Proline oxidase (POX) is a novel mitochondrial tumor suppressor, which can suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decreasing hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) signaling. Recent studies have demonstrated the absent expression of POX in human cancer tissues, including renal cancer. However, the mechanism for the loss of POX remains obs...

Varicella zoster virus lies dormant in the dorsal root ganglia after symptomatic chicken pox infection, usually in childhood. If the virus reactivates in the trigeminal ganglia, it can cause varicella zoster ophthalmicus, which can have severe ocular complications. We report a case of a 73-year-old woman in severe immunosuppression due to treatment with mycophenolate mofetil, glucocorticosteroi...

Selected problems related to non-uniformity of plant virus sequence variants present in infected plants and imperfectness of current diagnostic methods are illustrated and discussed. A failure of some primers to react (efficiently) with atypical isolates/strains of Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV) and Plum pox virus (PPV) is demonstrated. On the other hand, problematic positive reactions...

The mechanism for innate resistance to ectromelia virus, which is controlled by a single gene in C57BL mice, was investigated. The cells or factors involved appear to be radioresistant and to impose an early barrier to viral penetration and spread via lymphatics or blood to the target organs, i.e., liver and spleen.

Proline oxidase (POX), localized on inner mitochondrial membranes, is encoded by a p53-induced gene and metabolically participates in p53-induced apoptosis. Previously, we showed that POX catalyzed the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We and others have demonstrated that overexpression of POX, independent of p53, causes apoptotic cell death in a variety of cancer cells. But a necess...

In order to investigate whether calcium signals participate in paraoxon (POX)-induced apoptosis in EL4 cells, real-time laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) was used to detect Ca(2+) changes during the POX application. Apoptotic rates of EL4 cells and caspase-12 expression were also evaluated. POX (1-10nM) increased intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i) in EL4 cells in a dose-dep...

We assessed several routes of immunization with vaccinia virus (VACV) in protecting mice against ectromelia virus (ECTV). By a wide margin, skin scarification provided the greatest protection. Humoral immunity and resident-memory T cells notwithstanding, several approaches revealed that circulating, memory CD8(+) T cells primed via scarification were functionally superior and conferred enhanced...