Purification and characterization of recombinant murine immune interferon

The recombinant murine immune interferon (rMu-IFN-gamma) was purified to homogeneity from Escherichia coli harboring the expression vector of murine IFN-gamma. The purified rMu-IFN-gamma showed an Mr of 15 000 in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Results of amino acid analysis, amino- and carboxyl-terminal analyses and peptide mapping of rMu-IFN-gamma suggest that it has the complete protein sequence predicted on the basis of cDNA except for lack of four amino acid residues from the mature carboxyl-terminus.

Monoclonal antibodies distinguish between the head portions of two myosin isozymes from chicken breast muscle

Monoclonal antibodies against chicken breast myosin and its subfragment-1(S-1) were produced. One antibody, 2G41, reacted with S-1 containing a light chain 3 (LC3), but not with another S-1 containing a light chain 1 (LC1) or a mixture of the light chains. A structural difference can be assumed to exist between the head portions of the two myosin isozymes. Antigenicity of S-1 toward 2G41 could not be detected after tryptic digestion into three fragments of 50K, 27K, and 20K daltons. Another monoclonal antibody, M68, was obtained from mice immunized with myosin. M68 preferably recognized the heavy chain from S-1 containing LC3 rather than that from that containing LC1 or S-1. M68 reacted with the 27K fragment among the three.

Purification and complete amino acid sequence of canine pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor

Pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI) was purified from canine pancreatic juice by HPLC. Canine PSTI inhibited bovine trypsin activity stoichiometrically and strongly with a dissociation constant of below 10(-9) M. The amino acid sequence of canine PSTI was determined by conventional methods. It had one more amino acid residue at the amino-terminus than other mammalian PSTIs, i.e. human, porcine, bovine and ovine.

Structures of sugar chains of the third component of human complement

Human C3, the third component of human complement, contained mannose and N-acetylglucosamine as sugar components. The sugar chains were liberated from the polypeptide chains by hydrazinolysis, and the free amino groups were N-acetylated. The reducing end residues of the sugar chains thus obtained were tagged with 2-aminopyridine, and the pyridylamino (PA-) derivatives of sugar chains were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography. The structures of purified PA-sugar chains were analyzed by a combination of stepwise exoglycosidase digestions, size determination by paper electrophoresis, methylation analysis, Smith degradation, and partial acetolysis. These results showed that C3 contained two high-mannose type sugar chains ranging from Man5GlcNAc2 to Man9GlcNAc2. Analyses of the sugar chains of alpha- and beta-chains of C3 indicated that the alpha-chain contained mainly Man8GlcNAc2 and Man9GlcNAc2, while the beta-chain contained mainly Man5GlcNAc2 and Man6GlcNAc2.

The multiplicity of human pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor

Four forms of pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI; A1, A2, B, and C) were purified from human pancreatic juice. According to sequence results, the primary structure of B was different from that reported earlier (Greene, L.J., et al. (1976) Method Enzymol. 45, 813-825) at two positions, i.e. Asn21----Asp21, Asp29----Asn29. A1 and A2 were deamidated forms of B judging from peptide mappings with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease. Gln45 in B was replaced by Glu in A1 and Gln51 in B was replaced by Glu in A2. C was an inhibitor lacking five amino acid residues from the amino terminal of B. B and C inhibited human cationic trypsin activity stoichiometrically with similar dissociation constants, but A1 and A2 showed poorer trypsin inhibitory activity than B and C.

Treatment of angina pectoris by percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was performed on 12 patients with angina pectoris. PTCA reduced the percentage of stenosis of the coronary artery from 75.6 +/- 10.1 (means +/- SD) to 32.6 +/- 19.5. In addition, anginal attacks per week was reduced from 8.4 +/- 3.2 to 2.5 +/- 0.7. No life-threatening complications were produced by PTCA. The results indicates the effectiveness of PTCA as a treatment for angina pectoris.

[Effects of cysteine compounds on antibiotics I. Effects of L-cysteine and its derivatives on the potency of antibiotics (author's transl)]

Various derivatives of L-cysteine obtained by conversion to an -S-S- bond in the mucoprotein by means of -SH in the chemical structure are widely used as expectorants because they show mucous dissolving action. Recently, there have been reports that L-cysteine derivatives lower the potencies of various antibiotics. Various types of antibiotics and cysteine-type expectorants are often used concomitantly for the treatment of bacterial infections in respiratory tract diseases, and any decrease in the antibiotic potency presents a major therapeutic problem. We investigated the effects of four cysteine derivatives on 12 antibiotics, ampicillin (ABPC), amoxicillin (AMPC), sulbenicillin (SBPC), cefazolin (CEZ), cephalexin (CEX), cephalothin (CET), oxytetracycline (OTC), doxycycline (DOTC), minocycline (MINO), erythromycin (EM), ribostamycin (VSM) and lincomycin (LCM), widely used clinically in vitro with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIc) obtained by the liquid dilution method as an index. L-Cysteine, acetylcysteine, ethylcysteine and mecysteine lowered the potencies of almost all of the antibiotics at high concentrations (500 mcg/ml), but at low concentrations (12.5 mcg/ml), mecysteine lowered the potencies of only three antibiotics and L-cysteine those of only four antibiotics, while acetylcysteine decreased the potencies of six and ethylcysteine those of seven antibiotics.