AIM: To study the change of intercellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1) expression in intestine tissues of mice induced by LPS and regulatory effect of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) on ICAM-1 expression. METHODS: Protein and mRNA of ICAM-1 were measured using Western blotting and RT-PCR respectively in intestine tissue of BALB/c mice treated by lipopolysaccharide(LPS) or LPS plus SB203580, a specific inhibitor of p38 MAPK. RESULTS: Compared with control group, the expression of ICAM-1 protein and mRNA was increased significantly by LPS stimulation in dose- and time-dependent manner. ICAM-1 expression reached peak value at 12-36 h after LPS stimulation. 20.0 mg/kg of LPS could induce the maximum of ICAM-1 expression. Pretreatment of mice with SB203580 for 30 min could inhibit significantly LPS-induced expression of ICAM-1 protein and mRNA expression in mouse intestine tissues. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight that LPS could up-regulate ICAM-1 protein and mRNA expression in intestine tissue of mice in dose- and time-dependent manner, and p38 MAPK signal pathway plays an important role in ICAM-1 expression induced by LPS. It suggests that inhibition of p38 MAPK might be a useful principle for the prevention and treatment of intestine damage of endotoxic shock.

Objective To discover the mutations of rare thalassemia genes by sequencing of α and β-globin genes,to understand the frequency of rare mutations and to enrich thalassemia gene mutation spectrum in Chinese population.Methods For the cases of phenotype and genotype inconsistent,the 1st generation of sequencing was performed for α or β-globin gene coding region sequence analysis.Results A total of 102 patients with rare thalassemia gene mutations were found by sequencing,including 79 cases of β-thalassemia with 35 kinds of mutant types,and 23 cases of α-thalassemia with 11 kinds of mutant types.Conclusion The thalassemia gene sequencing could reveal rare mutations in genes,identify the genotype of patients,provide important support for prenatal diagnosis of rare thalassemia families,and reduce the missing rate and birth rate of children with thalassemia.