An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of Shiga toxins (Premier EHEC assay; Meridian Diagnostics, Inc.) was compared to conventional sorbitol-MacConkey culture for the recovery of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. A total of 74 enteric pathogens, including 8 E. coli O157:H7 isolates, were recovered from 974 stool specimens. Two of these specimens were not tested by Premier ass...

Shiga toxin, Shiga-like toxin I (SLT-I) and Shiga-like toxin II (SLT-II) are cell-associated cytotoxins that kill both Vero cells and HeLa cells, whereas Shiga-like toxin II variant (SLT-IIv) is an extracellular cytotoxin that is more cytotoxic for Vero cells than for HeLa cells. The basis for these differences in cytotoxin localization and host cell specificity were examined in this study. The...

Gastric infection with Helicobacter pylori activates a mucosal inflammatory response by mononuclear cells and neutrophils that includes expression of cytokines interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and IL-8. In this study, we analyzed the IL-8 response of human gastric cancer cell lines (Kato III, AGS, and MKN28) to H. pylori infection in vitro. IL-8 mRNA expression...

Interleukin 13 receptor alpha 2 (IL-13RA2) is over-expressed in a vast majority of human patients with high-grade astrocytomas like glioblastoma. Spontaneous astrocytomas in dogs resemble human disease and have been proposed as translational model system for investigation of novel therapeutic strategies for brain tumors. We have generated reagents for both detection and therapeutic targeting of...

A modification of an existing selective medium for Clostridium difficile is described. Inclusion in the medium of DL nor-leucine and p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid enables identification of C difficile to be made directly from primary isolation plates by gas chromatographic detection of caproic acid and p-cresol. Plugs of agar withdrawn from the selective medium also allow the detection of cytotoxi...

The 45-kilobase tetracycline resistance plasmids pMAK175 and pUA466 from Campylobacter jejuni were examined using curing and mating experiments. However, these plasmids encoded neither cytotoxin production, as determined in Vero cells, nor enterotoxin activity, as determined in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

The enantioselective synthesis of aspergillide B, a 14-membered macrocyclic cytotoxin, was achieved in a 49% yield via 7 steps from a synthetic intermediate of aspergillide C. The spectroscopic data and specific rotation value for the synthetic material matched those of natural aspergillide B.