A 66-year-old male with dyspepsia and weight loss was referred to our hospital for evaluation. On laboratory examination, anti-saccharomyces cerevisiae (ASCA)-IgA was positive and iron deficiency anemia was present. PET/CT and abdominal CT scan images showed multiple small bowel segmental wall thickening and inflammation. Capsule endoscopy images showed multiple small bowel ulcerative lesions with exudates. Based on laboratory test results and imaging studies, the patient was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and treated with prednisolone and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA). However, the patient underwent second operation due to small bowel perforation within 2 month after initiation of treatment. Pathology report of the resected specimen was compatible to primary small bowel diffuse large B cell lymphoma and pertinent treatment was given to the patient after recovery. Herein, we describe a case of primary small bowel diffuse large B cell lymphoma that was mistaken for Crohn's disease.
Aged ; Antibodies/blood ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use ; Capsule Endoscopy ; Crohn Disease/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A/blood ; Intestinal Perforation/surgery ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Male ; Mesalamine/therapeutic use ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae/immunology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo access the antibody persistence 24-month after revaccination with 3-dose of hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) among non-response adults.

METHODSA total of 24 237 healthy adults who had no histories of hepatitis B infection and hepatitis B vaccination, resided in the local area for more than six months and were aged 18-49 years were selected from 79 villages of Zhangqiu county, Shandong province, China in 2009. Blood samples were obtained and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody against hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) and antibody against hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) were detected using ELISA method. A total of 11 590 persons who were negative for all of these indicators were divided into four groups by cluster sampling methods. Each group was vaccinated with one of the following four types of HepB at 0-, 1-, 6-months schedule: 20 µg HepB derived in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (HepB-SC), 20 µg HepB derived in Chinese hamster ovary cell (HepB-CHO), 10 µg HepB-SC and 10 µg HepB derived in Hansenula Polymorpha (HepB-HP). Blood samples were collected one month after the third dose of primary immunization and tested for anti-HBs using chemiluminescence microparticle immunoassay (CMIA). The non-responders were revaccinated with three doses of HepB at 0-, 1-, 6-months schedule and the type of HepB was the same as which was used for primary immunization. Blood samples were collected one month (T1) and two years (T24) after revaccination and anti-HBs, antibody against hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B surface angtigen (HBsAg) (if anti-HBs < 10 mU/ml) were detected by CMIA. χ(2) test was used to compared age, gender and body mass index (BMI) between different groups and the anti-HBs positive rate at T1 and T24; analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the geometric mean concentration (GMC) of anti-HBs between difference groups. The risk factors associated with positive rate of anti-HBs and GMC of anti-HBs were identified by multiple logistic regression analysis and multifactor linear regression model analysis respectively.

RESULTSA total of 900 non-responders were identified and 71.7% (645/900) of them completed three-dose revaccination and blood collection after revaccination. 467 (72.4%) non-responsive adults were followed up at T24. The anti-HBs positive rate decreased from 85.65% (95% CI: 82.14%-88.71%) at T1 to 60.60% (95% CI: 56.01%-65.06%) at T24 and the corresponding GMC decreased from 175.62 (95% CI: 139.03-221.84) mU/ml to 21.43 (95% CI: 17.62-26.06) mU/ml. Multivariate analysis showed that positive rate of anti-HBs at T24 was associated with gender, HepB type for revaccination and anti-HBs level at T1, but only anti-HBs level at T1 was associated with the anti-HBs titer at T24. No subject showed HBsAg seroconversion and anti-HBc conversion rate was 3.64% (17/467) at T24.

CONCLUSIONAnti-HBs titer decreases rapidly two years after HepB revaccination among non-responsive adults, but more than half non-responderd still kept anti-HBs above protective level. The immunity durability after revaccination was associated with gender, HepB type for revaccination and anti-HBs titer one month after revaccination.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Animals ; Body Mass Index ; CHO Cells ; China ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis B ; prevention & control ; Hepatitis B Antibodies ; blood ; Hepatitis B Core Antigens ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; classification ; Humans ; Immunization, Secondary ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Pichia ; Risk Factors ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; Seroconversion ; Vaccination ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo compare the intervention effects of four traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) with typical cold or hot property on body temperature and temperature-sensitive transient receptor potential ion channel proteins (TRPs) of rats with yeast-induced fever.

METHODThe pyrexia model was induced by injecting yeast suspension subcutaneously. Totally 108 male SD rats were randomly divided into the normal group, the model group, the Rhei Radix et Rhizoma treated group, the Coptidis Rhizoma treated group, the Euodiae Fructus treated group, and the Alpiniae Officinarum Rhizoma treated group, with 18 rats in each group. At the 4 h, 8 h and 12 h after injection of yeast, the rats were sacrificed to collect their hypothalamus and dorsal root ganglion. The expressions of TRPV1 and TRPM8 were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot method.

RESULTCompared with the normal group, after injection of yeast, the temperature of rats in the model group notably increased, and reached the peak at 8 h (P < 0.01). The TRPV1 level in hypothalamus and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of the model group significantly increased, whereas the TRPM8 level significantly reduced. Compared with the model group, the Rhei Radix et Rhizoma group and the Coptidis Rhizoma group showed significant decrease in the high body temperature of rats caused by yeast, down-regulation in the expression of TRPV1, and up-regulation in the expression of TRPM8 (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Euodiae Fructus and Alpiniae Officinarum Rhizoma had no significant effect on either temperature or TRPs of fever rats.

CONCLUSIONRhei Radix et Rhizoma and Coptidis Rhizoma, both are TCMs with cold property, can reduce the temperature of fever rats induced by yeast, which may be related to their effective regulation of TRPV1 and TRPM8 in hypothalamus and DRG, while Euodiae Fructus and Alpiniae Officinarum Rhizoma had no relevant effect.

Animals ; Antipyretics ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Body Temperature Regulation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Fever ; drug therapy ; immunology ; microbiology ; physiopathology ; Gene Expression Regulation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; immunology ; TRPM Cation Channels ; genetics ; immunology ; TRPV Cation Channels ; genetics ; immunology

We tested 59 Greek patients with Behcet's Disease (BD) for serum anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies. No increase of these antibodies was detected in the cases compared to 55 healthy unrelated blood donors from the same population. This finding is in contrast with the correlation between Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies and BD as reported in other populations. It seems that environmental factors may contribute to disease expression in different populations, producing different effects according to the individual's genetic predisposition. Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies do not seem to be of any significance in the Greek population.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Fungal/*immunology ; Behcet Syndrome/*immunology/microbiology ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Greece ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A/immunology ; Immunoglobulin G/immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae/*immunology ; Young Adult

Autophagy is a conserved pathway for the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic components in all eukaryotes. This process plays a critical role in the adaptation of plants to drastic changing environmental stresses such as starvation, oxidative stress, drought, salt, and pathogen invasion. This paper summarizes the current knowledge about the mechanism and roles of plant autophagy in various plant stress responses.
Adaptation, Physiological ; Arabidopsis ; genetics ; physiology ; Arabidopsis Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Autophagy ; genetics ; Disease Resistance ; Plant Diseases ; immunology ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; Sequence Homology ; Stress, Physiological

Yeast Elongation protein 3 (yElp3), the catalytic subunit of the multi-subunit histone acetyltransferase elongator complex, is involved in histone acetylation and transcription, exocytosis and tRNA modification. To study the complex function of yElp3 in yeast, we amplified the yElp3 gene fragment encoding 73aa in the N-terminal from plasmid pYES2-yElp3, and then cloned it into pMXB10 to construct the recombinant plasmid pMXB10-yElp3-219. We expressed the fusion protein in E. coli BL21 (DE3), then purified it by chin affinity column, and finally obtained the soluble purified protein (8.0 kD), which was used to immune the rabbits for acquiring antiserum. ELISA and Western blotting indicated that the polyclonal antibody was of high titration and specificity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay with this antibody suggested that yhElp3 exerted the transcriptional regulatory function directly through its presence on the SSA3 gene; this might be the reason that it can rescue the delay activation of SSA3 in elp3delta cells.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Antibodies ; analysis ; immunology ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal ; Histone Acetyltransferases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology

Knowledge of simulated microgravity (SMG)-induced changes in the pathogenicity of microorganisms is important for success of long-term spaceflight. In a previous study using the high aspect ratio vessel bioreactor, we showed that the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae underwent a significant phenotypic response when grown in modeled microgravity, which was reflected in the analysis of gene expression profiles. In this study, we establish that Candida albicans responds to SMG in a similar fashion, demonstrating that there is a conserved response among yeast to this environmental stress. We also report that the growth of C. albicans in SMG results in a morphogenic switch that is consistent with enhanced pathogenicity. Specifically, we observed an increase in filamentous forms of the organism and accompanying changes in the expression of two genes associated with the yeast-hyphal transition. The morphological response may have significant implications for astronauts' safety, as the fungal pathogen may become more virulent during spaceflight.
Candida albicans ; cytology ; genetics ; growth & development ; pathogenicity ; Candidiasis ; immunology ; Cell Polarity ; Cells, Cultured ; Fungal Proteins ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal ; Humans ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; RNA, Fungal ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; cytology ; genetics ; growth & development ; Virulence ; Weightlessness Simulation

We previously induced protective immune response by oral immunization with yeast expressing the ApxIIA antigen. The ApxI antigen is also an important factor in the protection against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 5 infection; therefore, the protective immunity in mice following oral immunization with Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing either ApxIA (group C) or ApxIIA (group D) alone or both (group E) was compared with that in two control groups (group A and B). The immunogenicity of the rApxIA antigen derived from the yeast was confirmed by a high survival rate and an ApxIA-specific IgG antibody response (p < 0.01). The highest systemic (IgG) and local (IgA) humoral immune responses to ApxIA and ApxIIA were detected in group E after the third immunization (p < 0.05). The levels of IL-1beta and IL-6 after challenge with an A. pleuropneumoniae field isolate did not change significantly in the vaccinated groups. The level of TNF-alpha increased in a time-dependent manner in group E but was not significantly different after the challenge. After the challenge, the mice in group E had a significantly lower infectious burden and a higher level of protection than the mice in the other groups (p < 0.05). The survival rate in each group was closely correlated to the immune response and histopathological observations in the lung following the challenge. These results suggested that immunity to the ApxIA antigen is required for optimal protection.
Actinobacillus Infections/prevention & control ; Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae/genetics/*immunology ; Animals ; Antibodies, Bacterial/blood ; Bacterial Proteins/analysis/*immunology ; Cytokines/analysis/blood ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Hemolysin Proteins/analysis/*immunology ; Immunoglobulin A/blood/immunology ; Intestines/immunology ; Lung/cytology/immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Recombinant Proteins/*immunology ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae/*genetics/immunology ; Survival Analysis ; Time Factors ; Vaccination ; Vaccines, Synthetic/administration & dosage/*immunology

The Yellow Fever (YF) vaccine, an attenuated yellow fever 17D (YF-17D) live vaccine, is one of the most effective and safest vaccines in the world and is regarded as one of the best candidates for viral expression vector. We here first reported in China the construction and characterization of the recombinant expression vector of yellow fever 17D which contained the proteinase 2A fragment of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Three cDNA fragments representing the full-length YF-17D genome, named 5'-end cDNA (A), 3'-end cDNA (B) and middle cDNA (C), were obtained by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), together with the introduction of SP6 enhancer, necessary restriction sites and overlaps for homologous recombination in yeast. Fragment A and B were then introduced into pRS424 in turn by DNA recombination, followed by transfection of fragment C and the recombinant pRS424 containing A and B (pRS-A-B) into yeast. A recombinant vector containing full length cDNA of YF-17D (pRS-YF) was obtained by screening on medium lack of tryptophan and uracil. A recombinant YF-17D expression vector containing FMDV-2A gene fragment (pRS-YF-2A1) was then constructed by methods of DNA recombination and homologous recombination in yeast described above. In vitro transcription of the recombinant vector pRS-YF-2A1 was then carried out and introduced into BHK-21 cells by electroporation. Results of indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and titer determination showed a stable infectious recombinant virus was gotten, whose features such as growth curve were similar to those of the parental YF-17D. The results suggest that the recombinant vector pRS-YF-2A1, by introduction of heterogenous genes via 2A region, is potential to be an effective live vaccine expression vector.
Animals ; Cell Line ; Cloning, Molecular ; Cricetinae ; Epitopes ; immunology ; Foot-and-Mouth Disease ; prevention & control ; Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus ; genetics ; immunology ; Genetic Engineering ; Genetic Vectors ; Recombination, Genetic ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Vaccines, Attenuated ; Viral Vaccines ; genetics ; immunology ; Yellow fever virus ; genetics ; immunology

Behcet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic chronic inflammatory disease. It is characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, uveitis, skin lesions and other manifestations, including neurologic, vascular, joint, and gastrointestinal ulcers of variable severity. Recurrent aphthous ulcer (RAU) represents a very common, but poorly understood, mucosal disorder. If a patient of RAU without any other typical symptoms of BD has gastrointestinal symptoms, it is difficult to distinguish this RAU from true BD with gastrointestinal involvement. Because pathognomonic clinical features and tools are absent, the differential diagnosis of these two diseases relies on the characteristic clinical features and the judgement of an experienced physician. Sixty-five out of a total 960 RAU patients and forty-four of 556 BD patients with gastrointestinal symptoms between January 1996 and December 2003 participated in this study. All were evaluated with esophagogastroduodenoscopy and colonoscopy. Clinical, endoscopic and histopathologic findings were analyzed and ELISA tests were conducted to detect serum levels of ASCA and pANCA. No significant difference was found between the two groups. Differential diagnosis between RAU with gastrointestinal symptoms and BD with gastrointestinal involvement requires further prospective, large-scale study.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic/blood ; Antibodies, Fungal/blood ; Behcet Syndrome/*diagnosis/immunology/pathology ; Comparative Study ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Diseases/*diagnosis/immunology/pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae/immunology ; Serologic Tests ; Stomatitis, Aphthous/*diagnosis/immunology/pathology