Objective To elucidate the immunologic mechanism and clinical effect of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) combined with dendritic cell and cytokine induced killer cell (DC-CIK) immunotherapy on patients with pancreatic cancer.Methods Seventy-two pancreatic cancer patients were divided randomly into 2 equal groups,one treated with HIFU only the other treated with HIFU and DC-CIK immunotherapy.Ultrasound imaging and a variety of immunological indexes were recorded before and after treatment and the clinical effects in the two groups were compared.Moreover,autogenous tumor cells were isolated from the combination therapy group and the killing activity of DC-CIK which loaded tumor antigen processed by HIFU on autogenous tumor cells was observed.Results Tumor antigen processed by HIFU can improve the killing activity of DC-CIK on autogenous tumor cells.After treatment,the immunological indexes,of all patients were better than before treatment.(58.26 ± 17.97 versus 52.15 ± 14.22 pg/ml with IL-12 22.14 ± 6.39 versus 17.36 ± 5.73 ng/ml with HSP70 and 0.94 ± O.34 versus 1.32 ± O.61 ng/ml with TGF-β,P ＜ 0.05 ) ; The combination group was significantly better than the HIFU group with regard to the average scores of quality of life (75.89 ± 19.65 versus 67.22 ± 16.34,P＜0.05),pain (3.15 ±0.82 versus 3.59 ± 1.04,P ＜0.05),tumor markers (107.55 ±27.58 versus 123.63 ±34.12 U/ml) and survival time (18.92±6.47 versus 13.36 ±5.78 mos).Conclusion HIFU can improve the immunologic status and anti-tumor response in patients with pancreatic cancer.HIFU combined with DC-CIK has good synergistic therapeutic effect for treating pancreatic cancer.

Objective: To investigate the killing activity of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells after incubation with autologous tumor cell lysate-pulsed dendritic cells (Ag-DC) and to evaluate the immune functions of patients, the clinical efficacy and side effect of Ag-DC in combination with CIK on hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from 24 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and cultured with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4 to produce dendritic cells (DCs). The DCs were pulsed with autologous tumor cell lysate. T lymphocytes from PBMC were cultured with interferon-Y (IFN-γ), IL-2, CD3-moAb, and IL-1α to prepare CIK. The killing effect of CIK on SMMC-7721 was investigated after CIK was incubated with Ag-DC. After immunotherapy with Ag-DC and CIK, immunolog-ic and clinical responses of the 24 patients were evaluated. Results: The killing effect of CIK was remarkably improved after CIK was incubated with Ag-DC. The immunotherapy with DC and CIK alleviated symptoms and improved the immune functions of the patients. Except for transient fever and chill, no remarkable adverse events were observed. Conclusion: Ag-DC in combination with CIK shows short-term efficacy on hepatocellular carcinoma through inducing specific anti-tumor immunity and can be an effective adjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective This study aims to investigate the clinical value of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP)combined with strontium-89 (89 Sr)on patients with spinal malignant tumor.Methods Seventy four patients who were diagnosed as spinal malig-nant tumor were divided into two groups randomly.37 patients of the control group were treated by PVP only,and 37 patients of joint group were treated by PVP and 89 Sr together.Then the clinical effect of the joint group and control group was compared after treatment.Results After treatment,the quality of life,ratio of pain relief,clinical effect and survival time in joint group were dis-tinctly better than control group (P <0.05).Conclusion PVP combined with 89 Sr can be an effective and safe treatment for pa-tients with spinal malignant tumor.

Objective To explore the immune effects of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma and to investigate the imaging methods to evaluate HIFU's efficacy.Methods A total of 32 patients with pancreatic carcinoma treated by HIFU were enrolled.The freeze-thaw antigen was prepared by freezing and thawing the cancer cells.HIFU antigen was prepared by cancer cells sonicated by HIFU.The killing effects of no antigen activated dendritic cells (DC) induced T lymphocyte (DC-T),freeze-thaw antigen activated DC induced T lymphocyte (freeze-thaw antigen-DC-T) and HIFU activated DC induced T lymphocyte (HIFUantigen-DC-T) in autologous pancreatic cancer cells were detected by lactic dehydrogenase kit.The changes of immune indexes [heat shock protein 70 (HSP70),T helper lymphocyte Thl/Th2 and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)] before and after H IFU treatment were determined by enzymelinked immunosorbnent assay (ELISA) method.The changes of clinical efficacy indexes [visual analogue scale (VAS),performance status (PS) and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9] before and after HIFU treatment were compared.The instant and recent (two months) efficacy of HIFU treatment were evaluated by contrast enhanced ultrasonograph (CEUS) and computed tomography (CT).The line q test was performed for comparision between groups.t-test was applied for comparision before and after treatment.Results Compared with freeze-thaw antigen,the killing effect of HIFU antigen-DC-T in autologous pancreatic cancer cells was higher (40.24％ ± 10.56％ vs 46.93％±13.26％,q=3.44,P＜0.05).HSP70 [(17.31±4.75) ng/mlvs (22.84±5.56) ng/ml],Th1/Th2 (1.24±0.36 vs 1.47±0.31),TGF-β [(1.39±0.41) ng/ml vs (1.04±0.38) ng/ml],VAS (3.97±1.32 vs 3.26±1.18),PS (2.76± 1.02 vs 2.21±0.86) and CA19-9 level[(135.39±37.45) U/ml vs (114.82±30.51) U/ml] improved after HIFU treatment compared with those before treatment (t=4.278,2.739,3.542,2.268,2.332 and 2.409,allP＜0.05).CEUS and CT showed that blood supply and the volume of the tumors reduced after HIFU treatment.Conclusions HIFU is effective in treating pancreatic carcinoma,improving immune status of patients and enhancing antitumor response.CEUS can real-time evaluate the efficacy of HIFU treatment.

OBJECTIVETo provide the basal data for artificial cross breeding of Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza from 7 provinces in China and its 4 relatives.

METHODThe pollen viability was evaluated by TTC (2, 3, 5-triphenylte trazolium chloride) test and the stigma receptivity was evaluated by benzidine-H2O2 method.

RESULTThe pollen viability of S. miltiorrhiza from 6 provinces in China and its 4 relatives deceased during time of pollen shedding. Their highest pollen viability was in 2 or 3 days after blooming. But the pollen viability of S. miltiorrhiza (wild and culture) from Hean province in China declined with time after blooming. The most obvious variation of the pollen viability was in S. miltiorrhiza from Shanxi province (RSD 71.3% ) and the least was in wild S. miltiorrhiza from Henan province (RSD 12.4%). The highest average pollen viability was wild S. miltiorrhiza (72.3%) from Henan province while the lowest was S. yunnanensis (38.8%). The stigmas of all the accessions had receptivity when blooming. The stigma receptivity of S. brevilabra was strong in 2 to 4 days after blooming, while the others had less change after blooming. The life span of pollen grains and stigmas could be maintained from 3 to 5 days.

CONCLUSIONThe optimum artificial pollination time of S. miltiorrhiza and its relatives was 2 to 3 days after blooming.

China ; Christianity ; Chromosomes, Plant ; physiology ; DNA, Plant ; analysis ; Flowers ; growth & development ; physiology ; Genetic Variation ; Genetics, Population ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; pharmacology ; Plant Infertility ; physiology ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; Pollen ; Pollination ; immunology ; physiology ; Polyploidy ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; physiology

Objective To study the pharmacokinetics of raltitrexed using different ways of drug delivery, including femoral venous infusion, hepatic artery perfusion, hepatic artery injection of lipiodol suspension, hepatic artery perfusion followed by embolization with Gelfoam. Methods According to the administration way of raltitrexed, a total of 40 New Zealand rabbit models with VX2 liver tumor were randomly divided into group A (femoral venous perfusion), group B (hepatic arterial perfusion), group C (hepatic artery injection of lipiodol suspension), and group D(hepatic artery perfusion followed by embolization with Gelfoam). Drug concentration in plasma were determined by using LC-MS/MS method and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. Results After administration of raltitrexed, the Tmax was 5 minutes in all 4 groups. In group A, B, C and D, the values were (5.88±1.39), (7.31±2.60), (9.86±5.10) and (7.19±2.27) respectively, with group C having the longest t1/2 value, which was significantly different with that of group A (P＜0.05); the (ng·ml-1·h-1) values were (2 056.40± 139.17), (1 389.21±180.28), (911.84±105.62) and (1 133.41±181.42)respectively, with the value of group A being obviously higher than that of group B, C and D (P＜0.05) and the value of group C being the lowest; the AUC0-t(ng· ml-1·h-1) values were (5 482.72±1 007.07), (4 156.99±1 475.77), (2 785.13±1 107.36) and (3 903.64±947.25) respectively, with the value of group A being remarkably higher than that of group B, C and D (P＜0.05) and the value of group C being the lowest. Conclusion Compared with the femoral vein infusion way, the ways of hepatic artery infusion, hepatic artery lipiodol suspension injection and hepatic artery perfusion followed by embolization with Gelfoam may promote more raltitrexed to deposit in the tumor area, thus, the curative effect is enhanced, the drug concentration in plasma is lowered and the side effects are alleviated.