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Biomedical subjects

G Blanck

Publications and source records attributed to G Blanck.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

A new cluster of genes within the human major histocompatibility complex.

A 435-kilobase (kb) DNA segment, which is centromeric to HLA-B in the human major histocompatibility complex, was isolated by chromosome walking with overlapping cosmids. Within the cloned region, the genes for the tumor necrosis factors (TNFs) alpha and beta and HLA-B were 210 kb apart. The human homolog of a mouse gene, B144, was located next to TNF alpha. Moreover, the presence of additional genes was suggested by a large cluster of CpG islands. With cosmid probes, several distinct transcripts were detected in RNA samples from a variety of cell lines. Altogether, five novel genes were identified by isolation of corresponding complementary DNA clones. These "HLA-B-associated transcripts" (BATs) were mapped to different locations within a 160-kb region that includes the genes for TNF alpha and TNF beta. The presence of the genes for BAT1 and BAT5 in the vicinity of HLA-B again raises the question of which gene in this region determines susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis.

Animals

Molecular organization of the DQ subregion (DO-DX-DV-DQ) of the human MHC and its evolutionary implications.

An overlapping set of cosmid clones from the homozygous DR7 B lymphoblastoid cell line MANN linking the HLA-DO through -DQ subregions is described. This region encompasses 280 kb of DNA, including DQ alpha, DQ beta, DX alpha, DX beta, DO beta, and recently indentified L chain sequences termed DV beta. The orientation and grouping of the alpha- and beta-chains is comparable with an analogous murine class II subregion and also with the HLA-DR alpha and -DR beta chains, suggesting that the arrangement of the constituent genes of class II subregions predates the mouse/human divergence.

Biological Evolution

Multiple insertions and tandem repeats of origin-minus simian virus 40 DNA in transformed rat and mouse cells.

Stable simian virus 40 (SV40) transformation requires integration and expression of the early region of the SV40 genome. We have examined the amount and state of integrated viral DNA of SV40-transformed NIH 3T3 mouse and F2408 rat fibroblast lines generated by transfection with either wild-type or origin-defective SV40 DNA. A functional SV40 replication origin was not required for multiple inserts and partial-repeat structures to form in NIH 3T3 mouse transformants. In contrast, partial repeats in F2408 rat transformants were rare when the SV40 replication origin was intact and not detected at all when it was defective.

Animals

The contribution of ego psychology to understanding the process of termination in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

Ego psychology is presented as an integrated psychoanalytic developmental theory, including a theory of object relations. The process of termination is employed as one of the many possible illustrations of the usefulness of this theory. Termination is regarded as a process that pervades the treatment from the outset, rather than as the final phase of treatment only, because the treatment process, whether psychoanalysis or psychotherapy, includes continuous promotion of ever-increasing autonomy. Ideally, by the time termination proper takes place, maximum autonomy has been attained. To the definition of autonomy as intersystemic, involving relative independence of the ego from the drives (and from the super-ego), an object-relations dimension is added which extends that definition to include an intrasystemic consideration--namely, relative independence of the self-representation from the object representations. Especially in the treatment of the borderline conditions is the intrasystemic factor cogent because borderline states are characterized by varying degrees of incompletely differentiated self- and object representations. The objective, in the psychoanalysis of neurosis, where self- and object constancy already exist to a large degree, is ego autonomy in the intersystemic sense. In the psychotherapy of the borderline conditions, the objective is greater differentiation of the self-representation from the object representations.

Ego

Two integrated partial repeats of simian virus 40 together code for a super-T antigen.

We determined that the coding sequence for a 100-kilodalton super-T antigen found in Simian virus 40 mouse transformants spanned two separate partial repeats of the viral genome. The downstream repeat contained a complete Simian virus 40 large-T-antigen gene, whereas the upstream repeat was a truncated copy of the same gene. When the repeats were separated by subcloning, the capacity to code for the super-T antigen was lost. A small insertion or deletion in the origin-control region which preceded the second repeat could also destroy the ability to code for the 100-kilodalton protein. Our data suggest that differential splicing between parts of two gene copies was responsible for the additional molecular weight of this super-T antigen.

Animals

A gene in the human major histocompatibility complex class II region controlling the class I antigen presentation pathway.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules export peptides to the cell surface for surveillance by cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Intracellular peptide binding is critical for the proper assembly and transport of class I molecules. This mechanism is impaired as a result of a non-functional peptide supply factor gene (PSF) in several human mutant cell lines with genomic lesions in the MHC. We have now identified PSF in the MHC class II region by deletion mapping in mutants and chromosome-walking. PSF is homologous to mammalian and bacterial ATP-dependent transport proteins, suggesting that it operates in the intracellular transport of peptides.

Amino Acid Sequence