Nation-wide surveillance of human acute respiratory virus infections between 2013 and 2015 in Korea.

The prevalence of eight respiratory viruses detected in patients with acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in Korea was investigated through analysis of data recorded by the Korea Influenza and Respiratory Viruses Surveillance System (KINRESS) from 2013 to 2015. Nasal aspirate and throat swabs specimens were collected from 36 915 patients with ARIs, and viral nucleic acids were detected by real-time (reverse-transcription) polymerase chain reaction for eight respiratory viruses, including human respiratory syncytial viruses (HRSVs), influenza viruses (IFVs), human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs), human coronaviruses (HCoVs), human rhinovirus (HRV), human adenovirus (HAdV), human bocavirus (HBoV), and human metapneumovirus (HMPV). The overall positive rate of patient specimens was 49.4% (18 236/36 915), 5% of which carried two or more viruses simultaneously. HRV (15.6%) was the most predominantly detected virus, followed by IFVs (14.6%), HAdV (7.5%), HPIVs (5.8%), HCoVs (4.2%), HRSVs (3.6%), HBoV (1.9%), and HMPV (1.6%). Most of the ARIs were significantly correlated with clinical symptoms of fever, cough, and runny nose. Although HRV and HAdV were frequently detected throughout the year in patients, other respiratory viruses showed apparent seasonality. HRSVs and IFVs were the major causative agents of acute respiratory diseases in infants and young children. Overall, this study demonstrates a meaningful relationship between viral infection and typical manifestations of known clinical features as well as seasonality, age distribution, and co-infection among respiratory viruses. Therefore, these data could provide useful information for public health management and to enhance patient care for primary clinicians.

Complete Genome Sequence of Human Coronavirus NL63 CN0601/14, First Isolated in South Korea.

We report here the complete genome sequence of the human coronavirus NL63 CN0601/14 strain, first isolated from South Korea. It contains 18-nucleotide discontinuous deletions of the open reading frame 1a (ORF1a) and spike regions. This study will aid in our understanding of the complete genome sequences of isolated coronaviruses in South Korea.

Human Coronavirus in the 2014 Winter Season as a Cause of Lower Respiratory Tract Infection.

PURPOSE: During the late autumn to winter season (October to December) in the Republic of Korea, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common pathogen causing lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). Interestingly, in 2014, human coronavirus (HCoV) caused not only upper respiratory infections but also LRTIs more commonly than in other years. Therefore, we sought to determine the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, outcomes, and severity of illnesses associated with HCoV infections at a single center in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively identified patients with positive HCoV respiratory specimens between October 2014 and December 2014 who were admitted to Severance Children's Hospital at Yonsei University Medical Center for LRTI. Charts of the patients with HCoV infection were reviewed and compared with RSV infection. RESULTS: During the study period, HCoV was the third most common respiratory virus and accounted for 13.7% of infections. Coinfection was detected in 43.8% of children with HCoV. Interestingly, one patient had both HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-NL63. Mild pneumonia was most common (60.4%) with HCoV, and when combined with RSV, resulted in bronchiolitis. Two patients required care in the intensive care unit. However, compared with that of RSV infection, the disease course HCoV was short. CONCLUSION: Infections caused by HCoVs are common, and can cause LRTIs. During an epidemic season, clinicians should be given special consideration thereto. When combined with other medical conditions, such as neurologic or cardiologic diseases, intensive care unit (ICU) care may be necessary.

SETDB1 mediated FosB expression increases the cell proliferation rate during anticancer drug therapy.

The efficacy of anticancer drugs depends on a variety of signaling pathways, which can be positively or negatively regulated. In this study, we show that SETDB1 HMTase is down-regulated at the transcriptional level by several anticancer drugs, due to its inherent instability. Using RNA sequence analysis, we identified FosB as being regulated by SETDB1 during anticancer drug therapy. FosB expression was increased by treatment with doxorubicin, taxol and siSETDB1. Moreover, FosB was associated with an increased rate of proliferation. Combinatory transfection of siFosB and siSETDB1 was slightly increased compared to transfection of siFosB. Furthermore, FosB was regulated by multiple kinase pathways. ChIP analysis showed that SETDB1 and H3K9me3 interact with a specific region of the FosB promoter. These results suggest that SETDB1- mediated FosB expression is a common molecular phenomenon, and might be a novel pathway responsible for the increase in cell proliferation that frequently occurs during anticancer drug therapy. [BMB Reports 2016; 49(4): 238-243].

Variations in Spike Glycoprotein Gene of MERS-CoV, South Korea, 2015.

An outbreak of nosocomial infections with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus occurred in South Korea in May 2015. Spike glycoprotein genes of virus strains from South Korea were closely related to those of strains from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, virus strains from South Korea showed strain-specific variations.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 3 Persons, South Korea, 2015.

In May 2015, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection was laboratory confirmed in South Korea. Patients were a man who had visited the Middle East, his wife, and a man who shared a hospital room with the index patient. Rapid laboratory confirmation will facilitate subsequent prevention and control for imported cases.

Complete Genome Sequence of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus KOR/KNIH/002_05_2015, Isolated in South Korea.

The full genome sequence of a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was identified from cultured and isolated in Vero cells. The viral genome sequence has high similarity to 53 human MERS-CoVs, ranging from 99.5% to 99.8% at the nucleotide level.

Molecular epidemiology of a post-influenza pandemic outbreak of acute respiratory infections in Korea caused by human adenovirus type 3.

An outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections associated with human adenovirus (HAdV) occurred on a national scale in Korea from September to December 2010, following a major H1N1 influenza pandemic. Data from the Korea Influenza and Respiratory Surveillance System (KINRESS) showed an unusually high positive rate accounting for up to 20% of all diagnosed cases. To determine the principal cause of the outbreak, direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification followed by sequence analysis targeting parts of the hexon gene of HAdV was performed. Serotypes of 1,007 PCR-diagnosed HAdV-positive samples from patients with an acute upper respiratory tract illness were determined and epidemiological characteristics including major aged group and clinical symptoms were analyzed. The principal symptom of HAdV infections was fever and the vulnerable aged group was 1-5 years old. Based on sequence analysis, HAdV-3 was the predominant serotype in the outbreak, with an incidence of 74.3%. From the beginning of 2010 until May, the major serotypes were HAdV-1, 2, and 5 (70-100%) in any given period. However, an outbreak dominated by HAdV-3 started between July and August and peaked in September. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that there was no genetic variation in HAdV-3. The results demonstrated that an outbreak of upper respiratory illness followed by H1N1 influenza pandemic in Korea was caused mainly by emerged HAdV-3. J.

Avian influenza a (H5N1) virus antibodies in poultry cullers, South Korea, 2003-2004.

Transmission of influenza (H5N1) virus from birds to humans is a serious public health threat. In South Korea, serologic investigation among 2,512 poultry workers exposed during December 2003-March 2004 to poultry with confirmed or suspected influenza (H5N1) virus infection found antibodies in 9. Frequency of bird-to-human transmission was low.

Protein phosphatase 5 is necessary for ATR-mediated DNA repair.

Several recent studies have shown that protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) participates in cell cycle arrest after DNA damage, but its roles in DNA repair have not yet been fully characterized. We investigated the roles of PP5 in the repair of ultraviolet (UV)- and neocarzinostatin (NCS)-induced DNA damage. The results of comet assays revealed different repair patterns in UV- and NCS-exposed U2OS-PS cells. PP5 is only essential for Rad3-related (ATR)-mediated DNA repair. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of 53BP1 and BRCA1, important mediators of DNA damage repair, and substrates of ATR and ATM decreased in U2OS-PS cells exposed to UV radiation. In contrast, the cell cycle arrest proteins p53, CHK1, and CHK2 were normally phosphorylated in U2OS and U2OS-PS cells exposed to UV radiation or treated with NCS. In view of these results, we suggest that PP5 plays a crucial role in ATR-mediated repair of UV-induced DNA damage.

Ser1778 of 53BP1 Plays a Role in DNA Double-strand Break Repairs.

53BP1 is an important genome stability regulator, which protects cells against double-strand breaks. Following DNA damage, 53BP1 is rapidly recruited to sites of DNA breakage, along with other DNA damage response proteins, including gamma-H2AX, MDC1, and BRCA1. The recruitment of 53BP1 requires a tandem Tudor fold which associates with methylated histones H3 and H4. It has already been determined that the majority of DNA damage response proteins are phosphorylated by ATM and/or ATR after DNA damage, and then recruited to the break sites. 53BP1 is also phosphorylated at several sites, like other proteins after DNA damage, but this phosphorylation is not critically relevant to recruitment or repair processes. In this study, we evaluated the functions of phosphor-53BP1 and the role of the BRCT domain of 53BP1 in DNA repair. From our data, we were able to detect differences in the phosphorylation patterns in Ser25 and Ser1778 of 53BP1 after neocarzinostatin-induced DNA damage. Furthermore, the foci formation patterns in both phosphorylation sites of 53BP1 also evidenced sizeable differences following DNA damage. From our results, we concluded that each phosphoryaltion site of 53BP1 performs different roles, and Ser1778 is more important than Ser25 in the process of DNA repair.

Molecular genetic characterization of a Korean split hand/split foot malformation (SHFM).

Split hand/split foot malformation (SHFM; ectrodactyly) is genetically heterogeneous, with mutations identified at five loci (SHFM1 at 7q21.3, SHFM2 at Xq26, SHFM3 at 10q24, SHFM4 at 3q27 and SHFM5 at 2q31). In this study, we attempted to identify and localize the causative allele of a Korean case of SHFM. Pedigree analysis showed that the Korean SHFM was autosomally dominant and its penetrance was high, indicating that it was not caused by SHFM2. Clinical features were variable, but limited to the four limbs unlike SHFM1, SHFM4 and SHFM5. G-banding and FISH failed to identify any chromosomal abnormalities. We also performed mutation screening by SSCP and DNA sequencing, as well as loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis, to exclude the possibility that SHFM4 or SHFM5 were involved; these revealed no mutations in gene p63 and no LOH on 2q31, respectively. It therefore appears that the Korean SHFM may be caused by mutation of SHFM3. In fact, linkage analysis using informative microsatellite markers indicated that SHFM3 was linked to D10S577 with a maximum LOD score of 1.15 at recombination fraction zero. Finally, we identified two novel alleles (191 and 211 bp) of D10S577 that have not been found in Western populations.

Identification of enteroviruses by using monoclonal antibodies against a putative common epitope.

A common epitope region of enteroviruses was identified by sequence-independent single-primer amplification (SISPA), followed by immunoscreening of 11 cDNA libraries from two Korean enterovirus isolates (echoviruses 7 and 30) and a coxsackievirus B3 (ATCC-VR 30). The putative common epitope region was localized in the N terminus of VP1 when the displayed recombinant proteins from the phages were chased by the convalescent-phase sera. The genomic region encoding the common epitope region was amplified and then expressed by using the vector pGEX-5X-1. The antigenicity of the expressed recombinant protein was identified by Western blotting with guinea pig antisera for six different serotypes of enteroviruses. After successive immunization of mice with the recombinant common epitope protein, splenocytes were extracted and hybridized with P3X63-Ag8-653 cells. A total of 24 hybridomas that produced monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the putative common epitope of enteroviruses were selected. Four of these were immunoglobulin G1 isotypes with a kappa light chain. These MAbs recognized 15 Korean endemic serotypes and prototypes of enteroviruses in an indirect immunofluorescence assay. These results suggest that the expressed protein might be a useful antigen for producing group common antibodies and that the use of the MAbs against the putative common epitope of enteroviruses might be a valuable diagnostic tool for rapidly identifying a broad range of enteroviruses.