Objective To investigate the efficacy of using crude polysaccharides extracted from cultivated Artemisia rupestris L. ( CARCP) in Xinjiang as an immunologic adjuvant for ovalbumin ( OVA) . Methods The mice were subcutaneously immunized twice with OVA vaccine formulated with CARCP. ELISA assay was performed to measure the levels of IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies. Flow cytometry analy-sis was performed to detect the percentages of different T lymphocyte subsets ( CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+T cells, CD4+CD44+ and CD8+CD44+T cells) in splenocytes as well as the expression of intracellular cyto-kines ( CD4+IFN-γ, CD8+IFN-γ) and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Treg cells. Results The levels of IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies in serum, the percentages of CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+, CD4+CD44+ and CD8+CD44+T cells as well as the ratio of CD4+/CD8+T lymphocytes increased significantly in mice immunized with OVA in combination with CARCP (P<0. 05). Moreover, CARCP enhanced the expression of CD4+IFN-γand CD8+IFN-γ( P<0. 05 ) , but inhibited the expression of CD 4+CD 2 5+Foxp 3+Treg cells ( P<0. 05 ) . Conclusion As an adjuvant for OVA, CARCP enhanced the humoral and cellular immune responses, especially the T cell immune responses.

Objective To investigate the effects of B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein-1 ( Blimp-1) on the number and function of splenic lymphocytes.Methods The mice with defective Blimp-1 in T cells were generated by cross-breeding B6.Blimp-1flox/flox mice with B6.Lck-Cre mice.The mononuclear lymphocytes isolated from spleen of T cell conditional Blimp-1 knockout (Blimp-1CKO) mice and wild type ( WT) C57/B6 mice were comparatively analyzed.Alterations of CD4+T and CD8+T cell subsets, the secre-tion of cytokines as well as the expression of C-C chemokine receptor type 7 ( CCR7 ) and Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) in mice from the two groups were analyzed by flow cytometry.The changes of CD19+B cell subsets were also detected.Results Compared with WT mice, the total numbers of mononu-clear cells, T and B lymphocytes were all significantly increased in Blimp-1CKO mice ( P<0.05) .The ab-solute numbers of CD4+T, CD8+T and CD19+CD5+CD1d+B cells in mice form Blimp-1CKO group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05), however, no significant differences with the percentages of these cell populations were observed between two groups.Higher numbers and percentages of CD19+CD5+B cells were detected in mice from Blimp-1CKO group (P<0.01).The Blimp-1CKO mice showed increased secretion of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-17 and IL-2, but decreased expression of CCR7 on CD8+T cells as com-pared with WT mice (P<0.05).No significant differences with the changes of S1P1 were found between the two groups.Conclusion Blimp-1 played an important role in the maintenance of number, phenotype and function of T cells.Furthermore, not only T cells but also B cell subsets in mice were affected by the dele-tion of Blimp-1 in T cells.

Objective To investigate preventive measures and pathogenic related factors of periodontitis. Methods A total of 138 patients with periodontitis from August 2012 to March 2014 in our department were selected as the experi-mental group. Meanwhile 138 healthy cases matched with the patients within 2 years age difference in the same regions were selected as the control group. Questionnaire survey was used to inquire the basic information, educational status, economic income, acquisition of knowledge in periodontal disease, brushing habits, negative life events and so on. The differences in results between two groups were compared. Results Among 138 patients with periodontitis, there was 1087 disease parts on maxillaries, 872 parts on mandibles, 1243 parts on molars, and 876 parts on anterior teeth and bicuspids. According to Amaitage standard, 138 patients with periodontitis, the rate of mild to moderate periodontitis patients was 81.16% (112 cases), and the rate of severe periodontitis was 18.84% (26 cases). Acquisition of knowledge in periodontal disease, smoking, the frequency and sustained time of brushing per day, negative life events and mouth care between two groups showed statistical significance(P<0.05). There was no significant difference between two groups in age, gender and educational status(P>0.05). Non conditional Logistic regression results showed that: independent pathogenic risk factors of periodontitis included acquisition of knowledge in periodontal disease, the frequency and sus-tained time of brushing per day, negative life events and regular mouth care, and regular mouth care ranked first among these factors(the odds ratio=3.102, P<0.05). Conclusion Periodontitis is the result of interaction of multiple risk factors, therefore, comprehensive measures especially regular mouth care should be adopted to prevent the occurrence of peri-odontitis.

Yeast surface display (YSD) is a technology that fuses the exogenous target protein gene sequence with a specific vector gene sequence, followed by introduction into yeast cells. Subsequently, the target protein is expressed and localized on the yeast cell surface by using the intracellular protein transport mechanism of yeast cells, whereas the most widely used YSD system is the α-agglutinin expression system. Yeast cells possess the eukaryotic post-translational modification mechanism, which helps the target protein fold correctly. This mechanism could be used to display various eukaryotic proteins, including antibodies, receptors, enzymes, and antigenic peptides. YSD has become a powerful protein engineering tool in biotechnology and biomedicine, and has been used to improve a broad range of protein properties including affinity, specificity, enzymatic function, and stability. This review summarized recent advances in the application of YSD technology from the aspects of library construction and screening, antibody engineering, protein engineering, enzyme engineering and vaccine development.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism* ; Protein Engineering ; Biotechnology ; Antibodies/metabolism* ; Amino Acid Sequence

Landfill is one of the important sources of carbon tetrachloride (CT) pollution, and it is important to understand the degradation mechanism of CT in landfill cover for better control. In this study, a simulated landfill cover system was set up, and the biotransformation mechanism of CT and the associated micro-ecology were investigated. The results showed that three stable functional zones along the depth, i.e., aerobic zone (0-15 cm), anoxic zone (15-45 cm) and anaerobic zone (> 45 cm), were generated because of long-term biological oxidation in landfill cover. There were significant differences in redox condition and microbial community structure in each zone, which provided microbial resources and favorable conditions for CT degradation. The results of biodegradation indicated that dechlorination of CT produced chloroform (CF), dichloromethane (DCM) and Cl^- in anaerobic and anoxic zones. The highest concentration of dechlorination products occurred at 30 cm, which were degraded rapidly in aerobic zone. In addition, CT degradation rate was 13.2-103.6 μg/(m²·d), which decreased with the increase of landfill gas flux. The analysis of diversity sequencing revealed that Mesorhizobium, Thiobacillus and Intrasporangium were potential CT-degraders in aerobic, anaerobic and anoxic zone, respectively. Moreover, six species of dechlorination bacteria and eighteen species of methanotrophs were also responsible for anaerobic transformation of CT and aerobic degradation of CF and DCM, respectively. Interestingly, anaerobic dechlorination and aerobic transformation occurred simultaneously in the anoxic zone in landfill cover. Furthermore, analysis of degradation mechanism suggested that generation of stable anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic zone by regulation was very important for the harmless removal of full halogenated hydrocarbon in vadose zone, and the increase of anoxic zone scale enhanced their removal. These results provide theoretical guidance for the removal of chlorinated pollutants in landfills.
Bacteria/metabolism* ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Carbon Tetrachloride/metabolism* ; Methane/metabolism* ; Waste Disposal Facilities