Active HHV-6 infection is not rare in SCT recipients. SCT from allelic-mismatch donors is associated with increased risk of active HHV-6 infection. Steroid therapy is associated with not only increased incidence of infection but also accelerated viral replication. Development of limbic encephalitis is associated with high HHV-6 DNA load.

This study investigated factors associated with the development of human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 encephalitis. Among 111 enrolled subjects, 12 patients developed central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. CNS dysfunction in four patients was found to have no association with HHV-6. The remaining eight patients displayed HHV-6 encephalitis (n ¼ 3), limbic encephalitis (HHV-6 DNA in cerebrospinal fluid was not examined; n ¼ 3) or CNS dysfunction because of an unidentified cause (n ¼ 2). Realtime PCR showed CNS dysfunction in the latter eight patients, which developed concomitant with the appearance of high plasma levels of HHV-6 DNA (X10 4 copies/ml). Overall, eight of the 24 patients with high-level HHV-6 DNA developed CNS dysfunction, whereas no patients developed CNS dysfunction potentially associated with HHV-6 infection if peak HHV-6 DNA was o10 4 copies/ ml. We next analyzed plasma concentrations of IL-6, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor-a among patients who displayed high-level plasma HHV-6 DNA and found elevated IL-6 concentrations preceding HHV-6 infection in patients who developed CNS dysfunction. (Mean ± s.d.: 865.7 ± 1036.3 pg/ml in patients with CNS dysfunction; 56.5±192.9 pg/ml in others; P ¼ 0.01). These results suggest that high-level HHV-6 load is necessary for the development of HHV-6 encephalitis, and systemic inflammatory conditions before HHV-6 infection form the preparatory conditions for progression to encephalopathy.

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The hair follicle contains stem/progenitor cells that supply progeny for skin development and the hair cycle. Several signaling molecules belonging to the Wnt, BMP, shh, and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling cascades are involved in the normal hair follicle cycle. However, the systemic mechanism of how these humoral factors are controlled remains largely unknown. Previously, we reported that Tsukushi (TSK), a member of the small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan family, functions extracellularly as a key coordinator of multiple signaling networks. Here, we show that TSK is expressed at the restricted areas of hair follicle during the morphogenesis and the hair cycle. Targeted disruption of the TSK gene causes the hair cycle to be delayed with low levels of TGF-β1 and phosphorylated Smad2/3 (pSmad2/3) expression. Biochemical analysis indicates that TSK directly binds to TGF-β1. Our data suggest that TSK controls the hair cycle by regulating TGF-β1 signaling.

Our results show a close correlation between clinicopathological features of HTLV-I-associated cutaneous lesions and prognosis.

The human gastrointestinal tract is colonized by a vast community of symbionts and commensals. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) form a group of related, low-GC-content, gram-positive bacteria that are considered to offer a number of probiotic benefits to general health. While the role of LAB in gastrointestinal microecology has been the subject of extensive study, little is known about how commensal prokaryotic organisms directly influence eukaryotic cells. Here, we demonstrate the generation of multipotential cells from adult human dermal fibroblast cells by incorporating LAB. LAB-incorporated cell clusters are similar to embryoid bodies derived from embryonic stem cells and can differentiate into endodermal, mesodermal, and ectodermal cells in vivo and in vitro. LAB-incorporated cell clusters express a set of genes associated with multipotency, and microarray analysis indicates a remarkable increase of NANOG, a multipotency marker, and a notable decrease in HOX gene expression in LAB-incorporated cells. During the cell culture, the LAB-incorporated cell clusters stop cell division and start to express early senescence markers without cell death. Thus, LAB-incorporated cell clusters have potentially wide-ranging implications for cell generation, reprogramming, and cell-based therapy.

During the wound-healing process, macrophages, fibroblasts, and myofibroblasts play a leading role in shifting from the inflammation phase to the proliferation phase, although little is known about the cell differentiation and molecular control mechanisms underlying these processes. Previously, we reported that Tsukushi (TSK), a member of the small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan family, functions as a key extracellular coordinator of multiple signalling networks. In this study, we investigated the contribution of TSK to wound healing. Analysis of wound tissue in heterozygous TSK-lacZ knock-in mice revealed a pattern of sequential TSK expression from macrophages to myofibroblasts. Quantitative PCR and in vitro cell induction experiments showed that TSK controls macrophage function and myofibroblast differentiation by inhibiting TGF-β1 secreted from macrophages. Our results suggest TSK facilitates wound healing by maintaining inflammatory cell quiescence.

The etiology of cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation and the potential for complications following cytotoxic chemotherapy in the absence of allogeneic transplantation are not clearly understood. Patients with adult T cell leukemia (ATL) are susceptible to opportunistic infections. In this study, the incidence, kinetics and clinical significance of reactivation of CMV, HHV-6, and EBV in ATL patients were investigated. Viral DNA in a total of 468 plasma samples from 34 patients was quantified using real-time PCR. The probability of CMV, HHV-6, and EBV reactivation by 100 days after the start of chemotherapy was 50.6%, 52.3%, and 21.6%, respectively. Although most CMV reactivations were self-limited, plasma CMV DNA tended to persist or increase if the CMV DNA levels in plasma reached ≥ 10(4) copies/ml. CMV reactivation was negatively associated with survival, but the P-value for this association was near the borderline of statistical significance (P=0.052). One patient developed fatal interstitial pneumonia concomitant with peak CMV DNA accumulation (1.6 × 10(6)  copies/ml plasma). Most HHV-6 and EBV reactivations were self-limited, and no disease resulting from HHV-6 or EBV was confirmed. HHV-6 and EBV reactivation were not associated with reduced survival (P=0.35 and 0.11, respectively). These findings demonstrated that subclinical reactivation of CMV, HHV-6, and EBV were common in ATL patients receiving chemotherapy. There were differences in the viral reactivation patterns among the three viruses. A CMV load ≥ 10(4) copies/ml plasma was indicative of subsequent exacerbation of CMV reactivation and developing serious clinical course.