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

Solar UVB radiation is prejudicial to the health of humans in a number of ways. Erythema and photodermatoses are acute reactions of the skin; keratitis and conjunctivitis are acute reactions of the eye. Various types of skin cancer, accelerated aging of the skin, and cataract formation in the crystalline lens are reactions that appear with great latency. UV radiation can also cause damage to the immune system and DNA. For the period 1981-1991, an increase in erythemal effective UVB radiation of +(7 +/- 4)% per decade was measured in a non-polluted high mountain area (Jungfraujoch, 3576 m a.s.l., Switzerland). This increase is related to a decrease in stratospheric ozone. The effects on human health are discussed. A 10% ozone reduction increases non-melanoma skin cancer by 26% and cataract by 6 to 8%.
 ...
PMID:Biological effectiveness of solar UV radiation in humans. 840 96

The authors examined the eye diseases produced during acute and experimentally reactivated infections of rabbits intranasally inoculated with high and low neurovirulent strains of herpes simplex virus, type-1 (HSV-1). Experimental reactivation of latent trigeminal ganglionic infection was accomplished by an injection of cyclophosphamide followed by one injection of dexamethasone the next day. Neither drug, when given as a single injection, reactivated latent HSV-1 infection. During acute and reactivated phases of high neurovirulent HSV-1 strain infection, many rabbits developed very severe conjunctivitis and keratitis. Some rabbits developed hemorrhagic corneal lesions, and a few became blind. Only a few rabbits with acute and reactivated low neurovirulent virus strain infections developed mild conjunctivitis. The high neurovirulent strain was recovered from tear film more frequently than the low neurovirulent strain during reactivated infections. By use of 3H-labelled DNA prepared from purified virus to probe trigeminal ganglionic tissues in situ, both strains of virus were found to establish ganglionic latency to about the same degree. Reactivation correlated with an increase in the amount of HSV-1 RNA per ganglionic neuron and a change in subcellular location. These studies indicate that the relative neurovirulence of the infecting strain determines the ease with which it can be reactivated from latency and the severity of the reactivated ocular disease produced.
 ...
PMID:Severity of experimentally reactivated herpetic eye disease is related to the neurovirulence of the latent virus. 859 1

An experimental study was performed on animal models for evaluation of the possibility of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) corneal latency by in situ nucleic acid hybridization. 20 normal New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits were used, and 3 x 10(6) PFU/ml of McKrae strain HSV-1 was inoculated bilaterally into the corneal stroma in 14 rabbit eyes. Of the 28 eyes, 22 developed typical herpes simplex keratitis (HSK). On the postoperative 60th day, 4 corneas with latent infection were transplanted into one unilateral eyes of each 4 non-infected NZW rabbits respectively and removed 2 weeks postoperatively. The corneal buttons were individually detected for the presence of HSV-1 antigen and nucleic acid sequences by using clonal IgG HSV-1 antibody and biotinylated HSV-1 DNA probe respectively. The results showed that the HSV-1 DNA sequences retained only within the corneal stromal layer with negative HSV-1 antigen staining. These results strongly suggest that the cornea be capable of harboring latent HSV-1.
 ...
PMID:[An experimental study on HSV-1 corneal latency by in situ nucleic acid hybridization]. 870 87

We have been investigating the potential of a new class of antiviral compounds. These peptidomimetic derivatives prevent association of the two subunits of herpes simplex virus (HSV) ribonucleotide reductase (RR), an enzyme necessary for efficient replication of viral DNA. The compounds disclosed in this paper build on our previously published work. Structure-activity studies reveal beneficial modifications that result in improved antiviral potency in cell culture in a murine ocular model of HSV-induced keratitis. These modifications include a stereochemically defined (2,6-dimethylcyclohexyl)amino N-terminus, two ketomethylene amide bond isosteres, and a (1-ethylneopentyl)amino C-terminus. These three modifications led to the preparation of BILD 1351, our most potent antiherpetic agent containing a ureido N-terminus. Incorporation of the C-terminal modification into our inhibitor series based on a (phenylpropionyl)valine N-terminus provided BILD 1357, a significantly more potent antiviral compound than our previously published best compound, BILD 1263.
 ...
PMID:Peptidomimetic inhibitors of herpes simplex virus ribonucleotide reductase with improved in vivo antiviral activity. 886 95

A novel multiplex nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was designed and evaluated for routine diagnosis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections in patients with either putative HSV infection of the central nervous system or suspected HSV keratitis. Single-tube amplification of HSV type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2) DNA extracted from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or from keratectomy specimens was followed by differentiation of the virus type-specific PCR products either by agarose gel analysis or by DNA enzyme immunoassay. Among 417 CSF specimens obtained from 395 consecutive patients with clinically suspected HSV infection, 11 (2.6%) were positive for HSV-1 DNA and four (1.0%) probes were positive for HSV-2 DNA. None of the specimens was positive for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 DNA. The genome of HSV-2 was detected in a CSF sample obtained from a woman with meningoencephalitis and genital herpes. The presence of PCR inhibitors was detected in six of 111 (5.4%) reconstructed CSF samples. Inhibition could be removed following extraction with a commercial kit. HSV-1 DNA, but no HSV-2 DNA, was detected in corneal buttons obtained from patients with suspected herpetic keratitis. No contamination has been recorded during the 2-year routine use of this test, which has met the specific requirements of a diagnostic laboratory.
 ...
PMID:Suitability and clinical application of a multiplex nested PCR assay for the diagnosis of herpes simplex virus infections. 889 44

Mutations in the human PAX6 gene produce various phenotypes, including aniridia, Peters' anomaly, autosomal dominant keratitis and familial foveal dysplasia. The various phenotypes may arise from different mutations in the same gene. To test this theory, we performed a functional analysis of two missense mutations in the paired domain: the R26G mutation, previously reported in a case of Peters' anomaly, and an unreported I87R mutation, which we identified in a patient with aniridia. While both the R26 and the I87 positions are conserved in the paired boxes of all known PAX genes, X-ray crystallography has shown that only R26 makes contact with DNA. We showed that the R26G mutant failed to bind a subset of paired domain binding sites but, surprisingly, bound other sites and successfully transactivated promoters containing those sites. In contrast, the I87R mutant had lost the ability to bind DNA at all tested sites and failed to transactivate promoters. Our data support the haploid-insufficiency hypothesis of aniridia, and the hypothesis that R26G is a hypomorphic allele.
 ...
PMID:Functional analysis of paired box missense mutations in the PAX6 gene. 914 40

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is traditionally regarded as a disease with a short clinical course, low morbidity and high case fatality rate. Owing to the limitations of the assays used for laboratory diagnosis. It was difficult in characterise the clinical spectrum of sheep-associated MCF, particularly when the cattle recovered from an MCF-like clinical syndrome. Over a period of three years, 11 cattle that survived MCF for up to two-and-a-half years were identified on four premises. A clinical diagnosis of MCF was confirmed by the detection of ovine herpesvirus-2 DNA in peripheral blood leucocytes using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay that detects a specific 238 base-pair fragment of viral genomic DNA. Of the 11 cattle examined, six recovered clinically with the exception of bilateral corneal oedema with stromal keratitis (four animals) and unilateral perforating keratitis (one animal). The 10 animals available for postmortem examination had disseminated subacute to chronic arteriopathy. Recovery was associated with the resolution of the acute lymphoid panarteritis that characterises the acute phase of MCF, and with the development of generalised chronic obliterative arteriosclerosis. Bilateral leucomata were due in part to the focal destruction of corneal endothelium secondary to acute endothelialitis. Formalin-fixed tissues and/or unfixed lymphoid cells from all 11 cattle were positive for sheep-associated MCF by PCR. These observations indicate that recovery and chronic disease are a significant part of the clinical spectrum of MCF and that such cases occur with some frequency in the area studied. The affected cattle remain persistently infected by the putative sheep-associated MCF gammaherpesvirus.
 ...
PMID:Chronic and recovered cases of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever in cattle. 953

Ocular infection with herpes simplex virus leads to an inflammatory lesion in the cornea orchestrated by CD4+ Th1 lymphocytes. This immunopathologic disease, called herpetic stromal keratitis, is an important cause of impaired vision. In this study, we set out to determine whether established lesions of herpetic stromal keratitis could be controlled by topically administering naked plasmid DNA encoding cytokines to the corneal surface. A single topical administration of DNA encoding IL-10 was beneficial to the majority (75%) of treated animals, and 50% (vs 10% in controls) resolved their lesions completely over a 23-day observation period. Topical ocular application of DNA encoding foreign proteins was also shown to be an effective means of inducing systemic and mucosal immune responses. The direct application of DNA encoding cytokines may represent an additional therapeutic option for the management of immunoinflammatory disease.
 ...
PMID:Suppression of ongoing ocular inflammatory disease by topical administration of plasmid DNA encoding IL-10. 925 60

We applied ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) to identify Acanthamoeba isolates from contact lens paraphernalia, and characterized these on the basis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) RFLP and isoenzyme analysis. The 22 Acanthamoeba strains used as reference strains were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. Twenty-eight isolates were classified into six ribogroups, as follows: Acanthamoeba ribogroup (AcRG) 1 consisted of 18 isolates; AcRG 2, of three, AcRG 3, of three; AcRG 4, of two; AcRG 5, of one, and AcRG 6, of one. AcRG 1, which was the most frequently isolated type, was identified as A. lugdunensis, and AcRG 2 as A. hatchetti. AcRG 4 was identified as A. triangularis, while AcRG 3 and AcRG 5 were closely related to A. triangularis. AcRG 6 was identified as A. castellanii. The mtDNA RFLP patterns and zymograms for five isoenzymes of the isolates belonging to a ribogroup were identical to one another. The mtDNA digestion phenotype and zymogram for acid phosphatase (AcP) of AcRG 1 were identical to those of A. lugdunensis L3a and KA/E2, the type strain and corneal isolates from a Korean keratitis patient, respectively. The mtDNA digestion phenotype and zymogram for AcP of AcRG 6 were identical to those of A. castellanii Castellani and KA/E3, the type strain and another corneal isolate found in Korea, respectively. The mtDNA RFLP and zymogram for AcP of AcRG 2 were very similar to those of A. hatchetti BH-2 and Chang, respectively the type strain and a pathogen. The mtDNA RFLP and zymogram for AcP of AcRG 4 were similar to those of A. triangularis SH621, the type strain. The mtDNA RFLP patterns of AcRG 3 and 5 were unique. These results showed that the riboprints, mtDNA RFLP and zymograms of 22 of 28 Acanthamoeba isolates were the same as or very similar to those of the clinical isolates, which can probably be regarded as keratopathogens. More attention should be paid to the prevention of contamination by Acanthamoeba and to the disinfection of contact lens paraphernalia.
 ...
PMID:Species identification and molecular characterization of Acanthamoeba isolated from contact lens paraphernalia. 928 53

Ocular onchocerciasis results from immune recognition of parasite proteins released into the eye by degenerating microfilariae. Previous studies have shown that pathology similar to human ocular onchocerciasis can be induced in sensitized mice by intracorneal injection with Onchocerca volvulus antigens. In the current study, we used this murine model to map the segments of O. volvulus protein disulfide isomerase (OvPDI) associated with the development of corneal pathology. Subclones of OvPDI were constructed encompassing one or more predicted T cell epitopes. Keratitis was induced in BALB/c mice after subcutaneous immunizations with OvPDI, followed by intracorneal challenge of OvPDI constructs. Truncated OvPDI proteins containing amino acids 450-481 of OvPDI were found to induce keratitis, whereas constructs that did not include this region did not induce corneal pathology. Consistent with this observation, two peptides derived from the 450-481 region stimulated T cell proliferation to a greater degree than control carrier protein. DNA sequence analysis of cDNAs encoding OvPDI from blinding and non-blinding strains of O. volvulus indicated no differences in the primary amino acid sequence of the 450-481 domain. Immunization of animals with OvPDI induced antibodies recognizing a 55 kDa host protein, identical to the predicted molecular weight of the mouse PDI homologue. Together, these data implicate specific antigenic epitopes of OvPDI in the development of O. volvulus mediated corneal pathology.
 ...
PMID:Identification of an epitope of a recombinant Onchocerca volvulus protein that induces corneal pathology. 929 6


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>