BACKGROUND:Liver fibrosis is the early stage of terminal liver diseases. Effective treatment for liver fibrosis can prevent the occurrence of terminal liver diseases. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel transplantation is a promising method to treat liver fibrosis. OBJECTIVE:To study the therapeutic effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels on liver fibrosis in rats. METHODS: Eighteen Sprague-Dawely rats were randomized into three groups: control, model and cel transplantation groups. Animal models of carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis were made in the latter two groups. After modeling, 1 mL bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels (5×105) or the same volume of normal saline was injectedviathe tail vein into the rats in the cel transplantation and model groups, respectively. Rats in the control group were given no treatment. Degree of liver fibrosis, liver function, histological changes of the liver were detected and observed in the three groups at 4 weeks after treatment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:In the control group, the liver tissues had normal structure with no fibrosis; in the model group, proliferation of fibrous tissues in the portal area of the liver, inflammatory cel infiltration, vacuolar degeneration and irregular arrangement of liver cels, and tissue structure damage were observed; in the transplantation group, liver tissue damage was severer than the control group but milder than the model group. Levels of serum hyaluronidase, type IV colagen and procolagen III were significantly lower in the cel transplantation group than the model group (P< 0.05). These findings indicate that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel transplantation can aleviate liver fibrosis and improve liver function in rats with carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis.

To obtain oleaginous yeast mutants with improved lipid production and growth rates, an atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) jet was used with a 96-well plate for high throughput screening. Mutants with changes in growth rates and lipid contents were obtained. At a lethality rate of 99%, the positive mutation rate of the yeast cells was 27.2% evaluated by the growth rates of the mutants and the comparison with the wild strain. The fermentation in a medium composed of yeast extract (10 g/L), peptone (10 g/L) and D-glucose (20 g/L) resulted in the lipid yield of the mutant (C4) with 4.07% (W/W) compared with that of the wild strain (1.87%).
Atmosphere ; Biofuels ; Culture Media ; Fermentation ; Glucose ; pharmacology ; Lipids ; biosynthesis ; Mutation ; Peptones ; pharmacology ; Temperature ; Yeasts ; genetics ; growth & development ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of detection of protein SP70 in differentiating benign and malignant pleural effusion.Methods A case-control study was conducted from July 2011 to February 2012.108 cases of pleural effusion from patients with clinically proven lung cancers and 122 cases of benign pleural effusion were collected.SP70 was detected by Sandwich ELISA,while CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay for comparison.Meanwhile,protein SP70 on exfoliated cells in pleural effusion was detected by direct immunofluorescence,and was compared with the results of HE staining.The differences between the groups were evaluated by the chisquare test Fisher' s exact test.Results Positive rates of SP70,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were 72.2％,58.3％,52.8％ and 30.6％ in malignant pleural effusion,obviously higher than benign pleural effusio (9.8％,13.1％,23.0％ and 19.7％).The specificity of SP70,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were 90.2％,86.9％,77.0％ and 80.3％,NSCLC had significantly higher positive rate than SCLC(74.3％ ＞0.0％,P =0.02 ＜ 0.05),detection of protein SP70 in malignant pleural effusion had significantly higher coincidence rate than HE staining(72.2％ vs 47.2％,x2 =14.03,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Determination of the protein SP70 in pleural effusion and in exfoliated cells,can improve the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion.

OBJECTIVESTo observe the changes of serum interleukins (IL), T-lymphocyte subsets, and white blood cell (WBC) count in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and to investigate the relationship between injured immune function, immune response and disturbed immune adjustment in SARS patients.

METHODSThe levels of serum IL-2, IL-10, IL-12 and T-lymphocyte subset counts were measured in 35 clinically diagnosed SARS patients by using enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). The relationship between the measured results and WBC count was further analyzed.

RESULTSThe level of serum IL was increased to a great extent in the 35 SARS patients, and the levels of serum IL-2, IL-10 and IL-12 were 242.53 (92.69) pg/ml, 77.43 (63.37) pg/ml and 65.94 (43.21) pg/ml, respectively. The level of serum IL-2 increased markedly (P < 0.01). The peripheral blood CD(3)(+), CD(4)(+) and CD(8)(+) counts were lower than normal in 23 patients (67.7%), 26 patients (74.3%) and 15 patients (42.9%), respectively. The peripheral blood WBC counts were lower than 4.0 x 10(9)/L in 10 patients, and their CD(3)(+), CD(4)(+) and CD(8)(+) counts were 583.90 (315.58) x 10(6)/L, 272.00 (94.13) x 10(6)/L and 209.00 (72.21) x 10(6)/L, respectively. The peripheral blood WBC counts were (4.0 - 10.0) x 10(9)/L in 20 patients, and their CD(3)(+), CD(4)(+) and CD(8)(+) counts were 700.00 (502.96) x 10(6)/L, 347.00 (247.58) x 10(6)/L and 322.05 (228.47) x 10(6)/L, respectively. The peripheral blood WBC counts were higher than 10.0 x 10(9)/L in 5 patients, and their CD(3)(+), CD(4)(+) and CD(8)(+) counts were 1466.00 (630.86) x 10(6)/L, 783.00 (311.14) x 10(6)/L and 640.00 (294.40) x 10(6)/L, respectively. The decreased CD(3)(+), CD(4)(+) and CD(8)(+) counts were consistent with the decreased WBC counts. The level of IL in SARS patients was significantly higher than that in patients with chronic hepatitis B (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe level of serum IL is closely related to cell immunity in SARS patients. The level of serum IL is increased evidently while CD(3)(+), CD(4)(+) and CD(8)(+) counts decrease. Both serum IL and CD are associated with injury of immune function, and thus they could be regarded as a monitoring index for judging the condition of SARS patients and prescribing immune therapy.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukins ; blood ; Leukocyte Count ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; immunology ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; cytology

Objective:To establish SPECT quantitative method for assessment of right ventricular myocardial blood flow (MBF) and investigate the relationship between right ventricular MBF and pulmonary hemodynamics in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.Methods:From January 2018 to June 2019, 14 patients (13 females, 1 male; age: (30.9±13.5) years) in Fuwai Hospital with pulmonary arterial hypertension related to congenital heart disease (PAH-CHD), whose right ventricular function were preserved, were retrospectively analyzed in this study. All subjects underwent dynamic SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging using cadmium-zine-telluride (CZT) SPECT. Full physical correction was applied for imaging reconstruction. One-tissue two compartmental model was used for kinetic analysis and the spill-over effect from right ventricular blood pool to right ventricular myocardium was considered into the correction, thus right ventricular MBF and left ventricular MBF was calculated. Right heart catheterization was performed within one week after SPECT imaging to evaluate the pulmonary hemodynamic parameters, and the right ventricular end-diastolic dimension (EDD) was measured by transthoracic echocardiography. Correlations between the MBF and other parameters were analyzed with Pearson correlation analysis.Results:The right ventricular MBF was (0.70±0.19) ml·min -1·g -1, which was significantly correlated with mean pulmonary artery pressure ((68.64±18.18) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa); r=0.716, P<0.05) and pulmonary vascular resistance ((14.10±7.81) Wood units; r=0.768, P<0.05). The right ventricular MBF was also significantly correlated with right ventricular EDD ((32.00±7.75) mm; r=-0.624, P<0.05). Meanwhile, there was no significant relationship between left ventricular MBF and hemodynamic parameters ( r values: from -0.350 to 0.310, all P>0.05). Conclusions:A method using SPECT to quantitively measure right ventricular MBF in patients with PAH-CHD is preliminarily established. Right ventricular MBF is increased with the increased pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance in patients with PAH-CHD.

Objective To explore the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer by investigating the function of Toll-like receptor 1 (TLR1),TLR2 and TLR6 in peripheral blood mononuclear cell(PBMC) from patients with ovarian cancer.Methods PBMC,SK OV 3 co culture system and anti-TLR1,anti-TLR2,anti-TLR6 mAb blocking experiment were used to explore the relationship between TLR1,TLR2 or TLR6 signaling and inflammation in ovarian cancer.Quantitative real time PCR was used to measure interleukin(IL)-1β,IL-6,IL-8,and tumor necrosises factor(TNF)-α in the PBMC.MyD88,TRAF6,TANK,NF-κB and P-NFκB were observed by Western blotting.Results In the PBMC and SK-OV-3 coculture system,we found the activation of TLR signaling pathways,including significantly increased MyD88,TRAF6,TANK and P-NF-κB levels following cocultured with SK-OV-3 in PBMC from ovarian cancer patients.PBMC derived from ovarian cancer patients led to a increase in IL-1β,IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA levels after 24 hours of co-incubation with SK-OV-3 (Fold=1.74,Fold=1.92,Fold=1.65,P＜0.05),though there was no difference of TNF-a mRNA expression.In contrast to the ovarian cancer patients,coculture of PBMC derived from benign diseases controls and healthy normal controls decreased IL-1β at the mRNA level (Fold=0.71,P＜0.05;Fold=0.72,P＜0.05),furthermore the expression of MyD88,TRAF6,TANK,P-NF-κB,and NF-κB showed no changes.PBMC which treated with anti-TLR1,anti-TLR2 or-TLR6 mAb could inhibite inflammatory IL-1β (Fold=0.16,Fold=0.31,Fold=0.29,P＜0.05) and IL-6 (Fold=0.14,Fold=0.20,Fold=0.28,P＜0.05).Conclusion TLR1/TLR2/TLR6 in PBMC of ovarian cancer patients participate in the recognition of the factors.

The clinical application of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has significantly improved the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. With the widespread applica-tion of ICIs in HCC, the management of immune-related adverse events (irAE) gained more and more attention. However, the complicated disease characteristics and various combination therapies in HCC throw out challenges to irAE management. Therefore, the editorial board of the 'Chinese expert consensus on the management of immune-related adverse events of hepatocellular carcinoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (2021 edition)' organizes multidisciplinary experts to discuss and formulate this consensus. The consensus focuses on issues related to HCC irAE manage-ment, and puts forward suggestions, in order to improve standardized and safety clinical medication, so as to maximize the benefits of immunotherapy for patients.