This study was designed to evaluate the in vivo activity of cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) in 49 healthy Japanese subjects aged 22–58 years using endogenous cortisol 6b-hydroxylation clearance [CLm(6b)], a novel biomarker for CYP3A phenotyping. CLm(6b) in the 49 healthy subjects was 2.40 6 0.79 ml/min with an approximately 4fold interindividual variability of CYP3A activity. The mean clearance in t...

The aim of the present study was to assess the frequency of human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) infection during pregnancy. 100-100 blood samples were collected from pregnant and non-pregnant women, then nucleic acid was isolated from both plasma and leukocytes fraction. Nested and real-time PCR were used to detect and differentiate HHV-6A and HHV-6B DNA and to deter...

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a well-known antitumor target. Exogenous ROS insult can lead to selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells. A combination of STAT3 inhibition and "oxidation therapy" may be a new strategy to address the multidrug-resistance issue due to their important roles in the survival and drug resistance of cancer cells. Here, a series of nove...

The polysaccharide capsule is a major virulence mechanism of Streptococcus pneumoniae, shielding the bacterium from phagocytes. Capsule types may differ in their abilities to resist immune defense. Antibody-mediated complement activation and opsonophagocytosis are crucial in protection against pneumococcus. Conjugate vaccine trials suggest imperfect protection against 19F. We have previously sh...

INTRODUCTION Exanthem subitum is a classical rash disease of early childhood caused by human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B). However, the rash is frequently misdiagnosed as that of either measles or rubella. METHODS In this study, a nested multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to diagnose HHV-6B primary infection, differentiate it from infections caused by HHV-6A and compare it to antib...

Human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) are associated with a variety of conditions including rash, fever, and encephalitis and may play a role in several neurological diseases. Here luciferase immunoprecipitation systems (LIPS) was used to develop HHV-6 serologic diagnostic tests using antigens encoded by the U11 gene from HHV-6A (p100) and HHV-6B (p101). Analysis of th...

Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) is a betaherpesvirus that has been frequently associated with pediatric encephalitis. In 1995 Challoner et al reported that HHV-6 variant B (HHV-6B) was linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) due to the presence of viral DNA and antigen in the oligodendrocytes surrounding MS plaques. These findings led us to examine HHV-6B's in vitro tropism for primary neural cells. HIV-...

In this study, we developed a simple, reliable, serotype-specific PCR method to differentiate Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C. It was more efficient and practical than the assays currently being used to identify serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C. Of 120 selected serogroup 6 isolates from subjects with invasive (n = 101) and noninvasive (n = 19) pneumococcal disease, most of which were ...

We read the article of Jacobs et al. (3) with interest. The authors reported they could identify serotype 6C Streptococcus pneumoniae using factor 6d, which was developed by Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark. We immunized a rabbit with one serotype 6C isolate identified with a monoclonal antibody (MAb6C) in the U.S. lab in which the new type was found. Based on absorption with serotyp...

The objective was to analyse whether the activity of the cytochrome P450 isoenzyme CYP3A4 is altered by disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Urinary 6b-hydroxycortisol excretion, expressed as a fraction of the urinary creatinine output, was measured in 21 patients with RA treated with three different disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) over 24 weeks. There were no correlat...