CYP2E1 rs2031920, COMT rs4680 Polymorphisms, Cigarette Smoking, Alcohol Use and Lung Cancer Risk in a Japanese Population

Kakino, Kenichi,Kiyohara, Chikako,Horiuchi, Takahiko,Nakanishi, Yoichi Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.8

Background: Cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genes may contribute to susceptibility to lung cancer because of their critical involvement in mechanisms of carcinogenesis. Materials and Methods: We evaluated the role of CYP2E1 rs2031920 and COMT rs4680 in a case-control study involving 462 lung cancer cases and 379 controls in Japanese. Logistic regression was used to assess adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Multiplicative and additive interactions with cigarette smoking or alcohol use were also examined. Results: Neither CYP2E1 rs2031920 nor COMT rs4680 was associated with lung cancer risk overall. However, smokers with the CC genotype of CYP2E1 rs2031920 (OR = 3.57, 95% CI = 2.26 - 5.63) presented a higher risk of lung cancer than those with at least one T allele (OR = 2.91, 95% CI = 1.70 - 4.98) as compared to never-smokers with at least one T allele (reference). Subjects with excessive drinking and the CC genotype of CYP2E1 rs2031920 had a significantly higher risk (OR = 2.22, 95% CI =1.39 - 3.56) than appropriate drinkers with at least one T allele. A similar tendency was observed between COMT rs4680 and either smoking or drinking habits. There were no multiplicative or additive interactions between the polymorphisms and either smoking or alcohol use. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that CYP2E1 rs2031920 and COMT rs4680 are not major contributors to lung cancer risk in our Japanese population. Future studies on the genetics of lung cancer in Japanese and their environment interactions are required.

Efficient production of recombinant T7 endonuclease I using silkwormbaculovirus expression vector system

Kakino Kohei,Masuda Akitsu,Hino Masato,Ebihara Takeru,Xu Jian,Mon Hiroaki,Fujita Ryosuke,Fujii Tsuguru,Kusakabe Takahiro,Lee Jae Man 한국응용곤충학회 2020 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.23 No.3

Recently, T7 Endonuclease I (T7E1) cleavage assay has been widely employed as an efficient approach for detecting mutations from CRISPR/Cas9 targeted samples. This enzyme is sufficient to detect single- and multiple-base mismatches from various heteroduplex DNA samples. However, T7E1 is quite expensive for researchers to use it only for screening mutations, especially in the condition of a large number of test samples. Regarding the production of this enzyme, to data, only the E. coli system has been reported and the highly overexpressed T7E1 seems toxic to the E. coli host cells. Thus, in this study, we tested whether the silkwormbaculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is suitable to produce recombinant T7 Endonuclease I (rT7E1). The rT7E1 with N- or C-tags in cultured silkworm cells and silkworm pupae were successfully expressed. Our results demonstrated that the rT7E1-Ntag was highly expressed in silkworm pupae and we obtained rT7E1 proteins in high purity. Moreover, rT7E1 from silkworm-BEVS sufficiently recognized and cleaved the mismatches of designed and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated DNA substrates, which was equivalent to the commercial rT7E1 of the E. coli system. Taken together, our study would greatly support the genome-editing research by providing a cost-effective and active rT7E1 enzyme.

Production of an active Mus musculus IL-3 using updated silkworm-based baculovirus expression vector system

Nagai Ryo,Ebihara Takeru,Kakino Kohei,Masuda Akitsu,Xu Jian,Minamihata Kosuke,Kamiya Noriho,Kongkrongtong Tatphon,Kawahara Masahiro,Mon Hiroaki,Fujii Tsuguru,Kusakabe Takahiro,Lee Jae Man 한국응용곤충학회 2021 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.24 No.3

Due to the biological significance and therapeutic potential of Interleukin-3 (IL-3) secreted mainly by activated T cells, various protein expression systems have been challenged to produce recombinant IL3 to meet the increasing demands worldwide. Recently, we established an updated silkworm-based baculovirus expression vector system (silkworm-BEVS), which in most cases, produces eukaryotic proteins in biological or enzymatical active forms with considerable amounts. We attempted to reconstruct and express a recombinant mouse IL-3 (rMmIL-3) with C-terminal His8-Strep tags in silkworm-BEVS in the current study. From our results, we gained an active glycosylated rMmIL-3 protein in a substantial amount and quality. As compared with the E. coli expression system, silkworm-BEVS is a better choice regarding the glycosylations attached in rMmIL-3 and upscalable system in case that a commercial amount is required in the future. Collectively, our method shares an excellent model to produce interleukin molecular for approaching pharmaceutical applications.

Optimal silkworm larva host for high-level production of Mus musculus IL-4 using a baculovirus expression vector system

Masahiko Kobayashi,Jian Xu,Kohei Kakino,Akitsu Masuda,Masato Hino,Naoki Fujimoto,Kosuke Minamihata,Noriho Kamiya,Hiroaki Mon,Hiroshi Iida,Masateru Takahashi,Takahiro Kusakabe,이재만 한국응용곤충학회 2020 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.23 No.1

Interleukine-4 (IL-4) is a cytokine that plays an important role in the immune system and recognized as a biological medicine. Therefore, there is a demand for the production of IL-4 with high performance. The expression of a recombinant IL-4 protein in the prokaryotic system usually results in the formation of an inclusion body. To date, the solution to obtain those active products without the refolding process remains to be established. In this study, we tried to acquire a biologically active recombinant Mus musculus IL-4 (rMmIL-4) using a silkworm-baculovirus expression vector system (silkworm-BEVS). We constructed two recombinant baculoviruses coding rMmIL-4 with the distinct location of affinity purification tags and succeeded in the expression and purification of rMmIL-4 proteins directly without the refolding process. Both purified proteins displayed comparable biological activity to the commercial proteins produced by the E. coli expression system. Besides, we performed screening of silkworm strains to seek optimal hosts for the mass-production of rMmIL-4. Intriguingly, we found that some silkworm strains showed significantly higher secretion levels of rMmIL-4 in silkworm sera. Our study provides meaningful insights into the industrial-scale production of rMmIL-4 with high productivity for pharmaceutical applications in the future.

¹²³I-Labeled oxLDL Is Widely Distributed Throughout the Whole Body in Mice

Nakano, Atushi,Kawashima, Hidekazu,Miyake, Yoshinori,Zeniya, Tsutomu,Yamamoto, Akihide,Koshino, Kazuhiro,Temma, Takashi,Fukuda, Tetsuya,Fujita, Yoshiko,Kakino, Akemi,Kanaya, Shigehiko,Sawamura, Tatsuy 대한핵의학회 2018 핵의학 분자영상 Vol.52 No.2

Purpose Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) plays a key role in endothelial dysfunction, vascular inflammation, and atherogenesis. The aim of this study was to assess blood clearance and in vivo kinetics of radiolabeled oxLDL in mice. Methods We synthesized $^{123}I-oxLDL$ by the iodine monochloride method, and performed an uptake study in CHO cells transfected with lectin-like oxLDL receptor-1 (LOX-1). In addition, we evaluated the consistency between the $^{123}I-oxLDL$ autoradiogram and the fluorescence image of DiI-oxLDL after intravenous injection for both spleen and liver. Whole-body dynamic planar images were acquired 10 min post injection of $^{123}I-oxLDL$ to generate regional time-activity curves (TACs) of the liver, heart, lungs, kidney, head, and abdomen. Regional radioactivity for those excised tissues as well as the bladder, stomach, gut, and thyroid were assessed using a gamma counter, yielding percent injected dose (%ID) and dose uptake ratio (DUR). The presence of $^{123}I-oxLDL$ in serum was assessed by radio-HPLC. Results The cellular uptakes of $^{123}I-oxLDL$ were identical to those of DiI-oxLDL, and autoradiograms and fluorescence images also exhibited consistent distributions. TACs after injection of $^{123}I-oxLDL$ demonstrated extremely fast kinetics. The radioactivity uptake at 10 min post-injection was highest in the liver ($40.8{\pm}2.4%$ ID). Notably, radioactivity uptake was equivalent throughout the rest of the body ($39.4{\pm}2.7%$ ID). HPLC analysis revealed no remaining $^{123}I-oxLDL$ or its metabolites in the blood. Conclusion $^{123}I-oxLDL$ was widely distributed not only in the liver, but also throughout the whole body, providing insight into the pathophysiological effects of oxLDL.