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C Bruck

Publications and source records attributed to C Bruck.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Association of antibodies blocking HIV-1 gp 160-sCD4 attachment with virus neutralizing activity in human sera.

Sera, from HIV-1 and HIV-2 seropositive individuals, were tested for the presence of antibodies able to inhibit the binding (BI) of HIV-IIIB gp 160 (produced in mammalian cells using a vaccinia expression system) to the extracellular portion of the CD4 receptor. A competition enzyme immunoassay (EIA) with soluble CD4 (sCD4) was used. BI antibodies were highly prevalent among HIV-1 seropositives but not in HIV-2 infected individuals. Attempts to localize the binding site for these BI antibodies on the primary sequence of gp 120 by using synthetic peptides encompassing the putative CD4 binding site on gp 120 (aa 397-439) were not successful. This study did not reveal a significant correlation between the presence of BI antibodies and disease evolution. BI antibody titres correlated less well with anti-gp 160 titres (r = 0.51, P less than or equal to 0.011) than with neutralizing antibody (NA) titres using either the isolates HIV-SF2 (SF2) (r = 0.77, P less than or equal to 0.000) and HIV-MN (MN) (r = 0.61, P less than or equal to 0.002) or the isolate HIV-IIIB (HX10) (r = 0.89, P less than or equal to 0.000) of which the gp 160 for the assays was derived. An HIV-IIIB neutralizing serum, elicited in a rabbit by immunization with a 17-mer synthetic peptide derived from the third variable domain (V3) of gp 120, did bind gp 160 without inhibiting the subsequent attachment of sCD4 to gp 160.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Binding, Competitive↗

Antigenic variants of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) are defined by amino acid substitutions in the NH2 part of the envelope glycoprotein gp51.

Previous studies with monoclonal antibodies of the antigenic structure of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) envelope glycoprotein (gp51) have identified three epitopes (F, G, H) directly involved in the infectivity of BLV, F, G, and H lost their reactivity with the respective monoclonal antibodies after treatment with a reducing agent, indicating that these epitopes were conformational. Sequence comparisons between BLV mutants and differential reactivities of urokinase or proteinase K gp51 fragments with monoclonal antibodies indicated that the NH2 moiety of the env protein harbored the three architectural determinants F, G, and H. ELISA tests demonstrated that anti-F, -G, and -H monoclonal antibodies were maximally reactive toward intact virions whereas they showed much poorer affinities for their respective epitopes when presented on a purified protein. Accordingly, an efficient vaccine against BLV infection will include at least the identified gp51 region presented in its native architectural configuration.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[The Booster test in the diagnosis of glaucoma].

The goal of investigations was the answer the question wheather the results of Booster's test are different in healthy persons, in persons with ocular hypertension and persons with glaucoma. The mean amplitude in persons with healthy eyes was 4.8 mm Hg (0.64 kPa), in ocular hypertension--8.3 mm Hg (1.11 kPa) and in glaucoma 11.0 mm Hg (1.47 kPa). Differences between particular groups are statistically significant. This demonstrates the value of the Booster's test for early diagnosis of glaucoma.

Adult↗

Activation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 by DNA damage in human cells.

Recent studies indicate that human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) gene expression can be dramatically enhanced by certain heterologous viral and chemical agents, implicating these as potential reactivating agents of latent virus infection. A common denominator shared by these agents is their ability to cause stress responses in cells. In an effort to determine whether stress responses affect HIV gene expression, we examined the effects of ultraviolet light (UV) and mitomycin C, on HIV gene expression as well as on viral growth and development. We demonstrate that these agents enhance HIV gene expression up to 150-fold. These levels are similar to those obtained by the tat gene product, the HIV trans-activating factor responsible for enhancing viral gene expression. The increase in gene expression after UV irradiation appears to require transcription but not de novo protein synthesis, and correlates with an accumulation of stable mRNA. Most importantly, UV irradiation of human T-cells prior to viral infection significantly shortens the viral growth cycle. Apparently, UV-induced cellular stress is highly conducive for viral replication and growth. We further demonstrate that even direct sunlight can activate HIV gene expression. These results demonstrate that DNA damaging agents, and perhaps other agents which elicit SOS-like stress responses in mammalian cells, can activate HIV expression thereby enhancing viral replication and development.

Acetyltransferases↗

Susceptibility of clinical isolates of Campylobacter pylori to 24 antimicrobial and anti-ulcer agents.

Forty-nine isolates of Campylobacter pylori were tested for their susceptibility to twenty antibiotics and four anti-ulcer agents by an agar dilution technique. Penicillin and amoxycillin were the most active drugs (MIC90, 0.06 microgram/ml); erythromycin, cefazolin, minocycline, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and gentamicin were slightly less active (MIC90, less than or equal to 1 microgram/ml). Moderate activity was found for doxycyclin, rifampin, nitrofurantoin, norfloxacin, pefloxacin, enoxacin, paromomycin, metronidazole and tinidazole. All strains were resistant to trimethoprim (MIC greater than 512 micrograms/ml). Nalidixic acid (MIC90, greater than 256 micrograms/ml) and colistin (MIC90, greater than 64 micrograms/ml) had little to no activity. Of four anti-ulcer drugs, only bismuth subcitrate showed activity (MIC90, 64 micrograms/ml). Strains resistant to all 4-quinolones were found in patients who had previously received ofloxacin as part of a clinical trial aimed at eradication of C. pylori. These isolates remained susceptible to amoxycillin, tetracyclines and to other classes of antibiotics.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Temporal development of cross-neutralization between HTLV-III B and HTLV-III RF in experimentally infected chimpanzees.

Sera from chimpanzees inoculated respectively with HTLV-III B, LAV, HTLV-III RF and brain tissue from an AIDS patient were analysed for neutralizing activity by two methods: a cell fusion inhibition test (CFI) using HTLV-III B infected cells as inoculum and CD4+ cells as target and a replication inhibition test (RIT) using cell-free HTLV-III B as well as HTLV-III RF as inoculum and also CD4+ cells as target. All chimpanzees seroconverted for HTLV-III B antibodies within 2 months after inoculation and the ten sera included in the study recognized the HTLV-III B core proteins p17 and p24 and the transmembrane protein gp41 by immunoblotting. The HTLV-III B external envelope gp120 was recognized by eight sera with antibodies active in the CFI (CFI-Ab) or in the RIT (VN-Ab) using HTLV-III B as inoculum, while neither of two sera without such reactivity did. HTLV-III B CFI-Ab and HTLV-III B VN-Ab concurred in nine of ten serum samples. LAV and HTLV-III B infection induced HTLV-III B CFI-Ab and HTLV-III B VN-Ab within 9 months after inoculation in all four chimpanzees tested. However, only the serum of one of the four animals also neutralized HTLV-III RF. HTLV-III RF inoculation evoked only HTLV-III RF VN-Ab within nine months. Between 11 and 18 months neutralizing activity to both HTLV-III B and HTLV-III RF was found in all four sera of chimpanzees inoculated with HTLV-III B, LAV or HTLV-III RF.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Antibodies to soluble CD4 in HIV-1-infected individuals.

A direct enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using the recombinant soluble form of CD4 (sCD4) produced in rodent cells as antigen was applied to detect antibodies to CD4 in sera from HIV-1- and HIV-2-infected patients. High titers of antibodies to sCD4 were found in sera from 12.6% of the HIV-1-infected persons included in this study, but not in 120 normal human sera. The reactivity of these antibodies with sCD4 was confirmed by a Western blot analysis. A possible anti-idiotypic origin of those antibodies was thought to be unlikely in view of the lack of inhibition of the binding of the biotin-labeled monoclonal antibody (mAb) anti-Leu3a by sCD4 positive sera. Attempts to correlate the evolution of the disease with the presence or absence of antibodies to sCD4 in a panel of well documented HIV-1-seropositive cases did not reveal any clear correlation. Sera from HIV-2-infected people (nine sera analysed), sera from HIV-1-infected chimpanzees (10 sera analysed) and sera from humans immunized with a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing gp160 (10 sera analysed) scored negative for antibodies to sCD4. The possible origin and biological significance of the observed antibodies to sCD4 are discussed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Expression of a cDNA clone corresponding to the long open reading frame (XBL-I) of the bovine leukemia virus.

Nucleotide sequence analysis of a cDNA clone corresponding to the XBL-I open reading-frame of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) revealed that the AUG initiation codon was located 44 bases downstream from that of the env gene and was part of the p34x mRNA splice donor. . .ATGG/GTAA at the end of the pol gene sequence. RNA from this clone was synthesized in vitro by the SP6 RNA polymerase and translated into a 34,000 mol wt protein in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. The protein (p34x) is recognized in Western blots by most sera of BLV-infected sheep and tumor-bearing cattle, by an anti-synthetic peptide rabbit serum, and by the serum of a rabbit immunized by XBL-I RNA programmed reticulocyte lysates. Both sera react with a 34,000 mol wt protein present in nuclei of BLV-infected cells.

Base Sequence↗

Additional member of the protein-tyrosine kinase family: the src- and lck-related protooncogene c-tkl.

We report the isolation and nucleotide sequence of a 3.7-kilobase (kb) cDNA clone from chicken spleen corresponding to a previously undescribed member of the src family of protooncogenes. It encodes a protein with a C-terminal domain related to the src family of protein-tyrosine kinases (EC 2.7.1.112) and, among these, has most significant homology to the lck gene isolated from a murine leukemia virus-induced thymoma cell line. The gene is therefore referred to as c-tkl for cellular tyrosine kinase related to lck. Analysis of genomic DNA reveals that c-tkl is a chromosomal locus distinct from c-src and c-lck. Furthermore, the size of c-tkl mRNA as well as its pattern of expression indicates that it is not the chicken homologue of lck but a different gene. A 3.8-kb transcript of the c-tkl gene, identical to the size determined for c-src mRNA, was observed in cultured chicken embryo fibroblasts and in chicken spleen and brain. In contrast, detection of a definite c-src mRNA signal with mRNA from spleen was not possible under the hybridization conditions employed when the 5' end of v-src was used as the probe, and none of the 11 clones obtained from the cDNA library corresponded to a c-src transcript. Thus previous studies of c-src mRNA expression in spleen may have actually detected c-tkl transcripts.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Nucleic acid sequence of an internal image-bearing monoclonal anti-idiotype and its comparison to the sequence of the external antigen.

The monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibody (mAb2) 87.92.6 directed against the 9B.G5 antibody specific for the virus neutralizing epitope on the mammalian reovirus type 3 hemagglutinin was previously demonstrated to express an internal image of the receptor binding epitope of the reovirus type 3. Furthermore, this mAb2 has autoimmune reactivity to the cell surface receptor of the reovirus. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the 87.92.6 mAb2 heavy and light chains are described in this report. The sequence analysis reveals that the same heavy chain variable and joining (VH and JH) gene segments are used by the 87.92.6 anti-idiotypic mAb2 and by the dominant idiotypes of the BALB/c anti-GAT (cGAT) and anti-NP (NPa) responses. [GAT; random polymer that is 60% glutamic acid, 30% alanine, and 10% tyrosine. NP; (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)-acetyl.] Despite extensive homology at the level of the heavy chain variable regions, the NPa positive BALB/c anti-NP monoclonal antibody 17.2.25 binds neither 9B.G5 nor the cellular receptor for the hemagglutinin. Amino acid sequence comparison between the viral hemagglutinin and the 87.92.6 mAb2 light chain "internal image," reveals an area of significant homology indicating that antigen mimicry by antibodies may be achieved by sharing primary structure.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Bovine leukemia virus-related antigens in lymphocyte cultures infected with AIDS-associated viruses.

An earlier finding that lymphocytes from African patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) react with rabbit antiserum to purified antigens of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) prompted a study of the possible cross-reactions between a BLV-infected ovine cell line and human lymphocytes inoculated with a strain of lymphadenopathy syndrome-associated virus (LAV). A solid-phase radioimmunoassay was used to detect antigenic markers of the retroviruses. Crude extracts from short-term cultures of lymphocytes infected with LAV bound rabbit antisera to the LAV glycoprotein gp13 (molecular weight 13,000) and the BLV proteins p24 and gp51, but did not bind antibodies to the p24 of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I). Antiserum to LAV gp13 reacted with an ovine cell line producing BLV but also weakly with virus-free ovine cells. Lymphocyte cultures from four African patients with AIDS expressed BLV-related antigens within 6 to 10 days of culture, at the moment when particle-bound reverse transcriptase was produced. BLV-related antigens were induced in lymphocyte cultures from healthy individuals by addition of filtered supernatant or irradiated cells of the original culture. The antisera to BLV used in this study may prove useful for the detection of AIDS-associated viruses in short-term cultures of lymphocytes from AIDS patients or their contacts.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Bovine leukemia virus, a versatile agent with various pathogenic effects in various animal species.

The bovine leukemia virus is the etiological agent of a chronic lymphatic leukemia in cows, sheep, and goats. The same virus seems to induce a kind of wasting disease in experimentally infected rabbits. Antibodies to highly purified bovine leukemia viral Mr 51,000 glycoprotein and Mr 24,000 protein cross-react with human T-lymphotropic virus III/lymphadenopathy-associated virus antigens present in cultured lymphocytes of African patients suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Bovine leukemia virus has many structural and functional characteristics in common with the human T-lymphotropic viruses. The most striking feature of these retroviruses is the existence of a long open reading frame located at the 3' side of the provirus between the right end of the 3' side of env gene and the left end of the long terminal repeat. It is believed that the long open reading frame protein product acts in trans upon a number of genes to account for the biological effects of the virus.

Animals↗

Bovine leukaemia virus and enzootic bovine leukosis.

Infection of bovines with bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) manifests itself in either of two ways: 30-70% of carriers develop persistent lymphocytosis (PL), with the viral genome integrated at a large number of different sites in the DNA of the affected B-lymphocytes, without causing any chromosomal abnormalities. Only 0,1-10% of carriers develop lymphoid tumours, which also consist of B-lymphocytes. In contrast to PL, however, they are of mono- or oligoclonal origin in terms of the integration site, which is characteristic for each tumour. All cells contain one or more copies of the viral genome, chromosomal aberrations are common and if deletions are present they are invariably found in the 5'-half of the virus DNA sequence. In both types of affected cells transcription is repressed in vivo, but transient virus production can be induced in vitro and detected by means of syncytia induction or haemagglutination. In vivo production of virus in some unknown cell is suggested by the presence of high antibody titres in infected animals, especially against the envelope glycoprotein gp51. This can be detected by various techniques such as immunodiffusion, radioimmune assay or ELISA. Monoclonal antibodies against gp51 have revealed 8 epitopes, 3 of which are recognized by neutralizing antibodies and one by a cytolytic antibody. The BLV genome, about 9 kb in size, have been cloned, and some of the information obtained on its molecular structure and function is discussed. It codes for at least 4 non-glycosylated and 2 glycoproteins. Of special interest is the recently discovered serological relationship between some of the non-glycosylated proteins and those of the human T-cell leukaemia virus. The functional role of BLV in leukaemogenesis is largely unknown. The presence of the viral genome seems to be necessary for the maintenance of the transformed state, but not its continuous expression nor an LTR-mediated promotion of transcription of cellular genes. No oncogene is carried by the virus. Although bovine leukosis is not of major economic importance, its eradication is desirable and feasible in countries with a relatively low incidence, by means of testing and elimination. For endemic situations vaccination would be preferable, and distinct possibilities exist for the development of gp51 based vaccines.

Animals↗

Biologically active epitopes of bovine leukemia virus glycoprotein gp51: their dependence on protein glycosylation and genetic variability.

A panel of monoclonal antibodies to the bovine leukemia virus envelope glycoprotein (BLV gp51) has previously demonstrated the association of the biological activities of the virus (infectivity, syncytia induction) with three out of eight epitopes of gp51. In BLV-infected cells, the unglycosylated homolog of the precursor to the BLV envelope glycoproteins (gPr72env) is a 47,000-MW polypeptide. Immunoprecipitation studies with monoclonal antibodies show that the neutralizing antibody-inducing sites, although present in gPr72env, are not conserved in the 47,000-MW unglycosylated homolog. Finally, it is demonstrated that the neutralizing antibody-inducing sites of gp51 are subject to antigenic variation among BLV isolates of the same or different geographical origins.

Animals↗

Epitopes of bovine leukemia virus glycoprotein gp51 recognized by sera of infected cattle and sheep.

Sera of BLV-infected cattle and sheep are tested for their reactivity with different gp51 subregions by competition with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies directed against 8 different gp51 epitopes. Sheep antisera are found to be very polyvalent, since they are able to displace the fixation of any of the mouse monoclonal antibodies to gp51. Bovine antisera do not display significant competition with monoclonal antibodies direct against 5 out of 8 gp51 epitopes. The bovine antibody response to gp51 is focused to a limited subregion of this molecule, bearing 3 epitopes (F, G and H) recognized by antibodies with virus-neutralizing activity. The differential reactivity of cattle and sheep antisera to BLV gp51 is discussed in relation to the pathology of BLV infection in these two species.

Animals↗