Database for exchangeable gene trap clones: pathway and gene ontology analysis of exchangeable gene trap clone mouse lines

Gene trapping in embryonic stem (ES) cells is a proven method for large-scale random insertional mutagenesis in the mouse genome. We have established an exchangeable gene trap system, in which a reporter gene can be exchanged for any other DNA of interest through Cre/mutant lox-mediated recombination. We isolated trap clones, analyzed trapped genes, and constructed the database for Exchangeable Gene Trap Clones (EGTC) [http://egtc.jp]. The number of registered ES cell lines was 1162 on 31 August 2013. We also established 454 mouse lines from trap ES clones and deposited them in the mouse embryo bank at the Center for Animal Resources and Development, Kumamoto University, Japan. The EGTC database is the most extensive academic resource for gene-trap mouse lines. Because we used a promoter-trap strategy, all trapped genes were expressed in ES cells. To understand the general characteristics of the trapped genes in the EGTC library, we used Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) for pathway analysis and found that the EGTC ES clones covered a broad range of pathways. We also used Gene Ontology (GO) classification data provided by Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) to compare the functional distribution of genes in each GO term between trapped genes in the EGTC mouse lines and total genes annotated in MGI. We found the functional distributions for the trapped genes in the EGTC mouse lines and for the RefSeq genes for the whole mouse genome were similar, indicating that the EGTC mouse lines had trapped a wide range of mouse genes.

[Basic and clinical evaluation of EIA (pin immuno assay, PIA) kit for antithyroglobulin antibody (TGAb) and antimicrosomal (antiperoxidase) antibody (TMAb)]

Newly developed enzyme immunoassay kit (Pin Immuno Assay, PIA) for quantitative determination of serum antithyroglobulin antibody (TGAb) and antimicrosomal (-peroxidase) antibody (TMAb) was evaluated. The method utilizes the Sandwich ELISA principle with a unique micropin as solid phase coated with antigen. Reproducibilities assessed by intra- and interassay variation were less than 6.9% (CV) and 7.2% for TGAb or 4.2% and 6.0% for TMAb respectively. Changes in the first or second incubation time did not affect both TGAb and TMAb values. Upper normal limits obtained from 47 healthy subjects were 150 IU/ml for TGAb and 25 IU/ml for TMAb. Positive results in TGAb were obtained 60.0% in patients with Graves' disease and 80.0% in chronic thyroiditis and in TMAb 77.8% in Graves' disease and 66.7% in chronic thyroiditis. Patients with other autoimmune diseases such as SLE, RA were also found high incidence of positive results, 48.3% for TGAb and 65.0% for TMAb respectively. These results indicate that the nonradioisotopic assay technique for thyroid autoantibodies are useful in diagnosis of autoimmune diseases especially thyroid diseases.

[Pulmonary function in normal Japanese children 6 to 16 years of age]

We measured pulmonary function on 182 healthy Japanese children 6 to 16 years of age living in the Tokyo area. Static lung volumes, RV/TLC (%), FRC/TLC (%), FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC (%), MMFR, MVV, f, VE and VO2 were measured. Multiple regression equations were obtained and the results were compared with those derived from the other equations (Kanagami (1958), Ishida (1955]. The predicted values were about 10 approximately 25% higher with our equations than those obtained from the other equations which were made more than 30 years ago. These differences were attributed to the recent improvement in growth of the Japanese children. For this reason we think it is better now to adopt new equations for the prediction of normal values in Japanese children.