Monowar Aziz

Publications (3)4.53 Total impact

• Article: Irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease: infectious gastroenteritis-related disorders?

  Shunji Ishihara, Monowar Aziz, Naoki Oshima, Yoshiyuki Mishima, Hiroshi Imaoka, Ichiro Moriyama, Yoshikazu Kinoshita
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  ABSTRACT: Infectious gastroenteritis may be one of the important factors in the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), with affected individuals often categorized as having post-infectious IBS (PI-IBS), and is linked to the onset of symptoms in approximately 10–20% of patients diagnosed with IBS. Intestinal mucosal infiltration of T cells and mast cells, and enterochromaffin cell hyperplasia are significant immunological and pathological findings that reveal the pathogenesis of PI-IBS, and results of laboratory studies using animal models of PI-IBS clearly support clinical evidence. Recently, infectious gastroenteritis has also been suggested to be associated with the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and various studies have suggested that individuals with IBS or IBS-like symptoms may be susceptible to initiation of IBD. However, it is still unclear whether infectious gastroenteritis is directly or indirectly (through PI-IBS) linked to the initiation of IBD. Additional studies are necessary to understand the clinical overlap among infectious gastroenteritis, IBS, and IBD.
  Clinical Journal of Gastroenterology 04/2012; 2(1):9-16.
• Article: Roles of milk fat globule-epidermal growth factor 8 in intestinal inflammation.

  Ryusaku Kusunoki, Shunji Ishihara, Monowar Aziz, Akihiko Oka, Yasumasa Tada, Yoshikazu Kinoshita
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  ABSTRACT: Milk fat globule-epidermal growth factor 8 (MFG-E8), a glycoprotein secreted from various cells, enhances engulfment of apoptotic cells by forming a link between phosphatidylserine on apoptotic cells and α(v)β(3)-integrin on phagocytes. This process is essential for maintaining the host immune system under physiological conditions. Apart from this scavenging function, MFG-E8 also directly regulates a variety of cellular functions, such as attenuating inflammation and healing of injured tissues. Furthermore, recent studies have revealed that MFG-E8 has anti-inflammatory and regenerating roles during intestinal inflammation. This review highlights novel findings regarding the roles of MFG-E8 in intestinal pathophysiology as well as its therapeutic potential for gut inflammatory disorders.
  Digestion 01/2012; 85(2):103-7. · 2.05 Impact Factor
• Article: RNA polymerase II mediated transcription from the polymerase III promoters in short hairpin RNA expression vector.

  Mohammad Rumi, Shunji Ishihara, Monowar Aziz, Hideaki Kazumori, Norihisa Ishimura, Takafumi Yuki, Chikara Kadota, Yasunori Kadowaki, Yoshikazu Kinoshita
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  ABSTRACT: RNA polymerase III promoters of human ribonuclease P RNA component H1, human U6, and mouse U6 small nuclear RNA genes are commonly used in short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expression vectors due their precise initiation and termination sites. During transient transfection of shRNA vectors, we observed that H1 or U6 promoters also express longer transcripts enough to express several reporter genes including firefly luciferase, green fluorescent protein EGFP, and red fluorescent protein JRed. Expression of such longer transcripts was augmented by upstream RNA polymerase II enhancers and completely inhibited by downstream polyA signal sequences. Moreover, the transcription of firefly luciferase from human H1 promoter was sensitive to RNA polymerase II inhibitor alpha-amanitin. Our findings suggest that commonly used polymerase III promoters in shRNA vectors are also prone to RNA polymerase II mediated transcription, which may have negative impacts on their targeted use.
  Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 02/2006; 339(2):540-7. · 2.48 Impact Factor