Oxidative stress is implicated in the etiology of many diseases, including alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Peroxiredoxin 6 is a cytosolic peroxidase that has been demonstrated to protect various tissues, such as skin, lung, and cardiac muscle, against acute oxidative insults. Consequently, peroxiredoxin 6 was hypothesized to also protect the liver from oxidative stress generated during the proce...

Human peroxiredoxins serve dual roles as anti-oxidants and regulators of H(2)O(2)-mediated cell signaling. The functional versatility of peroxiredoxins depends on progressive oxidation of key cysteine residues. The sulfinic or sulfonic forms of peroxiredoxin lose their peroxidase activity, which allows cells to accumulate H(2)O(2) for signaling or pathogenesis in inflammation, cancer, and other...

The mechanism by which acetaminophen (APAP) causes liver damage evokes many aspects drug metabolism, oxidative chemistry, and genetic-predisposition. In this study, we leverage the relative resistance of female C57BL/6 mice to APAP-induced liver damage (AILD) compared to male C57BL/6 mice in order to identify the cause(s) of sensitivity. Furthermore, we use mice that are either heterozygous (HZ...

Amphibacillus xylanus and Sporolactobacillus inulinus NADH oxidases belonging to the peroxiredoxin oxidoreductase family show extremely high peroxide reductase activity for hydrogen peroxide and alkyl hydroperoxides in the presence of the small disulfide redox protein, AhpC (peroxiredoxin). In order to investigate the distribution of this enzyme system in bacteria, 15 bacterial strains were sel...

Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL) in South and Central America is characterized by the dissemination (metastasis) of Leishmania Viannia subgenus parasites from a cutaneous lesion to nasopharyngeal tissues. Little is known about the pathogenesis of MCL, especially with regard to the virulence of the parasites and the process of metastatic dissemination. We previously examined the functional rela...

Peroxiredoxins are a family of abundant peroxidases found in all organisms. Although these antioxidant enzymes are thought to be critically involved in cellular defense and redox signaling, their exact physiological roles are largely unknown. In this study, we took a genetic approach to address the functions of peroxiredoxins in budding yeast. We generated and characterized a yeast mutant lacki...

Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan intestinal parasite that causes amoebic colitis and amoebic liver abscess. To identify virulence factors of E. histolytica, we first defined the phenotypes of two E. histolytica strains, HM-1:IMSS, the prototype virulent strain, and E. histolytica Rahman, a strain that was reportedly less virulent than HM-1:IMSS. We found that compared with HM-1:IMSS, Rahman...

Epidemiological and in vivo studies have demonstrated that exposure to the pesticides paraquat (PQ) and maneb (MB) increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD) and cause dopaminergic cell loss, respectively. PQ is a well-recognized cause of oxidative toxicity; therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if MB potentiates oxidative stress caused by PQ, thus providing a mech...