Objective: To study the cellular immune responses and the anti-tumor effects induced by peptides derived from onco-protein HER2/neu. Methods: Two HER2/neu peptides compatible with H-2Kd binding motif as tumor rejection antigens were synthesized. The ability of inducing peptide-specific CTLs and suppressing the tumor growth in BALB/c mice immunized by HER2/neu peptide was analyzed. Results: HER2/neu peptides could promote the proliferation of BALB/c lymphocytes both in vitro and in vivo. HER2/neu peptide-specific CTLs could be induced from peptide-immu-nized BALB/c mice, which showed specifically killing effects on HER2/neu positive SP2/OHER2 cells but not on HER2/neu negative SP2/O cells. Moreover, the growth of SP2/OHER2 tumor were significantly suppressed in BALB/c mice immunized with HER2/neu peptides. Conclusion: These results suggested that it was feasible to use MHC-I epitopes derived from tumor-specific antigens as vaccines for cancer immunotherapy.

Objective To explore the effects of proteasome inhibitor bortezomib alone and in combination with chemotherapeutic agents in acute leukemia cell line HEL. Methods Tumor cell growth inhibition and apoptosis was measured by MTT assay and FACS analysis, respectively. Apoptosis- and cell cycle-associatd protein expression levels were measured by Western blotting assay. Results Bortezomib induced the suppression of tumor cell growth and apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner with an inhibitor concentration IC50 values 7.15 nmol/L in acute leukemia cell line HEL. Further combination treatment with doxorubicin or cytarabine increased tumor cell growth suppression in acute leukemia cell line, as compared to single drug treatment alone. Bortezomib caused an increase in G2/M in a time-dependent manner. Bortezomib alone and in combination with chemotherapeutic agents treatment increased the bax and p27 expression and decreased the bcl-2 expression even without influencing p53 expression levels. Conclusion Bortezomib may be an effective therapeutic drug for patients with acute leukemia. Combining bortezomib with doxorubicin might be more effective for displaying tumor cell growth inhibitor effects in acute leukemia cells through regulation of bcl-2, bax and p27 proteins and independent of p53 status.

BACKGROUND:Recent studies have demonstrated that growth factor, as a molecular signal, regulates cellular proliferation, differentiation, immigration and metabolism. Its expression and regulation play an important role in the chronic wound healing.OBJECTrVE: To observe the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on the expression of VEGF receptor (VEGFR), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) mRNA in wound tissue, and elucidate the mechanism of VEGF in promoting wound healing.DESrGN: Controlled animal experiment.SETTING: Department of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA. MATERIALS: Six New Zealand rabbits, aged 48-60 months, were involved in the experiment. Nanosphere-coated recombinant plasmid DNA eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1/myc-hisA-VEGF166 was donated by Master Jia Ning, who was from Department of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA. METHODS: This experiment was carried out in the laboratory of Department of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital from October 2004 to June 2005. ①VEGF (VEGF165) was taken as target gene to construct eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1/myc-hisA- VEGF165. Nanosphere- VEGF165 complex was used. Three round excisional wounds, 6 mm in diameter, were created over the ventral surface of ears of anesthetized rabbits, and cartilage was exposed. Gelatin sponge thin slice dipping 100 μL nanosphere-VEGF165 complex was spread on unilateral wounds of each rabbit, and aseptic sealing membrane was spread on outer layer, serving as VEGF group; Gelatin sponge thin slice dipping 100 μL nanosphere without plasmid load was spread on contralateral wound, serving as control group; Skin of rabbit ear subterminal to circumcise region served as normal group. ② At postoperative 14 days, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to observe the changes in the expression of VEGFR, bFGF and PDGF mRNA in wound tissue. ③ At postoperative 14 days, wound was took as center, and square tissue mass with size of 1 cm×1 cm (full-thickness rabbit ear included) was excised and prepared into sample, then which was stained by haematoxylin & eosin (HE). Under the optical microscope, the growth of newly regenerated granulation tissue was observed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Expression of VEGFR, bFGF and PDGF mRNA in wound tissue. RESULTS: ①HE staining results showed the growth speeds of granulation tissue and epithelium tissue in VEGF group were obviously faster than those in the control group. ②RT-PCR detected a significantly higher expression of VEGFR, bFGF and PDGF mRNA in the wound tissues in VEGF group than that in the control group (P ＜ 0.05) and normal group (P＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: Exogenous VEGF up-regulates the expression of VEGFR, bFGF and PDGF mRNA in wound tissue. VEGF may act on its receptor and play an important role in promoting wound healing through its interaction with other cytokines.

Objective To examine the levels of serum adipaneetin in patients with incipient chronic kidney disease (CKD, GFR≥ 60ml/min, and identify the relationship between serum adiponectin and albumin (ALB), urinary protein excretion amount, blood lipid and renal function. Methods Forty-two CKD patients and twenty normal healthy persons were involved in this study. These patients were divid- ed into two groups: nephrotic syndrome and non-nephrotic syndrome. The level of serum adiponectin, serum ALB, urinary protein excretion amount, blood lipid, renal function were measured and compared. Results The level of serum adiponectin in nephritic syndrome patients [(21.9±11.3) mg/L] and non-nephrotic syndrome patients [ ( 11.0±7.0) mg/L] was significantly higher than that in normal healthy per- sons[ (5.6±3.3) mg/L] ( P<0.01 ), and the level of serum adiponectin in nephritic syndrome patients was higher than that in non-ne- phrotic syndrome patients( P <0.01 ). Correlative analyses revealed a negatively correlation between serum adiponectin and serum total pro- tein(TP, ALB, BMI( r=-0.5680, r = -0.6241, r = -0.4083,respectively), and a positive correlation between serum adiponectin and urinary protein excretion amount ( r =0.4083). Stepwise regression analyses showed that serum adiponoctin was highly influenced by BMI, ALB and urinary protein excretion amount. Conclusion Serum adipanectin was markedly increased in incipient CKD, especially in patients with macroalbuminura. The effect of high level adiponectin in CKD was still not clear.

A total of 200 outpatients with congenital urogenital abnormalities were recruited.Peripheral blood from each patient had mixed lymphocyte culture and chromosome karyotype was analyzed.Among them,22 (11％) cases showed abnormal chromosomal karyotypes.The aberrations included abnormal chromosome number (n =13),abnormal chromosome structure (n =8) and sex reversal syndrome (n =1).Chromosomal aberrations are important causative factors of congenital urogenital abnormalities.

The volatile components of roots and stems of Zanthoxylum nitidum were investigated by supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction (SFE-CO2) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). Thirty-one and fifty-one compounds were identified in the supercritical extracts from roots and stems of Z. nitidum, respectively, and total twenty-seven compounds were the common constituents. Among them, the major constituents in root and stem supercritical extracts were spathulenol (18.49 and 26.18%), n-hexadecanoic acid (14.24% and 12.79%), ar-tumerone (6.95% and 8.88%), oleic acid (8.39% and 5.71%) and hexanoic acid (4.39% and 7.78%). The in-vitro MTT assay showed that the volatile components of roots and stems of Z. nitidum did not exhibited any cytotoxic activity against human cancer Huh-7 and normal IEC-6 cells. These results indicated the same nature of the volatile constituents in the root and stem of Z. nitidum. This investigation may provide further evidence for expansion of medicinal parts of Z. nitidum.
Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; toxicity ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Humans ; Mice ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Zanthoxylum ; chemistry

Objective To examine the levels of serum adipunectin (ADPN)in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and identify the relationship between serum ADPN and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, high sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) and renal function. Methods Sixty ESRD patients and twenty normal healthy persons were involved in this study. The patients were divided into three groups: patients with chronic renal failure (CRF, 18 cases), patients with hemodialysis (HD,22 cases) and patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD,20 cases). The levels of serum ADPN, TNF-α and hs-CRP were detected by means of ELISA. Differences in continuous variables be-tween the three groups were evaluated. Results The levels of serum ADPN, TNF-α and hs-CRP in CRF, HD and PD patients were signifi-cantly higher than those in control group ( P<0.01 ). Serum ADPN levels in ESRD patients were positive related to serum TNF-α( r≥0.478, P<0.01 ), and negative related to GFR ( r≥-0.582, P<0.01 ). Conclusion The level of serum ADPN was markedly in-creased in patients with ESRD, and correlated with serum TNF-α level and.renal function.

Objective To investigate the levels of serum interleukin(IL)-18 in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF)and its relationship with relevant indexes. Methods Sixty patients with CRF were divided into three groups: patients with CRF (CRF group, n = 18) ,patients with bemedialysis (HD group, n = 22) and patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD group,n = 20). 20 healthy subjects were taken as controls. The levels of serum IL-18, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were detected by means of ELISA. Serum albumin (ALB) ,total cholesterol (TC) ,triglyceride (TG) and serum creatinine (SCr) levels were detected by con-ventional means. The GFR was measured by using the abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study (MDRD) equation. Differences in continuous variables between the three groups were evaluated. Results The lev-els of serum IL-18 were significantly increased in CRF[(497.7 ± 120.7) ng/L], HD[(538.1 ± 113.2) ng/L] and PD[(565.7 ± 122.1) ng/L] patients than those in healthy subjects[(163.9±42.2) ng/L] (P <0.01). Further-more,serum IL-18 levels in HD patients were higher than these in CRF patients (P <0.05). Serum IL-18 levels in CRF were positively related to serum TNF-α,hs-CRP and SCr(r =0. 636,0.436,0.367,P <0.01) ,and negatively related to GFR(r = -0.515 ,P <0.05). Conclusion The levels of serum IL-18 are markedly increased in patients with CRF,HD and PD,and related to the levels of TNF-α,hs-CRP and GFR,so IL-18 might be an important marker of sub-clinical inflammation in patients with chronic renal failure.

Metastasis is the essential character of biological behaviors in malignancies,which is also the main reason for the death of patients with tumor. So it is very important to research the metastasis for the pre-vention and treatment of carcinomas. Rectal cancer is one of the most common gastrointestinal cancer,and its prognosis is bad. lymphatic metastasis is one important factor in the determination of colon cancer' s progno-sis. More than 50% patients are found lymphatic metastasis when taking operation. The ralationship of lym-phatic metastasis and prognosis is more important than the original tumor's invasiving. So it is meaningful to study the mechanism of tumor metastasis, and to provide a scientific approach to the prediction of tumor me-tastasis, the precise assessment of prognosis and the treatment of tumor metastasis.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains may have some defects in beer production.Purposeful alteration of metabolic pathway with molecular biology techniques after analysis the metabolic fluxes has been a main way of S.cerevisiae breeding.The researchers have done a lot of work on some aspects of S.cerevisiae,such as the substrate utilization,maneuverability,reducing the no use by-products,improve the beer flavor,and got many delightful results,all of this are summarized here.