culture supernatants. Surprisingly, despite its cytopathicity for macaque and mangabey CD4+ cells, replication of SIVsmmPBj14 was accompanied by up to 10-fold increases in number of viable cells compared with cell numbers in uninfected or SIVsmm9-infected cultures. Furthermore, SIVsmmPBj14 was shown to infect and replicate in resting PBMC just as efficiently as in mitogen-stimulated PBMC, irrespective of whether exogenous interleukin-2 (IL-2) or antibodies that neutralized IL-2 were added to culture media. Accumulation of virus in culture supernatants of resting PBMC preceded by several days the appearance of activated cells which expressed the IL-2 receptor alpha subunit (CD25), suggesting that activation of cells was not essential for replication. The ability to activate and to induce simian PBMC to proliferate appeared specific for the acutely lethal variant because incorporation of [3H]thymidine by PBMC from naive animals was observed only upon incubation with concentrated, heat-inactivated SIVsmmPBj14 and not with other viruses. Both CD4(+)- and CD8(+)-enriched cell populations proliferated in response to SIVsmmPBj14. These results are consistent with in vivo observations and suggest that the abilities both to replicate in resting cells and to induce lymphocytes to proliferate may contribute to the extreme virulence of SIVsmmPBj14.
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PMID:Replication of an acutely lethal simian immunodeficiency virus activates and induces proliferation of lymphocytes. 187 Feb 5

Viral isolates were recovered by cocultivation on macrophage colony-stimulatingfactor (MCSF)-treated monocyte target cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in 25 out of 27 patients seropositive or at risk for HIV infection. Frequency of virus recovery was independent of the patient's age, sex, numbers of CD4+ T cells, clinical stage or zidovudine (azidothymidine) therapy. Sixteen out of 19 HIV isolates were serially passaged in MCSF- treated monocytes. Five out of five virus isolates were also passaged in phytohemagglutinin/interleukin-2 (PHA/IL-2)-treated lymphoblasts. In lymphoblasts, no qualitative or quantitative differences were observed between these isolates and human T-cell leukemia virus IIIB (HTLV-IIIB) for (1) release of p24 antigen reverse transcriptase, and infectious virus, (2) induction of typical cytopathic effects (cell syncytia in 3-10% of cells) and cell lysis, (3) frequency of infected cells (5-20% of PBMC) as detected by in situ hybridization for HIV RNA, (4) down-modulation of T cell plasma membrane CD4, and (5) site of progeny virion assembly and budding (plasma membrane only with no intracytoplasmic accumulation of virus). Progeny virus recovered from infected lymphoblasts was fully infectious for other lymphoblasts, but failed to infect MCSF-treated monocytes. Detailed analysis of target cell tropism among HIV isolates showed that HIV isolated in monocytes infected both monocytes and lymphoblasts; progeny virus isolated in lymphoblasts infected only T cells. HIV interacts differently with monocytes and T cells. Understanding this interaction may more clearly define both the pathogenesis of HIV disease and strategies for therapeutic intervention.
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PMID:Macrophage-HIV interaction: viral isolation and target cell tropism. 211 97

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a gene expression assay by which messenger RNA (mRNA) production can be measured. This technique involves three steps: isolation of RNA from cells or tissues, the creation of a DNA copy of the desired message (cDNA) by viral reverse transcriptase enzymes (RT), and amplification of this DNA segment by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for subsequent quantitation and analysis. Here we describe a one-enzyme, one-step method combining the RT and PCR steps of conventional RT-PCR by exploiting the recently documented RT properties of Taq polymerase, the thermostable enzyme used for PCR amplification of DNA. RNA was extracted from gibbon T-cells (MLA144), reverse transcribed and amplified with oligonucleotide primers (specific for the 5' portion of a spliced interleukin-2 (IL-2) messenger RNA) by Taq polymerase. A discrete fragment of correct length for IL-2 cDNA was detected. Experiments showed that this product was RNA-dependent and specific for IL-2. This fragment was sequenced by automation employing a biotin primer-streptavidin magnetic bead protocol which confirmed its origin as processed IL-2 mRNA. The modification of the RT-PCR procedure using a thermostable enzyme speeds up reaction time and increases stringency. This method should make the diagnostic screening of cells for gene expression more efficient and practical.
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PMID:Amplification, detection, and automated sequencing of gibbon interleukin-2 mRNA by Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction. 229 73


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