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Alachkar A, Phan A, Dabbous T, Alhassen S, Alhassen W, Reynolds B, Rubinstein M, Ferré S, Civelli O. Humanized dopamine D 4.7 receptor male mice display risk-taking behavior and deficits of social recognition and working memory in light/dark-dependent manner. J Neurosci Res 2024; 102:e25299. [PMID: 38361407 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 01/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
The dopamine D4 receptor 7-repeat allele (D4.7 R) has been linked with psychiatric disorders such as attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia. However, the highly diverse study populations and often contradictory findings make it difficult to draw reliable conclusions. The D4.7 R has the potential to explain individual differences in behavior. However, there is still a great deal of ambiguity surrounding whether it is causally connected to the etiology of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, humanized D4.7 R mice, with the long third intracellular domain of the human D4.7 R, may provide a valuable tool to examine the relationship between the D4.7 R variant and specific behavioral phenotypes. We report that D4.7 R male mice carrying the humanized D4.7 R variant exhibit distinct behavioral features that are dependent on the light-dark cycle. The behavioral phenotype was characterized by a working memory deficit, delayed decision execution in the light phase, decreased stress and anxiety, and increased risk behavior in the dark phase. Further, D4.7 R mice displayed impaired social recognition memory in both the light and dark phases. These findings provide insight into the potential causal relationship between the human D4.7 R variant and specific behaviors and encourage further consideration of dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) ligands as novel treatments for psychiatric disorders in which D4.7 R has been implicated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amal Alachkar
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- UC Irvine Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics, School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Alvin Phan
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Travis Dabbous
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Sammy Alhassen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Wedad Alhassen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Bryan Reynolds
- Department of Drama, School of the Arts, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Marcelo Rubinstein
- Departamento de Fisiología y Biología Molecular y Celular, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Sergi Ferré
- Integrative Neurobiology Section, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Olivier Civelli
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
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Prevalence of Common Alleles of Some Stress Resilience Genes among Adolescents Born in Different Periods Relative to the Socioeconomic Crisis of the 1990s in Russia. Curr Issues Mol Biol 2022; 45:51-65. [PMID: 36661490 PMCID: PMC9857244 DOI: 10.3390/cimb45010004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Social stress is common among people and is considered one of the causes of the declining birth rate. Predisposition to stress and stress-induced disorders is largely determined genetically. We hypothesized that due to differences in stress resistance, carriers of different genetic variants of genes associated with stress resilience and stress-induced diseases may have dissimilar numbers of offspring under conditions of long-term social stress. To test this hypothesis, a comparative analysis of frequencies of seven common polymorphic regions [exon 3 variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) of the DRD4 gene, rs4680 of COMT, STin2 VNTR and the 5-HTTLPR (rs774676466) insertion/deletion polymorphism of SLC6A4, rs4570625 of TPH2, rs6265 of BDNF, and rs258747 of NR3C1] was performed on standardized groups of randomly selected adolescents born before, during, and after severe socioeconomic deprivation (the crisis of the 1990s in Russia). There were significant differences in frequencies of "long" alleles of the DRD4 gene (p = 0.020, χ2 = 5.492) and rs4680 (p = 0.022, χ2 = 5.289) in the "crisis" group as compared to the combined "noncrisis" population. It is possible that the dopaminergic system had an impact on the successful adaptation of a person to social stress.
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Camperio Ciani AS, Edelman S, Ebstein RP. The Dopamine D4 Receptor (DRD4) Exon 3 VNTR Contributes to Adaptive Personality Differences in an Italian Small Island Population. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/per.1917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The search for evolutionary forces shaping the diversity of human personality traits encouraged studies that have found that islanders are relatively closed and introverted, with little interest in the external world. The ‘personality gene flow’ hypothesis was proposed to explain the mechanism underlying this difference, suggesting that the frequency of alleles that influence islander personality traits might progressively increase in the gene pools on islands because of selective emigration of individuals not displaying these alleles. We genotyped 96 individuals from the Italian mainland and 117 from Giglio Island, whose residents were previously assessed regarding their personality traits. We genotyped three polymorphisms: the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) exon 3 repeat region, the serotonin–transporter SLC6A4 5–HTTLPR indel and the dopamine transporter SLC6A3 DAT1 3′UTR repeat region. Only the DRD4 exon 3 repeat was hypothesised to show varying allele frequencies because this polymorphism could be associated with human migration and personality traits such as extraversion, openness and novelty seeking. As predicted, no differences in allele frequencies were found for the SLC6A4 and SLC6A3 polymorphisms, whereas significant differences were observed in the frequency of the DRD4 exon 3 alleles. The DRD4.2 repeat was more common in mainlanders, as expected, whereas the DRD4.7 allele was over–represented among islanders who never emigrated. This last result contradicts the suggested association of this allele with long–distance migrations. We suggest that emigration might have caused gene flow out the island that resulted in somewhat unpredictable changes in the frequencies of specific alleles, thus influencing islander personality traits. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shany Edelman
- Department of Neurobiology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Richard P. Ebstein
- Psychology Department, Mt Scopus Campus, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
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Taub DR, Page J. Molecular Signatures of Natural Selection for Polymorphic Genes of the Human Dopaminergic and Serotonergic Systems: A Review. Front Psychol 2016; 7:857. [PMID: 27375535 PMCID: PMC4896960 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2016] [Accepted: 05/24/2016] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A large body of research has examined the behavioral and mental health consequences of polymorphisms in genes of the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems. Along with this, there has been considerable interest in the possibility that these polymorphisms have developed and/or been maintained due to the action of natural selection. Episodes of natural selection on a gene are expected to leave molecular “footprints” in the DNA sequences of the gene and adjacent genomic regions. Here we review the research literature investigating molecular signals of selection for genes of the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems. The gene SLC6A4, which codes for a serotonin transport protein, was the one gene for which there was consistent support from multiple studies for a selective episode. Positive selection on SLC6A4 appears to have been initiated ∼ 20–25,000 years ago in east Asia and possibly in Europe. There are scattered reports of molecular signals of selection for other neurotransmitter genes, but these have generally failed at replication across studies. In spite of speculation in the literature about selection on these genes, current evidence from population genomic analyses supports selectively neutral processes, such as genetic drift and population dynamics, as the principal drivers of recent evolution in dopaminergic and serotonergic genes other than SLC6A4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel R Taub
- Department of Biology, Southwestern University, Georgetown TX, USA
| | - Joshua Page
- Department of Biology, Southwestern University, GeorgetownTX, USA; School of Medicine, Washington University, St LouisMO, USA
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Pappa I, Mileva-Seitz VR, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Tiemeier H, van IJzendoorn MH. The magnificent seven: A quantitative review of dopamine receptor d4 and its association with child behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2015; 57:175-86. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2015] [Revised: 07/16/2015] [Accepted: 08/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Schaschl H, Huber S, Schaefer K, Windhager S, Wallner B, Fieder M. Signatures of positive selection in the cis-regulatory sequences of the human oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1A) genes. BMC Evol Biol 2015; 15:85. [PMID: 25968600 PMCID: PMC4429470 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-015-0372-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2014] [Accepted: 04/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The evolutionary highly conserved neurohypophyseal hormones oxytocin and arginine vasopressin play key roles in regulating social cognition and behaviours. The effects of these two peptides are meditated by their specific receptors, which are encoded by the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and arginine vasopressin receptor 1a genes (AVPR1A), respectively. In several species, polymorphisms in these genes have been linked to various behavioural traits. Little, however, is known about whether positive selection acts on sequence variants in genes influencing variation in human behaviours. RESULTS We identified, in both neuroreceptor genes, signatures of balancing selection in the cis-regulative acting sequences such as transcription factor binding and enhancer sequences, as well as in a transcriptional repressor sequence motif. Additionally, in the intron 3 of the OXTR gene, the SNP rs59190448 appears to be under positive directional selection. For rs59190448, only one phenotypical association is known so far, but it is in high LD' (>0.8) with loci of known association; i.e., variants associated with key pro-social behaviours and mental disorders in humans. CONCLUSIONS Only for one SNP on the OXTR gene (rs59190448) was a sign of positive directional selection detected with all three methods of selection detection. For rs59190448, however, only one phenotypical association is known, but rs59190448 is in high LD' (>0.8), with variants associated with important pro-social behaviours and mental disorders in humans. We also detected various signatures of balancing selection on both neuroreceptor genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helmut Schaschl
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Susanne Huber
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Katrin Schaefer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Sonja Windhager
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Bernard Wallner
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. .,Cognitive Science Platform at the University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. .,Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Martin Fieder
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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Aguirre-Samudio AJ, Cruz-Fuentes CS, González-Sobrino BZ, Gutiérrez-Pérez V, Medrano-González L. Haplotype and nucleotide variation in the exon 3-VNTR of the DRD4 gene from indigenous and urban populations of Mexico. Am J Hum Biol 2014; 26:682-9. [PMID: 24979719 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2013] [Revised: 05/23/2014] [Accepted: 06/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To describe the population structure of the 48-bp variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), located in exon 3 of the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4), in 41 Tarahumara from northern Mexico, 20 Mixe from southern Mexico, and 169 people from Mexico City. METHODS Genotypes for the DRD4-VNTR were determined, from which 15 Tarahumara, eight Mixe, and 37 urban homozygous individuals were sequenced. Repeat-allele frequencies were compared with other world populations. RESULTS The DRD4-VNTR variation in Mexico City appeared similar to the world mean. For the Mixe and Maya, DRD4-VNTR diversity appeared closer to South American groups whereas the Tarahumara were similar to North American groups. People from Mexico City and the Mixe exhibited attributes of a large and admixed population and an isolated population, respectively. The Tarahumara showed endogamy associated with a substructure as suggested by a preliminary regional differentiation. For the DRD4-VNTR and/or the adjacent 5'-173 bp sequence, the three populations exhibited negative Tajima's D. Two new VNTR haplotypes were discovered: one in Mexico City and another among the Tarahumara. CONCLUSIONS A differentiation in the DRD4-VNTR of global relevance occurs between northern and southern populations of Mexico suggesting that the Mexican Trans-volcanic Belt has been a major frontier for human dispersion in the Americas. Ancient trespass of this barrier appears thus related to a major change in the population structure of the DRD4-VNTR. Distinctive and independent patterns of DRD4-VNTR diversity occur among the two Mexican indigenous populations by a still undefined combination of drift and selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Julia Aguirre-Samudio
- Departamento de Genética Psiquiátrica, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, México, DF, México; Laboratorio de Antropología Genética, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, DF, México; Programa de Becas Posdoctorales, Coordinación de Humanidades, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, DF, México
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Jiang Y, Chew SH, Ebstein RP. The role of D4 receptor gene exon III polymorphisms in shaping human altruism and prosocial behavior. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:195. [PMID: 23717276 PMCID: PMC3653059 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2013] [Accepted: 04/27/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Human beings are an extraordinarily altruistic species often willing to help strangers at a considerable cost (sometimes life itself) to themselves. But as Darwin noted "… he who was ready to sacrifice his life, as many a savage has been, rather than betray his comrades, would often leave no offspring to inherit his noble nature." Hence, this is the paradox of altruism. Twin studies have shown that altruism and other prosocial behavior show considerable heritability and more recently a number of candidate genes have been identified with this phenotype. Among these first provisional findings are genes encoding elements of dopaminergic transmission. In this article we will review the evidence for the involvement of one of these, the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene, in shaping human prosocial behavior and consider the methodologies employed in measuring this trait, specific molecular genetic findings and finally, evidence from several Gene × Environment (G × E) studies that imply differential susceptibility of this gene to environmental influences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yushi Jiang
- Department of Economics, National University of Singapore Singapore
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Mueller JC, Korsten P, Hermannstaedter C, Feulner T, Dingemanse NJ, Matthysen E, van Oers K, van Overveld T, Patrick SC, Quinn JL, Riemenschneider M, Tinbergen JM, Kempenaers B. Haplotype structure, adaptive history and associations with exploratory behaviour of theDRD4gene region in four great tit (Parus major) populations. Mol Ecol 2013; 22:2797-809. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.12282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2012] [Revised: 02/01/2013] [Accepted: 02/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jakob C. Mueller
- Department of Behavioural Ecology & Evolutionary Genetics; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; Seewiesen Germany
| | - Peter Korsten
- Department of Behavioural Ecology & Evolutionary Genetics; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; Seewiesen Germany
| | - Christine Hermannstaedter
- Department of Behavioural Ecology & Evolutionary Genetics; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; Seewiesen Germany
| | - Thomas Feulner
- Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy; University of Saarland; Homburg/Saar Germany
| | - Niels J. Dingemanse
- Research Group “Evolutionary Ecology of Variation”; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; Seewiesen Germany
- Department Biologie II; Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich; Planegg-Martinsried Germany
| | - Erik Matthysen
- Evolutionary Ecology Group; Department of Biology; University of Antwerp; Wilrijk Belgium
| | - Kees van Oers
- Department of Animal Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Thijs van Overveld
- Evolutionary Ecology Group; Department of Biology; University of Antwerp; Wilrijk Belgium
| | - Samantha C. Patrick
- Edward Grey Institute; Department of Zoology; University of Oxford; Oxford UK
| | - John L. Quinn
- Edward Grey Institute; Department of Zoology; University of Oxford; Oxford UK
| | | | - Joost M. Tinbergen
- Animal Ecology Group; University of Groningen; Groningen The Netherlands
| | - Bart Kempenaers
- Department of Behavioural Ecology & Evolutionary Genetics; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; Seewiesen Germany
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SARASWATHY KALLURNAVA, MEITEI SANJENBAMYAIPHABA, SINGH HUIDROMSURAJ, JOSEPH ANTONETATERESA, MONDAL PRAKASHRANJAN, MURRY BENRITHUNG, SACHDEVA MOHINDERPAL, GHOSH PRADEEPKUMAR. Dopaminergic D4 receptor polymorphism among 24 populations of India: an anthropological insight. ANTHROPOL SCI 2013. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.130609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- KALLUR NAVA SARASWATHY
- Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi
| | | | - HUIDROM SURAJ SINGH
- Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi
| | | | - PRAKASH RANJAN MONDAL
- Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi
| | - BENRITHUNG MURRY
- Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi
| | - MOHINDER PAL SACHDEVA
- Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi
| | - PRADEEP KUMAR GHOSH
- Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi
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NAKA IZUMI, OHASHI JUN, KIMURA RYOSUKE, FURUSAWA TAKURO, YAMAUCHI TARO, NAKAZAWA MINATO, NATSUHARA KAZUMI, ATAKA YUJI, NISHIDA NAO, ISHIDA TAKAFUMI, INAOKA TSUKASA, MATSUMURA YASUHIRO, OHTSUKA RYUTARO. DRD4 VNTR polymorphism in Oceanic populations. ANTHROPOL SCI 2012. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.110901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- IZUMI NAKA
- Doctoral Program in Life System Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba
| | - JUN OHASHI
- Doctoral Program in Life System Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba
| | - RYOSUKE KIMURA
- Transdisciplinary Research Organization for Subtropical and Island Studies, University of the Ryukyus, Nakagami
| | - TAKURO FURUSAWA
- Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto
| | - TARO YAMAUCHI
- Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo
| | - MINATO NAKAZAWA
- Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Gunma University, Maebashi
| | | | - YUJI ATAKA
- School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda
| | - NAO NISHIDA
- Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
- Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology, International Medical Center of Japan Konodai Hospital, Ichikawa
| | - TAKAFUMI ISHIDA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
| | - TSUKASA INAOKA
- Department of Human Ecology, Faculty of Agriculture, Saga University, Saga
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