Absence of association between SERPINE2 genetic polymorphisms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Han Chinese: a case-control cohort study

Background: Recent studies have proposed that the serine protease inhibitor E2 (SERPINE2) was a novel susceptibility gene for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Caucasians. However, this issue still remained controversial. Additional evidence

In vitro activities of small peptides from snake venom against clinical isolates of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The recent re-emergence of tuberculosis, especially the multidrug-resistant cases, has highlighted the importance of screening effective novel drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, the in vitro activities of small peptides isolated from snake venom were investigated against multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by the Bactec TB-460 radiometric method. A small peptide with the amino acid sequence ECYRKSDIVTCEPWQKFCYREVTFFPNHPVYLSGCASECTETNSKWCCTTDKCNRARGG (designated as vgf-1) from Naja atra (isolated from Yunnan province of China) venom had in vitro activity against clinically isolated multidrug-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis. The MIC was 8.5 mg/l. The antimycobacterial domain of this 60aa peptide is under investigation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

Multiplex detection of mutations in clinical isolates of rifampin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis by short oligonucleotide Ligation assay on DNA chips

A new approach, short-oligonucleotide-ligation assay on DNA chip (SOLAC), is developed to detect mutations in rifampin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The method needs only four common probes to detect 15 mutational variants of the rpoB gene within 12 h. Fifty-five rifampin-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates were analyzed, resulting in 87.3% accuracy and 83.6% concordance relative to DNA sequencing.

Lung alveolar proteomics of bronchoalveolar lavage from a pulmonary alveolar proteinosis patient using high-resolution FTICR mass spectrometry

High-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry was developed and applied to the proteome analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from a patient with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. With use of 1-D and 2-D gel electrophoresis, surfactant protein A (SP-A) and other surfactant-related lung alveolar proteins were efficiently separated and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization FTICR mass spectrometry . Low molecular mass BALF proteins were separated using a gradient 2-D gel. An efficient extraction/precipitation system was developed and used for the enrichment of surfactant proteins. The result of the BALF proteome analysis show the presence of several isoforms of SP-A, in which an N-non-glycosylierte form and several proline hydroxylations were identified. Furthermore, a number of protein spots were found to contain a mixture of proteins unresolved by 2-D gel electrophoresis, illustrating the feasibility of high-resolution mass spectrometry to provide identifications of proteins that remain unseparated in 2-D gels even upon extended pH gradients.