Biomedical subjects

B P Fung

Publications and source records attributed to B P Fung.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1994

Humoral immune response to outer surface protein C of Borrelia burgdorferi in Lyme disease: role of the immunoglobulin M response in the serodiagnosis of early infection.

We determined the humoral immune response to outer surface protein C (OspC) of Borrelia burgdorferi in patients with early or late manifestations of Lyme disease and investigated the use of this antigen in the serodiagnosis of early infection. The ospC gene from the low-passage human isolate 297, a North American B. burgdorferi strain, was used to make a recombinant maltose-binding protein (MBP)-OspC fusion protein for serologic tests. This gene showed 84 to 85% nucleotide sequence identity and 76 to 79% amino acid identity with ospC of B. burgdorferi B31 and 2591. The antibody responses to MBP-OspC were determined in serial sera from 15 patients with Lyme disease who were monitored for 4 to 12 years of illness, in single-serum samples from 189 patients with early or late manifestations of the disorder, and in serum samples from 106 control patients. Early in the infection, patients with erythema migrans or meningitis commonly had weak to strong immunoglobulin M (IgM) responses to OspC and sometimes weak to moderate IgG responses. Months to years later, weak to strong IgG reactivity with this protein was often apparent in patients with arthritis, but this response was weak or absent in patients with chronic neuroborreliosis. When acute- and convalescent-phase serum samples from patients with erythema migrans were tested for reactivity against MBP-OspC, the sensitivity of the IgM test was 73% and the specificity was 98%, with either enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or Western blotting. We conclude that the majority of patients with Lyme disease have a prominent IgM response to OspC early in the illness, which is often followed by a prominent IgG response in patients with arthritis. For the serodiagnosis of early infection, the sensitivity and specificity of IgM ELISA and Western blotting were comparable or slightly improved when MBP-OspC was used as the antigen compared with tests in which spirochetal lysates were used.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1993

Catecholaminergic cell lines from the brain and adrenal glands of tyrosine hydroxylase-SV40 T antigen transgenic mice.

Brain (CATH.a) and adrenal (PATH.1 and PATH.2) cell lines have been established that synthesize abundant dopamine and norepinephrine and express the appropriate catecholaminergic biosynthetic enzymes, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine beta-hydroxylase. The lines were derived from TH-positive tumors in transgenic mice carrying the SV40 T antigen oncogene under the transcriptional control of 773 base pairs of 5' flanking sequences from the rat TH gene. Although the lines continue to express T antigen, they exhibit neuronal properties such as neurofilaments and synaptophysin and lack glial intermediate filaments. Although in vivo TH is only expressed in postmitotic neurons in the CNS, the CATH.a line demonstrates that TH expression and continued cell division are not incompatible after oncogenic transformation.

Adrenal Glands↗

PubMed1992

Sequences that direct rat tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression.

Investigation of neuroendocrine genes has revealed that transcription is regulated via multiple DNA binding sites, including the cyclic AMP response element (CRE). We show here that for the neuronal and chromaffin-specific gene tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), a 70-bp region (-229 to -160) lacking the CRE is sufficient, in either orientation, to confer levels of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter expression equivalent to or greater than that conferred by 4.8 kb of the rat TH enhancer/promoter region. The 70-bp region contains potential binding sites for AP2, AP1, E2A/MyoD, and POU transcription factors, and functions when linked to the TH promoter, but not when joined to a heterologous RSV promoter. This demonstrates that promoter as well as enhancer elements are important for TH expression. In gel-shift assays, the 70-bp fragment forms a cell type-specific complex with nuclear extracts from TH-expressing cells. which is effectively competed by an oligonucleotide containing AP2, AP1, and E2A/MyoD (E box) sites, but not by one containing the POU site. These data suggest that the AP2, AP1, and/or E box sites may be involved in forming the cell-specific complex. Although it lacks an authentic CRE, the 70-bp region also mediated a twofold transcriptional response to forskolin, equivalent to that found with the endogenous gene. A different region (-60 to -29) bearing a consensus CRE mediated a sixfold increase in transcription in response to forskolin, but only minimally activated basal transcription from the TH promoter in the absence of forskolin.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Brain-specific polyA- transcripts are detected in polyA+ RNA: do complex polyA- brain RNAs really exist?

Transcripts encoded by 2 different rat genomic clones, rg13 and rg100, appear to be typical brain-specific polyA- RNAs, as defined by previous criteria (rare, polysomal, and postnatally expressed from single-copy genes). However, we have found by using a sensitive nuclease protection assay that low levels of these transcripts (10% and 3%, respectively) are detected in polyA+ RNA. To determine if rg transcripts that fractionate as polyA- could have resulted from nicking of polyA+ RNA, we assessed the integrity of 2 known polyA+ RNAs, those of tyrosine hydroxylase, a 2-kilobase (kb) mRNA, and sodium channel, a 9.5-kb RNA. Using RNA prepared by several different procedures, including LiCl-urea and guanidine thiocyanate followed by CsCl centrifugation, the shorter message fractionated as polyA+ after 2 cycles over oligodeoxythymidine (oligo-dT) cellulose, whereas the majority of the longer sodium channel RNA fractionated as polyA, as assayed by nuclease protection using probes from the 5' end of the 2 genes. However, on Northern blots, the same RNA preparations showed an intact 9.5-kb sodium channel band only in polyA+ RNA, suggesting that the polyA- RNAs were randomly cleaved, resulting in a smear of sizes that could not be detected as a discrete band. These data imply that long messages may be nicked during standard isolation procedures and that this would not be detected by Northern blot analysis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aging↗

PubMed1985

Immuno-electron-microscopic localization of a centriole-related antigen in ciliated cells.

An antigen common to purported centriolar and basal body regions of a variety of cell types was previously visualized by immuno-fluorescence microscopy. The present study demonstrates the localization of the antigen relative to the defined basal body structures of ciliated tracheal cells at the electron-microscopic level. After ethyldimethylaminopropyl carbodiimide-glutaraldehyde-saponin (EGS) fixation and permeabilization, immunoferritin labeling is consistently found associated with amorphous electron-opaque material in proximity to basal bodies and their ciliary rootlets, but not with basal body microtubules themselves. This distribution pattern is distinct from that of other proteins found in the apical region of ciliated cells, such as calmodulin. It is proposed that the dense material may be analogous to pericentriolar material of centrosomes.

Animals↗