The potent cytolethal distending toxin produced by Haemophilus ducreyi is a putative virulence factor in the pathogenesis of chancroid. We studied its action on eukaryotic cells, with the long-term goal of understanding the pathophysiology of the disease. Intoxication of cultured human epithelial-like cells, human keratinocytes, and hamster fibroblasts was irreversible, and appeared as a gradua...

The effect of quercetin, a flavonoid found in many plants, on the proliferation of human leukemic T-cells was analyzed. Quercetin reversibly blocked the cell cycle at a point 3-6 h before the start of DNA synthesis. Expression of the growth-related genes histone H4, cyclin A and B, and p34 ~dc2 was suppressed in cells blocked with quercetin. Comparison of the quercetin arrest points with those ...

Patients with post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS) report persistent symptoms of pain, fatigue, and/or concentration and memory disturbances despite antibiotic treatment for Lyme borreliosis. The etiopathogenesis of these symptoms remains unknown and no effective therapies have been identified. We sought to examine the antiborrelia antibody profile in affected patients with the aim of finding clue...

Ataxia telangiectasia-mutated gene (ATM) is a 350-kDa protein whose function is defective in the autosomal recessive disorder ataxia telangiectasia (AT). Affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies were used to characterize ATM. Steady-state levels of ATM protein varied from undetectable in most AT cell lines to highly expressed in HeLa, U2OS, and normal human fibroblasts. Subcellular fractionation...

The mammalian homologue of the yeast cdc2 gene product, p34"*''2,is a cell cycle-regulated protein essential for mitosis. We have used polyclonal antisera raised against a peptide corresponding to the carboxyl terminus of the sequence of human cdc2 to study p34dc2 in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Major bands are immunoprecipitated at a molecular weight of 34,000, although not in the presen...

We have recently shown that von Willebrand factor (vWF) binds to endothelial and fibroblastic extracellular matrixes (ECM) in a dose-dependent, specific, and saturable way. To localize the domain on the vWF subunit responsible for this interaction, purified proteolytic fragments of vWF were compared for their ability to inhibit 125I-vWF binding to ECM. A tryptic dimeric fragment of 116 kD (T116...

The antibacterial activity of thyme water, apple vinegar, grape and vB_EcoM-P34 phage against Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 35150 their potential to be utilized for decontamination on lettuce were examined in this study. Lettuce samples treated with or vinegar solutions (10, 25, 50%), (about 108 PFU/mL) tap water 30 min after inoculation E. at the level 5.66 log. Depending concentration, vinega...