Graves' Disease after Administration of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccine in a Type 1 Diabetes Patient.

Although there is a great demand for increased coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination worldwide, rare side effects of the vaccine in susceptible individuals are attracting attention. We recently treated a patient with type 1 diabetes who had HLA-A*240201/A*020101, B*5401/B*5601, DRB1*0405/DRB1*0405, DPB1*0501/DPB1*0501 and DQB1*0401/DQB1*040 and developed Graves' disease soon after the administration of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine. While causal relationships between vaccinations and adverse events are difficult to discern due to both confounding and masking factors, our findings suggest that attention to possible adjuvant-related endocrinological diseases in certain individuals receiving SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is appropriate.

Protogenin mediates cell adhesion for ingression and re-epithelialization of paraxial mesodermal cells.

In the avian embryo, precursor cells of the paraxial mesoderm that reside in the epiblast ingress through the primitive streak and migrate bilaterally in an anterolateral direction. Herein, we report on the roles of Protogenin (PRTG), an immunoglobulin superfamily protein expressed on the surface of the ingressing and migrating cells that give rise to the paraxial mesoderm, in paraxial mesoderm development. An aggregation assay using L-cells showed that PRTG mediates homophilic cell adhesion. Overexpression of PRTG in the presumptive paraxial mesoderm delayed mesodermal cell migration due to augmented adhesiveness. In contrast, siRNA knockdown of PRTG impaired successive ingression of epiblast cells and disorganized the epithelial structure of the somites. These results suggest that PRTG mediates cell adhesion to regulate continuous ingression of cells giving rise to the paraxial mesodermal lineage, as well as tissue integrity.

Gene manipulation of chick embryos in vitro, early chick culture, and long survival in transplanted eggs.

We introduce a revolutionary gene transfer system in chick: transfect chick embryos at early developmental stage by electroporation in vitro, Early Chick (EC) culture, and transplant to the egg to let the embryo survive until E5.5. Referring to the fate map, we could target the tissues of transfection, or transfect large areas of the embryo. We could get tissue-specific expression of a transgene by tissue-specific promoter. This method is very convenient and rapid, but allows us to get stable expression of the transgene in combination with transposon system.

Electroporation as an efficient method of gene transfer.

Gene transfer by electroporation is an indispensable method for the study of developmental biology, especially for the study using chick embryos. Here we briefly review the principles of the method, and its application to chick embryos. Methods of transient misexpression and long-term misexpression by retrovirus vector or transposon system, and knockdown by small interference RNA are reviewed.