OBJECTIVES Clinical and immunological features of patients with clinical manifestations of the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with anti-beta2-glycoprotein-I antibodies (anti-beta2-GP-I) but without anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) or any other autoimmune condition are not well documented. We sought to determine the clinical significance of positive anti-beta2-GP-I with negative aCL. METHODS ...

Beta2-microglobulin was investigated in atypical haemochromatosis patients not homozygous for the C282Y mutation of HFE (OMIM *235200), because the HFE protein binds beta2-microglobulin, and in mice beta2-microglobulin gene knockout causes hepatic iron overload. Six unrelated patients with atypical haemochromatosis were studied. Five patients had normal HFE coding sequence and the sixth was het...

Beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2-gpI) is a phospholipid cofactor with anticoagulant properties. A number of biological functions in the coagulation cascade have been attributed to this cofactor. Sera from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) frequently react to beta2-gpI in immunoassays. Occasionally, patients with thrombotic diathesis present anti-beta2-gpI antibodies in the absence of oth...

The plasma protein beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2-GPI) is a major target of autoantibodies in patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome. To understand the physiological function of beta2-GPI and its potential role in the pathophysiology of the antiphospholipid syndrome, the binding of beta2-GPI to phospholipid membranes was characterized. The interaction of beta2-GPI with unilamellar vesicles co...

Two voltage-dependent potassium channels, KCNQ1 and KCNH2, are expressed in the taste buds and were identified as strong candidates involved in the repolarization of taste receptor cells expressing phospholipase C-beta2 and TRPM5 (beta2/M5-TRCs). In cell type-specific expression, KCNQ1 was expressed in most taste bud cells, including beta2/M5-TRCs, whereas KCNH2 was expressed in a subset of bet...

Transcripts for the beta2 and the beta4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits are found throughout the CNS and the peripheral nervous system. These two beta subunits can form heteromultimeric channels with any of the alpha2, alpha3, alpha4, or alpha5 subunits in heterologous expression systems. Nonetheless, the subunit composition of native nAChRs and the role of different nAChR sub...

Beta2-chimaerin, a member of the GTPase-activating proteins for the small GTP-binding protein p21Rac, possesses a single cysteine-rich domain with high homology to those implicated in phorbol ester and diacylglycerol binding in protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes. We have expressed beta2-chimaerin in Sf9 insect cells using the baculovirus expression system and determined that, like PKCs, beta2-chim...

BACKGROUND There is poor understanding of most aspects of Clostridium perfringens type A as a possible cause of neonatal diarrhea in piglets, and the prevalence and types of C. perfringens present on Ontario swine farms is unknown. To study the prevalence of fecal C. perfringens and selected toxin genes, 48 Ontario swine farms were visited between August 2010 and May 2011, and 354 fecal samples...

Clostridium perfringens type E isolates produce iota-toxin, which is encoded by iap and ibp genes. Using Southern blot analyses, the current study identified iap/ibp plasmids of approximately 97 or approximately 135 kb among eight type E isolates. For most of these isolates, their iap/ibp plasmid also encoded urease and lambda-toxin. However, the beta2-toxin gene, if present, was on a different...