ABSTRACT
Echinacea extracts have traditionally been used in the treatment of many infectious and other diseases (such as rhinovirus colds), and research has revealed the presence of various bioactivities in these extracts, particularly those connected with immune responses. We examined the effects of Echinacea by using gene expression analysis in a line of human bronchial epithelial cells, with or without rhinovirus infection. More than 13 000 human genes were evaluated. From these analyses we focused primarily on immune response genes and found that both Echinacea extracts, one predominantly rich in polysaccharides and the other rich in alkylamides and caffeic acid derivatives, stimulated the expression of numerous genes. These included a number of cytokines and chemokines, although the pattern of stimulation was different. In addition, Echinacea extracts tended to neutralize the effects of the rhinovirus. When the immune response gene pathways were analyzed with the Ingenuity Pathway program, it became apparent that many of them were interconnected through a major node, the transcription factor C/EBPbeta (CAAT/enhancer-binding protein beta) and its related C/EBP proteins. This suggests that Echinacea can bring about important biological responses in cells by virtue of interactions between components of the extract and a small number of intracellular factors involved in multiple signaling pathways.
Subject(s)
Echinacea , Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects , Genes, MHC Class II , Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/methods , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-beta/genetics , CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-beta/physiology , Cells, Cultured , Gene Expression Profiling , Humans , Interleukin-1/genetics , Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/geneticsABSTRACT
An elderly woman, admitted to the intensive care unit of a large university teaching hospital, was found to be colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci leading to the temporary closure of the unit. She had acquired the organism nosocomially, most likely from an environmental source, which had been contaminated when the toilet of a former patient, also colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci, had become blocked and overflowed throughout his and the adjoining room. This is the first report of a hospital toilet as the transmission vector for vancomycin-resistant enterococci.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents , Cross Infection/transmission , Disease Reservoirs , Drug Resistance, Microbial , Enterococcus/isolation & purification , Infection Control , Toilet Facilities , Vancomycin , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Bacterial Typing Techniques , British Columbia , DNA Primers , Fatal Outcome , Female , Hospitals, Teaching , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Lymphoblastoid cell derived from a complementation group C xeroderma patient were unable to remove 06-methyl guanine residues formed in DNA by treatment of cells with low concentration of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). The xeroderma cells were competent in their ability to excise 3-methyl adenine adducts. MNNG treatment induced excision repair in the xeroderma line and in addition the treatment resulted in the presence of numerous single-strand breaks in the DNA. The single gene, UV-excision-defective mutants of Escherichia coli, uvrA and uvrB, are able to excise MNNG-induced 06-methyl guanine adducts indicating that excision of this compound is not due to operation of UV endonuclease system.
