Objective To explore the role of sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin-one (Siglec-1) in the process of atherosclerotic inflammation induced by oxidized low-density hpepmtein (ox-LDL). Methods Ox-LDL was synthesized by oxidization of native LDL and different concentration of ox-LDL was added to the culture medium of RAW264.7. Forty-eight hours later, cells and supernatants were collected separately. The expression of Siglec-1 protein and mRNA were measured by flow cytometry(FCM) and real-time quantitative RT-PCR, respectively. The levels of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein-1α(MIP-1α) and IL-8 in supernatants were determined by ELISA. Re-sults By the stimulation of ox-LDL, Siglec-1 protein and mRNA on RAW264.7 cells were significantly in-creased, meanwhile, the cytokines levels in culture supematants were significantly higher than that in the control group. And both Siglec-1 expression and cytokine secretion were ox-LDL dose-dependent. Conclu-sion Ox-LDL can increase Siglec-1 protein and mRNA expression and some inflammatory cytokines secre-tion on RAW264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Manifested by enhanced Siglec-1 expression, the acti-vated macmphages may take a part in the development and progression of atherosclerosis.

Objective To study the clinical characteristics,muscle pathological features,diagnosis and prognosis of TK2-related mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome(MDS).Methods Clinical and laboratory data of 2 cases of TK2-related myopathic MDS were reported.And data of previously reported 58 TK2-related MDS cases were reviewed.Results Total 60 patients consisted of 35 male and 25 female.The age of onset ranged from the birth to the age of 74 years old,and 54 of the patients were attacked at the age younger than 3 years old.Muscle weakness and hypotonia were detected in all patients,with 40 patients(including the newly diagnosed 2 cases) manifested as pure myopathic form,and 20 patients with other multiple organs involvement.Serum creatine kinase was mildly increased (211-6 500 IU/L) in 53 patients.Elevated serum lactic acid level (2.3-12.0 mmol/L)was observed in 24 patients.Muscle biopsy was available from 55 patients,and ragged red fibers and/or cytochrome C oxidase (COX)-negative fibers were detected in 48 out of them.Nine out of 11 patients received electronic microscope study showed proliferation of abnormal mitochondria.Respiratory chain enzymatic activities in skeletal muscle were reduced in 31 out of 33 patients.Marked mtDNA content reduction was observed in 36 out of 41 patients (4％-25％ of age-and tissue-matched controls).A total of 42 TK2 mutations were found in 60 patients,including 2 novel mutations c.923A ＞ G and c.619-2A ＞ T in this study.Conclusions The most common clinical manifestations of TK2-related MDS are severely,rapidly progressing myopathy with infantile or early childhood onset.As the detection rate of characteristic pathologic features in muscle is high,muscle biopsy is important for the diagnosis of TK2-related MDS.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody (mAb) combined with antithymocytic globulin (ATG) in the treatment of severe steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after unrelated donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (UD-HSCT).

METHODSTen leukemic patients who developed severe steroid-resistant aGVHD during UD-HSCT received a standard dose of anti-CD25 mAb and a medium or low dose of ATG. The effect on aGVHD control, patients' survival, infection and relapse after the therapy were analyzed.

RESULTSEight of the 10 patients had complete remission and 2 had partial remission after the combined therapy. In the 8 patients with complete remission, 2 developed third degree aGVHD 3-3.5 months after the transplantation, and were managed with a second combined therapy to successfully achieve complete remission. In the total of 12 combined treatments, the median time of therapeutic effect was 5 days (3-10 days); the median complete relief time was 12 days (8-30 days) in the 10 cases. Among the 8 patients who survived for more than 3 months, 7 were diagnosed to have chronic GVHD including 4 with extensive chronic GVHD. No relapse of leukemia was found in these patients. Five patients survived the 2-year-long follow-up after the transplantation with survival time over 2 years; of the 5 patients who died within 2 years after the transplantation, 1 survived for more than one year, and 4 for less than 6 months. Two patients died from invasive fungal infection, two from aGVHD and one from cGVHD-induced multiple organ failure.

CONCLUSIONAnti-CD25 mAb combined with ATG has good therapeutic effect on steroid-resistant sever aGVHD and may help achieve high complete remission rate and long-term survival in leukemic patients after UD-HSCT.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Antilymphocyte Serum ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Drug Resistance ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit ; immunology ; Male ; Prednisone ; therapeutic use ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVELysosomal storage diseases are a group of inherited disorders caused by deficiency of lysosomal enzymes or structural components. The manifestations of lysosomal storage diseases are complicated due to different enzyme deficiency. It has been reported that a range of metabolic diseases resulting in abnormal accumulation of metabolic byproducts may exhibit abnormal cytoplasmic vacuolation of lymphocytes. The aim of this study was to elicit the usefulness of vacuolated peripheral lymphocytes detection in screening and diagnosis of lysosomal storage diseases.

METHODClinical data of 42 patients who underwent microscopic and electron microscopic examination of peripheral blood specimens in our department were retrospectively evaluated between January 2008 and December 2009.

RESULTForty-two patients with the suspected lysosomal storage diseases were included, these patients presented with motor and developmental retardation and/or regression. Seizure occurred in 32 patients. Hepatosplenomegaly were found in 4 patients. Three patients presented with declined visual acuity. Atrophy and/or abnormal signals were detected on cranial CT/MRI images in 24 patients. Blood biochemical tests were normal. Serum levels of ammonia, lactic acid and pyruvate were normal. Serum amino acid profiles and urinary organic acid profiles were normal. Serum fatty acid profiles were normal. Vacuolated lymphocytes were detected on microscopic examination of blood film in 14 patients, and 8 of these patients were confirmed to have lysosomal storage disease. Curvilinear body was found on electronic microscopic examination of peripheral lymphocytes specimens in 4 patients, confirming the diagnosis of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. In 3 of these 4 patients, curvilinear body were also found on electronic microscopic examination of skin and/or muscle specimens. Enzyme analysis confirmed the diagnosis of metachromatic leukodystrophy in one patient and Pompe's disease in another patient. Typical pathological changes were found on the examination of bone marrow in 2 patients with normal acid sphingomyelinase activity. So the patients were diagnosed with Niemann-Pick disease type C. The diagnosis of other 6 patients with vacuolated lymphocytes was unknown.

CONCLUSIONBecause of its usefulness and minimal invasiveness, vacuolated peripheral lymphocytes examination should be a screening test for lysosomal storage disease. As for patients with suspected neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, electron microscopic examination of peripheral lymphocyte specimens may provide specific clues to the final diagnosis.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Lymphocytes ; pathology ; Lysosomal Storage Diseases ; blood ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron ; Retrospective Studies ; Vacuoles

Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Granzymes ; Humans ; Immune Tolerance ; Killer Cells, Natural ; immunology ; Multivariate Analysis ; S100 Proteins ; analysis ; Serine Endopeptidases ; analysis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; immunology ; pathology ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; immunology

Objective To investigate the effects of dominant-negative truncation mutant?NTCF4, lacking the N-terminal form of TCF4 gene,on biological characteristics of renal cancer cell line GRC-I and explore the molecular mechanisms.Methods GRC-I cell was transfected with pCDNA3-?NTCF4 eukary- otie expression plasmid,pCDNA3 empty vector to construct the stable cell line GRC-I/?NTCF4 and GRC-I/ Mock respectively.The morphological changes of stable cells were observed and the cells growth curve was detected through light microscope.The cellular proliferation activities were determined using the MTT assay. The protein expression of Wnt pathway downstream target gene C-Myc and Cox-2 was evaluated by immuno- cytoehemieal method and Western Blot analysis.Results After the dominant-negative?NTCF4 gene was permanently expressed,the GRC-I/?NTCF4 stable cells morphologically showed that appearance changed from circular to long-spindle shape,growth rate decreased with less karyosehisis found,malignant pheno- types reversed to normal renal tubular cells.MTT assay revealed that the proliferation activities of GRC-1/?NTCF4 cells were inhibited by 11.2%-35.5% compared with GRC-I cells (P＜0.05),while the GRC- I/Mock cells have no difference with the control cells.Immunocytochemical analysis and Western Blot showed that the C-Myc and Cox-2 protein expression level of GRC-I/?ANTCF4 cells were significantly sup- pressed in comparison with that of GRC-I/Mock and GRC-I cells.Conclusions The dominant-negative truncation mutant?NTCF4 could partially inhibit the growth of renal cancer cells and down-regulate the pro- tein expression of Wnt pathway target gene C-Myc and Cox-2.These findings provide a experimental founda- tion for applying cell signal therapy to renal cell cancer by blocking the Wnt signaling pathway.

Objective To observe the urodynamic change after spinal cord injury at different levels and the relationship with neurogenic dysfunction of bladder and urethra. Methods Eighty female rats were divided into a control group (20 rats) , a suprasacral spinal cord injury group (30 rats) and a sacral spinal cord injury (30 rats). The urodynamic exam was performed with all the rats before and 20 days after the spinal cord injury model was established by surgical operation. Results The maximum bladder volume and compliance in the su- prasacral injury group were significantly less than the sacral spinal cord injury group and the control, the maxi- mum volume and compliance in sacral spinal cord injury group were significantly less than the control. The DLPP in suprasacral injury group was significantly higher than that in the sacral spinal cord injury group and the con- trol, the DLPP in sacral spinal cord injury group was significantly less than that in the control group. Conclu- sion Urodynamic study is very useful for the early diagnosis and individualized treatment of the neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVETo compare the effect of unrelated donor bone marrow (BM) transplantation and peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation in light of hemopoietic reconstitution, immune reconstitution, infection, incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and other complications in patients with leukemia.

METHODSThe clinical outcomes of 16 patients receiving unrelated PBSC graft mobilized by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) were compared with 30 patients receiving unrelated BM transplantation.

RESULTSEngraftment was achieved in 97.83% of the total patients. Compared with BM transplantation group, PBSC graft contained significantly more nucleated cells (P=0.000), resulting in a significantly shorter time-to-neutrophil (16.21-/+3.09 vs 12.81-/+4.15 days, P=0.003) and platelet engraftment (20.31-/+7.19 vs 15.50-/+6.91 days, P=0.035). T cell reconstitution differed little between the two groups at different time points after transplantation. The incidences of early-stage infection were 37.50% and 50.00% (P=0.644) in the PBSC and BM groups, respectively. In PBSC and BM groups, the incidences of grades I to IV acute GVHD (aGVHD) were 56.25% and 70.00% (P=0.456), 18.75% and 13.79% (P=0.661) for grades III to IV aGVHD, and 30.77% and 36.36% (P=0.413) for chronic GVHD (cGVHD), respectively. The nonrelapse transplant-related mortality (TRM) rates were 18.75% in PBSC group and 33.33% in BM group (P=0.295). The relapse occurred in 18.75% and 6.90% (P=0.226) of the patients in the two groups, respectively, and the 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 62.19% and 56.23% (P=0.615), respectively.

CONCLUSIONG-CSF-mobilized PBSCs allow more rapid engraftment in unrelated donor recipients in comparison with conventional BM, but T cell reconstitution and the incidence of infection between the two groups differ little, nor are there significant differences in the incidence or severity of aGVHD and cGVHD, nonrelapse TRM or 2-year DFS rates between the two groups.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; pathology ; Humans ; Leukemia ; surgery ; Male ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation Conditioning ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo compare the hemopoietic reconstitution, immune reconstitution, infection, incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and clinical outcome between unrelated donor peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation and bone marrow (BM) transplantation for leukemias.

METHODSThe clinical results of 21 leukemia patients receiving G-CSF mobilized PBSC graft from unrelated donors were compared with that of 32 patients receiving unrelated BM transplants.

RESULTSCompared with BM grafts, the PBSC graft contained significantly more nucleated cells (P = 0.000), and resulted in a significantly shorter time-to-neutrophil (12.43 +/- 3.67 vs 16.16 + 2.99 days) and platelet engraftment (14.67 +/- 6.19 vs 21.23 +/- 8.25 days), (P = 0.000 and 0.003, respectively). T cell reconstitution between the two groups differed little after transplantation. The incidences of early-stage infection (42.86% vs 53.13%), the probabilities of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) (61.90% vs 71.88%), the grades III to IV aGVHD (23.81% vs 15.63%), the chronic GVHD (47.06% vs 43.48%) and the probabilities of relapse (6.90% vs 12.50%) between PBSC and BM groups all has no statistical significance (NS). The 2-year disease free survival (DFS) rates of the two groups were (50.14 +/- 12.00) % and (59.81 +/- 8.99)%, respectively also have no NS.

CONCLUSIONG-CSF-mobilized unrelated donor PBSCs engraft more rapidly in the recipients as compared with conventional BM grafts. The T cell reconstitution, the incidence of infection, the incidence and severity of aGVHD and cGVHD, and the 2-year DFS rates between the two groups all have no significant differences.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Leukemia ; surgery ; Male ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation Conditioning ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Treatment Outcome

In addition to its well established role as a neurotransmitter, extracellular ATP has been considered as a paracrine/autocrine factor, either released from sperm or epithelial cells, in the male reproductive tract and shown to play a versatile role in modulating various reproductive functions. This review summarizes the signal pathways through which ATP induces anion secretion by the epithelia of the epididymis, as well as its epithelium-dependent modulation of smooth muscle contraction of the vas deferens. Finally, the overall role of ATP in coordinating various reproductive events in the male genital tract is discussed.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; physiology ; Animals ; Epididymis ; physiology ; Epithelium ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Muscle Contraction ; Muscle, Smooth ; physiology ; Signal Transduction ; Urogenital System ; physiology ; Vas Deferens ; physiology