5,936 research outputs found

    Cervical cancer with Human Papilloma Virus and Epstein Barr Virus positive

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    The Early-7 (E7) protein of HPV binds to the underphosphorelated form of the tumor suppressor protein – pRb and displaces the E2F transcription factor that is normally bound by pRb. The latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) of EBV prevents apoptosis of B cells by up regulating the expression of bcl-2, and it activates growth promoting pathway that are normally triggered by T cell – derivate signal. The aims of this study to know that in cervical cancer stay HPV and EBV. DNA was isolated from nineteen sample cervical cancer tissues frozen section. Diagnose related with HPV and EBV was made by Polymerase Chains Reaction (PCR). The result of this experiment showed that from 19 samples diagnosed as cervical cancer, 17 samples are positive HPV and 13 samples had HPV and EBV positive. The conclusion of this experiment is 89% of cervical cancers are infected with HPV and 68% also infected with HPV and EBV

    Binding of the heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K) to the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA2) enhances viral LMP2A expression.

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    The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) -encoded EBNA2 protein, which is essential for the in vitro transformation of B-lymphocytes, interferes with cellular processes by binding to proteins via conserved sequence motifs. Its Arginine-Glycine (RG) repeat element contains either symmetrically or asymmetrically di-methylated arginine residues (SDMA and ADMA, respectively). EBNA2 binds via its SDMA-modified RG-repeat to the survival motor neurons protein (SMN) and via the ADMA-RG-repeat to the NP9 protein of the human endogenous retrovirus K (HERV-K (HML-2) Type 1). The hypothesis of this work was that the methylated RG-repeat mimics an epitope shared with cellular proteins that is used for interaction with target structures. With monoclonal antibodies against the modified RG-repeat, we indeed identified cellular homologues that apparently have the same surface structure as methylated EBNA2. With the SDMA-specific antibodies, we precipitated the Sm protein D3 (SmD3) which, like EBNA2, binds via its SDMA-modified RG-repeat to SMN. With the ADMA-specific antibodies, we precipitated the heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K). Specific binding of the ADMA- antibody to hnRNP K was demonstrated using E. coli expressed/ADMA-methylated hnRNP K. In addition, we show that EBNA2 and hnRNP K form a complex in EBV- infected B-cells. Finally, hnRNP K, when co-expressed with EBNA2, strongly enhances viral latent membrane protein 2A (LMP2A) expression by an unknown mechanism as we did not detect a direct association of hnRNP K with DNA-bound EBNA2 in gel shift experiments. Our data support the notion that the methylated surface of EBNA2 mimics the surface structure of cellular proteins to interfere with or co-opt their functional properties

    BARF1 AS A NEW THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR EBV-ASSOCIATED MALIGNANCIES.

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    While Epstein-Barr virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (EBV-CTLs) have been used successfully for the prophylaxis and treatment of the highly immunogenic post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders, the clinical experience for other EBV-associated malignancies, such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), is limited and the results obtained so far indicate that EBV-CTLs are less effective in these settings. Decreased CTL efficacy most likely reflects immune evasion strategies by tumor cells, including down-regulation of immunodominant EBV proteins and the weak immunogenicity of the viral proteins expressed. One of the possible approaches to overcome these limitations is the identification of additional immunogenic viral proteins expressed by tumor cells that may serve as tumor-associated antigens to be targeted by improved CTL induction and expansion protocols. We have recently demonstrated that NPC patients show strong spontaneous CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses specific for the EBV-encoded oncogenic protein BARF1. We also showed that BARF1 provides immunogenic HLA-A*0201-restricted epitopes, suggesting that exploitation of the immunogenic features of this viral antigen may help improve the current immunotherapeutic strategies for EBV-associated malignancies. On these grounds, we characterized more extensively the immunogenic properties of BARF1 with the final goal to develop improved protocols of adoptive immunotherapy based on the use of EBV-CTLs enriched in BARF1-specific effectors. In particular, we identified and validated additional BARF1 CTL epitopes presented in the context of common HLA class I alleles. These results strictly correlate to those deriving from a high-resolution HLA genotyping of a large series of NPC, giving a precise estimate of the immunogenicity of BARF1 in relation to the HLA class I profile of Italian NPC patients. To fully exploit the immunologic properties of BARF1, we are also developing and characterizing BARF1-specific monoclonal antibodies that may be of both diagnostic and therapeutic usefulness in these clinical settings. In future perspective, the proposed research may provide a strong rationale for the clinical application of improved adoptive immunotherapy protocols for the treatment of EBV-associated malignancies, particularly the less immunogenic forms, such as NPC and, possibly, Hodgkin’s lymphoma

    CR1 Knops blood group alleles are not associated with severe malaria in the Gambia

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    The Knops blood group antigen erythrocyte polymorphisms have been associated with reduced falciparum malaria-based in vitro rosette formation (putative malaria virulence factor). Having previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human complement receptor 1 (CR1/CD35) gene underlying the Knops antithetical antigens Sl1/Sl2 and McC(a)/McC(b), we have now performed genotype comparisons to test associations between these two molecular variants and severe malaria in West African children living in the Gambia. While SNPs associated with Sl:2 and McC(b+) were equally distributed among malaria-infected children with severe malaria and control children not infected with malaria parasites, high allele frequencies for Sl 2 (0.800, 1,365/1,706) and McC(b) (0.385, 658/1706) were observed. Further, when compared to the Sl 1/McC(a) allele observed in all populations, the African Sl 2/McC(b) allele appears to have evolved as a result of positive selection (modified Nei-Gojobori test Ka-Ks/s.e.=1.77, P-valu

    Quantum SL(2,R)SL(2,\mathbb{R}) and its irreducible representations

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    We define for real qq a unital *-algebra Uq(sl(2,R))U_q(\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb{R})) quantizing the universal enveloping *-algebra of sl(2,R)\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb{R}). The *-algebra Uq(sl(2,R))U_q(\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb{R})) is realized as a *-subalgebra of the Drinfeld double of Uq(su(2))U_q(\mathfrak{su}(2)) and its dual Hopf *-algebra Oq(SU(2))\mathcal{O}_q(SU(2)), generated by the equatorial Podle\'s sphere coideal *-subalgebra Oq(K\SU(2))\mathcal{O}_q(K\backslash SU(2)) of Oq(SU(2))\mathcal{O}_q(SU(2)) and its associated orthogonal coideal *-subalgebra Uq(k)Uq(su(2))U_q(\mathfrak{k}) \subseteq U_q(\mathfrak{su}(2)). We then classify all the irreducible *-representations of Uq(sl(2,R))U_q(\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb{R})).Comment: 22 pages; author accepted manuscrip

    A global view of the oncogenic landscape in nasopharyngeal carcinoma : an integrated analysis at the genetic and expression levels

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    Previous studies have reported that the tumour cells of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) exhibit recurrent chromosome abnormalities. These genetic changes are broadly assumed to lead to changes in gene expression which are important for the pathogenesis of this tumour. However, this assumption has yet to be formally tested at a global level. Therefore a genome wide analysis of chromosome copy number and gene expression was performed in tumour cells micro-dissected from the same NPC biopsies. Cellular tumour suppressor and tumour-promoting genes (TSG, TPG) and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-encoded oncogenes were examined. The EBV-encoded genome maintenance protein EBNA1, along with the putative oncogenes LMP1, LMP2 and BARF1 were expressed in the majority of NPCs that were analysed. Significant downregulation of expression in an average of 76 cellular TSGs per tumour was found, whilst a per-tumour average of 88 significantly upregulated, TPGs occurred. The expression of around 60% of putative TPGs and TSGs was both up-and down-regulated in different types of cancer, suggesting that the simplistic classification of genes as TSGs or TPGs may not be entirely appropriate and that the concept of context-dependent onco-suppressors may be more extensive than previously recognised. No significant enrichment of TPGs within regions of frequent genomic gain was seen but TSGs were significantly enriched within regions of frequent genomic loss. It is suggested that loss of the FHIT gene may be a driver of NPC tumourigenesis. Notwithstanding the association of TSGs with regions of genomic loss, on a gene by gene basis and excepting homozygous deletions and high-level amplification, there is very little correlation between chromosomal copy number aberrations and expression levels of TSGs and TPGs in NPC

    Elevated antinuclear antibodies and altered anti-Epstein-Barr virus immune responses.

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    t has been shown that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is able to alter the immune response towards self-antigens and may enhance risk of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in genetically predisposed individuals. In this study, we evaluated the specific antibody immune response against EBV in patients with anti-nuclear autoantibodies (ANA) in comparison with ANA-negative healthy controls. For this purpose, 92 patients with an high anti-ANA reactivity with or without concomitant extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) or double stranded DNA (dsDNA) positivity were selected and compared with 146 healthy donors. We found that anti-EBV-VCA and EA IgG concentrations were significantly higher in ANA-positive patients in comparison to the controls (VCA P<0.0001 and EA P<0,03) as well as in those ANA-positive patients that showed a concomitant ENA positivity (P=0.0002). Interestingly, elevated anti-EBNA-1 IgG was found in a group of patients who had anti SSA/Ro antibodies. Anti-

    On the sheaf-theoretic SL(2, C) Casson–Lin invariant

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    We prove that the (τ-weighted, sheaf-theoretic) SL(2, C) Casson–Lin invariant introduced by Manolescu and the first author is generically independent of the parameter τ and additive under connected sums of knots in integral homology 3-spheres. This addresses two questions asked by Manolescu and the first author. Our arguments involve a mix of topology and algebraic geometry, and rely crucially on the fact that the SL(2, C) Casson–Lin invariant admits an alternative interpretation via the theory of Behrend functions.</p
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