Rheumatoid factors (RFs) in humans have been studied intensively because of their association with autoimmune and lymphoproliferative diseases. Many human IgM-RFs express cross-reactive idiotypes (CRIs) and have homologous light chains, some of which are encoded by a single V kappa gene, termed V kappa 325. However, although antibody activity generally requires the interaction between heavy and...

Muscle fiber composition correlates with insulin resistance, and exercise training can increase slow-twitch (type I) fibers and, thereby, mitigate diabetes risk. Human skeletal muscle is made up of three distinct fiber types, but muscle contains many more isoforms of myosin heavy and light chains, which are coded by 15 and 11 different genes, respectively. Laser capture microdissection techniqu...

Human plasma kallikrein (HuPK) was detected in normal non-activated and dilution-activated plasma by immunoblotting, using polyclonal antibodies. In non-activated plasma, the predominatly detected protein corresponds to prokallikrein (Mr 80,000-90,000). Activated plasma, besides kallikrein, contains larger proteins (Mr > 130,000) that possibly represent complexes between kallikrein and proteina...

Cold exposure (6 weeks at 4 degrees C) of normotensive (Wistar-Kyoto) and stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive female rats led to cardiac hypertrophy (in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats), increased the level of plasma thyroxine, and increased the alpha-myosin heavy chain expression in the left ventricle. In contrast, myosin heavy chain expression of both main mesenteric artery a...

To determine the chromosomal location of mouse immunoglobulin heavy chain structural genes unambiguously, a panel of somatic cell hybrids was scored for the presence of DNA sequences homologous to gamma 2b-, mu-, and alpha-heavy chain-constant region DNA probe molecules. The hybrids, formed between mouse and hamster cells, contained various combinations of mouse chromosomes plus a full set of h...

Select HIV-1-infected individuals develop sera capable of neutralizing diverse viral strains. The molecular basis of this neutralization is currently being deciphered by the isolation of HIV-1-neutralizing antibodies. In one infected donor, three neutralizing antibodies, PGT135-137, were identified by assessment of neutralization from individually sorted B cells and found to recognize an epitop...

Factor VIII circulates in noncovalent complex with von Willebrand factor (vWf). The topography of this complex was evaluated by fluorescence energy transfer using factor VIII subunits modified with N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide (NPM; fluorescence donor) and vWf-derived fragments modified with 7-diethylamino-3-[4'-maleimidylphenyl]-4-methyl coumarin (CPM; fluorescence acceptor). Results from a previous...

The aim of this study was to clarify the differences between the angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor on smooth muscle and nonmuscle myosin heavy chain isoforms in aortic smooth muscle cells of Wistar-Kyoto rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats. All 4 myosin heavy chain isoforms are heterogeneously expressed in the smooth muscl...

The process of V(D)J recombination is crucial for regulating the development of B cells and for determining their eventual antigen specificity. Here we assess the developmental regulation of the V(D)J recombinase directly, by monitoring the double-stranded DNA breaks produced in the process of V(D)J recombination. This analysis provides a measure of recombinase activity at immunoglobulin heavy ...

We noted the following major immunochemical changes in the final course of a gamma heavy-chain disease associated with a myelomonocytic leukemia: an important oligoclonal increase of IgG1/kappa, during sepsis development, whereas the lambda molecules decreased and IgG2 and IgG3 completely disappeared in a one-month interval. Initial concentrations of IgG4 were stable during that period, and gam...