Objective: To explore the effects of Saikosaponin d (SS-d) on autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) by observing the expression changes of some differentially expressed genes screened with the Agilent-085631 gene chip in the liver of AIH mice. Methods: Forty healthy male SPF C57BL/6 mice were divided into chip group (n=8) and SS-d treatment group (n=32). The mice in the chip group were divided into the normal group and the model group [concanavalin A (Con A) was administered to the tail vein at a dose of 15 mg/kg] (both n=4). The mice were sacrificed after 12 h. The differentially expressed genes of liver were screened, some of which were verified by qRT-PCR. The SS-d treatment group was further divided into the normal group, the model group (treatment was the same with the chip group), SS-d low-dose group and SS-d high-dose group [according to the literature and pre-experiment results, 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg dose of intraperitoneal injection of SS-d were given respectively, and 15 mg/kg of Con A was administered to the tail vein 8 h later] (all n=8). After 12 h, total venous blood, liver total protein and total RNA of mice were collected. The levels of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-17 were detected by ELISA, and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) was detected by Western blotting. qRT-PCR technology was used to detect the mRNA levels of IL-10, IL-17 and CTLA-4. Results: A total of 11 512 differentially expressed genes were screened (up 5 189, down 6 323), which were related to 138 signal pathways. The qRT-PCR results of IL-10, IL-17 and CTLA-4 gene were consistent with the results of chip screening. Compared with the normal group, the serum levels of GPT and GOT in the model group increased, IL-17 mRNA level increased, IL-10 mRNA and CTLA-4 mRNA levels decreased, the content of serum IL-17 increased, the content of serum IL-10 decreased, and the level of CTLA-4 protein expression in the liver tissues decreased. Compared with the model group, the serum GPT and GOT levels of SS-d in the low-dose and high-dose groups decreased, IL-17 mRNA level decreased, the levels of IL-10 mRNA and CTLA-4 mRNA increased, the content of serum IL-17 decreased, the content of serum IL-10 increased, and the level of CTLA-4 protein expression in the liver tissue increased. Conclusion: Multiple signaling pathways are involved in the pathogenesis of AIH, and SS-d can alleviate the liver inflammation in AIH mice by regulating the expression of IL-10, CTLA-4, and IL-17.

Coal ; Dust ; analysis ; Gases ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Exposure ; analysis ; Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis ; etiology

OBJECTIVETo develop a newly real-time RT-polymerase chain reaction assay for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) related coronavirus in human whole blood.

METHODSA pair of primers and a probe (molecular beacon) had been designed that were specific for the recognition of a highly conservative region between 15 301 and 15 480 of the SARS-related coronavirus polymerase gene sequences obtained from GenBank (G130027616).

RESULTSIn the real-time RT-PCR assay, the extent of SARS related coronavirus amplification was measured in terms of the increase in fluorescence during the amplification process. The 145 bp fragment of PCR product was further confirmed by conventional PCR assay and proved by DNA sequencing to be identical to the target sequence to which the probe was hybridized.

CONCLUSIONThis assay has a broad application for clinical diagnosis and surveillance investigation.

Base Sequence ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; SARS Virus ; genetics ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the imaging features and pathological manifestations of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).

METHODSThe imaging characteristics and pathological manifestations of 26 surgically treated patients with histologically confirmed GISTs were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSThe tumors were found to originate from the small bowel (n=10), stomach (n=8), colon (n=6), mesentery (n=1) and omentum (n=1). The imaging and pathological features of GISTs were (1) most of GISTs were well-defined and exophytic (n=19, 73.1% ), which usually compressed the adjacent tissues but no invasion. The tumor diameter ranged from 5.1 to 23.5 cm with a mean diameter of 11.6 +/- 5.9 cm, (2)most tumors had an inhomogenous density or signal intensity due to necrosis(n=21, 80.8%), hemorrhage (n=15, 57.7%) or calcification (n=3, 11.5%) within the tumor, (3) on the CT or MR images, heterogeneous enhancement pattern presented as peripheral or intra-tumor patchy enhancement was common (n=21, 80.8%). Furthermore, enhanced striped vessels were seen in 12 patients. However, homogenous enhancement pattern was rare (n=5, 19.2%), (4) the most common site where GIST metastasized to was the liver (n=7), followed by the peritoneum (n=4), but rarely to lymph nodes, (5) of these 26 patients, spindle-cell type was observed in 69.2% (n=18), epithelioid-cell type in 23.1% (n=6), and mixed cell type in 7.7% (n=2). Immunohistochemical studies showed positive CD117 expression in all of these 26 patients, but positive CD34 expression in only 22 patients.

CONCLUSIONGastrointestinal stromal tumor usually presents as a exophytic, well-defined large tumor, with internal striped vessels, necrosis or hemorrhage within. It usually metastasizes to the liver or the peritoneum but rarely to lymph nodes. Pathologically, most of gastrointestinal stromal tumors consist of spindle-cells, while a small portion of the tumors are composed of epithelioid-cells or mixed ones. Both CT and MRI play an important role in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antigens, CD34 ; metabolism ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; diagnostic imaging ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Immunohistochemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit ; metabolism ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of intrahippocampal injection of cellular prion protein (PrP) antibody on cognitive deficits of APPswe/PSEN1 transgenic mice.

METHODSEight-month-old male APPswe/PSEN1 transgenic mice were subjected to bilateral intrahippocampal injection of a single dose (2 µL) of anti-PrP monoclonal antibody (EP1802Y) or PBS, with wild-type C57Bl/6J mice serving as the control group. After two months, the mice were tested for cognitive behaviors using open filed (OF) test, Morris water maze (MWM) test, fear conditioning (FC) test, and novel object recognition (NOR) test, and immunohistochemistry was used to examine the changes in hippocampal expression of Aβ.

RESULTSThe EP1802Y-treated and PBS-treated mice showed no significantly differences in the performance in OF test in terms of central activity time or total distance of activity (P>0.05), nor in NOR test in terms of novel object recognition index (P>0.05). In MWM test, the EP1802Y-treated and PBS-treated mice showed significantly reduced crossings of the hidden platform as compared with the wild-type mice (P<0.05), but EP1802Y-treated mice had a significantly shorter swimming distance to find the platform than PBS-treated mice (P<0.05). No significant differences were found in the results of FC test among the 3 groups. Immunohistochemistry revealed a significantly reduced expression of Aβ in the hippocampus of EP1802Y-treated mice.

CONCLUSIONIntrahippocampal injection of PrP antibody can improve cognitive deficits of APPswe/PSEN1 transgenic mice, which sheds light on a novel therapeutic approach for Alzheimer's disease that targets PrP to lower the toxicity of Aβ oligomer.

OBJECTIVETo explore the affecting factors on coronary heart disease among people over 40 years of age in Guangxi area, China.

METHODSBaseline data was gathered through the Third National Blood Pressure Survey in 1991 in China. A total number of 11 818 adults over 40 years old had been studied in Guangxi province. Data of morbidity and mortality of coronary heart disease was obtained.

RESULTSCardiovascular events were related to systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, smoking, BMI regardless of their myocardial infarct (MI) history. Cox regression analysis showed that the relative risk for cardiovascular events increased by 21 [95% confidence interval (CI): 9.06-48.44] times for those people having MI history. When pulse pressure, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure increased by every 10 mm Hg, the relative risk for cardiovascular events increased by 1.29 (95% CI: 1.11-1.49), 1.18 (95% CI: 1.02-1.22), 1.13 (95% CI: 1.05-1.28) respectively. There was 1.23 (95% Cl: 1.05-1.45) times higher in smoker than non-smoker on relative risk for cardiovascular events. When BMI increasing 1, the relative risk for cardiovascular events would increase 1.03 (95% CI: 1.01-1 .05) times.

CONCLUSIONHypertension, smoking, increase of BMI were the risk factors of coronary heart disease among people who were over 40 years of age.

Adult ; Body Mass Index ; China ; epidemiology ; Cohort Studies ; Confidence Intervals ; Coronary Disease ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Hypertension ; complications ; Myocardial Infarction ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Risk Factors ; Smoking ; adverse effects

OBJECTIVETo investigate the different expressions of endothelin-1 ET-1) in prostate cancer (PCa) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissues and their clinical significance.

METHODSA total of 36 BPH and 44 PCa specimens were examined for the expression of ET-1 by immunohistochemical technique (Elivision plus method). The staining intensity for ET-1 was assessed by light microscopy on a scale from "-" to "+ + +".

RESULTSPositive immunoreactivity was found in BPH and PCa, with a positive rate of 100%. Positive staining was located mostly in the cytoplasm of glandular epithelia and smooth muscle cells of both BPH and PCa and was noted in all stroma vascular endothelial cells. These were no significant differences in the intensity of positive staining for ET-1 between the groups of BPH and PCa (P > 0.05), bone metastasis (BM) and non-BM (P > 0.05), and highly and moderately differentiated PCa (P > 0.05), but the staining intensity for ET-1 was significantly higher in the poorly than in the highly and moderately differentiated PCa (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONET-1 has a high expression and the localization is the same in both BPH and PCa. It is involved in the development and progression of BPH and PCa.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Endothelin-1 ; biosynthesis ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostate ; metabolism ; pathology ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; metabolism ; pathology ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

In order to develop clinical diagnostic tools for rapid detection of the SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus) and to identify candidate proteins for vaccine development, the C-terminal portion of the nucleocapsid (NC) gene was amplified using RT-PCR from the SARS-CoV genome, cloned into a yeast expression vector (pEGH), and expressed as a glutathione S-transferase (GST) and Hisx6 double-tagged fusion protein under the control of an inducible promoter. Western analysis on the purified protein confirmed the expression and purification of the NC fusion proteins from yeast. To determine its antigenicity, the fusion protein was challenged with serum samples from SARS patients and normal controls. The NC fusion protein demonstrated high antigenicity with high specificity, and therefore, it should have great potential in designing clinical diagnostic tools and provide useful information for vaccine development.
Antigens, Viral ; immunology ; Cloning, Molecular ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Genetic Vectors ; Genome, Viral ; Humans ; Nucleocapsid Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; SARS Virus ; genetics ; immunology ; Yeasts ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether the insertion/deletion(I/D) polymorphism in the angiotensin converting enzyme(ACE) gene is associated with essential hypertension in Xinjiang Kazakh isolated population.

METHODSThe study covered 201 hypertensives and 151 normotensive controls in Xinjiang Barlikun Kazakh population. The I/D polymorphism of ACE gene was determined by polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTSThe frequencies of D and I in the hypertensive group (0.44 and 0.56, respectively) were not significantly different from the controls(0.39 and 0.61, respectively, P=0.16). The frequencies of ACE genotypes of DD, ID, and II were 0.18, 0.52, 0.30 in hypertensives respectively and 0.17, 0.43, 0.40 in control group respectively. There was no significant difference in genotypes between hypertensive group and normotensive group (P=0.14).

CONCLUSIONThe results suggested that the I/D polymorphism of ACE gene might not be associated with hypertension in the Kazakh population of Xinjiang Barlikun area.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Blood Pressure ; genetics ; China ; ethnology ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Hypertension ; genetics ; INDEL Mutation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Population Groups