Cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) is a bacterial second messenger of growing recognition involved in the regulation of a number of complex physiological processes. In combinations to the related progress of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, the causing agent of bacterial blight of rice in our lab, this review describes (1) the biosynthesis and hydrolysis of c-di-GMP and several mechanisms of regulation of c-di-GMP metabo-lism, (2) the contribution of c-di-GMP to regulating virulence, motility and biofilm formation, processes that affect pathogenesis of many bacteria, and (3) ways in which c-di-GMP may mediate these regulatory effects.

Long-tem culture initiating cells(LTC-IC), and in vitro assay of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, still represent a heterogeneous population in terms of proliferative capacity and sensitivity to different growth factors. Human umbilical cord (CB) is rich of hematopoietic progenitor cells measured by clonogenic assays and stem cells capable of reconstituting the marrow after transplantation. The influence of culture conditions on the in vitro behavior of LTC-IC from CB was evaluated. First, by using IRES sequence, FL and TPO cDNA were recombined with retroviral vector pLXSN by gene recombination technology. The recombinant plasmid pLFSN, pLTSN, pLFTSN were transfected into human stromal cell line HFCL. Then, LTC-IC were evaluated in long term cultures, comparing five types of stromal feeder layers: human bone marrow stromal cell, human stromal cell line HFCL, and stromal cell lines HDF tranfected with FL gene, HLT transfected with TPO gene or HFT co-transfected with FL and TPO genes. The results were demonstrated that after 8 weeks of coculture, three types of stromal cell lines that supported the maintenance of CFU-C for up to 3 weeks in vitro were identified. However, cocultivation of human bone marrow stromal cell and CB CD34(+) cells on HFT, CFU-C production continued up to 6 weeks or longer on these stroma. The absolute LTC-IC frequency in CD34(+) cells on human bone marrow stromal cell (2.65 +/- 0.76/1 000 cells) was no significant difference with on HFT (3.65 +/- 0.58/1 000 cells). Thus, HFT acts by direct contact to maintain the phenotype and function of the most primitive and quiescent human progenitors. Furthermore, HFT cell line was selected as the optimal one for supporting long-term culture feeder. It was concluded that LTC-IC progenitors from cord blood maintain growing upon the FL/TPO gene-modified stromal feeder layers in vitro.

Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; POEMS Syndrome ; diagnosis ; Syphilis ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo review and evaluate pathologic features and treatment of epithelial-myoepithelial.

METHODSRetrospectively reviewed 14 cases' pathological and clinical materials of epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of salivary gland. Eight cases origine from parotid gland, 2 cases from hard palate, 3 cases from submandibular gland and 1 case from nasal cavity. Three cases were performed induction chemotherapy preoperation. One case had palliative radiotherapy. Thirteen cases were performed radical surgery and 6 cases had radiotherapy postoperation.

RESULTSTumor arisen mostly from parotid gland and neck lymph node metastasis rate was 14.28% (2/14). The survival rate was calculated with Kaplan-Meier method. The overall 3-, 5- and 10-year survival rate were 67.20%, 45.49% and 17.06%. Its histological characteristics were inner layer composed by adenoid cells and outer layer composed by myoepithelial cells. Immunohistochemical exam show cytokeratin, S-100 and actin reaction positive.

CONCLUSIONSEpithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma easily develops recurrence. It is sensitivity to radiotherapy and chemotherapy to some extent. It is suitable to adopt surgical treatment as primary modality combined with other therapies.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma ; pathology ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myoepithelioma ; pathology ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Salivary Gland Neoplasms ; pathology ; therapy ; Salivary Glands ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of Pro12Ala variant in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 gene with type 2 diabetes mellitus and its clinical characteristics.

METHODSThe genotypes of Pro12Ala variant in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 gene were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms assay in 401 unrelated subjects of the Han population in the southern part of China (including 180 subjects with normal glucose tolerance and 221 type 2 diabetic patients). The clinical data were also analyzed.

RESULTSThe allele frequencies in the case and control groups were 96.15%,96.11% for P and 3.85%, 3.89% for A; the genotype frequencies were 92.77%, 92.22% for PP, 6.78%, 7.78% for PA and 0.45%, 0 for AA. The Pro12Ala variant of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes. The Pro12Ala polymorphism of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 in diabetes patients was associated with increased waist circumference and waist to hip ratio. The Pro12Ala polymorphism in Chinese population was similar to that in Japanese population and was different from that in European and American population.

CONCLUSIONThe above data showed that the Pro12Ala variant of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes, but it could be associated with abdominal obesity in type 2 diabetes. The significant difference of Pro12Ala of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 among various races was observed.

Adult ; Alanine ; genetics ; Alleles ; Amino Acid Substitution ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Body Constitution ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; blood ; Cholesterol, HDL ; blood ; Cholesterol, LDL ; blood ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; blood ; genetics ; pathology ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Insulin ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proline ; genetics ; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear ; genetics ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; Triglycerides ; blood

Objective To evaluate the long-term immunogencity and effectiveness of live attenuated hepatitis A (HA) vaccine (H2 strain) after one dose injection, through a 15 years' follow up observation. Methods A total of 220 children with negative anti-HAV antibody (aged 1-3 y)were involved and followed up in Jiaojiang district, Taizhou city, Zhejiang province. Indicators would include seroconversion and geometric meantiter(GMT) levels after inoculation the vaccine with single dose at 2 m, 12 m, 6 years, 10 years and 15 years. Epidemiological observation was carried out within the 15 years to evaluate the relationship between vaccine coverage, the incidence of HA and the overall effectiveness. In the studied population, serum was tested by ELISA(calibrated by WHO international reference) and ABBOTT Axsym HAVAB mEIA. Results Seroconversion rates were found to be 98.6% and 81.3% after 2 months and 15 years of inoculation and slowly decreased. GMT level was 128 mIU/ml after 15 years, significantly higher than the required protective level of 20 mIU/ml,recommended by WHO experts. Effectiveness through the 15-year follow up program showed a significant correlation between vaccine coverage and incidence of HA in 1-15 years aged group (Kendall-Rank test, t =-0.931, P＜0.01). There was no HA case seen among the observed accumulated 236 413 person-year vaccines, compared to 4 HA cases discovered in the 27 206 personyear of the non-vaccinees. The overall protective rate reached 100%. Through a mass vaccination program on children, the whole population established an immune-defence to enable the incidence of HA decreased by 96.7%. Conclusion The long-term immunogencity and effectiveness of live attenuated hepatitis A vaccine (H2 strain) after one dose injection could last as long as 15 years.

OBJECTIVETo study the diagnosis and treatment of a second primary malignant tumor induced by previous radiotherapy.

METHODSFrom March 1970 to March 1997, 108 nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) patients who developed a second primary malignant tumor induced by radiotherapy were treated. There were squamous carcinoma 43 (39.8%), sarcoma 26 (24.1%), malignant fibrous histiocytoma 14 (13.0%), adenoid cystic carcinoma 12 (11.1%), thyroid papillary adenocarcinoma 8 (7.4%) and malignant melanoma 5 (4.6%). Fifty patients underwent operation, 32 received radiotherapy, 18 received chemotherapy and 8 received operation combined with chemotherapy.

RESULTSThe 3- and 5-year tumor-free survival rates were 64.0% and 36.0% in the operation group. They were 34.4% and 18.8% in the radiotherapy group.

CONCLUSIONSurgery, if not contra-indicated, is the first choice for the second primary malignant tumor induced by radiotherapy. Aggressive treatment for these patients is, hence, indicated clinically.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced ; diagnosis ; mortality ; therapy ; Neoplasms, Second Primary ; diagnosis ; mortality ; therapy ; Radiotherapy ; adverse effects ; Survival Rate

Intestinal fibrosis associated stricture is a common complication of inflammatory bowel disease usually requiring endoscopic or surgical intervention. Effective anti-fibrotic agents aiming to control or reverse intestinal fibrosis are still unavailable. Thus, clarifying the mechanism underpinning intestinal fibrosis is imperative. Fibrosis is characterized by an excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins at the injured sites. Multiple cellular types are implicated in fibrosis development. Among these cells, mesenchymal cells are major compartments that are activated and then enhance the production of ECM. Additionally, immune cells contribute to the persistent activation of mesenchymal cells and perpetuation of inflammation. Molecules are messengers of crosstalk between these cellular compartments. Although inflammation is necessary for fibrosis development, purely controlling intestinal inflammation cannot halt the development of fibrosis, suggesting that chronic inflammation is not the unique contributor to fibrogenesis. Several inflammation-independent mechanisms including gut microbiota, creeping fat, ECM interaction, and metabolic reprogramming are involved in the pathogenesis of fibrosis. In the past decades, substantial progress has been made in elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of intestinal fibrosis. Here, we summarized new discoveries and advances of cellular components and major molecular mediators that are associated with intestinal fibrosis, aiming to provide a basis for exploring effective anti-fibrotic therapies in this field.

In an attempt to study the immunoregulatory effect of osteoblasts derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), MSC was induced to differentiate into osteoblasts for one week. The growth pattern and the phenotype were evaluated by MTT and flow cytometry respectively. The immunoregulatory effect was tested by the inhibitory effect on T cell proliferation. The result showed that during the differentiation cells grew fast and there was no significant change in the phenotypes but keeping CD73, CD105, CD44, CD29 positive and CD34, CD45, HLA-DR, CD86 negative. Osteocyte derived from MSC also showed immunosuppressive effect on T cell proliferation in adose-dependent manner. It is concluded that osteoblasts derived from MSC also harbored immunoregulatory effect.
Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; Cell Differentiation ; immunology ; Cell Lineage ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; cytology ; immunology

This study was purposed to investigate the influence of inflammatory microenvironment on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and regulatory effect of MSCs on osteoblast formation. The MSCs were isolated from synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RASF-MSCs) and were cultured, the immunotypes of RASF-MSCs were detected by flow cytometry, the ability to differentiate RASF-MSCs into osteoblasts and adipocytes was determined by means of osteogenic and adipogenic induction, the regulatory effect of RASF-MSCs on osteoblast formation was assayed by co-culturing RASF-MSCs whth CD14(+) monocytes and in situ tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining. The results showed that RASF-MSCs highly expressed CD105, CD73, CD29, CD44, CD166 and HLA-ABC. Meanwhile, they lowly expressed CD34, CD45, CD31, HLA-DR, CD80 and CD86. However, RASF-MSCs decreased multi-differentiation capability as compared with BM-MSCs. More interestingly, RASF-MSC significantly promoted osteoclasts formation (p < 0.05) when co-cultured with monocytes. It is concluded that MSCs from rheumatoid arthritis synovial fluid exert typical MSC phenotypes but displayed decline of multi-differentiation capability. RASF-MSCs especially show promoting effect on osteoclastogenesis. The findings of this study may contribute to the understanding biological behavior of MSCs in pathological microenvironment.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; Synovial Fluid ; cytology