SOURCE/DESCRIPTION: pEl was subcloned from the cosmid pcosEMBLaAT(ref .1) and contains a 9.6kb-fragment of the cosmid extending from the EcoRI-site in in-tron A to an EcoRI-site 2.5kb 3' of the «-antitrypsin gene.Vector is pBR322. POLYMORPHISM: PstI identifies a 2-allele system with alternative bands at 5.0kb (PI) and at 3.2kb (P2) for a site within the a.-antitrypsin-like gene. Several constan...

The current concepts of the pathogenesis of emphysema hold that progressive, chronic destruction of the alveolar structures occurs because there was in imbalance between the proteases and antiproteases in the lower respiratory tract. In this context, proteases, particularly neutrophil elastase, work unimpeded to destroy the alveolar structures. This concept has evolved from consideration of pat...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by progressive and ultimately fatal pulmonary disease although there are notable variations in clinical features. This heterogeneity is thought to lie outside the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene locus and may stem from deficiencies in the antiproteinase screen that protects the lung from proteolytic attack. One hundred and fifty seven pa...

We have identified a vesicle fraction that contains alpha 1-antitrypsin and other human HepG2 hepatoma secretory proteins en route from the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) to the cis face of the Golgi complex. [35S]Methionine pulse-labeled cells were chased for various periods of time, and then a postnuclear supernatant fraction was resolved on a shallow sucrose-D2O gradient. This intermediat...

The human serine protease high temperature requirement A1 (HTRA1) is highly expressed in the placental tissue, especially in the last trimester of gestation. This suggests that HTRA1 is involved in placental formation and function. With the aim of a better understanding of the role of HTRA1 in the placenta, candidate substrates were screened in a placenta protein extract using a gel-based mass ...

Emphysema is a chronic progressive lung disease characterised by abnormal permanent enlargement of airspaces as a result of destruction of alveolar walls. Most patients develop emphysema as a consequence of smoking but 1–2% of patients with emphysema develop the condition as a result of a genetic deficiency of the plasma proteinase inhibitor á1-antitrypsin. The two common deficiency variants of...

We have observed an electrophoretically abnormal, nonfunctional species of alpha 1-antitrypsin in serum from patients who were receiving bone-marrow transplants for treatment of leukemia or aplastic anemia. Three of four patients in whose serum this protein appeared died soon after; the fourth recovered, and the disappearance of the abnormal alpha 1-antitrypsin paralleled his recovery. This sug...

A biologically active neutral peptide mediator is cleaved from a plasma protein substrate by an alpha-1-antitrypsin-inhibitable serine protease apparently residing on the membrane of the human neutrophil. The peptide mediator has an approximate mol wt of 1,000, and is distinguished from the kinin peptides by a neutral isoelectric point, susceptibility to inactivation by trypsin as well as chymo...

BACKGROUND/AIM Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency may be a potential predisposing factor for interstitial lung fibrosis. We investigated alpha-1 antitrypsin levels and its polymorphisms in patients with interstitial lung disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 103 interstitial lung disease patients were compared. RESULTS The mean alpha-1 antitrypsin level in idiopathic interstitial pneumonia ...

Background The a1-antitrypsin 11478G/A polymorphism may be associated with attenuated acute a1-antitrypsin responses. It was hypothesised that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and this mutation have accelerated lung function