Living organisms produce a myriad of molecules to protect themselves from fungal pathogens. This review focuses on antifungal proteins from plants and mushrooms, many of which are components of the ...human diet or have medicinal value. Plant antifungal proteins can be classified into different groups comprising chitinases and chitinase-like proteins, chitin-binding proteins, cyclophilin-like proteins, defensins and defensin-like proteins, deoxyribonucleases, embryo-abundant protein-like proteins, glucanases, lectins, lipid transfer proteins, peroxidases, protease inhibitors, ribonucleases, ribosome-inactivating proteins, storage 2S albumins, and thaumatin-like proteins. Some of the aforementioned antifungal proteins also exhibit mitogenic activity towards spleen cells, nitric oxide inducing activity toward macrophages, antiproliferative activity toward tumor cells, antibacterial activity, and inhibitory activity toward HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. In contrast to the large diversity of plant antifungal proteins, only a small number of mushroom antifungal proteins have been reported. Mushroom antifungal proteins are distinct from their plant counterparts in N-terminal sequence. Nevertheless, some of the mushroom antifungal proteins have been shown to inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity and tumor cell proliferation.
ING1b is a candidate tumor suppressor that can stimulate the transcriptional activity of p53 and inhibit cell proliferation. The molecular basis of how ING1b activates p53 function remains unclear. ...Here we show that ING1b could stimulate the activity of p53 by increasing the level and stability of the p53 protein. The stabilization and activation of p53 by ING1b could be reversed by MDM2 in a dose-dependent manner. Conversely, ING1b could reverse the inhibition and degradation of p53 caused by MDM2 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, ING1b and MDM2 bound to p53 in a mutually exclusive manner. In agreement with these observations, we found that similarly to MDM2, ING1b binds to the NH(2)-terminal region of p53. These data suggest a model in which ING1b disrupts the interaction between p53 and MDM2, leading to the stabilization of p53 and growth inhibition.
Infection of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) induced a strong anti-nucleocapsid (anti-N) antibody response. However, the pathophysiological significance of the anti-N antibodies in SARS ...pathogenesis is largely unknown. To profile the anti-N antibodies, a phage-displayed scFv library was prepared from mice immunized with heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-infected Vero E6 cell lysate. Specific anti-N scFvs were isolated by panning against a recombinant nucleocapsid protein and reactivity was confirmed with phage-ELISA. Sequence analysis indicated that two of the isolated anti-N scFv clones were identical and displayed a high homology with an scFv specific for interleukin 11 (IL-11), an anti-inflammatory cytokine derived from bone marrow stroma cells. In a neutralization assay, IL-11-induced STAT 3 phosphorylation in rat intestinal epithelial IEC-18 cells was completely suppressed by the anti-N scFv clone L9N01.
ING1b can stimulate cell cycle arrest, repair, senescence, and apoptosis. The actions of ING1b are attributed to its activation of the tumor suppressor p53. Here we investigate the more subtle ...effects of ING1b on the cell cycle and DNA damage responses in the absence of p53. To this end, we have generated isogenic cell lines that expressed ING1b and p53 either individually or in combination under the control of inducible promoters. A five- to 10-fold induction of ING1b over the endogenous protein in a p53-null H1299 background slightly impairs proliferation by increasing the doubling time by ∼10%. Significantly, ectopic expression of ING1b enhanced the G2/M DNA damage checkpoint induced by adriamycin. We demonstrated that the DNA damage-induced cell death mediated by the cooperation between ING1b and p53 was more prominent than by the individual proteins alone. In adriamycin-treated cells, p53 was stabilized and induced the expression of p21CIP1/WAF1, but the expression of ING1b was not affected. The exact targets of ING1b in the p53-null background are not known, but we demonstrated that the transcriptional activities of other members of the p53 family, p63α and p73α, could be activated by ING1b. These data indicate that ING1 has a subtle antiproliferative effect even in the absence of p53, and ING1b enhances the DNA damage responses through p53-dependent and -independent mechanisms.
Increased myopic shift was found to be associated with 1 year of overminus spectacle treatment for children with intermittent exotropia (IXT). Persistence of myopic shift after discontinuing ...overminus spectacles is unknown.
To compare refractive error change over 3 years in children with IXT originally treated with overminus vs nonoverminus spectacles.
This study was an 18-month extension of the Trial of Overminus Spectacle Therapy for Intermittent Exotropia cohort, which previously randomized children aged 3 to 10 years with IXT and baseline spherical equivalent refractive error (SER) between -6.00 diopters (D) and 1.00 D to overminus spectacles (-2.50 D for 12 months, -1.25 D for 3 months, and nonoverminus for 3 months) or nonoverminus spectacles. Children were recruited from 56 sites from July 2010 to February 2022. Data were analyzed from February 2022 to January 2024.
After trial completion at 18 months, participants were followed up at 24 and 36 months. Treatment was at investigator discretion from 18 to 36 months.
Change in SER (cycloplegic retinoscopy) from baseline to 36 months.
Of 386 children in the Trial of Overminus Spectacle Therapy for Intermittent Exotropia, 223 (57.8%) consented to 18 months of additional follow-up, including 124 of 196 (63.3%) in the overminus treatment group and 99 of 190 (52.1%) in the nonoverminus treatment group. Of 205 children who completed 36-month follow-up, 116 (56.6%) were female, and the mean (SD) age at randomization was 6.2 (2.1) years. Mean (SD) SER change from baseline to 36 months was greater in the overminus group (-0.74 1.00 D) compared with the nonoverminus group (-0.44 0.85 D; adjusted difference, -0.36 D; 95% CI, -0.59 to -0.12; P = .003), with 30 of 112 (26.8%) in the overminus group having more than 1 D of myopic shift compared with 14 of 91 (15%) in the nonoverminus group (risk ratio, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.0-3.0). From 12 to 36 months, mean (SD) myopic shift was -0.34 (0.67) D and -0.36 (0.66) D in the overminus and nonoverminus groups, respectively (adjusted difference, -0.001 D; 95% CI, -0.18 to 0.18; P = .99).
The greater myopic shift observed after 1 year of -2.50-D overminus lens treatment remained at 3 years. Both groups had similar myopic shift during the 2-year period after treatment weaning and cessation. The risk of myopic shift should be discussed with parents when considering overminus lens treatment.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02807350.
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