A general procedure is presented for the isolation of several liver microsomal target proteins of the reactive trifluoroacetyl halide metabolite of halothane. It was found that most of these proteins could be selectively extracted from microsomes with 0.1% sodium deoxycholate and separated into partially purified fractions by DEAE-Sepharose anion-exchange chromatography. Using this method, we describe the isolation and identification of a 63-kDa target protein of halothane in rat liver. Amino acid sequences of the N-terminal and of several internal peptides of the protein, as well as the deduced amino acid sequence of a nearly full-length rat liver cDNA clone of the protein, showed 98% identity with a reported murine cDNA that encodes for calreticulin, a major calcium-binding protein of the lumen of endoplasmic reticulum. Although it remains to be determined what role calreticulin has in the development of halothane hepatitis, this study has shown that calreticulin can be a target of reactive metabolites of xenobiotics.

Defining the pattern of lymphokine production associated with Brucella abortus is critical for advancing the development of B. abortus as a vaccine carrier. In the present study we investigated the ability of heatinactivated B. abortus or lipopolysaccharide from B. abortus to induce lymphokine production from purified human T cells in vitro. Gamma interferon (IFN-␥), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, and IL-5 induction was assayed by mRNA-specific PCR and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and bioassay for protein production. Following depletion of monocytes and B cells, B. abortus increased IFN-␥ and IL-2 mRNA expression in purified T cells compared with expression in unstimulated cells. In contrast, no IL-5 mRNA expression and only transient low-level IL-4 mRNA expression and no IL-4 protein secretion were detected. Phytohemagglutinin or phorbol myristate acetate plus ionomycin induced mRNA and protein for all these cytokines. Similar results were obtained with LPS purified from B. abortus. Removal of NK cells did not reduce lymphokine production, and enriched NK cells did not express IFN-␥ mRNA or secrete IFN-␥ protein in response to B. abortus, indicating that NK cells were not the responding population. Both CD4 ؉ and CD8 ؉ populations produced IFN-␥ and IL-2 in response to B. abortus. Preincubation of resting T cells with B. abortus or LPS from B. abortus for 7 days induced their differentiation into Th1-like cells as judged by their subsequent lymphokine response to phorbol myristate acetate plus ionomycin. These results suggest that B. abortus can induce differentiation of Th0 into Th1-type cells.

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