Research Activities

The followings are the academic paper sited from MedlineTM search. The research activities are limited but increasing. The place where the research took place can be found in the content.

  Kim TG. Kim HY. Lee SH. Cho CS. Park SH. Choi HB. Han H. Kim DJ., Systemic lupus erythematosus with nephritis is strongly associated with the TNFB*2 homozygote in the Korean population., Human Immunology. 46(1):10-7, 1996 Mar.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
St. Mary's Hospital, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract
To evaluate the association of TNFB NcoI polymorphism with SLE in the Korean population, we investigated the frequencies of the TNFB and HLADRB1 alleles in 281 controls and 97 SLE patients, including 56 patients with nephritis and 41 patients without nephritis. The frequency of the TNFB*2 homozygote in SLE was significantly increased over controls (43.3% vs 28.5%, RR = 1.9, p < 0.01). In SLE with nephritis, the TNFB*2 homozygote was more significantly increased (57.1% vs 28.5%, RR = 3.4, p < 0.0001), whereas there was no significant difference between SLE without nephritis and controls. The study of HLA-DRB 1 alleles revealed the increased frequencies of DRB1*02 and *03 (30.9% vs 18.2%, RR = 2.0, p < 0.01; 8.2% vs 2.1%, RR = 4.1, p < 0.05). There was no significantly different distribution of HLA-DRB1 alleles between SLE patients with nephritis and without nephritis. We found positive LD between TNFB*1 and HLA~DRlB1*13, and between TNFB*2 and the particular DRB1 allele: *15, *04, and *07 in controls and/or in SLE patients. After stratification for each HLADRB1 allele, SLE with nephritis showed a higher frequency of TNFB*2 homozygote compared with the corresponding controls in DRB1*15, *08, and *09 positives. Our results suggest that the TNFB*2 homozygote may be a strong susceptibility gene of SLE with nephritis in the Korean population.

  Kim HY. Lee SH. Yang HI. Park SH. Cho CS. Kim TG. Han H. Kim DJ., TNFB gene polymorphism in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in Korean., Korean Journal of Internal Medicine. l0(2):130-6, 1995 Jul.

Department of Internal Medicine, Microbiology,
Catholic University, Medical College, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract
To elucidate the gene frequency of TNFB Ncol polymorphism and its association with HLA class II antigen in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) in Korea. METHODS: We investigated the gene frequency of the TNFB alleles using DNA obtained from peripheral mononuclar cells in 141 healthy controls and in 58 patients with SLE. The polymorphisms of TNFB gene (735 bp) were studied by Ncol PCR-RELP. A portion of TNFB gene(735 bp) was amplified by PCR and its products were digested with Ncol restriction enzyme. The digested samples of amplified DNA were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. TNFB*1 and TNFB*2 alleles were identified according to polymorphic fragments on Ncol restriction site in the first intron of the TNFB gene. The generic types of HLA-DRBI were also determined by PCR with sequence specific primers(SSP) using genomic DNA from the same subjects. RESULTS: The genotypic frequency of TNFB*2 homozygote was significantly increased in patients with SLE compared with controls(RR = 2.36, P = 0.011). The frequency of HLA~DRBI*15 was also significantly increased in patients (RR = 2.27, P = 0.029). However, the increased frequency of TNFB*2 homozygote was apparently increased in nephritis group (RR = 2.79, P = 0.035), whereas the significance of TNFB*2 homozygote was weakened in non-nephritis group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that genetic predisposition of TNFB*2 homozygote is another risk factor in Korean SLE, especially in DR2 negative patients. In addition, TNFB*2 homozygote could have a tendency for the development of nephritis in patients with SLE.

  Park DJ. Cho CS. Lee SH. Park SH. Kim HY. , Thyroid disorders in Korean patients with systemic lupus erythematosus., Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology. 24(1):13-7, 1995.

Department of Internal Medicine,
Catholic University Medical College, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract
Although autoimmune thyroid diseases have been associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the prevalence of thyroid disorder is controversial. To clarify the prevalence of thyroid disorder in Korean patients with SLE, thyroid functions and diseases were evaluated in 63 SLE patients. Of these patients, Hashimoto's thyroiditis (9.5%) as well as euthyroid sick syndrome (14.3%) were more common than Graves' disease (4.8%). The prevalence of antithyroid autoantibodies (antimicrosomal and/or antithyroglobulin autoantibodies) in SLE was 27.0%. High titers of these autoantibodies were mainly detected in Hashimoto's thyroiditis. These results suggested that thyroid diseases are not uncommon in SLE and autoimmune thyroid diseases are possible manifestations in some patients with SLE. Antithyroid autoantibodies may be good predictors for the detection of Hashimoto's thyroiditis developing in SLE.

  Hong GH. Kim HY. Takeuchi F. Nakano K. Yamada H. Matsuta K. Han H. Tokunaga K. Ito K. Park KS., Association of complement C4 and HLA-DR alleles with systemic lupus erythematosus in Koreans., Journal of Rheumatology. 21(3):442-7, 1994 Mar.

Department of Biology,
Sungshin Womens University, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract
To examine the association of complement C4 and HLA-DR to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility in Korea. METHODS. Complement C4 protein typing was carried out by immunofixation and immunoblotting methods using EDTA-plasma from 60 patients with SLE and 72 healthy controls. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of C4 genes was also carried out using TaqI or HindIII for restriction enzymes. HLA-DR was determined by polymerase chain reaction amplification with sequence specific primers using genomic DNA from 67 patients with SLE and 72 healthy controls. RESULTS. The frequency of the C4AQ0 allele was significantly higher in the patients with SLE than in controls (41.7 vs 25.0%, p < 0.05). The deletion of the C4A gene commonly found in Caucasian patients with SLE was not observed in any patients. For HLA-DR, a significant increase of the haplotype DRB1*1501 was observed in the patients (26.9 vs 12.5%, p < 0.05) and DR9 was also significantly increased (23.9 vs 11.1%, p < 0.05). An increase in each DR2 and DR9 was independent of an increase in C4AQ0. The frequencies of DR2 and DR9 were significantly decreased in patients with renal involvement and alopecia, respectively. CONCLUSION. Our data suggested that the presence of C4AQ0 allele, DRB1*1501~DRB5*0101 haplotype and DR9 contributed to susceptibility to SLE in Koreans and that Korean SLE is based on a different genetic background from Caucasian patients.

  Lee HS. Spargo BH., A renal biopsy study of lupus nephropathy in the United States and Korea., American Journal of Kidney Diseases. 5(5):242-50, 1985 May.

Abstract
A comparative study was made using renal biopsy specimens obtained from US and Korean patients with lupus nephropathy. Significant differences were observed in the morphologic distribution and activity of the disease. Korean patients exhibited a higher frequency of World Health Organization class IV lupus nephropathy (77.8%) than black (47.2%) or white (42.1%) US patients (P less than 0.025 P less than 0.05, respectively), and a higher inflammatory intensity index (P less than 0.045) than US patients. Korean patients also showed a significantly lower frequency of WHO class III nephropathy (P less than 0.05). No significant morphologic differences were seen between the US white and black patient populations. These data suggest that the Korean patients had a more active and potentially more fulminating disease than the US patients. Whether differences in genetic and external causative factors play a role in the observed differences in renal histopathology among these groups remains to be clarified.

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