Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:Q16637 (SMA)
 8,107 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Immunohistochemical study was carried out in patients with collagen vascular disease associated with interstitial pneumonia. The subjects were 16 patients, consisting of seven rheumatoid arthritis (RA), five dermatomyositis (DM) and four progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), in whom the pathological findings were consistent with usual interstitial pneumonia. Immunohistochemical examinations were performed by the ABC method using antibodies to vimentin (vim), alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA), and S-100 protein. In fibrosis associated with RA, proliferation of alpha-SMA-positive myofibroblasts was widely observed in all subjects. Myofibroblasts were present also in patients with DM and PSS, but not as notable as in those with RA. Proliferation of vim-positive fibroblasts was observed in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Diverse S-100 protein positive cells appeared in patients with acute exacerbations of RA, especially when associated with bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) pattern. S-100 protein positive cells were observed occasionally also in patients with DM and PSS, but they markedly decreased in number, compared to those with RA. They were generally hard to detect in lungs of patients with IPF. These findings suggest that interstitial pneumonia associated with collagen vascular disease can be fairly clearly differentiated from IPF each other, based on the degree of proliferation of myofibroblasts and on the presence of S-100 protein positive cells in number.
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PMID:[Immunohistochemical study of myofibroblast and S-100 protein positive cells in interstitial pneumonia associated with collagen vascular disease]. 912 18

Cells were isolated from four human amniotic membranes, and their biological characteristics analyzed during ex vivo expansion. Morphologically homogenous populations of fibroblast-like cells were obtained from the second or third passage. Under the appropriate culture conditions, these human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal cells (HAM) were shown to differentiate into adipocytes, osteocytes, chondrocytes and neuronal cells, as visualized by Oil Red O, von Kossa, alcian blue, anti-Neu N, and anti-Gal C antibody staining, respectively. Immunophenotype analysis of HAM cells revealed the presence of antigens for SSEA-3, SSEA-4, collagen type-I, -II, -III, -IV, -XII, fibronectin, alpha-SMA, vimentin, desmin, cytokeratin18 (CK18), HCAM-1, fibroblast surface protein, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) ABC. ICAM-1 protein was weakly detectable, and proteins of TRA-1-60, VCAM-1, von Willebrand factor, PECAM-1, and HLA DR were not detected. HAM cells reached senescence after 14.5+/-0.9 passages, over a period of 146.8+/-8.9 days, and underwent an average of 36.9 4.7 population doublings. RT-PCR analysis showed that all four HAM cell lines consistently expressed genes of Oct-4, Rex-1, SCF, NCAM, nestin, BMP-4, GATA-4, HNF-4alpha, vimentin, and CK18, regardless of the passage number. The genes of Brachyury, FGF-5, Pax-6, and BMP2 were never expressed. Strikingly, alpha-fetoprotein (alphaFP), HLA ABC, and HLA DR genes were expressed in an earlier passage but not expressed in later passages. Telomerase activity of two HAM lines was discernable upon the third passage. These observations strongly suggest that HAM might be immune-privileged and, thus, advantageous as therapeutic cells.
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PMID:Ex vivo characteristics of human amniotic membrane-derived stem cells. 1815 18

ABC (ATP-binding-cassette) transporters carry out many vital functions and are involved in numerous diseases, but study of the structure and function of these proteins is often hampered by their large size and membrane location. Membrane protein purification usually utilizes detergents to solubilize the protein from the membrane, effectively removing it from its native lipid environment. Subsequently, lipids have to be added back and detergent removed to reconstitute the protein into a lipid bilayer. In the present study, we present the application of a new methodology for the extraction and purification of ABC transporters without the use of detergent, instead, using a copolymer, SMA (polystyrene-co-maleic acid). SMA inserts into a bilayer and assembles into discrete particles, essentially solubilizing the membrane into small discs of bilayer encircled by a polymer, termed SMALPs (SMA lipid particles). We show that this polymer can extract several eukaryotic ABC transporters, P-glycoprotein (ABCB1), MRP1 (multidrug-resistance protein 1; ABCC1), MRP4 (ABCC4), ABCG2 and CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator; ABCC7), from a range of different expression systems. The SMALP-encapsulated ABC transporters can be purified by affinity chromatography, and are able to bind ligands comparably with those in native membranes or detergent micelles. A greater degree of purity and enhanced stability is seen compared with detergent solubilization. The present study demonstrates that eukaryotic ABC transporters can be extracted and purified without ever being removed from their lipid bilayer environment, opening up a wide range of possibilities for the future study of their structure and function.
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PMID:Detergent-free purification of ABC (ATP-binding-cassette) transporters. 2475 94

The human brain readily perceives fluent movement from static input. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain mechanisms that mediate fluent apparent biological motion (ABM) perception from sequences of body postures. We presented body and nonbody stimuli varying in objective sequence duration and fluency of apparent movement. Three body postures were ordered to produce a fluent (ABC) or a nonfluent (ACB) apparent movement. This enabled us to identify brain areas involved in the perceptual reconstruction of body movement from identical lower-level static input. Participants judged the duration of a rectangle containing body/nonbody sequences, as an implicit measure of movement fluency. For body stimuli, fluent apparent motion sequences produced subjectively longer durations than nonfluent sequences of the same objective duration. This difference was reduced for nonbody stimuli. This body-specific bias in duration perception was associated with increased blood oxygen level-dependent responses in the primary (M1) and supplementary motor areas. Moreover, fluent ABM was associated with increased functional connectivity between M1/SMA and right fusiform body area. We show that perceptual reconstruction of fluent movement from static body postures does not merely enlist areas traditionally associated with visual body processing, but involves cooperative recruitment of motor areas, consistent with a "motor way of seeing".
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PMID:Constructing Visual Perception of Body Movement with the Motor Cortex. 2653 7