Analysis of RNA by quantitative real-time
reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) confirmed that the bacterial load was decreased in these mutant flies compared to wild-type infected control flies. Seven of these genes (san, Cht11, Uck2, Echs1, whd, Ccdc58, and Apop1) encoded proteins that had mitochondrial functions or could be associated with proteins with mitochondrial functions. Treatment of THP-1 cells with double-stranded RNA to silence the human UCK2 gene indicates that the disruption of the uridine-cytidine kinase affects E. chaffeensis replication in human macrophages. Experiments with cyclopentenyl cytosine (CPEC), a CTP synthetase inhibitor and cytosine, suggest that the nucleotide salvage pathway is essential for E. chaffeensis replication and that it may be important for the provision of CTP, uridine, and find more cytidine nucleotides.”
“Objective: To identify genetic
risk factors for the progression of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) to reflux nephropathy, we examined polymorphisms of multiple cytokine genes among VUR patients with or without renal scarring.\n\nMethods: A total of 238 VUR patients aged between 1 and 18 years with (n = 113) or without renal scarring (n = 125) were included. The presence of renal scarring was demonstrated by renal parenchymal examination using Technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinate scintigraphy. Sera of the patients were examined for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha, -308), transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta 1, +869, +915), interleukin-6
(IL-6, -174), MI-503 in vivo interleukin-10 (IL-10, -1082, -819, -592) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma, +874) gene polymorphisms using the polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primer method.\n\nResults: Among patients with renal scarring, frequencies for the T/T G/C and C/C G/C genotypes of TGF-beta 1 gene (p = 0.003), GCC/GCC genotype of IL-10 gene (p = 0.015), GC phenotype of IL-6 gene (p = 0.001) and T/T genotype of IFN-gamma gene (p = 0.001) were higher click here compared to patients without renal scarring. Regarding the TNF-alpha gene, among patients with low grade VUR only, the G/G genotype was associated with an increased risk.\n\nConclusions: Certain genotypes of cytokine gene polymorphisms seem to be associated with an increased or decreased susceptibility to reflux nephropathy, which may explain why only a proportion of VUR patients progress to reflux nephropathy. This information may aid in prediction of prognosis and implementing more aggressive management strategies at earlier stages. Further immunogenetic studies may identify novel targets for the management and prevention of the condition. (C) 2012 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.