Search

8-Nitroguanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-nitro-cGMP) is a nitric oxide metabolite and an important second messenger. 8-Nitro-cGMP reacts with sulfhydryl groups forming a novel posttranslational modification, namely, S-guanylation. In this work, we found, by using a quantitative competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay procedure, that S-guanylated human serum albumin (S-cGMP-HSA) is a component of normal plasma, and that hemodialysis patients decrease its concentration, on an average, from 68 to 34 nM. End-stage renal disease is often accompanied by septicemia, and we found that S-cGMP-HSA possesses an in vitro antibacterial effect with half maximal inhibitory concentration of approximately 2 μM against Escherichia coli American Type Culture Collection. Our findings indicate that S-cGMP-HSA can be regarded as an endogenous antibacterial agent in healthy conditions and as a useful new class of antibacterial agents with a circulation time sufficient for in vivo biological activity. The clinical development of S-cGMP-HSA as a safe and strong antibacterial agent arisen from endogenous posttranslational modification would be expected., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

There are advantages to using aortic homografts as aortic valve replacements (AVR), particularly in patients with complex infective endocarditis. To determine the importance of a domestic homograft valve bank, our 23 surgical cases of homograft-AVR were reviewed. Since 2000, the Tissue Bank of the National Cardiovascular Center has supplied 23 aortic homograft valves for the treatment of complex aortic valve endocarditis. Fourteen of 23 patients had prosthetic valve endocarditis and 20 patients had an aortic annular abscess. The early mortality rate was 17% (4 patients), in all of whom prosthetic valve replacement had been performed previously. No recurrent endocarditis and no recurrent aortic regurgitation were noted at medium-term follow-up. An aortic homograft valve is the conduit of choice in cases of infective endocarditis and the importance of a domestic homograft valve bank should be recognized.