Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), also known as vitamin D3-up-regulated protein (VDUP1), is an endogenous inhibitor of thioredoxin (Trx), which regulates the cellular reduction-oxidation (redox) state. TXNIP regulates cellular survival, apoptosis and inflammation induced by glucotoxicity, heat shock and mechanical pressure. The above functions of TXNIP are regulated by carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP) and AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK). In recent years, numerous studies showed that TXNIP is involved in diabetes and diabetic complications. On the one hand, TXNIP functions in diabetes by increasing insulin resistance and hepatic gluconeogenesis. TXNIP expression is induced by high glucose, which is implicated in pancreatic beta cell glucotoxicity and endothelial cells dysfunction. TXNIP may contribute to the development and progression of diabetes and its vascular complications. TXNIP may be a new target for diabetes and its vascular complications therapy.
Apoptosis ; Carrier Proteins ; metabolism ; Diabetes Complications ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Endothelial Cells ; pathology ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin-Secreting Cells ; pathology ; Vascular Diseases ; drug therapy ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE To appraise the bacteriostatic and blocking effect and cost construction of different kinds of materials.METHODS To divide all items into three parts at random:cotton fabric,paper-plastic package,and medical grade wrinkle paper and to study the bacteriostatic and blocking effect and cost construction of them.RESULTS Paper-plastic package and medical grade wrinkle paper had better bacteriostatic and blocking properties than cotton fabric.Comparing with cotton fabric,paper-plastic package and medical grade wrinkle paper could reduce the cost separately by 27% and 50%;the cost of wrinkle paper was lower than paper-plastic package by 32%.CONCLUSIONS Paper-plastic package and wrinkle paper have better effect on blocking bacteria and less cost than cotton fabric,which deserve more extensive application in clinic.

This study was based on live yeast cell derivative (LYCD), which was produced by live yeast cell stressed with high temperature and H 2O 2. The results showed that pretreating of low dose(37℃and 0.2mmol/L H 2O 2) could increase the content of GSH and the activity of SOD and CAT. These pretreatment could induce the resistance to lethal concentration of H 2O 2. LYCD was produced by yeast treated with 37℃ and 0.2mmol/L H 2O 2. And it was found that the survival of yeast treated with lethal concentration of H 2O 2 obviously increased, while LYCD was added in yeast culture. It indicated that LYCD could have resistance to oxidative condition.

Traditional herbal medicines, Panax ginseng, Panax quinquefolium and Panax notoginseng, attract our attention for their extensive and powerful pharmacological activities. Ginsenosides are the main active constituents of these medicinal herbs. The related glycosyltransferases involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis are the key enzymes which catalyze the last important step. Modification of ginsenoside aglycones by glycosyltransferases produces the complexity and diversity of ginsenosides, which have more extensive pharmacological activity. At present, ginsenoside aglycones and compound K have been obtained by synthetic biology. As the last step of ginsenoside biosynthesis, glycosylation of ginsenoside aglycones has been studied intensively in recent years. This review summarizes the basic strategies and research advances in studies on glycosyltransferases involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis, which is expected to lay the theoretical foundation for the in-depth research of biosynthetic pathway of ginsenosides and their production by synthetic biology.
Biosynthetic Pathways ; Ginsenosides ; biosynthesis ; Glycosyltransferases ; metabolism ; Panax ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Synthetic Biology

Objective To evaluate the role of gamma curve fitting technique of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in quantitative analysis of microcirculation in renal solid lesions. Methods A total of fifty patients with renal parenchyma solid lesions were performed contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The images were analysed by computer with gamma fitting analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasonic system. The quantitative parameters were obtained by the time-intensity curves, such as ascending slope (a3), descending slope (a2), arrival time (AT), time to peak intensity (TTP), basic intensity (BI), peak intensity, amplification (AMP), area under the curve (AUC), mean transit time (MTT) and perfusion index (PI). The parameters were compared between renal malignant and benign solid lesions. Results Fast-in and fast-out was the main perfusion mode in renal malignant tumors while slow-in and slow-out was found in renal angiomyolipoma (AML). The perfusion modes in renal malignant tumors and renal AML were fast-in and fast-out in 28 cases and 0 case, fast-in and slow-out in 4 cases and 1 case, slow-in and fast-out in 5 cases and 1 case, and slow-in and slow-out in 1 case and 10 cases, respectively. There were significant differences in the quantitative parameters such as a2, AUC and PI between renal malignant tumors and renal AML obtained by the time-intensity curves (P<0.05). Conclusion Gamma fitting analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasound system can provide quantitative information of microcirculation of renal tumors, which helps to differentiate benign renal tumors from malignant ones.

Objective To investigate the change of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in the skin of diabetic rats, and to explore the potential role of MMP-9/TIMP-1. Methods Diabetic rats were induced with streptozotocin (STZ). Then all rats were maintained for 6 weeks. Routine pathological examination and immnnohistochemistry were made to reveal the histological and cytological appearances. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of mRNA and protein of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in the skin. Results Six weeks after STZ treatment, examination of HE-stained skin sections from normal and diabetic animals revealed that the epidermis and dermis layers were thinner in diabetic rats than those in control rats. The skin of diabetic rats showed features of atrophy such as disorganization of connective tissue fiber bundles and enlarged space between collagen fiber bundles. In contrast, thick bundles of connective tissue were observed in the dermis of normal rat skin. In normal skin, cells had a bipolar, spindle-shaped appearance in the thick collagen bundles, while in the skin of diabetic animals the interstitial cells had a rounded, shrunken and crenated appearance. The relative values of expression of MMP-9 in diabetic group were higher than those in normal group with significant difference, however, the relative values of expression of TIMP-I in diabetic group were lower than those in control group. Conclusion The changes in cutaneous histology and cytology appear earlier than skin wound. These "underlying disorders" may be associated with the imbalance of MMP-9/TIMP-1.

Objective:To construct a DNA vaccine co-expressing the HBV compound multi-epitope antigen gene, the hIL-12 and the anti-HBV siRNA genes, and to express this DNA vaccine in HepG2 cells. Methods:The HBV multi-epitope antigen gene was designed and synthesized before it was fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein(EGFP) gene, and cloned into the multi-clone site(MCS) of the eukaryotic expression vector pVAX1. The expressinig units of hIL-12 and siRNA were cloned into the BspH I and Mlu I site of pVAX1 respectively. Then the recombinant plasmid pVAX1-siHBV-HB-EGFP-hIL12 was transiently transfected HepG2 cells. The expression of HBV compound multi-epitope gene was observed through EGFP report gene. The expression of hIL-12 was analyzed by ELISA and the effects of anti-HBV siRNA was confirmed with rtPCR . Results: The analysis of enzyme digestion and sequencing both demonstrated that the trible-expressing HBV DNA vaccine has been constructed successfully. The green fluorescent image was detected in the transfected cells which could confirm the expression of the multi-epitope antigen gene. The amount of hIL-12 secretion was 1289pg/ml in supernatant at 48h after transfection and 1712pg/ml at 72h after transfection. The mRNA amount of HBV S gene, which was the siRNA target, had been obviously knockdown. Conclusion: The DNA vaccine co-expressing the HBV compound multi-epitope antigen gene, the hIL-12 and the siRNA genes was constructed and transiently expressed in HepG2 cells, and siRNA had shown us a good anti-HBV effect. It laid a foundation of further study on anti-HBV effect of the new DNA vaccine.

Objective To explore the effect of chemokine CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 on proliferation,migration and invasion of epithelial ovarian cancer cells.Methods CXCR4 and CXCL12 mRNA and protein expression of human ovarian cancer cell line CAOV3 was detected by RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry.Integrin ?1 and vascular endothelial growth factor-C(VEGF-C)mRNA expression were detected in CAOV3 cells stimulated by CXCL12.The CAOV3 cells were divided into 6 groups:control group(un-stimulated),experimental group 1(stimulated by 100 ng/ml CXCL12),experimental group 2 (stimulated by 10 ng/ml CXCL12),experimental group 3(100 ng/ml CXCL12 and 10 ?g/ml neutralizing CXCR4 antibody),experimental group 4(100 ng/ml CXCL12 and 1 ?g/ml CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100),experimental group 5(10 ?g/ml neutralizing CXCR4 antibody or ascites).Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT)was used to analyze the effects of different concentrations of CXCL12 on CAOV3 cell proliferation.Transwell invasion chamber and reconstructed basement membrane(Matrigel)were used to evaluate effect of various concentrations of CXCL12 and ascites on CAOV3 cell migration and invasion. Results CAOV3 cells expressed CXCR4 mRNA(0.70?0.10)and protein,but did not express CXCL12 mRNA or protein.Immunostaining of CXCR4 was mainly located in cytoplasm.CXCR4 mRNA was up- regulated after 100 ng/ml CXCL12 stimulation(1.24?0.14;t=-7.1088,P=0.0021).Integrin ?1 mRNA was greatly increased at 3 hours by stimulation of 100 ng/ml CXCL12(before and after stimulation 0.53?0.10,1.53?0.16;P0.05).Experimental group 1 stimulated the migration and invasion of CAOV3 cells in chemotaxis assay compared with control group and experimental group 2(number of cell migration respectively 523.3?25.2,108.0?7.2,211.7 ?24.7,number of cell invasion respectively 39.3?4.0,4.0?1.0,15.7?3.1;P

The cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene is the key branch point of ergosterol and triterpenoid biosynthesis. Downregulation of 2,3-oxidosqualene metabolic flux to ergosterol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae may redirect the metabolic flux toward the triterpenoid synthetic pathway. In our study, primers were designed according to erg7 gene sequence of S. cerevisiae. Three fragments including 5' long fragment, 5' short fragment and erg7 coding region fragment were amplified by PCR. 5' long fragment consists of the promoter and a part of erg7 coding region sequence. 5' short fragment consists of a part of promoter and a part of erg7 coding region sequence. These fragments were inserted reversely into pESC-URA to construct antisense expression plasmids. The recombinant plasmids were transformed into S. cerevisiae INVSc1 and recombinant strains were screened on the nutritional deficient medium SD-URA. The erg7 expression level of recombinant strains, which harbored antisense expression plasmid of erg7 coding region, was similar to that of INVScl by semi-quantitative PCR detection. But erg7 expression level of recombinant strains, which harbored 5' long antisense fragment and 5' short antisense fragment, was significantly lower than that of the control. The results of TLC and HPLC showed that the ergosterol content of recombinant strains, which harbored 5' long antisense fragment, decreased obviously. The ergosterol contents of the others were almost equal to that of INVSc1. Lanosterol synthase gene expression was downregulated by antisense RNA technology in S. cerevisiae, which lays a foundation for reconstructing triterpenoid metabolic pathway in S. cerevisiae by synthetic biology technology.
DNA Primers ; Down-Regulation ; Gene Expression ; Intramolecular Transferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plasmids ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Antisense ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; enzymology ; genetics ; Squalene ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism ; Transformation, Genetic

The aim of this study was to detect DNA damage during expansion ex vivo of umbilical cord blood (UCB) hematopoietic cells and explore the optimal harvest time for culture of CB hematopoietic cells. Mononuclear cells (MNCs) separated from UCB were cultured in a serum-free system supplemented with cytokines and colony forming units were assessed by semisolid culture at the same time. On day 0, 7, 14 and 21 cells were collected for single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) analysis and CFUs were also assayed by SCGE, CD34+ cells and CD133+ cells were quantitated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). The results showed that the percentage of CD34+ and CD133+ cells was found to be highest after short-term culture (<14 days) and the cord blood DNA damage rate was observed to be less than 5.0% at earlier time points, but at day 21 the DNA damage rate was 28.2%, which was higher than that at day 0 (p=0.000), the tail length of the DNA comet was longer than that at day 0 (p=0.000). The tail lengths of DNA damage on other time points were not significantly different from that at day 0. It is concluded that the DNA damage rate is less than 5.0% after short-term (<14 days) culture of UCB cells ex vivo by using this method. After 14 days DNA damage rate increases significantly. The optimal harvest time of cord blood cells after culture ex vivo would be within 14 days.
Cell Division ; Cells, Cultured ; Colony-Forming Units Assay ; DNA Damage ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Humans