Project description:There is differential expression of genes between cases and controls using microarray analysis, and genes that are crucial for host defence responses are significantly up-regulated in cases during pneumococcal infection.
Project description:There is differential expression of genes between cases and controls using microarray analysis, and genes that are crucial for host defence responses are significantly up-regulated in cases during pneumococcal infection. Affymetrix microarray technology was used to compare the levels of mRNA between cases and controls and to evaluate whether this is influenced by underlying HIV cormobidity, and if association with different disease outcomes (death vs. survival) exists.
Project description:Influenza A virus (IAV) predisposes individuals to secondary infections with the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus). Infections may manifest as pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis or otitis media (OM). It remains controversial as to whether secondary pneumococcal disease is due to the induction of an aberrant immune response or IAV induced immunosuppression. Moreover, as the majority of studies have been performed in the context of pneumococcal pneumonia, it remains unclear how far these findings can be extrapolated to other pneumococcal disease phenotypes. Here, we demonstrate that the viral hemagglutinin (HA) mediates bacterial OM by inducing a pro-inflammatory response in the middle ear cavity in a replication-dependent manner. Importantly, our findings show that it is the inflammatory response that mediates pneumococcal replication; not viral suppression of the immune system or epithelial damage. This study provide the first evidence that HA induced inflammation drives pneumococcal replication in the middle ear cavity, which has important consequences to the treatment of pneumococcal OM.
Project description:PKD2 Arg803* is the most common mutation in Taiwan ADPKD Cohort. Genotyping of 96 PKD2 Arg803* individuals was performed in Axiom Genome-Wide TWB 2.0 Array Plate to study the existence of founder mutation in Taiwan
Project description:Although smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer, only 7% of female lung cancer patients in Taiwan have a history of cigarette smoking, extremely lower than those in Caucasian females. This report is a comprehensive analysis of the molecular signature of non-smoking female lung cancer in Taiwan.