著者

HIROSHI TAMURA JOHANNES REICH ISAO NAGAOKA

出版者

順天堂医学会

雑誌

順天堂醫事雑誌 (ISSN:21879737)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.62, no.2, pp.132-140, 2016 (Released:2016-07-02)

参考文献数

51

被引用文献数

6

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The Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) test is the most sensitive and reliable assay for the detection of trace amounts of bacterial endotoxins (lipopolysaccharides, or LPS), and is an accepted in vitro alternative to the rabbit pyrogen test for evaluations of parenteral drugs, biological products, and medical devices. There are three principal LAL tests, which can be categorized as both semi-quantitative and quantitative methods, including gel-clot, turbidimetric, and chromogenic assays. Since the 1970s, these tests have been successfully formulated and commercialized by US and Japanese manufacturers. More recently, in addition to the recombinant factor C-based assay, a novel product containing all of the recombinant coagulation factors from horseshoe crab has been developed, which may lead to the creation of a next generation LAL alternative. Furthermore, there are antimicrobial peptides called “host defense peptides (HDPs)” that play a key role in innate immune responses. The LAL test for HDP-related studies is challenging, because the active site of endotoxin could be masked by the binding with HDPs. Thus, it is very important to properly evaluate the actions of HDPs (human defensins and cathelicidin peptide LL-37) such as the neutralization of LPS, immunostimulatory functions, and anti-endotoxin activity. Moreover, sensitive detection of LPS in cell culture media should be conducted to address the problem of endotoxin contamination in the media. Here, we discuss the progress of LAL-based endotoxin assay technologies, as well as their applications and limitations, with a focus on innovative functional studies of HDPs.

著者

齋藤 孔良 齋藤 玲子

出版者

順天堂医学会

雑誌

順天堂醫事雑誌 (ISSN:21879737)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.59, no.1, pp.41-48, 2013-02-28 (Released:2014-11-26)

参考文献数

18

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インフルエンザワクチンは抗インフルエンザ薬とともに日本におけるインフルエンザ対策の要になっています. 日本を含む世界の多くの国々で使用されているスプリットワクチンは, ほぼ毎シーズンごとに抗原性が変化するウイルス膜蛋白質ヘマグルチニン (HA) が主成分であるため, 毎シーズンごとに世界規模のインフルエンザサーベイランスと各国の流行状況や抗体保有状況を考慮に入れたワクチン株の見直しが必要です. この総説では, 現在日本および世界各国で使用されているインフルエンザワクチンの性質, ワクチン株が毎年どのように決定されるか, ワクチンの投与量, スプリットワクチン以外の新しいワクチンの開発について説明します.