Clinical characteristics of unexplained sudden cardiac death in Korea.

In Western countries, sudden cardiac death (SCD) is closely related to coronary artery disease, but in Korea the clinical characteristics of SCD are not well determined. Over a 4-year period (June 1995 to May 1999), 186 cases of SCD, ranging in age from 16 to 75 years, were admitted to the Chonnam National University Hospital. In 82 (44.1%) of these, neither symptoms nor evidence of structural heart disease was found and so their clinical characteristics were investigated. There were 66 (80.5%) men and 16 (19.5%) women (male/female ratio = 4.1:1). The mean age was 50 +/- 14 years: 19 (23.2%) were in their 40s, 21 (25.6%) in their 50s, and 17 (20.7%) in their 60s. The time of circulatory collapse witnessed in 68 cases of SCD showed 2 peaks: between midnight and 03.00h (n=16, 23.5%) and between 09.00h and midday (n=15, 22.1%). Unexplained SCD occurred at home in 48 (64.9%) cases and on the street in 12 (16.2%); it occurred during normal daily routine activity in 23 (39.6%) and during sleep in 15 (25.9%). Thirty-three patients (40.2%) experienced various prodromal symptoms, including chest discomfort (n=13, 15.9%) and dyspnea (n=8, 9.8%). The electrocardiogram taken on arrival recorded asystole in 65 (79.3%) and ventricular fibrillation in 17 (20.7%). Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation was diagnosed in 14 (10 men, 4 women; 45 +/- 11 years) of 21 patients who recovered spontaneous circulation. Five (6.1%) patients were discharged alive, and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted in 2. Unexplained SCD is common in Korea and develops predominantly in middle-aged males around midnight or in the late morning usually with no prodromal symptoms (59.8%). Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation is thought to be one of the important causes.

Characterization and gene cloning of monoclonal antibody specific for the hepatitis B virus X protein.

The hepatis B virus X protein (HBx) has been thought to be implicated in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Although many functions of HBx have been reported, it is not clear which of HBx functions is important in hepatocellular carcinogenesis. To study HBx function, we produced a monoclonal anti-HBx Ab secreted by hybridoma cell clone H7 and mapped its epitope to a region of HBx between amino acids 29 and 48 by Western blot with truncated forms of HBx and by enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) with synthetic HBx peptides. The variable regions of H7 anti-HBx Ab were cloned by polymerase chain reaction using the degenerate-primers and by the 5' rapid amplification-cDNA end method. The sequence analyses revealed that the variable gene segments of the heavy and light chains are the members of mouse heavy chain variable gene 1 family and kappa light chain variable gene 2 family, respectively. In addition, J(H)2 or Jkappa4 gene segment at the end of the heavy-chain or light-chain variable region and DSP2.x gene segment in the CDR 3 of heavy chain were identified.