Objective To explore the Csx/Nkx 2.5 gene expression in the heart during the embryonic period and its mutation in subjects with congenital heart disease(CHD). Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to reveal the Csx/Nkx 2.5 gene expression, and PCR-SSCP-silver staining and DNA sequencing for mutation. Sixty-three embryos or fetus, 126 children with congenital heart diseases and 30 normal controls were included in the study. Results Elevated expression of Csx/Nkx 2.5 gene was found in atrium and trabecular of ventricle. After 16 weeks of gestation, the expression in atrium was stable, while slightly reduced in the trabecular. The expression in the ventricle was lower than that in the atrium in early embryonic stage followed by continuous increase which was most remarkable in 13~16 weeks and kept stable after 16 weeks. No expression of Csx/Nkx 2.5 was detected in epicardium. Three different kinds of gene polymorphisms in the third base of the 21st amino acid codon were found in all subjects:A,G,A/G. Conclusions Gene Csx/Nkx 2.5 plays an important role during the fetal heart development and its expression varies in different parts of the heart during different period in fetal development. Neither the sporadic nor the CHD cases showed any mutations in this study.

Objective: To observe the therapy effect of immunonutrition in obstructive jaundice(OJ) patients during perioperative period. Methods: 46 patients with OJ were randomized into two groups:research group(n=21,given immunonutrition) and control group(n=25,given regular nutrition).Each was given an isocaloric and isonitrogenous diet during perioperative period.The variables(T-cell subsets,total lymphocytes,albumin,blood bilirubin) were measured before and day 3 and 10 after operation.The rate of infectious complications was also recorded. Results: Compared with the control group,the T-cell subsets level and total lymphocytes were higher and the rate of infectious complications was lower(P

Objective To explore the relationship between hepatitis B virus (HBV) concentration and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence in HCC patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Methods 148 HCC patients associated with HBV infection undergoing OLT were enrolled in the study.Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method.Cox multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the parameters predicting HCC recurrence. Results Survival rates at 1,3 and 5 years were 86%,72% and 72%,respectively,and disease-free survival rate were 79%,71% and 54%,respectively.In this series 43 patients suffered from HCC recurrence.The recurrence rate was 29.1%(43/148),with the mean recurrence time being (13.16 ± 14.17) months (1 ～ 54 months).Exceeding Milan criteria (HR = 9.89; 95% CI 2.30 ～ 42.52; P = 0.002) and pretransplant HBV DNA level ＞ 5log10copies/ml (HR = 2.26; 95% CI 1.01 ～ 5.04; P = 0.047) were significant independent predictors for posttransplant HCC recurrence. Conclusion High HBV DNA load before transplantation is statistically associated with recurrence of HCC after liver transplantation.

Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of postoperative radiotherapy and postoperative chemotherapy for patients with endometrial cancer,which may give support for clinical proper selection.Methods The randomized controlled trials (RCTs)comparing postoperative radiotherapy with post-operative chemotherapy for patients with endometrial cancer were searched in EMBase,PubMed,Cochrane Library,Chinese Biomedical Literature Data,China National Knowledge Infrastructure,and VIP database from the inception to August 201 5.Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of included studies and extrac-ted data.We analyzed the statistic data using RevMan 5.1 software.Results Three RCTs concluding 1 1 21 patients were included.Meta analysis showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in five-year survival rate (RR =0.94,95%CI:0.80-1 .1 0,Z =0.77,P =0.440),five-year progression-free survival rate (RR =0.98,95%CI:0.90-1 .07,Z =0.52,P =0.61 0)and recurrence rate (RR =1 .06, 95%CI:0.91 -1 .24,Z =0.75,P =0.450),but there were significant differences between the two groups in grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia (RR =0.1 3,95%CI:0.07-0.27,Z =5.62,P <0.000 01 )and grade 3-4 neu-tropenia (RR =0.01 ,95%CI:0.00-0.03,Z =8.27,P <0.000 01 ).Subgroup analysis showed that there were significant differences between the two groups in five-year survival rate (RR =0.79,95%CI:0.68-0.91 , Z =3.1 5,P =0.002)and five-year progression-free survival rate (RR =0.82,95%CI:0.69-0.97,Z =2.31 ,P =0.020)for patients with Ⅲ-Ⅳ stage endometrial cancer.Conclusion Current evidence indicates that compared with postoperative radiotherapy,postoperative chemotherapy may improve the survival rate for pa-tients with advanced stage endometrial cancer.The long-term curative effects still need to be confirmed by RCTs with high quality and large sample.

Objective To analyze the clinical feature, diagnosis and treatment of Alstrom syndrome. Method The clinical data of a case of Alstrom syndrome and the result of her ALMS1 sequencing by the two generation sequencing were retrospectively reviewed. Results The 12 year and 10 month old female suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, obesity, optic nerve diseases, sensorineural hearing loss, high blood glucose and irregular menstruation since one month of birth. Laboratory examination showed she had high testosterone level, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. High-throughput sequencing confirmed there was ALMS1 gene mutation which includes hybrid frameshift mutations of c.5418delC and p.Y1807Tfs*23, and heterozygous nonsense mutation of c.10549C>T and p.Q3517*, and c.5418delC was a new variation reported for the first time. Conclusion Alstrom syndrome is an autosomal recessive genetic disease, which is characterized by multiple organ dysfunction and metabolic syndrome, and can be diagnosed by gene detection.

The American Transplant Congress (ATC) is an influential academic congress in the field of organ transplantation. In this article, the hotspots of liver transplantation in 2020 ATC were summarized, including the latest research progress in donor liver procurement and quality assessment, donor liver preservation and ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma and other hepatic malignancies, complications after liver transplantation, transplantation immunology, perioperative management and donor-derived infection, pediatric liver transplantation and cell therapy, etc.

Objective:To investigate the effect of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitor PU-H71 combined with X-ray on radioresistant human cervical cancer cells.Methods:The expression levels of Hsp90 gene between cervical cancer tissues and adjacent tissues were analyzed by bioinformatics. Radioresistant cervical cancer cell lines HeLa RR and SiHa RR were obtained by fractional irradiations (2 Gy per fraction, 30 fractions). The cell lines were divided into the control group (treated with dimethyl sulfoxide), irradiation alone group, PU-H71 group (treated with 0.5 μmol/L PU-H71), and PU-H71+irradiation group (irradiation at 24 h after treatment with 0.5 μmol/L PU-H71). Cell survival was detected by clonal formation assay. Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect γH2AX foci at 1, 6, and 24 h after cell treatment. The expression level of Rad51 protein at 1, 2, 6, 12, and 24 h after cell treatment was detected using Western blot. The expression level of phosphorylated DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (p-DNA-PKcs) was measured at 2 h after cell treatment. Cell apoptosis at 48 h after cell treatment was assessed by flow cytometry. Results:PU-H71 enhanced the sensitivity of radioresistant cervical cancer cells to X-ray. Compared with the irradiation alone group, the radiation sensitization ratios (SER) of HeLa RR and SiHa RR cells at 10% survival were 1.36 and 1.27, and the apoptosis rates were increased by approximately 72.1% and 63.1% in the PU-H71+irradiation group, respectively. PU-H71 delayed the duration of γH2AX foci induced by X-ray, inhibited the phosphorylation of DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), thus preventing non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) repair and delaying homologous recombination repair.Conclusion:PU-H71 increases the radiosensitivity of radioresistant cervical cancer cells by inhibiting the repair pathway of DNA double-strand break, which is expected to be a radiosensitizer to enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy for cervical cancer.

Objective:To investigate the role of peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) in anti-β 2GP1/β 2GP1 complex-induced formation of neutrophil extracellular trapping networks (NETs). Methods:Peripheral blood neutrophils were isolated from healthy humans by density gradient centrifugation. PAD4 expression was detected by Western blot after the neutrophils were incubated with anti-β 2GP1/β 2GP1 complex (100 μg/ml) for a certain period of time. PAD4 inhibitor Cl-amidine (10 μmol/L) was used to pretreat neutrophils. Changes in the expression of citrullinated histone 3 (CitH3) at protein level and the relative content of myeloperoxidase (MPO)-DNA were detected by Western blot and ELISA, respectively. A mouse thrombus model of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) was established by inferior vena cava stenosis. Intervention experiments were performed by intraperitoneal injection of Cl-amidine (50 mg/kg). The expression of CitH3 at protein level in plasma was detected by Western blot. The concentration of circulating free DNA (cf-DNA) in plasma was measured with fluorescent staining. Thrombus in inferior vena cava was collected and weighted to evaluate whether inhibiting the activity of PAD4 would suppress the APS-IgG-induced formation of NETs and thrombosis. Differences among groups were analyzed by t test or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results:The expression of PAD4 induced by anti-β 2GP1/β 2GP1 complex was significantly down-regulated in the cytoplasm, but increased in the nucleus [(3.67±0.32) vs (1.47±0.19), t=10.22, P<0.05; (0.57±0.19) vs (2.97±0.31), t=11.49, P<0.05]. Cl-amidine significantly inhibited the anti-β 2GP1/β 2GP1 complex-induced expression of CitH3 protein by neutrophils [(2.46±0.47) vs (0.46±0.13), t=12.24, P<0.01], and reduced the MPO-DNA content in the culture supernatants [(4.09±0.94) vs (2.80±0.57), t=4.23, P<0.05]. In vivo, Cl-amidine significantly inhibited the expression of CitH3 protein [(3.97±0.56) vs (1.09±0.45), t=11.83, P<0.01] and decreased the content of cf-DNA [(2 685.0±735.8) vs (1 784.0±577.0), t=3.93, P<0.05] in plasma of APS mice. Compared with the experimental APS mice in the control group, the weight of thrombus in the APS mice pretreated with Cl-amidine was significantly reduced [(8.22±3.06) vs (4.89±1.90), t=2.27, P<0.05]. Conclusions:PAD4 was involved in the formation of NETs induced by anti-β 2GP1/β 2GP1 complex, which might play an important role in APS thrombosis.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the reversal effect of targeted modulation of bcl-2 expression by miR-15a and miR-16 on drug resistance of human colon cancer cells.

METHODSMimics or inhibitors of miR-15a and miR-16 were transfected into HCT8 or HCT8/VCR cells with the help of Lipofectamine 2000. The expressions of miR-15a and miR-16 mRNA were detected by RT-qPCR. The levels of bcl-2 and P-gp proteins were measured by Western blot. The inhibitory effects of VCR on growth of HCT8 and HCT8/VCR cells were detected by CCK8.

RESULTSAfter transfection of the mimics, the expression of miR-15a in the blank control group, negative control group and miR-15a mimic group was 1.00, 0.87 ± 0.24, and 223.44 ± 59.07, respectively, and miR-15a was increased significantly (P < 0.001). The expression of miR-16 in the blank control group, negative control group and miR-16 mimic group was 1.00, 0.66 ± 0.19, and 107.32 ± 22.58, respectively, and miR-16 expression was increased significantly (P < 0.001). The Western blot assay showed that the relative expressions of bcl-2 protein in the blank control group, negative control group, miR-15a mimic group and miR-16 mimic group were 1.00, 0.97 ± 0.02, 0.51 ± 0.06, and 0.65 ± 0.03, respectively, and the expression of bcl-2 protein was decreased significantly (P < 0.05), however, the expressions of P-gp protein showed no significant difference. The CCK8 test showed that at 1, 5, 25 and 125 µg/ml concentration of VCR, the survival rates of HCT8/VCR cells were basically the same in the blank control group, negative control group, miR-15a mimic group and miR-16 mimic group, but the survival rate of HCT8/VCR cells was significantly decreased after transfection of mimics (P < 0.05). After transfection of the inhibitors, the expressions of both miR-15a and miR-16 were decreased significantly (P < 0.001). The Western blot showed that the expression of bcl-2 protein was increased (P < 0.05), while the expression of P-gp protein showed no significant difference. The CCK8 test showed that the survival rate of HCT8 cells which were transfected with inhibitors was significantly higher than that of the blank control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSmiR-15a and miR-16 may reverse the drug resistance in human colon cancer cells. A possible mechanism is regulating the expression of bcl-2.

ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 1 ; Apoptosis ; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Drug Resistance ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; Transfection