The influence of non-H-2 linked genes on the plasma levels of the H-2 S-region encoded proteins C4, Slp, and factor B was tested in Recombinant Inbred (RI) strains. The A X B and B X A RI strains exhibit a continuous range of C4 and Slp levels from very high to very low which reach beyond the levels of their parental strains, C57BL/6J and A/J, indicating involvement of several trans-regulatory ...

Compoundswith two phenolic OH groups like curcumin possess efficient antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. We synthesized p-cresol dimer (2,2'-dihydroxy-5,5'-dimethylbiphenol, 2a) and p-methoxyphenol dimer (2,2'-dihydroxy-5,5'-dimethoxybiphenol, 2b) by ortho-ortho coupling reactions of the parent monomers, p-cresol (1a) and p-methoxyphenol (1b), respectively. Their antioxidant activity wa...

A cloned mouse DNA fragment containing an endogenous 1'virus-like' ' DNA (VL30 DNA) sequence was identified by virtue of its ability to hybridize to the virus-like RNA component of mixed-pseudotype AKR-murine leukemia virus virions, its lack of detectable sequence homology with cloned AKR-murine leukemia virus DNA, and its hybridization to a 5.6 kilobase pair (30S) cellular polyadenylic acid [p...

Despite recent progress in the understanding of prion diseases, little is known about the host-defense mechanisms against prion. Although it has long been thought that type I interferon (IFN-I) has no protective effect on prion infection, certain key molecules in innate immunity such as toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 seemed to be involved in the host response. For this reason we decided to focus on...

OBJECTIVE To perform a systematic literature review of the long-term safety of methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS A search was performed in Medline, Cochrane and EMBASE. Adults with RA who had received MTX monotherapy for more than 2 years were studied. RESULTS 88 published studies were included. Over 12 years of treatment, the termination rate of MTX due t...

RNA silencing refers to small regulatory RNA-mediated processes that repress endogenous gene expression and defend hosts from offending viruses. As an anti-host defense mechanism, viruses encode suppressors that can block RNA silencing pathways. Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-encoded 2b protein was among the first suppressors identified that could inhibit post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS)...

von Willebrand disease type 2B (vWD-type 2B) is characterized by gain-of-function mutations in von Willebrand factor (vWF) that enhance its binding to the glycoprotein Ib-IX-V complex on platelets. Patients with vWD-type 2B have a bleeding tendency that is linked to loss of vWF multimers and/or thrombocytopenia. In this study, we uncovered evidence that platelet dysfunction is a third possible ...

The widely spread Streptococcus agalactiae (also known as Group B Streptococcus, GBS) "hypervirulent" ST17 clone is strongly associated with neonatal meningitis. The PI-2b locus is mainly found in ST17 strains but is also present in a few non ST17 human isolates such as the ST-7 prototype strain A909. Here, we analysed the expression of the PI-2b pilus in the ST17 strain BM110 as compared to th...

Surgically removed solid human benign and malignant neoplasms and nonneoplastic tissues were examined for the presence of transforming growth factors (TGFs). TGFs are polypeptide growth factor-like substances which cause the appearance of a reversible neoplastic phenotype in nontransformed, anchorage-dependent cells in culture, including the induction of the ability to grow while suspended in s...