Health-Med

2021-07-20

Genetic and chemical inhibition of IRF5 suppresses pre-existing mouse lupus-like disease

The transcription factor IRF5 has been implicated as a therapeutic target for the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, IRF5 activation status during the disease course and the effects of IRF5 inhibition after disease onset are unclear.
2021-06-14

Highly specific monoclonal antibodies and epitope identification against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein for antigen detection tests

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a major global public health concern. Although rapid point-of-care testing for detecting viral antigen is important for management of the outbreak, the current antigen tests are less sensitive than nucleic acid testing.
2021-05-17

Maintenance DNA methylation in pre-meiotic germ cells regulates meiotic prophase by facilitating homologous chromosome pairing

Heterochromatin-related epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, facilitate pairing of homologous chromosomes during the meiotic prophase of mammalian spermatogenesis. In pro-spermatogonia, de novo DNA methylation plays a key role in completing meiotic prophase and initiating meiotic division. However, the role of maintenance DNA methylation in the regulation of meiosis, especially in the adult, is not well understood. Here, we reveal that NP95 (also known as UHRF1) and DNMT1 – two essential proteins for maintenance DNA methylation – are co-expressed in spermatogonia and are necessary for meiosis in male germ cells.
2021-05-14

Refinement of the clinical variant interpretation framework by statistical evidence and machine learning

Although the American College of Medical Geneticsand Genomics/Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG/AMP)guidelines for variant interpretation are used widely in clinical ge-netics, there is room for improvement of these knowledge-basedguidelines.