Search

Abstract: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is separated into several subtypes and circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). Here, infections of 4 clinical isolates (0-47-1, CU98-26, CU98-28, and CU98-31) from Thailand were examined in human CD4+ T-cell lines, MT-4 and MOLT-4. The CU98-26 isolates in both cells and 0-47-1 in MT-4 established chronic infections, as in control 2 subtype B isolates from Japan, while 0-47-1 in MOLT-4 caused a latent infection. In contrast, CU98-28 and CU98-31 established aberrant infections in both cells. Integrated provirus was detected in all the chronic infections, including 0-47-1 in both cells. In contrast, extrachromosomal circular forms of HIV-1 DNA were detected in CU98-28- and CU98-31-infected cells, whereas the amount of the integrated form was below the limit of detection. Interestingly, phylogenetic trees and sequencing revealed that all the Thai isolates, except 0-47-1, displayed CRF15_01B-like mosaic structures of CRF01_AE with subtype B-like sequences in several regions that were apparently different from those of the inocula in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Thus, in the infections of most of the above Thai isolates it was suggested that a minor population with mosaic patterns having multiple breakpoints between CRF01_AE and subtype B in the inocula could be selected by the T-cell lines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Leptospira interrogans serovar autumnalis, a causative agent of leptospirosis in Thailand, was isolated from a patient for DNA extraction and amplification of LipL32 gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The 782 bp PCR product was obtained, which was inserted into pAE plasmid with polyhistidine (His6 tag) to construct pAE-LipL32. This recombinant plasmid was transfected into E. coli BL21 (DE3). His6-LipL32 was purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The recombinant protein was used as antigen for testing with sera from leptospirosis and syphilis patients by dot-ELISA technique. It reacted positively with leptospirosis patient sera and negatively with syphilis and healthy sera.

The human immunodeficiency virus Tat regulatory protein is essential for virus replication and for the efficient transcription of HIV-1 provirus, and in the pathogenesis of AIDS. The role of the tat gene was investigated in 300 samples. It was found that 71.7% were subtype CRF&#95;01AE, 9.3% were subtype B, while 11.7 and 7.3% of them were cross-reactive and non-typeable, respectively. Moreover the results from peptide ELISA also showed that a low CD4 cell count was related to a low anti-Tat antibody (p < 0.05), which may be due to the progression of HIV-1, which can be found predominantly in AIDS patients. The results of nested PCR showed that the second Tat exon might also play a role in T-cell activation. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to measure HIV-1 mRNA expression in PBMC. RT-PCR negative results were found mostly in the asymptomatic HIV-seropositive group (88%). HIV-1 mRNA expression was found to correlate with current immunologic status. The differences in Tat protein sequences from DNA sequencing between the patients who had anti-Tat antibody positive and anti-Tat antibody negative, were not significant (p > 0.05). These results suggested that the Tat amino acid sequences were conserved among each group of samples and did not change significantly compared with the consensus sequence in previous studies. Several factors make Tat an attractive target for vaccine design.

This preliminary study aimed to investigate sensitivity and specificity of a protein chip system for multi-tumor marker serodiagnosis of ten types of cancers, and to understand the possible clinical applications of this protein chip for the Thai population. The specific cancers diagnosed by this protein chip are lung, breast, liver, cervix, colo-rectal, stomach, ovary, esophagus, prostate and pancreas cancers. We analyzed 215 serum samples of which 165 were obtained from clinically confirmed cancer patients and 50 from healthy people with no evidence of cancer. The sensitivity and specificity of the protein chip were 82.4% and 94.0%, respectively. The success rate of the protein chip for detecting all 10 types of cancers varied from 57% to 100%. The value of the simultaneous measurement of multiple tumor markers using the protein chip for cancer screening lied in the higher sensitivity compared to using single tumor markers for each type of cancer. In short, protein chips may be useful in mass screening for cancer during health checkups as well as for metastasis follow-up of cancer patients.