Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022568 (keratitis)
 5,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A new acyclic adenosine analogue, (S)-9-(3-hydroxy-2-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)adenine [(S)-HPMPA], was evaluated for its efficacy in the topical treatment of experimental keratitis caused by the thymidine kinase-positive (TK+) and thymidine kinase-deficient (TK-) herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strains. In the treatment of TK+ HSV-1 keratitis, 0.2% (S)-HPMPA eyedrops were as effective as the reference compounds, 0.2% (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BVDU) and 0.2% 5-(2-chloroethyl)-2'-deoxy-uridine (CEDU) eyedrops. The three compounds produced a statistically significant healing effect, as compared with placebo eyedrops. In the treatment of keratitis caused by the TK- HSV-1 strain, 0.2%BVDU and 0.2% CEDU eyedrops did not differ from placebo eyedrops, whereas 0.2% (S)-HPMPA eyedrops exerted a highly significant healing effect.
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PMID:Efficacy of (S)-HPMPA against thymidine kinase-deficient herpes simplex virus-keratitis. 859 3

Acanthamoeba spp. are free-living amebae associated with amebic keratitis and chronic granulomatous amebic encephalitis. The present studies were undertaken to compare the pathogenicity of three species of Acanthamoeba in B6C3F1 mice after intranasal challenge with Acanthamoeba-induced cytopathogenicity for different macrophage populations. The ability of murine macrophage cell lines and activated murine peritoneal macrophages to lyse Acanthamoeba has been assessed by coincubating macrophages with 3H-uridine labeled amebae. Conversely, destruction of macrophages by Acanthamoeba was determined by measuring the release of chromium-51 from radiolabeled macrophages. Acanthamoeba culbertsoni, which is highly pathogenic for mice, destroys macrophage cultures in vitro. Activated primary peritoneal macrophages were more resistant to Acanthamoeba-mediated destruction than macrophage cell lines activated in vitro. Activated macrophages were capable of limited destruction of Acanthamoeba polyphaga and Acanthamoeba castellanii. Acanthamoeba-specific antibodies increased the amebicidal activity of activated macrophages. Macrophage-mediated destruction was by contact-dependent cytolysis and by ingestion of amebae. Conditioned medium obtained from macrophage cultures after treatment with lipopolysaccharide and interferon gamma was neither cytolytic nor cytostatic for Acanthamoeba spp. Purified recombinant cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1 alpha, and interleukin 1 beta, alone or in combination, were not cytolytic for Acanthamoeba trophozoites.
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PMID:The interaction of Acanthamoeba spp. with activated macrophages and with macrophage cell lines. 970 82

Pathogenic Acanthamoeba spp. cause granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and keratitis. Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a rare but serious ocular infection that can result in permanent visual impairment or blindness. However, pathogenic factors of AK remain unclear and treatment for AK is arduous. Expression levels of proteins secreted into extracellular space were compared between A. castellanii pathogenic (ACP) and non-pathogenic strains. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed 123 differentially expressed proteins, including 34 increased proteins , 7 qualitative increased proteins, 65 decreased proteins, and 17 qualitative decreased proteins in ACP strain. Twenty protein spots with greater than 5-fold increase in ACP strain were analyzed by liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. These proteins showed similarity each to inosine-uridine preferring nucleoside hydrolase, carboxylesterase, oxygen-dependent choline dehydrogenase, periplasmic-binding protein proteinases and hypothetical proteins. These proteins expressed higher in ACP may provide some information to understand pathogenicity of Acanthamoeba.
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PMID:Comparison of Proteins Secreted into Extracellular Space of Pathogenic and Non-pathogenic Acanthamoeba castellanii. 3063 Feb 75

Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a rare disease but its prevalence throughout the globe continues to grow, primarily due to increased contact lens usage. Since early-stage symptoms associated with AK closely resemble those from other corneal infections, accurate diagnosis is difficult and this often results in delayed treatment and exacerbation of the disease, which can lead to permanent visual impairment. Accordingly, developing a rapid Acanthamoeba-specific diagnostic method is highly desired. In the present study, a rapid and differential method for AK diagnosis was developed using the secretory proteins derived from the pathogenic Acanthamoeba. Among the vast quantities of proteins secreted by the pathogenic Acanthamoeba, an open reading frame of the inosine-uridine preferring nucleoside hydrolase (IPNH) gene was obtained. After expressing and purifying the IPNH protein using the pGEX 4T-3 vector system, mice were immunized with the purified proteins for polyclonal antibody generation. Western blot was performed using protein lysates of the human corneal cell, non-pathogenic amoeba, pathogenic amoeba, and clinical amoeba isolate along with lysates from other causes of keratitis such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Fusarium solani to confirm Acanthamoeba-specificity. Western blot using the polyclonal IPNH antibody revealed that IPNH was Acanthamoeba-specific since these proteins were only observed in lysates of Acanthamoeba origin or its culture media. Our findings indicate that the IPNH antibody of Acanthamoeba may serve as a potential agent for rapid and differential AK diagnosis.
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PMID:Production of a polyclonal antibody against inosine-uridine preferring nucleoside hydrolase of Acanthamoeba castellanii and its access to diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis. 3299 95