OBJECTIVE: To comprehend the development of research on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and apoptosis so as to find the interrelationship and changing rules, probe into the apoptotic characteristics of RA.DATA SOURCES: A computer-based search of Medline and foreign language books of National Science and Technology Library was performed for English literatures related to RA and apoptosis from January 1995 to December 2003 with the key words of "rheumatoid arthritis,apoptosis".Meanwhile, Chinese articles about RA, traditional Chinese tongue demonstration and apoptosis were searched in Chongqing Vip Database of Chinese Scientific and Technical Periodicals, Tsinghua Tongfang Database of Chinese Scientific and Technical Periodicals and Chinese CD Database of Literatures on Biomedicine with the key words of "rheumatoid arthritis,apoptosis, tongue demonstration".STUDY SELECTION: Data were selected in the first searching, literatures on correlation between RA and apoptosis were searched in full-text.Accepting criteria: ①Experimental researches about RA and apoptosis. ②Clinincal researchs about RA and apoptosis. ③Researches on traditional Chinese tongue demonstration and apoptosis. Excluded criteria: Repetitive studies.DATA EXTRACTION: A total of 82 researches about RA and apoptosis werecollected, 13 ones in which were in accordance with the accepting criteria. Of the 69 excluded articles, 58 ones were repetitive studies and 11 ones were reviews.DATA SYNTHESIS: Of 13 literatures, 11 ones were checked by experimental research and clinical research. It was found from the examinations of synovium of joint and peripheral blood (PB) that there were abnomal apoptoses in RA, which indicated that the invasion, nature of drug and physical therapy were in relation to the apoptosis of synovial cells. Rest 2articles were researches on apoptosis of tongue demonstration of other diseases, which indicated that the apoptosis of tongue demonstration related to the pathology of disease. By now, there were no reports about RA, tongue demonstration and apoptosis, which indicated that there were still some blank in research about the correlation between traditional Chinese tongue demonstration and apoptosis.CONCLUSION: There is superiority in the treatment of RA with combined treatment of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine. It is demonstrated in the literatures that treatment against RA at present may be done by affecting the apoptosis of RA. Researches on type of syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine and apoptosis is limited to a minority of one or two diseases, and tongue demonstration are an important part in the diagnosis on symptoms, therefore, the interrelationship of RA (or tongue demonstration) apoptosis needs to be investigated, Therefore, the inner relationship between tongue demonstration of RA and apoptosis needs investigation so as to furtherly reveal the formation mechanism of tongue demonstration.

The effects of mycophenolic acid (MPA) on high glucose-induced expression of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in mesangial cells (MC) were investigated. Rat MC were cultured in the presence of different concentrations of MPA (1.0 and 10.0 micromol/L) or MPA plus high glucose for 72 h. The expression of TGF-beta and CTGF was detected by Western blot. The results showed that high glucose could induce the expression of TGF-beta and CTGF in MC, but MPA could inhibit this effects. MPA did not influence the expression of TGF-beta and CTGF in normal glucose. It was concluded that MPA might prevent the progression of diabetic nephropathy by inhibiting the expression of TGF-beta and CTGF in MC.

The formation of most proteins consists of two steps: the synthesis of precursor proteins and the synthesis of functional proteins. In these processes, propeptides play important roles in assisting protein folding or inhibiting its activity. As an important polypeptide chain coded by a gene sequence in lipase gene, propeptide usually functions as an intramolecular chaperone, assisting enzyme molecule folding. Meanwhile, some specific sites on propeptide such as glycosylated sites, have important effect on the activity, stability in extreme environment, methanol resistance and the substrate specificity of the lipase. Studying the mechanism of propeptide-mediated protein folding, as well as the influence of propeptide on lipases, will allow to regulate lipase by alternating the propeptide folding behavior and in turn pave new ways for protein engineering research.
Lipase/metabolism* ; Molecular Chaperones/metabolism* ; Protein Folding ; Protein Precursors ; Substrate Specificity