Objective:To investigate the effect of HMGB1 and TLR-4 in the renal injury of SLE.Methods:The level of HMGB1 in serum from 16 patients suffering from SLE without kidney damage,18 patient with lupus nephritis (LN),and 12 healthy individuals were measured by ELISA.The fresh PBMCs were isolated and the total RNA was extracted.Then the mRNA expression of HMGB1 was amplified by RT-PCR.Flow cytometric analysis(FCM) was performed to study cell surface markers and the expression of TLR-4.Results:RT-PCR and ELISA results showed that the expressions of mRNA and protein were higher in patients with LN than in SLE without kindey damage and healthy people.The expression of TLR-4 in CD14+ monocytes of patients with LN was higher either,while there were no significant changes in CD3+ T cells among LN,SLE and healthy control.Conclusion:PBMCs in patients with LN could synthesize and secrete HMGB1 initiatively,which are correlated with serum HMGB1 level.HMGB1 might play a role in autoimmunity of lupus nephritis partly by activation of monocytes through its binding to TLR-4.

Objective:To investigate the effects of TLR/STAT pathway in the proliferation of mesangial cell induced by HMGB1.Methods:Human mesangial cells were inoculated in the dose of 1?104 ml-1.After 24 h,cells were cultured with standard medium as control group or with medium supplement with 10 ?g/L human recombinant protein HMGB1 as trial group in vitro.Then the cells were collected in 6,12 and 24 h respectively,as well as control group cells.Immunocytochemical staining was adopted to examine the expressions of PCNA proteins on mesangial cells in different groups.Immunocytochemical staining and FCM were performed to detect the changes of TLR2 protein expression.STAT1 and STAT3 mRNA were examined by RT-PCR technique.Results:Immunocytochemical staining indicated that the mesangial cells could multiply after they were induced by human recombinant protein HMGB1.Immunocytochemical staining showed that the level of TLR2 protein in trial groups were higher than those in control groups.FCM indicated that HMGB1 could significantly up-regulate the expression of TLR2 protein time-dependently.The STAT1 and STAT3 mRNA in HMGB1 groups were higher than those in control groups.The expression of TLR2 protein was positively correlated with those of STAT1 and STAT mRNA respectively.The positive rate of PCNA was remarkably correlated with the expression of STAT1 and STAT3 mRNA.Conclusion:HMGB1 could activate STAT1/STAT3 through combining with its cell-surface receptor TLR2,which may play an important role in promoting the proliferation of mesangial cells and then damaging the renal of lupus nephritis.

Aim To investigate the immunomodulatory effects of sea cucumber fucoidan ( SC-FUC) on macro-phage and the signaling pathways. Methods Cell via-bilities in response to different concentrations of SC-FUC were analyzed by MTT, phagocytosis ability was detected by neutral red,and nitric oxide ( NO) produc-tion was examined by Griess reaction kit. The mRNA expression levels of IL-6 , IL-10 , Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and related signal molecules MyD88, TRIF, NF-κB were assayed by real-time PCR. All the experi-ments were based on murine RAW264. 7 cell line. Re-sults SC-FUC could promote RAW264 . 7 cell prolif-eration, phagocytosis as evidenced by uptake of neutral red and release of NO. The effects were significant at the early stage (6 h and 12 h) . SC-FUC could up-reg-ulate the expression of IL-6 , IL-10 , TLR4 , TLR5 , TLR9. Moreover, mRNA expressions of TLRs signaling molecules were increased, as well as MyD88, TRIF, NF-κB. Conclusions SC-FUC could activate macro-phage, and then promote the immune function by pro-moting production or expression of NO, IL-6, IL-10. It is speculated to be relevant to activated cell surface re-ceptors in macrophage, including TLR4, TLR5, TLR9, and NF-κB signaling pathways.

Objective To investigate the correlation between NF-?B/COX-2 signal pathway and cell proliferation in diabetic nephropathy. Methods Uninephrectomized STZ-induced male Wister rats were used as animal model. Using immunohistochemistry to detect NF-?B and COX-2 protein expressions in diabetic kidneys at the 16th week. HKC were cultured separately in normal or high glucose medium for 24,48,72 h.The expression of NF-?B and COX-2 protein was detected by flow cytometry and the expression of PCNA was detected by immunocytochemical staining. Results 1 Volum of glomeruli, mesangial matrix, thickness of glomerular and tubular basement membrane increased in diabete group; 2 COX-2 were expressed in cytoplasm of tubules and glomeruli by immunohistochemistry. Compared with control group, the expression of COX-2 was higher; activated NF-?B expressed in nucli of both tubules and glomeruli, There was light stainings for in control group, while enhanced stainings were observed in DM, there was a positive correlation between NF-?B and COX-2.3 Compared with those in HKC cultured in the medium with normal level glucose, the stainings were strengthened for PCNA in HKC exposed to high glucose from 24 h. 4 By FCM, the expression of NF-?B and COX-2 in HKC cultured in high glucose medium was higherthan that in normal glucose medium; the expression of NF-?B and PCNA was positively correlated with the expression of COX-2. Conclusion Activating NF-?B and elevating the expression of COX-2 play an important role in regulating cell proliferation, which may be one of the injury mechanisms of the renal cells during diabetic nephropathy.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the effect of high mobility group protein box 1 (HMGBI) on the renal injure of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the expression of Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4). Methods The level of HMGB1, MMP-2 and TIMP-2 in serum from 16 pa-tients with SLE, 18 patients with lupus nephritis(LN) and 12 healthy people were measured by ELISA. The fresh peripheral blood mononuelear cell (PBMC) were isolated and the total RNA was extracted. Then the mRNA expression of HMGB1 was amplified by RT-PCR. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to study cell surface markers and the expression of TLR4. Results RT-PCR and ELISA results showed that the expres-sions of mRNA and level of HMGB1 protein in serum were higher in patients with LN than those in SLE and healthy people. The expression of TLR4 in CD14+ monecytes of patients with LN was higher than that with SLE and healthy people, while there were no significance in CD3+ T cells among LN, SLE and healthy peo-ple. The expressions of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 in serum of LN was lower than that in SLE and healthy people, at the same time the ratio of MMP-2/TIMP-2 decreased in LN group. HMGB1 mRNA and CD14+/TLR4+ was negatively correlated with the ratio of MMP-2/TIMP-2, and the level of HMGB1 in serum was positively correlated with proteinuria, while negatively correlated with the ratio of MMP-2/TIMP-2 in LN. Conclusion HMGB1 is one of the important cytokine in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis. HMGBI might play a role in proteinuria of lupus nephritis in part via TLR4 pathway to activate monocytes and decrease the expression of MMP-2/TIMP-2.

Objective:To investigate the expression and mechanism of NF-κB signal pathway in murine lupus nephritis.Methods:The BXSB mice as well as C57BL/6 of 16 weeks were used.Transmission electron microscope and PAS were used to detect the pathological change of renal tissue.RT-PCR and ELISA were used to detect the expression of HMGB1 mRNA and protein.The expression of HMGB1,p- NF-κB,RAGE,IκB and PCNA protein was detected by immunohistochemical stain,FCM and Western blot.Results:The level of BUN in serum and Micro-albumin in urine of BXSB mice was higher than that in C57BL/6 mice.The expression of HMGB1 mRNA and HMGB1 protein level in peripheral blood increased significantly in BXSB group.Compared with those in control group,electron microscopy and PAS revealed the thickness of glomerular basement membrane(GBM),fusion of foot processes partly of epithelial dell and subepithelial electron-dense deposits in the renal tissue of BXSBA mice.Compared with that of control group,expression of PCNA was higher in glomeruli of BXSB mouse.HMGB1 protein over-expression localized in cytoplasm and extracellular milieu,especially in proliferative glomeruli in BXSB group,while the HMGB1 protein primarily confined to the nuclear of tubule in control group.In BXSB group,the expression of p-NF-κB and RAGE increased,while the expression of IκB decreased.There were positive correlation between the expression of HMGB1,RAGE and p-NF-κB protein (r=0.833,0.621,0.848,P＜0.01),while the expression of p-NF-κB protein negatively correlated with that of IκB.Conclusion:HMGB1 could activate NF-κB through combining with its receptor-RAGE,induce the form of proliferative glomerulonephritis by promoting the proliferation of inherent cell of glomeruli,which may play an important role in the murine lupus nephritis.

Objective:To investigate the change of D-Dimer (D-D), cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) after Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD) and thier predictive effect on death outcome.Methods:120 patients with TAAD who were treated in the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical College from January 2019 to January 2022 were retrospectively selected and divided into death group ( n=17) and survival group ( n=103) according to the 28-day survival after operation. The difference of clinical data between the two groups was compared, and the influencing factors of postoperative death in TAAD patients were analyzed by logistic regression method. Results:The age, deep hypothermic circulatory arrest time, D-D and cTnI of the patients in the death group were (60.50±5.42)years old, (30.40±9.92)min, (15.65±5.52)g/L and (3.32±0.82)mg/L, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the survival group (all P<0.05). The VIS score and change of VIS score in the death group at 24 hours after operation were (9.66±1.10)points and (4.50±0.91)points respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the survival group (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age, D-D, cTnI and change of VIS score were the influencing factors of death after TAAD (all P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve predicted by the D-D, cTnI and change of VIS score for death in TAAD patients was 0.718, 0.691 and 0.789 respectively (all P<0.05). Conclusions:Postoperative death of TAAD patients is affected by their age, D-D, cTnI and change of VIS score. The D-D, cTnI and change of VIS score have certain application value in predicting postoperative death of patients.