Objective:To determine the binding ability of ~V-1 V3 loop to target cells.Methods:V3 loop peptides(V3-HBIO,V3-ADA,V3-89.6)derived from different HIV-1 strains LIIB(X4-nopic),ADA(R5-tmpic),89.6(R5X4-tropic) and the biotinylated V3-BH1O(biotin-BHIO) and V3 -ADA( biotin-ADA) were synthesized. The binding of the biotinylated V3 peptides to cells and the binding targets were analyzed using flow cytometry. Results:V3 BH10 can bind to a wide range of cell lines, while bio-ADA scarcely binds to the monocytes derived from periperal blood mononuclear cells.Antibody anti-CXCR4 binding to cells blocked by V3 -BH10 and biotin-BH1O binding was blocked by protease inhibitors. The binding of V3-BH10 could be significantly enhanced by V3-BHlO but by neither V3-89.6 nor V3-ADA.Conclusion:The binding ability of the V3 loop derived from diverse HIV- I strains are different. The V3 loop derived from HIV-1 X4-tropic strain directly binds to a wide range of cell lines, the binding targets are multiple including at least coreceptor and proteases. The V3 loop derived from R5 -tropic strain ADA does scarcely.

This study aimed at exploring the effects of Griffipavixanthone,a natural small molecule extracted from Garcinia esculenta,on the autophagy and the mechanism behind it.Cervical cancer HeLa cells were selected as the model in vitro.Confocal microscopy,flow cytometry and immunoblotting were performed to know the impacts of Griffipavixanthone on signaling pathway over autophagy flux and calcium level;while nude mouse model was established to explore its anti-cancer action in vivo.It was found that Griffipavixanthone significantly induced GFP-LC3 puncta formation and the accumulation of LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ,and increased the protein expression of SQSTM1 in HeLa cells in a time and concentration dependent manner.MTT assay results showed that Griffipavixanthone inhibited the growth of HeLa cells in a dosage dependent manner,and eliminated the tolerance of tumor cells to nutrient starvation,which fastened the death of cells.Griffipavixanthone also down-regulated the concentration of calcium in the cytoplasm.Furthermore,the in vivo study indicated that intratumoral injection of Griffipavixanthone presented the anti-cancer effect to a certain extent.In conclusion,it was suggested that Griffipavixanthone inhibit autophagy with the potential to be developed into a clinical anti-cancer agent.Griffipavixanthone sensitized HeLa cells to nutrient stress-induced cell death through inhibiting the autophagy flux and the level of calcium in the cytoplasm.

Theileria annulata is a tick-borne intracellular protozoan parasite that causes tropical theileriosis, a fatal bovine lymphoproliferative disease. The parasite predominantly invades bovine B lymphocytes and macrophages and induces host cell transformation by a mechanism that is not fully comprehended. Analysis of signaling pathways by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) could be a highly efficient means to understand this transformation mechanism. However, accurate analysis of qPCR data relies on selection of appropriate reference genes for normalization, yet few papers on T. annulata contain evidence of reference gene validation. We therefore used the geNorm and NormFinder programs to evaluate the stability of 5 candidate reference genes; 18S rRNA, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), ACTB (β-actin), PRKG1 (protein kinase cGMP-dependent, type I) and TATA box binding protein (TBP). The results showed that 18S rRNA was the reference gene most stably expressed in bovine PBMCs transformed and non-transformed with T. annulata, followed by GAPDH and TBP. While 18S rRNA and GAPDH were the best combination, these 2 genes were chosen as references to study signaling pathways involved in the transformation mechanism of T. annulata.
Animals ; B-Lymphocytes/parasitology ; Cattle ; Cell Line ; Cells/*parasitology ; Cells, Cultured ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Host-Parasite Interactions/*genetics ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction/*veterinary ; Reproducibility of Results ; Signal Transduction/*genetics ; Theileria annulata/physiology ; Theileriasis/*physiopathology

Coronaviruses (CoVs), a family of enveloped positive-sense RNA viruses, are characterized by club-like spikes that project from their surface, unusually large RNA genome, and unique replication capability. CoVs are known to cause various potentially lethal human respiratory infectious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and the very recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Unfortunately, neither drug nor vaccine has yet been approved to date to prevent and treat these diseases caused by CoVs. Therefore, effective prevention and treatment medications against human coronavirus are in urgent need. In the past decades, many natural compounds have been reported to possess multiple biological activities, including antiviral properties. In this article, we provided a comprehensive review on the natural compounds that interfere with the life cycles of SARS and MERS, and discussed their potential use for the treatment of COVID-19.

Objective: To investigate the effects of XIAOJI Decoction combined with FOLFOX chemotherapy on serum cytokine expression profile in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma by liquid chip technology. Methods: Fourteen patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma, who met the inclusion criteria and were treated in the Department of Oncology, Higher Education Mega Center Hospital of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine during January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018 were retrospectively analyzed in this study. The patients were divided into chemotherapy group (n=7, treated with 5-Fluorouracil + Calcium Folic Acid+Oxaliplatin (FOLFOX)) and combined treatment group (n=7, treated with XIAOJI Decoction + FOLFOX) according to therapeutic scheme. The curative efficacy was evaluated after 6 treatment courses. The expression profile of cytokines in blood serum of patients was examined by liquid chip technology after every 2 courses. Results: Fourteen patients received a total of 84 cycles of therapy. Survival analyses showed that the progress-free survival time (PFS) and overall survival time (OS) of two groups couldn't be compared due to insufficient samples, although the combined treatment group had longer PFS (10 months vs 6 months) and OS (17 months vs 12 months) than the chemotherapy group.As to adverse reactions, the rates of leucopenia, diarrhea, nausea, peripheral neuritis and alopecia in two groups were comparable, while the severity in combined treatment group were lighter than that in chemotherapy group. In comparison with the combined treatment group, concentrations of serum BDNF and IL-2 were statistically higher in the chemotherapy group (P<0.05). By comparing the cytokine concentrations at different collection time points before and after the treatment, it showed that the concentration of serum IL-2 in chemotherapy group was higher than that in combined treatment group after 2 courses of treatment (P<0.05). In total, there were 19 cytokines showed a tendency to be higher in combined treatment group than chemotherapy group during different treatment periods. Conclusion: Combined treatment of XIAOJI Decoction with FOLFOX for advanced colorectal carcinoma is a treatment option worth exploring, and liquid chip analysis showed that the mechanism may be related to the reduction of serum LI-2 and BDNF levels in patients.