Substantial sub-clinical inflammation occurs widely and over prolonged periods in patients with FMF, indicating that the relatively infrequent clinically overt attacks represent the 'tip of the iceberg' in this disorder. Both basal and peak acute phase protein concentrations were greater in MEFV heterozygotes than in wild-type controls, regardless of mutation demonstrating a 'pro-inflammatory' phenotype among FMF carriers. Upregulation of the acute phase response among carriers of FMF may augment their innate host response and contribute to better resistance to infection.
Aldose reductase (AR) inhibitors have vital importance in the treatment and prevention of diabetic complications. In this study, rat kidney AR was purified 19.34-fold with a yield of 3.49% and a specific activity of 0.88 U/mg using DE-52 Cellulose anion exchange chromatography, gel filtration chromatography and 2′5′ ADP Sepharose-4B affinity chromatography, respectively. After purification, the in vitro inhibition effects of some phenolic acids (tannic acid, chlorogenic acid, sinapic acid, protocatechuic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid, α-resorcylic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid and gallic acid) were investigated on purified enzyme. We determined IC50, Ki values and inhibition types of these phenolic acids. As a result, tannic and chlorogenic acid had a strong inhibition effect. On the other hand, gallic acid had a weak inhibition effect. In this study, all phenolic acids except for chlorogenic acid and p-coumaric acid showed non-competitive inhibition effects on rat kidney AR.
Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are known as a drug-target enzymes. The inhibitors of the enzyme are important compounds for discovering new therapeutic agents and understanding in detail protein-drug interactions at the molecular level. For this purpose, the in vitro effects of some anti-inflammatory agents such as tenoxicam, fluorometholone acetate, and dexamethasone were investigated on esterase activity of human erythrocyte CA-I and CA-II in this study. hCA-I and hCA-II were purified by affinity chromatography with a yield of 47.25% and 87%, and a specific activity of 642.8 EU/mg proteins and 5576.9 EU/mg proteins, respectively. SDS-PAGE was performed to determine the purity of the enzymes. Inhibitory effects of the drugs on hCA-I and hCA-II were determined by spectrophotometric method. IC50 values for hCA-I and hCA-II were 0.198, 2.18, 11.7, 0.11, 17.5 and 14 μm using tenoxicam, fluorometholone acetate, and dexamethasone, respectively. For fluorometholone acetate and dexamethasone, Ki values from Lineweaver-Burk plots were obtained as 1.044 and 21.2 μm (noncompetitive) for hCA-I and 9.98 and 8.66 μm (non-competitive) for hCA-II. In conclusion, tenoxicam, fluorometholone acetate, and dexamethasone showed potent inhibitory effects on esterase activity of hCA-I and hCA-II isozymes under in vitro conditions.
The majority of patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) have identifiable mutations in both alleles of the MEFV gene, while some individuals with paired MEFV mutations do not have clinical symptoms of the disease. During family studies we identified nine such individuals from six kindreds, most of whom either subsequently developed FMF or had other clinically significant inflammatory disease; one case benefiting substantially from colchicine therapy. Four individuals remained asymptomatic. Two further asymptomatic subjects with paired MEFV mutations were identified among 49 healthy controls from western Turkey, of whom a further 18.4 per cent were simple heterozygotes. This carrier rate was higher than would be expected from prevalence of FMF in this region, suggesting that penetrance of paired recognised pathogenic MEFV mutations may frequently be incomplete. MEFV genotyping results must be interpreted with due caution, and follow-up of apparently asymptomatic subjects with paired mutations is advisable.
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