OBJECTIVES To analyze the protective effects against complement-mediated cytolysis of the MCP, DAF, and CD59 human complement regulatory proteins, alone and in combination, on NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS We constructed 3 double and 3 single-human complement regulatory protein plasmids (pIRES-hMCP-hDAF, pIRES-hMCP-hCD59, pIRES-hDAF-hCD59, pIRES-A-hMCP, pIRES-B-hDAF, a...

PURPOSE Delayed onset of, and low magnitude of, protective immune responses are major drawbacks limiting the practical utility of plasmid vaccination against rabies. In this study we evaluated whether nanoformulation with the novel poly(ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer can enhance the immunogenicity and efficacy of a plasmid-based rabies vaccine. MATERIALS AND METHODS A plasmid vaccine construc...

The heterologous expression of membrane proteins such as G protein-coupled receptors can be a notoriously difficult task. We have engineered an expression vector, p1D4-hrGFP II, in order to efficiently express visual pigments in mammalian cell culture. This expression vector is based on pIRES-hrGFP II (Stratagene), with the addition of a C-terminal 1D4 epitope tag for immunoblotting and immunoa...

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has remained as a global health problem. Animal studies demonstrated the role of H. pylori oipA gene in the development of gastric cancer. The aim of this study was the cloning and expression of Helicobacter pylori oipA gene in a bicistronic vector harboring mice IL-18 gene. Materials and methods: The target gene encoding oipA was amp...

introduction: helicobacter pylori (h. pylori) infection has remained as a global health problem. animal studies demonstrated the role of h. pylori oipa gene in the development of gastric cancer. the aim of this study was the cloning and expression of helicobacter pylori oipa gene in a bicistronic vector harboring mice il-18 gene. materials and methods: the target gene encoding oipa was amplifie...

Porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PDEV) can cause severe diarrhea in pigs. Development of effective vaccines against TGEV and PEDV is one of important prevention measures. The spike (S) protein is the surface glycoprotein of TGEV and PEDV, which can induce specific neutralization antibodies and is a candidate antigen for vaccination attempts...

The present study describes the development of DNA vaccines using the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion (F) genes from AF2240 Newcastle disease virus strain, namely pIRES/HN, pIRES/F and pIRES-F/HN. Transient expression analysis of the constructs in Vero cells revealed the successful expression of gene inserts in vitro. Moreover, in vivo experiments showed that single vaccination with...

The present study aimed to determine the effect of recombinant Salmonella (SL3261)-based CEACAM6 and 4-1BB ligand (4-1BBL) vaccine on the development of colorectal cancer in rats and the potential immune mechanisms involved. Attenuated Salmonella typhimurium (vaccine strain)‑carrying plasmids pIRES-CEACAM6, pIRES‑4‑1BBL and pIRES-CEACAM6-4-1BBL were constructed. The rats were administered subcu...

The combination of Endostatin (ES) and Herpes Simplex Virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) gene therapy is known to have antitumor activity in bladder cancer. The potential effect of ES and TK therapy in glioma has not yet been investigated. In this study, pTK-internal ribosome entry site (IRES), pIRES-ES, and pTK-IRES-ES plasmids were constructed; pIRES empty vector served as the negative control. ...

Most studies on sexual reproduction of scleractinian corals in Brazil have been concentrated in a single population or in a small area (Pires et al., 1999; Francini et al., 2002; Neves & Pires, 2002; Pires & Caparelli, 2002; Pires et al., 2002; Lins-de-Barros et al., 2003). The present paper presents a comparison of the sexual reproductive status of six populations of the Brazilian scleractinia...