The complete 648 amino acid sequence of the human raf oncogene was deduced from the 2977 nucleotide sequence of a fetal liver cDNA. The cDNA has been used to obtain clones which extend the human c-raf-1 locus by an additional 18.9 kb at the 5' end and contain all the remaining coding exons.

Two human genes homologous to the raf/mil oncogene have been cloned and sequenced. One, c-raf-2, is a processed pseudogene; the other, c-raf-1, contains nine exons homologous to both raf and mil and two additional exons homologous to mil. A 3' portion of c-raf-1 containing six of the seven amino acid differences relative to murine v-raf can substitute for the 3' portion of v-raf in a transformation assay. Sequence homologies between c-raf-1 and Moloney leukemia virus at both ends of v-raf indicate that the viral gene was acquired by homologous recombination. Although the data are consistent with the traditional model of retroviral transduction, they also raise the possibility that the transduction occurred in a double crossover event between proviral DNA and the murine gene.

A multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay was developed for the rapid simultaneous detection of category A select bacterial agents (Bacillus anthracis and Yersinia pestis) and parasitic pathogens (Leishmania species) in blood using the Cepheid Smart Cycler platform. B. anthracis (Sterne) and Yersinia. pseudotuberculosis were used in the assay for optimization for B. anthracis and Y. pestis, respectively. The specificity of the target amplicons [protective antigen gene of B. anthracis and rRNA genes of other pathogens or human (internal control)] was evaluated by staining the amplicons with SYBR Green I and determining their individual melting temperatures (T(m)). As a novel approach for pathogen semiquantitation, the Tm peak height of the amplicon was correlated with a known standard curve of pathogen-spiked samples. This assay was able to detect DNA in blood spiked with less than 50 target cells/ml for all of the pathogens. The sensitivity of this assay in blood was 100% for the detection of Leishmania donovani from leishmaniasis patients and B. anthracis (Sterne) from symptomatic mice. The time necessary for performing this assay including sample preparation was less than 1.5 hours, making this a potentially useful method for rapidly diagnosing and monitoring the efficacy of drugs or vaccines in infected individuals.

A combinatorial, phage-display library of human Fab antibody fragments was generated from IgG heavy chain (HC) and light chain (LC) genes cloned from the lymphocytes of a vaccinia virus (VACV)-immune donor. To ascertain the complexity of the library, nucleotide sequences of the variable regions of the HC and LC genes were determined. Fourteen distinct HC and 18 distinct LC (7 kappa and 11 lambda) that formed a combinatorial library of 22 Fabs were identified. Immune-precipitation of radiolabeled VACV revealed that at least six different VACV proteins were recognized by the antibodies. Plaque-reduction neutralization demonstrated that six of the Fabs neutralized VACV in the presence of anti-human antibody. ELISA studies indicated that 15 of the Fabs were cross-reactive with monkeypox virus.

On the basis of the data presented in this collaborative study, Sample 2 (code 97/750) was established as the 2nd International Standard for hepatitis B virus DNA for NAT-based assays with a potency of 10(6) IU/ml (500,000 IU/vial).