ABSTRACT
Human enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the main causative pathogen of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in children. The epidemic of HFMD has been a public health problem in Asia-Pacific region for decades, and no vaccine and effective antiviral medicine are available. Curcumin has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries to treat a diversity of disorders including viral infections. In this study, we demonstrated that curcumin showed potent antiviral effect again EV71. In Vero cells infected with EV71, the addition of curcumin significantly suppressed the synthesis of viral RNA, the expression of viral protein, and the overall production of viral progeny. Similar with the previous reports, curcumin reduced the production of ROS induced by viral infection. However, the antioxidant property of curcumin did not contribute to its antiviral activity, since N-acetyl-l-cysteine, the potent antioxidant failed to suppress viral replication. This study also showed that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) was activated by either viral infection or curcumin treatment, but the activated ERK did not interfere with the antiviral effect of curcumin, indicating ERK is not involved in the antiviral mechanism of curcumin. Unlike the previous reports that curcumin inhibited protein degradation through ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), we found that curcumin had no impact on UPS in control cells. However, curcumin did reduce the activity of proteasomes which was increased by viral infection. In addition, the accumulation of the short-lived proteins, p53 and p21, was increased by the treatment of curcumin in EV71-infected cells. We further probed the antiviral mechanism of curcumin by examining the expression of GBF1 and PI4KB, both of which are required for the formation of viral replication complex. We found that curcumin significantly reduced the level of both proteins. Moreover, the decreased expression of either GBF1 or PI4KB by the application of siRNAs was sufficient to suppress viral replication. We also demonstrated that curcumin showed anti-apoptotic activity at the early stage of viral infection. The results of this study provide solid evidence that curcumin has potent anti-EV71 activity. Whether or not the down-regulated GBF1 and PI4KB by curcumin contribute to its antiviral effect needs further studies.
ABSTRACT
Objective To screen and identify the phage-display random 7 amino acid peptide specific to the systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) and analyze its practical significance. Methods Using the phage random 7 peptide library screening, the SLE specific phage clones are obtained after binding with the mixture of sera from 30 SLE patients and 30 normal controls as ligand respectively. Then the Dot-ELISA is used to identify the SLE specific phage clones reactive to sera of the SLE patients and normal controls individually. Finally the identified phage-display random 7 amino acid peptides are sequenced and it's homology with the antigenic epitope of human being and other are also analyzed. Results Total 12 of the phage-display random 7 amino acid peptide are obtained by phage peptide library screening and the Dot-ELISA identification. Sequence analysis shows that the identified phage-display random 7 amino acid peptide epitope have homology with E. coli, Salmonella and human immunodeficiency virus, but not with that of human being. Conclusion SLE-specific peptides screened by phage random peptide library maybe used to diagnosis the SLE. Meanwhile, the antibodies in SLE patients which are combined with the Pathogen epitope, suggest that SLE maybe relate to pathogen infection.
ABSTRACT
Objective To provide an experimental evidence for the clinical applications of glyceryl trinatrate(GTN)and isosorbide dinitrate(ISDN)against Coxsackievirus B(CVB)-related myocarditis.Methods Coxsackievirus B3 was propagated in HeLa cells.Virus yields were determinded by 50% tissue culture infective dosage(TCID50).BALB/c mice were attacked with 5000 TCID50 of CVB3,meanwhile,the mice were administrated with GTN and ISDN.All mice were killed at the 14th day.The myocardial tissues were harvested for histologic evaluation.Results The infection plaques in the myocardial tissues obtained from CVB3-infected BALB/c mice treated with GTN were siginificantly reduced(0.89?0.18 in GTN group and 1.25?0.22 in ISDN group)compared with that of the untreated CVB3-infected mice(P