OBJECTIVE Microorganisms such as streptococcus and autoantigens such as 60 kD heat-shock protein (HSP60) are implicated in the etiopathogenesis of Behçet's disease (BD). METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with BD (n = 16) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 11) were cultured for 5 days with extracts of S. sanguis-KTH-1 (SS), E. coli (EC) and a mixed peptide combination from h...

The expression of the 60-kD and 70-kD heat shock proteins (hsp60 and hsp70) in the vaginas of 43 asymptomatic women of reproductive age with or without a history of recurrent vulvovaginitis (RVV) were compared. Vaginal wash samples were obtained and assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human hsp60 and hsp70. Heat shock protein 70 was not detected in any of the 19 women with ...

Helicobacter pylori has been reported to induce interleukin-6 (IL-6) production in monocytes/macrophages and in chronically inflamed gastric tissues. The mechanism by which H. pylori induces IL-6 production in macrophages, however, has not been investigated. To identify the H. pylori factor responsible for this activity, we fractionated soluble proteins from H. pylori strain 26695 by ion exchan...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Previous work has shown that soluble heat shock protein 60 (HSP60; sHSP60), present in circulating blood, is associated with carotid atherosclerosis. In the current evaluation, we tested the hypothesis that sHSP60 levels are associated with the progression of carotid arteriosclerosis, prospectively. METHODS The association of sHSP60 with early atherogenesis (5-year deve...

Heat shock proteins 60 (GroEL) are highly expressed essential proteins in eubacterial genomes and in eukaryotic organelles. These chaperone proteins have been advanced as propitious marker sequences for tracing the evolution of mitochondrial (Mt) genomes. Similarities among HSP60 sequences based on significant segment pair alignment calculations are used to deduce associations of sequences taki...

OBJECTIVE Skin and ear infections, primarily caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), are recurrent problems for saturation divers, whereas infections caused by P. aeruginosa are seldom observed in healthy people outside saturation chambers. Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients suffer from pulmonary infections by P. aeruginosa, and it has been demonstrated that CF patients have high levels of...

Background: Inflammation and infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae have been associated with cardiovascular disease. Objective: To evaluate the serum high sensitivity C - reactive protein (hs-CRP) and antibodies against Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydial heat shock protein-60 (Cp-HSP60) in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). Methods: 62 patients with IHD having either acute my...

Epolactaene is a microbial metabolite isolated from Penicillium sp., from which we synthesized its derivative ETB (epolactaene tertiary butyl ester). In the present paper, we report on the identification of the binding proteins of epolactaene/ETB, and the results of our investigation into its inhibitory mechanism. Using biotin-labelled derivatives of epolactaene/ETB, human Hsp (heat-shock prote...