In recent years,the basic research on liver fibrosis has been progressed rapidly.This article briefly reviews the cellular and molecular mechanisms of liver fibrosis,including the origin of myofibroblasts,immune regulation,autophagy,and epigenetic regulation,and introduces several new therapeutic targets.More and more evidences show that successful removal of causes is the most important antifibrotic therapy.At present,although the antifibrotic drugs acting on different targets have been emerging,most of them are still in the early stage of research and development,and well-designed clinical trials are needed to confirm their clinical efficacy.

This review article compared the antiviral therapies recommended by major international and national guidelines for management of chronic hepatitis B(CHB)issued by American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Asian-Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver,Chinese Society of Hepatology & Chinese Society of Infectious Diseases,China Medical Association,and World Health Organization in 2015. The essentials and highlights of guidelines were compared,focusing on goals of therapy,indications of therapy,choices of drugs,endpoints and duration of therapy, management of treatment failure,treatment of CHB in pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: There have been no effective means for clinical treatment of large regions of bone defects.Nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen(nHAC)composite would provide a new pathway for repair of bone defects owing to its similar structure to natural skeleton and better biocompatibility.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of nHAC composite co-cultured with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells(BMSCs)in repair of bone defects.METHODS: Following isolation and culture,human BMSCs were co-cultured with nHAC composite.Gross observation,histological analysis,and electron microscope observation were performed to analyze osteogenesis for repair of bone defects in the clinic.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Human nHAC could greatly proliferate in vitro.X-ray photography revealed that bone defects well healed after implantation of nHAC/BMSCs composite.These findings indicate that BMSCs exhibit osteogenic potential and nHAC is a satisfactory scaffold material for construction of tissue-engineered bone.

Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Humans

10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2013.23.006

Objective: To observe influence of porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg, a main pathogenic bacterium of periodontal disease) on vascular intima adhesion factors and metalloproteinases. Methods: A total of 60 rats were randomly and equally divided into blank control group, Pg low dose group (Pg 2ml) and Pg high dose group (Pg 5ml) according to number table. The latter two groups respectively received intramuscular injection of corresponding dose Pg every three days without antibiotic intervention for 12 weeks. Then their venous blood was taken to measure levels of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 and MMP-9 in three groups. Results: Compared with blank control group, there were significant increase in contents of ICAM-1 [（175.79±14.30）ng/ml vs.（182.62±15.07）ng/ml, （189.39±14.93）ng/ml]、VCAM-1 [（256.49±37.17）ng/ml vs.（271.58±32.85）ng/ml , (286.66±30.66)ng/ml] 、 MMP-3 [（3.23±0.69）ng/ml vs.（3.61±0.82）ng/ml, (3.97±0.83)ng/ml]及 MMP-9 [（1.30±0.39）mg/L vs.（1.48±0.39）mg/L, 1.67±0.45）mg/L ]（P <0.05，or <0.01），Compared with Pg low dose group, there were significant increase in levels of above indexes in Pg high dose group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Porphyromonas gingivalis can significantly increase serum contents of vascular intima adhesion factors and metalloproteinases, aggravating pathological development of coronary heart disease.

During the course of the investigation of the antifungal metabolites against Peronophythora litchii from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces sp SC120, an antibiotics that exhibited the cytotoxicity to CNE 2 was isolated By spectral (UV, IR, HRMS, 1H NMR, 13 C NMR, 1H 1H COSY, HMQC and HMBC) analyses, its structure was identified as pimprinine The cytotoxicity of pimprinine to CNE 2 was reported for the first time

Objective To understand the nucleotide and amino acid differences of glycoprotein gene (G gene) between isolated rabies viruses in Henan Province and rabies vaccine strains used for human and animals. Methods G gene sequences of nine rabies viruses isolated from dogs in Xinyang city of Henan Province in December 2006 were amplified by reverse transcriptase (RT)-heminestedpolymerase chain reaction (PCR), and then were cloned and sequenced. The phylogenetic trees were constructed for analyzing the genetic characteristics of these rabies viruses. Results The homology of G gene among the nine isolates from Henan Province was 97.6% - 98.9% at nucleotide level and 99.2%-99.8% at amino acid level. The similarities between these isolates and CTN vaccine strain were 85.6%-93.0% and 91.9%-92.9% at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively, which were higher than those between these isolates and other vaccine strains (80.4% - 83.3% and 87.7% - 92.5% at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively). The nine isolates had several amino acid substitutions when compared to other genotype 1 rabies virus strains. Conclusions The nine rabies viruses strains isolated from Henan Province all belong to genotype 1. CTN may be an effective vaccine for preventing rabies in Henan Province.

Objective To investigate the effects of aldosterone on the expression of endothelin(ET)in cultured neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts(CFs).Methods CFs were isolated by trypsin digestion.ET concentration in conditioned medium was measured by radioimmunoassay,intracellular ET-1 level was evaluated by immunofluorescence assay,and the expression of preproendothelin-1(ppET-1)was detected using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)method.Results Aldosterone(10-9,10-8,10-7 mol/L)induced a dose-dependent changes in ppET-1 mRNA expression,as well as ET-1 synthesis and secretion in CFs.Meanwhile,aldosterone(10-7 mol/L)time-related induced ppET-1 mRNA expression in CFs,which began to increase in 2 h and reached the highest level in 4 h,thereafter decreased.The effects of aldosterone(10-7 mol/L)were significantly inhibited by the pre-incubation with spironolactone(10-6 mol/L).Conclusion Aldosterone increases the expression of ppET-1 mRNA,ET-1 synthesis and secretion via mineralocorticoid receptor.

Objective To predict and identify the linear B-cell epitopes in the major group 3 allergen derived from Derma-tophagoides farina(Der f 3). Methods The linear B-cell epitopes of Der f 3 allergen were analyzed based on the physicochemi-cal properties of amino acids including antigenicity,surface accessibility,flexibility,hydrophilicity,beta-turn by online bioinfor-matics softwares. The eight predicted peptides of linear B-cell epitopes were artificially synthesized and incubated with three aller-gic serum pools(4 serum samples in each),which were consisted of total 12 serum samples from the allergic individuals,and the strong positive epitopes were selected. Results Eight B-cell epitopes from Der f 3 were predicted successfully. Five of eight B-cell epitopes were identified with strong IgE-binding abilities followed by specific IgE assay. The amino acid sequences of them were following:33KAKAGDCP40, 86HASGGEKIQVAEIYQHENYDSMTID110, 118LKTPMTLDQTNAKPVPLPPQGSDVKVG144, 156QEGSYSLP163 and 199DVANGGVDSCQGDSGGPVVD218. Conclusions Five linear B-cell epitopes of Der f 3 allergen have been identified successfully. This result might provide a basis of the diagnosis and treatment for asthma.