Objective To Investigate the expression of IL-21 and Blimp1 mRNA in Rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) patients and the influence on the expression of Blimp 1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of RA patients after IL-21 stimulated; To further explore the mechanism of IL-21 and blimp1 in the pathogenesis of RA.Methods Case control study.The samples of peripheral venous blood from 50 RA patients of department of rheumatology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University and 50 healthy people were collected respectively , then the plasma and PBMCs was separated.IL-21 in plasma was measured by ELISA; the correlation between patients clinical index DAS 28, anti-CCP antibody and IL-21 was analyzed.Blimp1 mRNA of patients′PBMCs was detected by qPCR; PMBCs were isolated from RA patient and then cultured in vitro.Blimp1 mRNA level was measured by qPCR and the ratio of CD 20 positive B cell and the ratio of CD138 positive cells in all groups were detected by flow cytometry after 72 h stimulated by IL-21 and CD40L.Results IL-21 content in RA patient blood plasma (130.51 ±11.35)ng/L was significantly higher than that in healthy control (25.46 ±6.05)ng/L, t=5.39,P<0.05.Besides, IL-21 level also had a close relativity with patients DAS28(r=0.658) and anti-CCP antibody (r=0.674, P=0.039 and 0.035).In addition, the expression level of Blimp1 mRNA in RA patient PMBCs (1.321 ± 0.11)was higher than that in healthy control group (1.000 ±0.000), Z=-2.48, P<0.05.While after IL-21 and/or CD40L stimulation, Blimp1 mRNA of IL-21 group and CD40L+IL-21 group(1.084 ±0.029, 1.157 ±0.028)were higher than those of control (1.000 ±0.000)(P=0.002,P=0.001), moreover the expressive level of Blimp1mRNA of CD40L+IL-21 group was higher than that of control group (t=4.862, P=0.02).Compared to negative control group , the ratio of CD20 positive B cells [2.42 ±0.35, 2.63 ± 0.33, 6.35(4.85,6.57),F=278.363,P<0.001] and the ratio of CD138 positive cells(0.474 ±0.110, 0.668 ±0.120, 0.955 ±0.170,F=49.01, P<0.001) in CD40L group, IL-21 group and CD40L+IL-21 group were much higher and the differences among CD 40L+IL-21 group with CD40L group and IL-21 group were statistically significant.Conclusion IL-21 could promote the level of Blimp 1 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in RA patient; IL-21 and CD40L could co-promote B cell maturation though regulating Blimp1 mRNA expression and eventually participate in RA pathogenesis.

【Objective】 To explore critical regulatory genes in the hemoglobin switch process by analyzing transcriptomic data from the GSE6236, GSE17639 and GSE35102 datasets. 【Methods】 The mRNA expression profiles of the three datasets were downloaded from the GEO database and gene annotation was performed using the AnnoProbe package.The remove-BatchEffect function of the Limma package was used to remove batch effects. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to explore the most relevant modular genes in reticulocytes. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to assess the value of differential genes in differentiating between cord blood and adult peripheral blood reticulocytes. The GSE35102 dataset was used to validate changes in differential gene expression during hemoglobin transformation. Finally, real-time quantitative PCR was used to verify differential gene expression in cord blood and adult peripheral blood reticulocytes. 【Results】 Twelve genes showed differential expression in reticulocytes from cord blood and adult peripheral blood ( |logFC|≥1.5, P<0.05). WGCNA found that genes in the blue module were most strongly associated with reticulocytes (R² =0.76,P<0.001). Of the five genes that overlapped between the two, only CDC42 showed differential expression in the combined dataset (t =3.776, P<0.001) and was able to better differentiate between reticulocytes in cord blood and adult peripheral blood. The expression of CDC42 varied significantly during the hemoglobin transformation process (Z = -2.908, P<0.01), and was significantly lower in adult reticulocytes compared to reticulocytes from cord blood (t =7.824, P <0.001). 【Conclusion】 The CDC42 gene is involved in the hemoglobin switching of reticulocytes and could be a potential therapeutic target for sickle cell disease.

Objective To explore the clinical significance of sortilin 1(SORT1)gene as a new diagnostic biomarker for pediatric sep-sis.Methods Three pediatric sepsis-related microarray datasets,including GSE13904,GSE26378,and GSE26440,were obtained from the gene expression omnibus(GEO)database to analyze the expression difference of SORT1 gene between normal and sepsis sam-ples.Then,65 clinical samples were used to validate the difference through qRT-PCR.The molecular mechanism and biological process associated with SORT1 gene were explored by the gene set enrichment analysis(GSEA).Results The expression levels of SORT1 gene in the sepsis samples of GSE13904,GSE26378,and GSE26440 datasets and clinical samples were higher than that in normal samples.Compared with commonly used inflammatory markers such as procalcitonin(PCT),C-reactive protein(CRP),white blood cell(WBC),and the percentage of neutrophils(Neu％),SORT1 gene showed better diagnostic ability for pediatric sepsis and the area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve(AUCROC)was 0.863.SORT1 gene may be involved in the occurrence and de-velopment of pediatric sepsis through the TNF-α/NF-κB signaling pathway.Conclusion SORT1 gene may have certain diagnostic val-ue for pediatric sepsis,which needs to be further confirmed in clinical practice.

【Objective】 To investigate the relationship between anti-platelet antibodies, therapeutic effect of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and Treg/Th17 cells imbalance in children with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). 【Methods】 The changes and correlation of platelet count and Treg/Th17 ratio before and after IVIG treatment in 60 newly diagnosed ITP children with anti-platelet antibodies and 60 children with primary ITP without anti-platelet antibodies were analyzed. 【Results】 1) Compared with the control group, the efficacy of IVIG treatment was better in children with ITP in the case group(CR+ R cases: 50 vs 32) (P<0.01). 2) After IVIG treatment, platelet count(×10⁹/L)(case: 4.5±2.9 vs 327.4±69.5, control: 4.1±3.2 vs 304.7±75.9), Treg cell level(%)(case: 2.15±1.08 vs 5.09±1.37, control: 2.41±0.92 vs 4.98±1.10), Treg/Th17 ratio(case: 1.10±0.19 vs 7.75±1.11, control: 1.27±0.21 vs 4.69±0.81)significantly increased while Th17 cell level(%) significantly decreased in the 2 groups of children(case: 2.07±1.31 vs 1.37±0.92, control: 2.13±1.18 vs 1.48±1.01); compared with the control group, there was no significant change in Treg, Th17 and Treg/Th17 ratio before and after treatment in the case group (P>0.05), but platelet count increased more significantly (P<0.05). 3) There were 3 positive cases in the control group and 12 negative cases in the case group after IVIG treatment, and IVIG treatment probably had no effect on the positive rate of anti-platelet antibodies in children with ITP (P>0.05). 4) The change in platelet count after IVIG treatment was significantly positively correlated with Treg levels (r=0.49 in the case group and r=0.441 in the control group) and negatively correlated with Th17 cell levels (r=-0.390 in the case group and r=-0.364 in the control group). 【Conclusion】 Anti-platelet antibodies can be used as a predictor of the efficacy of IVIG therapy in children with ITP, but they are not associated with changes in the Treg/Th17 ratio.