BACKGROUND:Nuclear transcription factor(NTF) ?B is a transcription factor,which exists universally in eukaryocyte.It has been identified that its overacting is correlated to the ongoing and development of many diseases.Among the pathomechanism of rheumatoid arthritis,the abnormal activation of NTF ?B has a lot to do with the inflammatory hyperplasia of synovium and the erosion of tissue around articulation.OBJECTIVE:To review the recent progress of NTF ?B,pathogenesis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.RETRIEVAL STRATEGY:A computer-based online search of PubMed database was undertaken to identify the articles published in English from January 2000 to July 2007,with the Key words of "nuclear transcription factor ?B,rheumatoid arthritis,pathogenesis,treatment".Meanwhile,Wanfang database was searched for the related Chinese articles published between January 2000 and July 2007,with the same key words in Chinese.A total of 72 articles were finally selected for the first trial.Inclusive criteria:the articles focus on the NTF ?B,the pathogenesis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.Exclusive criteria:repeated experiments.LITERATURE EVALUATION:Among the 30 inclusive literatures,7 were related to reviews while the others were clinical or basic researches.DATA SYNTHESIS:①NTF ?B is a significant transcription factor,which participates in regulating many genes related to immune function and inflammation reaction.The promoters of many genes have the binding sites of NTF ?B.②It is indicated that the abnormal activation of NTF ?B plays an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.In recent years,many researches inhibiting its activation through different components of signaling pathways have been doing,which become very hot in anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatism treatment.③In recent years,people have been making great progress in the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis aiming at cytokine and its receptor,however,interfering NTF ?B to treat rheumatoid arthritis is still in study stage.CONCLUSION:NTF ?B target therapy provides a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis,which is a very exciting prospect indeed.

BACKGROUND:The etiological factor for rheumatoid arthritis remains unclear, but the effects of nuclear factor-κB on the onset of rheumatoid arthritis have been gradual y paid great attention by rheumatologists.
OBJECTIVE:By using the RNA interference (RNAi) technique to block the signal pathway of nuclear factor-κB
mRNA of human rheumatoid arthritis synovial cells, this study explored its application prospect in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
METHODS:The synovial cells were isolated, digested, and cultured for further use. In accordance with the
design principle of smal interfering RNA (siRNA), target sequences of siRNA of nuclear factor-κB were identified, and siRNA expression vector of nuclear factor-κB was synthesized and constructed. The four pGenesil-1/nuclear factor-κB siRNA expression vectors were transfected into the first passage of synovial cells that wel grew. Blank and negative control groups were set. cells at 12, 24, 48, 72 hours, 5 and 7 days after transfection were col ected, and RNA was extracted. Intracellular nuclear factor-κB mRNA expression levels were measured, and siRNA plasmid vector that could effectively inhibit nuclear factor-κB mRNA expression was screened out.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Nuclear factor-κB highly expressed in synovial cells after human rheumatoid arthritis. 3#pGenesil-1/nuclear factor-κB apparently suppressed nuclear factor-κB mRNA expression in synovial cells with human rheumatoid arthritis. RNAi technique blocked nuclear factor-κB mRNA expression. Therefore, the block of nuclear factor-κB signal pathway might be a good target for rheumatoid arthritis gene therapy.

Objective:To explore the feasibility of the clinical implementation of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans with 6MV photon on two Elekta Linacs (Versa HD and Synergy) after beam matching.Methods:The images of 12 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, central lung cancer and prostate cancer were randomly selected, and the IMRT and VMAT plans were designed. Two different dose tools of ionization chamber and three-dimensional detector ArcCheck were used to verify the individualized radiation treatment of 6MV photon beams on two Linacs and compare the differences.Results:The deviations between the doses of two Linacs (Versa HD and Synergy) measured by the ion chamber and treatment planning system were (0.32±1.32)% and (0.54±1.29)%. The differences of all plans were within the range of ±3%, and the deviations of the point dose between two Linacs were within the range of ±2% with no statistical significance (both P>0.05). The γ analysis of verification using ArcCheck showed that the passing rates of all plans under the 2mm/3% and 3mm/3% with 10% threshold conditions were over 95%, respectively. The average differences between two Linacs were 0.19%(2mm/3%) and 0.09%(3mm/3%). Conclusions:The results of performing IMRT/VMAT plans on two Linacs meet the clinical requirements and the differences between two Linacs are small. Hence, the same plans can be implemented interchangeably on different Linacs.

Mitophagy is a process whereby cells selectively remove mitochondria through the mechanism of autophagy, which plays an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. In order to explore the effect of mitophagy genes on the antioxidant activities of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mutants with deletion or overexpression of mitophagy genes ATG8, ATG11 and ATG32 were constructed respectively. The results indicated that overexpression of ATG8 and ATG11 genes significantly reduced the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) content upon H₂O₂ stress for 6 h, which were 61.23% and 46.35% of the initial state, respectively. Notable, overexpression of ATG8 and ATG11 genes significantly increased the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and ATP content, which were helpful to improve the antioxidant activities of the strains. On the other hand, deletion of ATG8, ATG11 and ATG32 caused mitochondrial damage and significantly decreased cell vitality, and caused the imbalance of intracellular ROS. The intracellular ROS content significantly increased to 174.27%, 128.68%, 200.92% of the initial state, respectively, upon H₂O₂ stress for 6 h. The results showed that ATG8, ATG11 and ATG32 might be potential targets for regulating the antioxidant properties of yeast, providing a new clue for further research.
Mitophagy/genetics* ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics* ; Antioxidants ; Hydrogen Peroxide/pharmacology* ; Reactive Oxygen Species

Lager yeast is the most popular yeast strain used for beer production in China. The flocculation of yeast plays an important role in cell separation at the end of fermentation. Therefore, appropriately enhancing the flocculation capability of the lager yeast without affecting its fermentation performance would be desirable for beer industry. Our previous study showed that the defect of gene RIM21 might contribute to the enhanced flocculation capability of a lager yeast G03. To further investigate the role of the RIM21 gene in flocculation of strain G03, this study constructed a RIM21-deleted mutant strain G03-RIM21Δ through homologous recombination. Deletion of RIM21 improved the flocculation capability of strain G03 during wort fermentation at 11 °C without changing its fermentation performance significantly. The expression of FLO5, Lg-FLO1 and some other genes involved in cell wall integrity pathway were up-regulated in strain G03-RIM21Δ. In addition, the disruption of RIM21 enhanced resistance of yeast cells to cell wall inhibitors. These results provide a basis for elucidating the flocculation mechanism of lager yeast under low-temperature fermentation conditions.
Beer ; Fermentation ; Flocculation ; Receptors, Cell Surface ; Saccharomyces/metabolism* ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism* ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/metabolism*

The autolysis of brewer's yeast seriously affects the quality of beer and the quality of yeast is considered as one of the key factors in beer brewing. Previous studies on brewer's yeast autolysis showed that RLM1 gene, an important transcription factor in cell integrity pathway, is closely related to the autolysis of yeast. In this study, RLM1 was knocked out and overexpressed in a haploid brewer's yeast. RLM1 disruption resulted in poor anti-autolysis performance of yeast, whereas overexpression of RLM1 contributed to the anti-autolytic ability of yeast. In addition, RLM1 gene knockout affected the osmotic stress resistance, cell wall damage resistance, nitrogen starvation resistance and temperature tolerance of yeast strain. The transcriptional level of GAS1 involved in cell wall assembly and DNA damage response was regulated along with the expression of RLM1, whereas other genes in CWI pathway did not show apparent regularity. RLM1 might mainly affect the expression of GAS1 so as to improve the stress resistance of lager yeast in harsh environment. The result from this study help further understand the mechanism of yeast autolysis and lay a foundation for breeding brewer's yeast strain with better anti-autolytic ability.
Autolysis ; Beer ; Cell Wall ; Humans ; MADS Domain Proteins ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins