ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of stem cell marker adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette transporter 2 (ABCG2) in the tissue and side population (SP) of a cell line A431 of human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma(SCC).MethodsSP cells were separated by flow cytometry from cultured A431 cells.Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT) assay was used to evaluate the proliferative ability of,reverse transcription-PCR to determine the expression of ABCG2 in,SP and non-SP cells.Immunohistochemistry (MaxVision method) was carried out to detect the expression of ABCG2 protein in tissue specimens from 10 patients with SCC.ResultsSP cells existed in cultured A431 cells,and accounted for about 1.1％ of A431 cells.The SP cells had a stronger growth and colony-forming ability than non-SP cells did.The number of cell clones formed by SP cells and non-SP cells was 114.8 ± 4.95 and 44.5 ± 3.67,respectively,per well in a 24-well plate( t =27.92,P ＜ 0.01 ).The expression level of ABCG2 mRNA was significantly higher in SP cells than in non-SP cells(t =5.22,P＜ 0.01).There existed a small number of ABCG2 positive cells in SCC tissue,and ABCG2 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm and membrane of tumor cells.ConclusionsSP cells exist in A431 cells,which have characteristics of stem cells and highly express ABCG2.ABCG2 may be a potential stem cell surface marker of SCC.

ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation between the methylation status of HLA class Ⅰ genes(HLA-A, -B and -C) in psoriatic epidermis and disease severity in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. MethodsDNA specimens were obtained from the lesional and nonlesional epidermis of 46 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and from the normal skin of 28 human controls. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was conducted to detect the methylation status of CpG islands in the promoter region of HLA-A, -B and -C genes. The severity of psoriasis was evaluated by psoriasis area and severity index(PASI) scores. ResultsThe percentage of promoter methylation of HLA-B and HLA-C genes was 4.35％(2/46) and 21.74％(10/46), respectively in nonlesional epidermis, 4.35％ (2/46) and 4.35％ (2/46), respectively in lesional epidermis from these patients. No methylation was observed for the promoter of HLA-A, -B or -C gene in the normal control epidermis or for that of HLA-A gene in the nonlesional or lesional epidermis from the patients. The frequency of HLA-C gene promoter methylation in the nonlesional epidermis was significantly higher than that in the lesional epidermis and control epidermis, but was uncorrelated to the disease severity. No significant difference was observed for the methylation frequency of HLA-A or -B gene promoter among the three groups of specimens. Conclusion Abnormal methylation of HLA-C gene promoter is observed in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.

Objective To investigate the expression of CD200 in peripheral lymphocytes and hair follicles from patients with alopecia areata (AA).Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of CD200 in peripheral lymphocytes from 43 patients with AA and 43 healthy controls.Immunohistochemistry was carried out to quantify the expression of CD200 and cytokeratin 15(CK15,a marker for basal cells of the outer root sheath) in resected scalp specimens from 8 patients with AA and 8 healthy controls.Differences in the expression of CD200 and CK15 between the patients and controls were assessed by independent-samples t test and rank sum test.Data were processed by the software SPSS17.0.Results The percentage of CD200-expressing cells in peripheral blood lymphocytes and T lymphocytes was significantly lower in the patients with AA than in the healthy controls (5.73％ ± 3.46％ vs.12.01％ ± 4.90％,8.85％ ± 4.80％ vs.12.31％ ± 3.12％,t =6.865,3.964,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).However,no significant difference was observed in the percentage of CD200-expressing cells in peripheral blood B lymphocytes between the patients and controls (74.68％ ± 8.12％ vs.75.75％ ± 9.45％,t =0.570,P ＞ 0.05).Further more,the patients showed a lower expression of CD200 (P ＜ 0.05),but a similar expression of CK15 (P ＞ 0.05) in hair follicles compared with the controls.Conclusion The decrease in CD200 expression in peripheral lymphocytes and hair follicles may be involved in the pathogenesis of AA.

Objective: To evaluate the effect and safety of an anti-IL-8 monoclonal antibody cream for the treatment psoriasis vulgaris. Methods: Eight-four patients with psoriasis vulgaris were treated with the anti-IL-8 monoclonal antibody cream for 8 weeks,the safety and effect were evaluated by analyzing the adverse action and the changing of the diameter,color,thickness,scales of the lesions. Results: After the treatments for 8 weeks,11 patients were cured,41 patients were remarkably improved,the cure rate and effective rate is 13.1% and 61.9%,respectively.Among them the cure rate of guttate type and effective rate of mixed type were the highest,while the cure rate and effective rate for aggressive stage were both higher than those of stable stage.And only one patient had mild local adverse action. Conclusion: The anti-IL-8 monoclonal antibody cream was effective and safe for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris.

Objective To investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors for pterygium among people aged 50 years and above in Funing County,Jiangsu Province.Methods A cluster random sampling method was performed,the subjects aged 50 years or above were randomly selected from 30 survey sites in Funing County,Jiangsu Province.Questionnaires,visual acuity tests,the examinations of eye surface,anterior segment,fundus examinations were conducted.Pterygium was diagnosed and graded clinically by slit lamp examination.The risk factors were acquired from questionnaires and analyzed by the multivariate logistic regression analysis.This study protocol was approved by Ethic Committee of Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University (NO.2010-05).Written informed consent was obtained from each subject prior to entering study cohort.Results A total of 6 145 persons aged 50 years and above were enumerated,and actually 5 947 (96.8％) participants were examined.Among them,1 950 cases were diagnosed as pterygium in either eye and 1 228 cases were diagnosed as pterygium in binoculus,which was equivalent to the 32.79％ [95％ confidence interval(CI):31.60％-33.98％] of pterygium in either eye and 20.65％ (95％ CI:19.62％-21.68％) in bilateral pterygium.Among 2467 male subjects,838 were diagnosed as pterygium (33.97％,95％ CI:32.10％-35.84％).Among 3480 female subjects,1 112 were diagnosed as pterygium (31.95％,95％ CI:30.40％-33.51％).There was no significant difference in the prevalence of pterygium between genders (P =0.135).Multivariate Logistic analysis showed that,older age (50 ～ ＜60 years:odds ratio [OR] =1.00;60 ～ ＜70 years:OR=1.54,P＜0.001;70 ～ ＜80 years,OR=1.83,P＜0.001;≥80 years:OR=1.99,P＜0.001),low educational level (no education:OR =1.00;＜primary:OR =0.87,P =0.031;primary education:OR =0.72,P =0.002;≥ secondary education:OR =0.63,P =0.002),farmer occupations (OR =1.34,P =0.020),and long outdoor work time (OR =1.13,P =0.026) were independent risk factors for pterygium.Gender,marriage,income,hypertension,diabetes,smoking and alcohol use history were not associated with pterygium (all at P＞0.05).Conclusions The prevalence of pterygium in Funing County is 32.79％ in people aged 50 years and above.The high prevalence of pterygium may be associated with older age,low education level and long outdoor work time.

COVID-19 has swept across the world, causing widespread epidemics and millions of life lost worldwide. After infected with 2019-nCoV, the body quickly mobilizes the innate immune response and produces type Ⅰ interferon (IFN-Ⅰ). IFN-Ⅰ plays an important role in virus clearance in the early stage of disease. This article reviews the innate immune recognition after virus infection and the interaction between 2019-nCoV and IFN-Ⅰ, which would be conductive to understanding the pathogenesis and antiviral treatment of COVID-19.

Bioactive peptides play important roles in promoting human health, such as lowering blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid, anti-obesity, and anti-cancer. Thus, exploring functional bioactive peptides and developing efficient production technologies are of crucial importance. Herein, we review the development of function discovery and production technology for natural bioactive peptides. Presently, the top-down and bottom-up approaches are mainly used for the function discovery and production of natural active peptides. The top-down approach includes the direct extraction and identification for functional discovery, and the direct extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation for production. The bottom-up approach includes the polypeptide modification and database mining for functional discovery, and the chemical synthesis, enzyme synthesis, recombinant expression and cell-free synthesis for production. The top-down approach is usually associated with complicated process, lower efficiency, higher cost, harder quality control, and uncertain functionality, while the bottom-up approach is more suitable for the development of peptide drugs but difficult to be used for functional foods. With the technology development of sequencing and mass spectrometry, it is easier to obtain the proteomic information of various organisms at the molecular level. Based on the proteomic information, the top-down and bottom-up approaches can be combined to overcome the disadvantages of using these two approaches alone, thus providing a new strategy for the rapid development and production of natural active peptides.
Fermentation ; Humans ; Mass Spectrometry ; Peptides/metabolism* ; Proteomics ; Technology