The IgG Fc receptor II on human monocytes is polymorphic in its ability to bind mIgG1, and its isoelectric focusing pattern. To study the molecular basis of this polymorphism, a cDNA library from cell line K562, expressing two different allelic forms (high responder [HR] and low responder [LR]) of Fc gamma RII, was used for cDNA cloning. We report the isolation and identification of different F...

PKA is retained within distinct subcellular environments by the association of its regulatory type II (RII) subunits with A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). Conventional reagents that universally disrupt PKA anchoring are patterned after a conserved AKAP motif. We introduce a phage selection procedure that exploits high-resolution structural information to engineer RII mutants that are select...

Plasmodium falciparum utilizes multiple ligand-receptor interactions for invasion. The invasion ligand EBA-175 is being developed as a major blood-stage vaccine candidate. EBA-175 mediates parasite invasion of host erythrocytes in a sialic acid-dependent manner through its binding to the erythrocyte receptor glycophorin A. In this study, we addressed the ability of naturally acquired human anti...

UNLABELLED Depressive mood is associated with mortality. Because personality has been found to be associated with depression and mortality as well, we aimed to test whether depressive mood could predict mortality when adjusting for several measures of personality. METHODS 20,625 employees of the French national gas and electricity companies gave consent to enter in the GAZEL cohort in 1989. Q...

We previously showed that interleukin-1 (IL-1 ) down-regulation of type II TGF receptor (T RII) involves NF B pathway and requires de novo synthesis of a yet unknown protein. Here, we demonstrate that this effect is mediated through Sp1 site located at position –25 of human T RII promoter. Inhibition of transcription factors binding (decoy oligonucleotides or mithramycin) abolished IL-1 effect....

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the influence of farmers’ trait preferences and breeding practices on local chicken genetic resource conservation in Igunga District, Tabora Region Tanzania. The used proportionate random sampling obtain 384 respondents ten villages within two wards. Data were collected through a household survey, key informant interviews (n=5), focus group dis...

Site-selective cyclic AMP (cAMP) analogues inhibit growth and induce changes in morphology in a spectrum of human cancer cell lines (D. Katsaros et al., FEBS Lett., 223:97, 1987). The cellular events underlying such effects of cAMP analogues include differential regulation of type I versus type II cAMP-dependent protein kinase isozymes (S. Ally et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85: 6319, 1988...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Immune response-mediated regulation of myocardial collagen remains poorly understood. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between ventricular remodeling and immunologic activation in patients with heart failure (HF) by comparing dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy. METHODS We studied 94 patients with HF and dilated cardiomyopathy (n=46) or ischemic ca...

Postsynaptic densities (PSD) are a network of proteins located on the internal surface of excitatory synapses just inside the postsynaptic membrane. Enzymes associated with the PSD are optimally positioned to respond to signals transduced across the postsynaptic membrane resulting from excitatory synaptic transmission or neurotransmitter release. We present evidence suggesting that type II cAMP...

BACKGROUND Southern European countries were traditionally characterized by a higher prevalence of smoking among high socioeconomic groups. Though, recent studies show a reversal of inequalities in Italy and Spain, for example. We investigated whether this evolution also applied to Portugal by describing the evolution of socioeconomic inequalities in smoking between 1987 and 2006. METHODS We u...